Salute

[This week at Read Write Poem we were challenged to "change up your line length." While I write a lot of poems with short lines, I was not "feeling" a long-line poem. My free verse tends to be so conversational that without the shorter lines, all I seemed to have are paragraphs, not stanzas. I realized, though that I break lines where I want a pause, so for a challenge, I decided to write a poem with a shape to it, where the line breaks are based on the visual and not as a cue for the reader. I'm hoping this is conveyed as I want it on the web.]



Salute






Salute

I note the crisp
cap and precise
hair and confident
look of the soldier as
she stands with arm up
in a salute. She exudes honor
as she awaits a return salute. I am
sure there is a code, a rule that says
how long she must stand there
waiting, but I do not know
what it is. I was once urged
to apply to West Point,
but I knew I would not
make a good soldier,
not if it meant that I
had to toe the line,
to hold my tongue,
stem the endless
flow of questions I
knew I would have.