For What It’s Worth: A Brief Discourse on Edge

Betsy Joseph

February 16, 2022

My earliest acquaintance with the concept of edge

centered on visuals of tables and corners,

of erasers and rulers.

Later I would consider the notion differently:

the edge of a jawline tightening in anger,

the nuance of a voice edgy and brittle with scorn.

It was then I would long for the simplicity

of the folded edge of manila paper.

So many in these times continue to be on edge,

perched rather than poised on their ledges

of sanctimony and self-delusion.

They are not the first in our history

nor, sadly, will they be the last.

The present, though, being the only certainty

we can cup in our palm, makes the time ahead

look to be ever bumpy and more unkind.

How and when, I wonder, did current malcontents,

once so preoccupied with their rulers and paper,

now aligning the edges to suit their vision,

lose sight of The Golden Rule?

Betsy Joseph (Dallas, TX) has poems that have appeared in various journals and anthologies. Her poetry collection, Only So Many Autumns, was published by LULP in 2019. Lamar is also publishing her forthcoming book, Relatively Speaking: Poems of Person and Place, a collaborative collection with her brother, poet Chip Dameron.