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Open Poetry #12
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Mabel A. Dilley
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859
Seattle, WA, USA

0 posted 2001-03-24 06:02 PM





In this photograph, circa 1960,
my eyes penetrate like black diamond lasers
arrogant in their defiance
of any living thing or person.

Life goes on. One day you ask yourself
whose laughter spills from your throat?
You wonder where the years went
and search old journals for answers.

With horror you recognize your mother’s face
staring back from the bathroom mirror.
Furrowed lines cling to each scar.
No make-up will cure this.
You contemplate plastic surgery.

Notice the eyes, is their intensity
dimmed by an inherited sadness?
Perhaps the memory of Montana wind
sets the grooves along your mouth.

You write an obituary: “here lies a woman
of kindness and grace.” This will not be true.
You ran down hallways and into classrooms
filled with children, beat your fists
against walls of ignorance until they fell,
laughed at the wind, demanded more passion
and more life.

Quickly you tear up the obituary
and immediately take yourself out
for an ice cream cone and a beer.

"I am not now that which I have been."

© Copyright 2001 Mabel A. Dilley - All Rights Reserved
RMW
Senior Member
since 2001-03-21
Posts 1424

1 posted 2001-03-24 06:32 PM


Julian,

Thanks for sharing. Now, pass the beer?

Bob P.S. Montana, huh? Billings, Bozeman, Missoula? Great Falls?

Panne415
Member
since 2001-03-21
Posts 104
San Antonio
2 posted 2001-03-24 10:31 PM


JL,
A very nice read. Sounds like the opening to a short story or a book about life at 55 or maybe even a closing - Thanks for sharing this. I liked the defiant eyes of youth line - very good- showed a lot in those few words - maybe you might write a piece on just those eyes... Panne

Bill Charles
Member Patricius
since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619
highways, & byways, for now
3 posted 2001-03-24 10:40 PM


Julian Lester - I like it, I like it. I'll join you for that ice cream and beer.

BC

Trillium
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098
Idaho, USA
4 posted 2001-03-24 11:26 PM


Clever poem and well written. I'd like some of the ice cream please!

Betty Lou Hebert

Katherine Chandler
Member
since 2001-03-07
Posts 280
Florida, USA
5 posted 2001-03-25 01:05 PM


Mabe, I loved this one. I'd like to be the one to write your obit.. I'd say: "Here lies Mabel, she never met a beer or an ice cream cone she didn't like"..

The poem ROCKED.. just as you do dear!

Shalom Kate

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.
T S Eliot

tradewind
Member
since 2001-03-25
Posts 101

6 posted 2001-03-25 03:47 PM


Excellent! I can't add more than that!
Mabel A. Dilley
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859
Seattle, WA, USA
7 posted 2001-03-26 02:48 AM


The beer and ice cream are on me, but I think we're going to have to chip in for the pizza. Thick or thin crust?

RMW: that Montana locale is Whitefish. We had an all 60's reunion last summer and doubled the town's population!

Panne: those eyes have lost their obsidian density, and have gone pretty mellow.

It looks like our party should move south, 'cause Betty and I are the out-numbered Northerners in the bunch. San Antonio or Huntsville sound pretty good to me. I was going to say Florida, but Katie needs a trip away from the humidity and heat for a bit. Maybe we good throw in a bit of the slide boogie one night. Sound good to you guys? Take care and thank you for reading my poetry. Much appreciated.

"I am not now that which I have been."

duke
Junior Member
since 2001-03-26
Posts 12

8 posted 2001-03-26 03:29 PM


Liked this, Especaially the humour and irony it has about years the pass by without
your noticing

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