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Open Poetry #35
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The Novelist
| Open Poetry #35 |
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The Novelist |
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soul drifter Senior Member
since 2004-09-08
Posts 711Colorado |
The Novelist Nineteen seventy something I was in a self-imposed exile above an old Indian shop in Manitou Springs, Colorado I was trying to write the next great American novel you were selling turquoise bracelets and useless trinkets to east coast tourists in the shop downstairs you insisted on wearing a magnolia in your hair it used to remind me of the sun streaming through red autumn leaves and you walked right into my soul never even said hello to me and you contributed your personal experiences to chapters 13 through 174 we shared our record collection and slept on canvas sheets and countertops dreamed of tomorrow on the dried ink of our manuscript then we'd scribble and draw, type and retype and crush our cigarettes in a tackle box drink till we forget the title of the book you'd hold your love and midwestern sexuality over my head like I was a dog begging for a treat what the hell was wrong with you, I'll never know but your eccentricities added color to my novel and your soft white form added weight to my bed I can still remember the deep blue melodies of Miles Davis' horn in the early summer months, we'd blast Sketches of Spain outside the window the music drifting down to El Paso Boulevard washing the evergreens, the cars and everyone with sound sometimes we'd go fishing, just a mile up past the Cave of the Winds finding inspiration in the rushing silver river and keeping memories and butterflies pinned to our jackets a whole chapter would be born from these experiences together and the money you made at the shop would keep us well and the money I saved up from a tenure of teaching in Des Moines would buy us more records and a car by chapter 160, you gave up on me you said boredom was creeping in to your mind and that I loved the novel more than you but then, I never said I loved you so off you went, away on your so-called "spiritual journey" left me to finish off the book at chapter 175 and an epilogue where our hero renounced women and American politics and became a hermit in a little mining town in Canada surrendered his life to poetry and ice fishing girl, I know you read the book, and I know you know the epilogue is about you and all the things I did after you left the alcohol brought it all out of me and it left me living off the fumes of our shared memories too bad I can't press all these memories to a single Pikes Peak postcard but I'll see if I can sum it all up for you and maybe I can give you a call sometime that is, if my parole ever comes through "Poets are all who love, who feel great truths, and tell them; and the truth of truths is love." --Philip James Bailey |
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| © Copyright 2005 Zach Hilgefort - All Rights Reserved | |||
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DavePage Member Elite
since 2003-12-21
Posts 2917 |
girl, I know you read the book, and I know you know the epilogue is about you Those were the words when self came out Dave |
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IndigoEve Member
since 2003-01-10
Posts 279Etched in the illusion of time |
I'm keeping. If I were to touch you, would you bleed a velvet river, running miracles through the sodden ground? --Moi |
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TexUS Member
since 2003-03-20
Posts 228 |
Wow, such an intimate portrait, almost felt as if I were peeking in your window! EXCELLENT work. |
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freewheelin Member
since 2005-04-09
Posts 53 |
i love this kinda stuff, bittersweet from personal reality. however sad it is, this poem is just beautiful. |
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vandana
since 1999-10-22
Posts 10463USA |
good one  |
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Gentle Spirit Member Patricius
since 2000-10-09
Posts 13989 |
Well done soul drifter! back to the top this goes! |
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Susan Caldwell Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348Florida |
(thank you Donna for bring this back up) I crawl inside you when I read your words. thank you."too bad ignorance isn't painful" |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
the pen name soul drifter fits you and I enjoyed the drift of love in this write (it's even enjoyable experienced vicariously) |
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Aleta Member
since 2005-04-17
Posts 102Louisiana |
The chapters of love and life are written well in this poem, such that you don’t want it to end. But to have the epilogue, addressed in final scene, it was the closing of a book, though sad it may be touches the reader… Enjoyed this poem. |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
You are a natural-born storyteller! ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº> |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
soul drifter This seems very familiar! I have started two novels...and I was sure when I was younger, that one of them would be The Great American Novel! I thoroughly enjoyed this! |
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