navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #47 » Broken
Open Poetry #47
Post A Reply Post New Topic Broken Go to Previous / Newer Topic Back to Topic List Go to Next / Older Topic
Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California

0 posted 2011-09-27 12:56 PM


Broken


I remember when I was brash,
In youth, with dreams that turned to ashe.
The sinister and epic call
Every fool deems until his fall.
When passion soars as eagles fly,
Through heaven’s doors, across the sky.
Till one grows bored and falls away,
Of own discord invites decay…

To creep upon a once rich soul,
Continue on, out of control –
A downward spiral toward an earth
Beheld in eyes of little worth.
Incapable of empathy!
Incapable of sympathy!
I plunder on not taking names,
Respecting dawn, or those it tames…

With broken dreams, and broken hopes
Of fools and kings Destiny ropes
Together in some dismal joke
Based on a truth but lies invoke;
That comes to devilish fruition –
In the mirror, an apparition.
At eye level, a man you thought
One time you were, before the rot…

Of every hope, and every care.
Before the onslaught of despair.
On down the slope of Destiny,
To a man you thought you’d never be!
And so you dare to close your eyes,
Rather than share the glimpsed demise
A million fold in the mirror, shattered
By truths untold, and virtues scattered.



Michael Anderson

But dreams — of those who dream as I,
Aspiringly, are damned, and die


EAP

© Copyright 2011 Michael Anderson - All Rights Reserved
OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
1 posted 2011-09-27 01:50 PM


Beautiful poem, Michael - but do you remember you promised me in the response of another poem, to forgive yourself?  Smiles.

Owl

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
2 posted 2011-09-27 02:30 PM


As you said to me earlier, Michael, this poem is me. As Owl suggested, you need to forgive yourself. I did. It took me many decades to get that deed done, but I did it.

~~ Those who are silent are the first to be shot. ~~

Nicole
Senior Member
since 1999-06-23
Posts 1835
Florida
3 posted 2011-09-27 09:27 PM


The mirror is flat; it hides the depth and the miles, the pain and the trials.  This poem is un-contained (hey... I don't KNOW if it's a word, but it is now.)     
Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
4 posted 2011-09-29 02:06 PM



Owl, I’m afraid we might just have to agree to disagree on this one.  I do believe I have forgiven myself…  If, for you, that means I have to write happy poems, it’s not a point that I will ever be able to prove.  If that means I have to forget the past and move on… know I am moving, albeit cautiously; but also know I have no intention of forgetting, ignoring, or displacing the accounts of my life.

Without going into detail, I wish to tell you that the depression I suffer from has been life long… it is in no way tied and bound to my last relationship.  It IS part of me, and part of me I have never been able to change.  Believe me I’ve tried… and so have many others.  

My writing is cathartic to me.  It is a way for me to bleed out darker emotions.  Not everything I write needs to be taken literally, or to an extreme.  Have you heard the song. “You can feel bad if it makes you feel better”?   Know that, for me, it does make me feel better.  It’s time to worry about Michael when he disappears of the face of the earth and is not heard from for months… not when he writes a depressive little ditty.

I do stop and look all around me every day.  You develop an appreciation for the little things when you’ve had them stripped from you for a time as I have.  It doesn’t make them something I’m comfortable writing about, however.  

Please, when you read my poetry try to see it as just that, poetry.  I am all for critique on the things I can improve, style, form etc…  but on a personal level,  I ask just that you accept me for what I am, a writer of dark poetry.


Michael

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
5 posted 2011-09-29 02:13 PM



JP, I task myself to do at least one positive thing every day.  Something that is beneficial to myself, or especially to someone else.  Every day it gets a little easier.  One day I will stand there with you.

Nicole, “un-contained” huh?   Well, I believe it’s uncontained, and definitely a word.  I know what you mean about the mirror though…  nothin’ but lies!


Michael

Alison
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
6 posted 2011-09-30 01:42 AM


When I read this, I think of my father.  He was a brilliant man who also was bipolar.  Now when I think of Icarus, I think of my father.  He soared on heights of grand ideas and thoughts, sometimes even able to make them work .. to a point.  Then he would fly into the sun and burn in his brilliance.  No mirror could show him the wonderfulness of him - he only saw the hidden parts he only shared with family.

That's what your poem brings to me.  You expressed it so well that I saved it.

Alison

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
7 posted 2011-09-30 11:10 PM


Every bit of this is brilliant... but I especially like and identify with the last 2 verses...  seeing what we really are and not liking the view at all.
Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
8 posted 2011-10-01 01:31 PM


Alison, I can’t express to you just how deeply your reply touched me.  It sounds like your father and I shared the same darkness awhile… and yet I somehow realize in your words that maybe this darkness doesn’t have to be all consuming.  Icarus, huh?  I’ve been trying to come up with a topic for an epic poem… I think you have inspired me.  : )  Thank you.

Ruth, unfortunately I have made a lifelong habit of shattering that image… an image I might only perceive through a darkened lens.  Sadly, the pieces never go back together, and the cycle just perpetuates.  I, truly, am the definition of dysfunctional…

Alison
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
9 posted 2011-10-05 02:02 AM


Michael,

Thank you for understaing what I was trying to say.  I wasn't sure how much sense I had made.  Your poems really touch me too.  I am glad that you are here and sharing yourself as you do - past, present, what's inside you.  It's a gift that you offer us.

Alison

Paul Wilson
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711
United States
10 posted 2011-10-06 09:34 AM


Michael... I think all great poets have a connection with a deep dark part of life that feeds their need to bleed in order to live. I was that way for a long time and thankfully things got better for me. I pretty much quit writing once I had broken the connection with my deep dark part of life. Now I hardly ever write, but I have found peace at the cost of loosing my need to bleed within my poetry. By the way I don't consider myself a great poet by no means.

This might not make any sense to you but it's how I feel...Paul

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
11 posted 2011-10-06 02:00 PM


Alison, I’m glad you see it that way… that is how it’s intended.

Paul, you make perfect sense here.  I, for many years had “found peace at the cost of loosing my need to bleed within my poetry”.  That you still have it is a blessing.  Cherish it for what it is.  I appreciate your kindness and understanding… and just between you and me, I make it a point to read every Paul Wilson poem I see.  Don’t sell yourself short.


Michael

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
12 posted 2011-10-07 04:19 AM


Some lovely darkness in the style of Edgar Allan Poe. (One of my favorites)
                             Ida

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 #47 » Broken

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