THE PROMISE (photo) & YOUR DEATH (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

YOUR DEATH

Your death tore through our lives
like a prairie tornado.
But unlike Dorothy and Toto I have been dumped
right back in the dust bowl of my life,
bearing memories that wave
in the corners of my stare
like worn work shirts on the backyard line.

Is this all the living ever really know of death:
these daily, hourly, minute-to-minute absences,
these sudden holes in the middle of everything
like the pupils in your drug-dilated eyes?

The last time you looked at me past the pain,
that last time I looked into your eyes
their light faded slowly
like great white birds
in a spiraling updraft.


[non-dream free verse poem written 1987, with revisions in 1993, 1995, & 2002; won a second place prize in a poetry contest several years ago. I've been thinking a lot recently about this time in my life. The woman was my roommate and best friend, and I took care of her in our apartment for about a year, until barely three months before her death of cancer. She was bed bound all that time as the cancer had spread to her spine. There's much more to this story, but I'll leave it at that. It was ultimately a life-transforming experience for me. Even though at the time I had no idea how I'd get through it. Hm, maybe that's why I'm thinking about it so much. I've been at a comparable emotional pass inside myself for some time now, with no idea how or if I'll get through it. I suppose my psyche could be reminding me it's possible to go on, no matter what. Photo "The Promise" (5-27-17 015v2) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,

[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.