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JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana

0 posted 2017-07-28 05:52 PM


The crone's voice,
colder than a Wyoming winter's blast
mere moments before.
Though I fought against it,
using every fiber in my body,
I turned to look upon her face
the blackness of the closed-in bridge now muted with soft light.
Though the voice was that of an old crone
her face was unblemished, young and pure,
wearing a tunic of the purist raw silk.
That I knew but how I knew I did not understand.
She bade me step closer
holding a warty toad.
I was petrified, frozen to the spot, not one step could I take.
She threw her head back,
laughed beyond tomorrow,
looked at me with knowledge from some ancient oracle's wisdom,
put the frog 'tween her lovely lips
and with one bloody bite took off its head.
As she evaporated
into the musky air I breathed
she cackled once, saying,
You are on the Bridge of Eventual Eternity,
pass on to the Resurrected Side.
With immense relief
I started my walk toward the Resurrected Side.
Each step I took,
and I took them quickly,
even began to run,
but with each step toward the Resurrected Side
the further away it was from me.
I stopped and pondered.
I'd never pondered before.
Pondering is different from thinking,
pondering is heavier, much more profound.
I asked myself a few questions.
"What am I doing here?"
"What have I come to find?"
"Have I lost my senses?"
Then I remembered, I recalled, oh so well,
my search is for quintessence,
the pure, core elemental quality of life,
me, in other words,
I'm searching for the pure peace I've never had;
quintessence.
The reaffirming of my undertaking
brought the Resurrected Side one step away.
I took that step into a landscape
once removed from darkness,
forever to wander
inside my spectral thoughts
perhaps foolishly,
maybe aggressively passive as I uncover who I am,
what I am about,
my quintessence,
my peace.
The Forest Beyond is gone as I move into the Resurrected Side,
I am not concealed within its sparseness.
No.
My world has changed
in a blink of an asteroid's death
centuries ago
I find myself naked, alone and quite, quite scared
of what I can't see
in this unstable terrain.
Was I naked in the Forest Beyond?
Maybe, but the Forest Beyond made me feel clothed
for no one could see
except the voices who bade me leave.
The Resurrected Side is an omnipresence bog,
gray, sinister and gloomy gray
clouds hover
o'er the life-like oozing of this surrealistic world
where the ground isn't soil at all,
and, as I trod in my bare feet
it feels like pudding squishing between my toes.
As far as I can see
the landscape
bubbles like boiling chocolate pudding,
plop, plop, plop-plop,
but the ground,
if ground is what it is,
is the consistency of cold oatmeal.
As before in the Forest Beyond
I hear voices,
if voices they really are.
The voices speak to me,
I daren't speak back,
for I feel there is danger about;
that feeling is full of meaning within my bones.
The ground before me erupts into one gigantic PLOP
And now,
standing before me
an awkward looking organism
not human,
not animal,
grinning at me,
or is that a frown?
Maybe a snarl.
It speaks,
dispirited, sad words,
I am Mortally Wounded Psyche,
look what you have done to me.

©January 16, 2014 / Jerry Pat Bolton



~ If they give you ruled paper, write sideways. ~

[This message has been edited by JerryPat2 (07-28-2017 06:58 PM).]

© Copyright 2017 Jerry Pat Bolton - All Rights Reserved
Lori Grosser Rhoden
Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202
Fair to middlin' of nowhere
1 posted 2017-07-28 10:26 PM


Captivating! Thought provoking. You have progressed quite a ways, how long is the series? ~L
JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
2 posted 2017-07-28 10:32 PM


Thank you so much, Lori for giving this some off your interest. There are eight chapters, but I don't know what happened to the rest of them. I'm searching, and will continue to search.

~ If they give you ruled paper, write sideways. ~

Cerulean
Member
Posts 109

3 posted 2017-07-29 05:19 AM


I'm really enjoying this poem series. I hope you find the other chapters soon.

I see that it is a metaphysical journey of sorts, where one faces off with oneself.

One excerpt I particularly like is this:
quote:
my quintessence,
my peace.
It reminds me of quieting the mind, to achieve a state of nirvana. I've studied a lot of this kind of thing, among others.

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
4 posted 2017-07-29 10:17 AM


I'm searching for them, Cerulean. Short term memory loss is a bummer.

~ If they give you ruled paper, write sideways. ~

Poet In Pink
Senior Member
Posts 1066
MI
5 posted 2017-07-30 07:50 PM


This is awesome Jerry! I enjoyed Part 3 just as much or more than the others ~ It leaves the reader in suspense...Do you find it? Or keep searching? What do you find out about your self along the way....I really hope you are able to find the other pages ~ Lovin' it so far   Alana
JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
6 posted 2017-07-30 07:58 PM


Thank you Alana, your words are a wonderful balm to my psyche. I haven't stopped looking, but maybe I should. Sometimes when you stop looking for something it just turns up. Thank you again.

~ If they give you ruled paper, write sideways. ~

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