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Open Poetry #26
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Drexler_McStyles
Member
since 2002-11-18
Posts 195
Venice, Ca

0 posted 2003-05-27 10:25 PM



the summer concessions
dwindled in number
as the days
began getting shorter
women began wearing heavier skirts
and stopped taking tall orders
the BBQ was gathering moss
and the flowers on the cactus
didn’t come around any more
there was beer in the fridge
and white rice
there was bread, next to tweaked bottle tops
edible, even to the motherly wives
who still came around to check your gauges
and push your buttons
there was the Firebird
won in a drug deal
from a kid who was on his way
to San Quentin
sitting in the carpark

you wake on Monday
and begin putting furniture out on the sidewalk
every third trip out you find something
missing
by the time you come back from lunch
everything is gone
on tuesday
the guy from the record store comes
and takes the whole lot
away
you almost shed a tear
as you close the door
wednesday you box up
the loose ends
the things that didn’t find their way
into your pack
or the dumpster
and mail them to the family

that night you invite  
everyone who is still in town
over for wine and song
everyone smokes and drinks and wails
about all the times put behind them
we make love, promise to write
whisper eulogies, give and take keepsakes
one by one, they go
when the sun comes
those of you left
make your way
across the boardwalk
to the rim of the tide
rolling off the pacific
no one speaks
as the world rises
higher

walking back
the remaining core
begin to branch off
one left, another right
heading back
to their own ends of the world
until at last
you are left
to walk alone
inside the apartment
you lay down on the carpet
and crash

waking in the early evening
you shower
stuff the last of your things
into the bags that you zip
closed
throw that light switch
for the roaches
one last time
and step out into the dusk

sliding one set of keys under a door
and another into your ignition
taking one last glance
at the world
you created

there is another world
you can hardly recall
somewhere outside the picture frame
you have kept
on your nightstand
for far too many years

a week here
a month there
until you begin to understand
the possibilities
and opportunities
a man can wage
once he is free
of crutches
and low reaching crescendos

[This message has been edited by Drexler_McStyles (05-28-2003 12:39 PM).]

© Copyright 2003 Steven Doherty - All Rights Reserved
CaseyLeigh
Junior Member
since 2003-05-15
Posts 48

1 posted 2003-05-28 02:14 AM


you were never meant to be a caged bird.
passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
2 posted 2003-05-28 02:44 AM


I sure did need to read this tonight
ljossberir
Member
since 2003-05-04
Posts 81
Ny, USA
3 posted 2003-05-28 03:17 AM


amazing! beautiful!
nearly made me cry....
enough said

-matt

Cpat Hair
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-06-05
Posts 11793

4 posted 2003-05-28 08:31 AM


well written... and well told...

enjoyed this I did...and though it seems to mark a closing of one piece of a life it begins another...

one has to wonder eventually though..how long the road runs and how fast the tides change.


nakdthoughts
Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200
Between the Lines
5 posted 2003-05-28 09:10 AM


(except for the roaches)  a story of life.

I picture it as several steps of change.

*s
M

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