FREE VERSE Poem: Many Pages Left Blank, by Ryne Ormond

too many
to count

these books
practically endless
sea of blankness
neither discovered
nor excited

nowadays
many
turn away
too much responsibility
for even
one
sentence

justifiable
only by
the inability
to create
which
everyone can do

it’s the fear of
standing out
in a field
during a lightning storm
a spotlight
from the gods

the fear of
standing out
on a high wire
above
the streets
of people everywhere

the fear of
standing out
on stage
shutters
open
close
flash of
bulbs

isolated
yet surrounded

surrounded by
need of assurance
without judgement
surrounded by
expectations
no failures

surrounded by
self-doubt
lack of drive

it is
on you
to do it

so most
leave
pages
blank

no one dares make a mark

they wish they could

but one
braver
will do it
they say

without sympathy
to themselves
they ignore
their capabilities

when the
writer
artist
poet
architect
scientist
teacher
trash man
comes along
they will
put the spotlight on

they will give you
the unicycle

they will give you
the metal pole

they will give you
everything they
are scared to have

and then
will wait
for your failure
to confirm
their fears

but

if you challenge
their expectations

if you challenge
their gods
of submission

if you challenge
the fear
the balancing
the weight
the blindness
the fall
and
you rise
above it all

then you will
succeed
when
all cower
you will
fill the pages
they leave behind

you will create a story
they wish they could

and then
you
can tell them to pound sand