Avoidance
When I saw that old man
running in the park,
and then the old woman
walking by with her stick,
I couldn’t even look up at her.
She was a clear-eyed apparition
AndI was wide awake
With calibrated indifference.
We were all three the only ones
In the park that winter afternoon,
flush with light and airy clouds
shadows and illuminated bark.
No shouts of children on the swings,
no youthful tennis players,
no kids running fast in big circles.
The great oaks were still,
Just me and them,
Silence. Or maybe just quiet.
Alone in a small park,
They were running out of time,
I was gazing into it.
Written January 23, 2001
Really nice use of imagery, and I’m a sucker for a good final couplet.
@ravdiablo Thank you! Certain poems I write surprise me when I read read them decades later and discover how much I am still like the person I was then, and yet different from the sheer passage of time.
I need to write poetry again, but it takes a lot of mental work, and inspiration, which is lacking now.
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I use to write poems a lot but haven’t done it in years. I ran across one I wrote for my son on his last day of school and was surprised at how good it is. I should try writing again. I enjoyed this poem
@happyathome Thank you. You should try writing more poems. It’s very cathartic and healing.
I hope maybe to try to write more poetry, but I really need to feel compelled to. I have to want to do it, and be in the right state of mind. It’s so much more complicated than writing prose.
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Just lovely O. And oh so poignant …
@ghostdancer Thank you so much!
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