At the Finish
For the people of Boston and
runners who love them.
In flat black River Boylston lined with
willows of cheering people swim
schools of runners carried on
aching strides then staggering
spawned out drunk on dead tired joy
through two city blocks of
smiles
congratulations
nice job
how ya doin?
We lie in a quiet eddy of
green Commons grass
no storm nearby then
echoing thunder a
serene pause soon
sirens and whirling lights
holiday ambulance colors
happy red fire trucks chased by
urgent black cars sporting
flashing blue strobes and
faceless tinted windows.
Dark tavern refuge with
stereo tv in dim corners playing
muted booms birthing
orange fireballs bulging outward
under smoke mercifully screening
tattered legs and torsos and
indignant blood of children a
slaughterhouse corral of
twisted metal railing
pulled from mangled people
all the pictures playing
over and over until
exhausted I nod into
unwanted beer too
weary to watch my wife crying.
I’m running again this time a
spinning treadmill from hell
endless stolen
lives limbs spirits
over and over a
deep crease forming in my
fertile unformed center dividing
anger and sadness
twin children of grief
over and over somehow
growing hope and forgiveness
never televised but
where else can we run?
Tom A. Titus is a genetic biologist at the University of Oregon and the author of Blackberries in July: A Forager’s Field Guide to Inner Peace. He lives in Eugene. I reviewed Blackberries for last Sunday’s edition of The Register Guard and discovered this note on Monday morning, sent by Titus the previous evening. “I am packed and ready to catch the 6AM train to run the Boston Marathon tomorrow morning. I believe that review might carry me over the hills between miles 16 and 21.”
More likely a result of his training, spirit and determination, Titus did make it over the hills and cruised to mile 26.2, ahead of the chaos. But never free from it. Titus composed this poem on a flight between Boston and San Francisco on his way home. —Brian Juenemann, contributing editor, NWBookLovers
Blackberries in July can be purchased from Grass Roots Books & Music.
What a man, what a man, what a mighty fine man. And a deep reflection.
Thanks for the fine work you do, Brian. I’m glad your review helped bring Tom’s book…and then this poem…to reach more folks.
Thank you, Cecelia. This “little book” that was originally going to be a review footnote has blackberry blossomed into something very cool. Introductory check-in at my writing group last week resulted in two of the members quoting from the book after casually flipping pages open and another taking it home and referencing it since. And the poem—something special at work here.