On Overcoming Fear | Poem by David Michael Jackson

On overcoming fear
under avenues
beneath dirt roads,
gravel roads,
tended by eternal chain gangs,
bursting into consciousness like,
a hazy memory of toil and sweat
put into words
and cast like a cane pole
catching the trees
and left there
hanging in the past,
a carpenter’s plumb
pointing to the earth.
On overcoming fear
for the future
growing like a weed
beneath the plumb
as it sways
in the wind
I do not know what I mean
I do not know what I mean
I fear what I mean may not be here,
may be poorly said,
the meanderings of a fool.
I must overcome the fear of being a fool right here
right now
and go ahead and be that fool
right here
right now
It’s so much more noble than the fear.
Striking out beats not going up to bat.