Position Was Always One of Your Favorite Words

February 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of President’s Day, is politics.

Today’s poem is about taking positions on political questions.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Position was always one of your favorite words,

As in, What is your position on ...?

Here it means opinion, yet

It also means pose,

Not as in pose a question,

But as in positioning oneself in front of a camera,

Going public.

Since the Hungarian Revolution I have preferred

Not to go public. My positions

Seem too awkward to expose.

What my camera sees remains

Undeveloped. I am in no position

To have positions.

My position is that of a scientist who knows

That the last time he was certain of anything

He turned out to be looking into a mirror.

Shaken, I place my questions

Into a mosaic of wonder.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/positi.html. For more poems about politics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

February 20: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power

February 21: What Promises They Make and Cannot Keep

February 22: George

February 23: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead

February 24: When the World Is Laid Waste

February 25: Position Was Always One of Your Favorite Words