incantation for the hard road | Life

Spindle is an online literary magazine with a twist, featuring creative non-fiction, poetry and short fiction by, for and about New Yorkers -- literal and spiritual. Showcasing emerging writers, artists, musicians and other notable New Yorkers, it offers a multi-faceted look at New York City and the world beyond through the eyes of both those who love it and hate it, and in many cases, a peek inside the minds of the people themselves.

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Wednesday, 20 August 2008

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incantation for the hard road

By Marty McConnell,

we fuel. we burn through daily and wake
anyway, we hummingbirds dreaming
of Sisyphus knowing there is another side
to the mountain, we go on. listen: a face
that toils so close to stone is already stone itself

we push. know the heart’s invisible work mends
not just itself but the world’s heart, that bad
engine struggling, and his and hers and is fuel,
that the wind relies on the hummingbird’s speed
and what seems like stillness

is Sisyphus’ first breath and shoulder
to stone again -- we are not myth. fling
our fist-sized hearts into the void
and push, believing. knowing the stone
we roll uphill leaves a clearer path
than one made by walking

alone. we do not explode. become
the stone we push, cheek to rock,
a kiss, a hummingbird’s faith
in levitation our belief in the other side
we will never reach teaching us all
we need to know about joy.

Italicized line is from The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays by Albert Camus; translated from the French by Justin O’Brien, 1955; Vintage Books edition of 1991.

Brooklyn resident Marty McConnell received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, co-founded the NYC-based literary nonprofit the louderARTS Project, and is a member of the Piper Jane Project.

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