in that room I have never left
this body drifts away from me
I've mislaid an empty head
crowds have taken its words
lines shudder unprofitably
--because all are weeping--
you can tell how it ended
though it won't ever end
I learn to regret the future
not the inconsistent pasts
of the anticipated machinery
I'm now at liberty to recite
_______________________________________
Pic: Floating Dale Chihuly orbs at Meijer Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids. (Trip with Cousin P this week.)
14 comments:
I like the last two lines of the middle stanza. Also, "I learn to regret the future" made me think of a not exactly the same but adjacent thought I had about Keep, the co-op where I used to live and North has lived (and will again next fall). I am always intensely nostalgic when I step inside that building, but now that North is halfway through college (and more than halfway through the on-campus part if they go abroad next year), I have a kind of anticipatory nostalgia for when North doesn't live there any more. Does that make sense?
This poem feels very sad to me, Maya. xoxo
I love that photo - very pretty!
Nice.
This poem speaks volumes and that second stanza especially grabs at my heart. I'm glad you've had guests. Sometimes that interaction takes us a bit out of our pain.
I love the Meijer Gardens. What a lovely place to spend a summer day.
This poem is so quietly mournful, yet it has a sort of resolve to it, as if the speaker has made a big decision about life, living, and moving forward. Sadness with steel.
Regretting the future. This is living life with grief. I talked with a dear friend the other day about this, and she felt there was a difference between grief and sorrow. Like grief is this really hard time while we adjust, and sorrow is the rest of our lives, just missing the ones who are gone. I need to think on it some more.
Yes... totally... I find it so difficult not to waste moments in worry too. Hugs.
Thanks x 2, Nicole!
Thanks!
Couldn't have made it without my people, Jeanie. Thank you for being one of them <3
Really love that place, Engie!
Thanks, Nance. I feel like I steel myself for every day...
That's a distinction that really helped me distinguish between the two, but simultaneously made me so sad, J. "Sorrow is the rest of our lives."
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