Am I Out of Line? In line? Online?A Fever Dream

My fever rages.
Books are in lines on shelves in the library.
Red and white soup cans line up on grocery store shelves,
Orange and yellow cereal boxes stand in lines.
I wait in a checkout line.

 My fever fumes and organizes line after line after line.

1.     Communication

Their laughs are raucous with heads thrown back
After the punch line.
They recoil with anger realizing they have been fed a line.
My story line falters in the middle of my chapter.
But maybe they will read between the lines and
Figure it out.

I hear power lines humming
Carrying phone line messages of fear, from hotlines
“Where is my lifeline?” my fever dream pleads.

 2.     News

I read the newspaper, the dateline on top.
In the newsroom, deadlines rule.
Post-it Notes litter walls with timelines.
Outlines pile up on computers and desks.
So, down the line, the newspaper goes to print
And I am next in line to buy it.

3.     Rules

My father, growls in my ear,
“Toe the line!”
If I am out of line or cross the line
Punishment will come, even when
Things are borderline.
There is a fine line for me to follow.
Will I figure it out?
The goal line seems far away
While the foul line looms close.
The finish line is an escape
From the firing line.

 4.     Nature

In fever heat,
I retreat to the coastline
Where it is cool.
Or to tree line near a mountain top
Where I am chill in thin air.
Nature is the bottom line to healing.

There is no assembly line in nature,
But a poem can write itself in forest,
Stream, or meadow,
Line by line by line.

 5.     Tension

Hook, line, and sinker,
The line of duty
swallows meaning and soul,
But poetry remains our lifeline
As we draw battle lines, silent and waiting.

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