Treading on the toes of giants
in attempts to reach a shoulder
where the air is clear, suppliance
lifts me up as I grow bolder.

Yet I know that my reliance
on the thoughts that they have shared
guides my muses, their suppliants,
with the thoughts that we have aired.

Ken Gosse usually writes whimsical, rhymed verse. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, later in Pure Slush, Home Planet News, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Spillwords, and many others. Raised in Chicago suburbs, now retired, he and his wife live in Mesa, AZ, with rescue dogs and cats.