navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #44 » Gay Guys 'N Lost dads..'
Open Poetry #44
Post A Reply Post New Topic Gay Guys 'N Lost dads..' Go to Previous / Newer Topic Back to Topic List Go to Next / Older Topic
sullivanthepoet.com
Member
since 2007-06-28
Posts 154
Devon, England

0 posted 2009-05-30 08:44 AM



Sunday morning ghosts of other outworn lives,
pale and mislaid;
Lost still in their faded last night mirrors they gather.
Hunched; Bag eyed and world weary,
over coldly indifferent bad coffee
in half empty department store cafeterias.
Fleeing each the vacant graffiti stained parking lots
of their weekend existences:
Boarding house and attic bedsitter days
lived at burger chain counters and
coffee house pavement tables
in sleepy eyed Sunday morning town centres.
Dropped aitches in the Sabbath’s cruel ‘ourglass...

No workaday grind and hustle in which to hide,
seek blessed sanctuary;
anchor themselves, brief and tenuous.
Just broke chain buoys; Bobbing and weaving
in the uncertain currents; All adrift
upon their lonely mal de mer seas.
Whilst, as if in mockery, all about...
Fertile families.
Dropping their noisy anchors in jostling flotillas
at freshly wipe washed Formica topped berths
to swarm ashore on plastic coated pontoons.
Cheerful and jolly in their close company and
oblivious to the lost and weed hung floats adrift in their lea...

Snot faced and rub kneed in blue dungarees;
A small boy.
Staring and unselfconscious;
Awkward and tousle headedly blonde;
All laughter and fidget under the comforting
and confining weight of a father’s heavy arm.
A stranger’s child yet oh so, so, heart achingly familiar.
Innocent and unwelcome mirror to a somewhere son;
A Saturday and McDonalds and Lido son.
A son who comes, dutiful and expectant,
for his treats and his sweets and waves and goes home.
To his other dad...  The one
with the comforting and confining heavy arm.

As ‘gay’ as a damp November Monday crematorium;
Wet feather peacocks;
Decked and dyed and camp as Chloe.
Staring out of windows and peering at style supplements
from vainly unread gargantuan Sunday papers...
Squinting through gaudy glasses held folded and awkward
in front of faces sagging with heavy loveless years.
Ill fitting ‘off the peg’ faces
looking, longing, still for that elusive ‘bespoke’ love.
Faces too vain to wear spectacles
but all too head butt and hard fist and flailing boot
savvy to risk a glance at a small boy.
A snot faced and rub kneed small boy in dungarees.

Lovers giggle at a shared intimacy in a corner booth,
oblivious and invisible;
Unseen and unseeing in their secretly al fresco world.
Furtive kisses, demure and innocent, teasing each:
Scented and fragrant candles lit between lovers
fated each to burn as a single flame:
Guttering and dancing in young eyes
and speaking softly of the conflagrations to come
in their stolen and intimate night time embraces.
While sad and hopeless eyes stoop to familiar horoscopes;
And a small tousled haired boy wipes his nose
on the back of his sleeve and wonders, guileless and curious,
why the man in the faded blue shirt is crying...

© Sullivan the Poet 2009

www.sullivanthepoet.co.uk

© Copyright 2009 Sullivan - All Rights Reserved
Osprey
Member
since 2009-04-12
Posts 249

1 posted 2009-05-30 11:34 AM


An absolutely, stunning piece of poetry. I'd move on, but why? You know the answers.
I'm standing, and applauding. And by the way, I'm not gay, just born of empathy.

sullivanthepoet.com
Member
since 2007-06-28
Posts 154
Devon, England
2 posted 2009-05-30 12:57 PM


Osprey...

Why thank you my friend - I am flattered you enjoyed it so. I am not gay either but we are all human and must each, as is the right of any man, seek our ease where we find it.
As people we all have a shared experience and there will always be so much more that binds us together than drives us apart.

www.sullivanthepoet.co.uk

Osprey
Member
since 2009-04-12
Posts 249

3 posted 2009-05-30 02:02 PM


I doubt your conclusion, but may you outride my cynicism.
Mysteria
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
4 posted 2009-05-30 02:20 PM


You held my attention the entire time in the scene you set with this poem.  Fantastic writing, and very vivid images.  You are so right - there are more things that bind us than separate us.  Well done!

Carpe' Diem,
Mysteria

sullivanthepoet.com
Member
since 2007-06-28
Posts 154
Devon, England
5 posted 2009-05-30 06:53 PM


Mysteria...

I thank you for your kind remarks - I am delighted you enjoyed my work...

www.sullivanthepoet.co.uk

Post A Reply Post New Topic ⇧ top of page ⇧ Go to Previous / Newer Topic Back to Topic List Go to Next / Older Topic
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.
navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #44 » Gay Guys 'N Lost dads..'

Passions in Poetry | pipTalk Home Page | Main Poetry Forums | 100 Best Poems

How to Join | Member's Area / Help | Private Library | Search | Contact Us | Login
Discussion | Tech Talk | Archives | Sanctuary