“And Why Am I a Free Man?”
—Paulo Coelho, The Zahir
time is the most valuable element
on any periodic table
spend it
give or lose it
wear it around one’s neck like gold
or clamped on wrists
like iron shackles
breathing it in takes a moment
but the exhale lasts a lifetime
less with good behavior
I mined years for their raw hours
spent & spent
another dinner in some sad café
About the Author: Ace Boggess is author of four books of poetry, most recently I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So (Unsolicited Press, 2018). His writing appears in Notre Dame Review, Rhino, North Dakota Quarterly, Rattle, and many other journals. He received a fellowship from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and spent five years in a West Virginia prison. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.
More By Ace Boggess:
“Why Did You Try to Sober Up?”
“Are Your Emotions More Or Less Intense?”
Image Credit: Carol M. Highsmith “View from the inside of the clock face on Portland, Oregon’s, historic Union Station’s 150-foot-high tower” (2018) The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 