Boone

A locally admired freelance computer programmer, 

nearly thirty, a modish bachelor, with some eccentric habits,

such as a walking-out routine on Tuesdays and Fridays,

if the day is shiny, incidentally for his health,

but essentially as exercises in intro- and extrospection.

At midmorning in a nearby residential neighborhood

he strolls directly westward—into and upon his shadow,

symbolic of his Jungian persona—probing whatever

in his public behavior may be disclosed to others

as beneficial or detrimental to his Jungian anima,

and whether these traits are peculiar to his behavior

or commonly recurrent in the human genome.

At midafternoon in another residential neighborhood

he strides directly eastward—eagerly shedding

the torment of introspection and embracing absence

of shadow, symbolic of his anima—his utter self,

prudent mentor of  the freeing of his spirit’s yearning

to try his earnest speculations against infinite knowing,

intent on acquiring some degree of  cultivation.

He is amiable about town. Has chums, no confidants.

Oliver Rice’s poems appear widely in journals and anthologies in the United States and abroad. Creekwalker released an interview with him in January 2010. His book of poems, On Consenting to Be a Man, is published by Cyberwit and is available on Amazon. His online chapbook, Afterthoughts, Siestas, and his recording of his Institute for Higher Study appeared in Mudlark in December 2010.