A Poem a Day (119): Off!

Well, it's been a while. Hello everyone in 2020! It's a strange year, to say the least, a difficult one, a tragic one, something we could never have imagined happening. One where I dread to read the news, but need to know what is going on in the world, while feeling powerless to help. Keep safe, everyone. I hope you and your loved ones are well and keeping safe. 

This is a poem I just wrote for JD Mader's 2minutesgo writing exercise on his blog, Unemployed Imagination. If you'd like to write something, or read and comment on other people's writing, head over there. He's open every weekend, or at least his website is! 

Off!

The world stopped, but I didn’t want to get off.

It stopped turning. But I still had things to say.

“Don’t loiter in the throughway.”

My fingers caught the rail tighter lest it disintegrate

To nought, like the globe around me and below

Where the cities stood silent, emitting solitude

While the cherry tree blossoms wilt to grey.

This window contracts, ever-decreasing my view

Of the things I used to do, the faces I used to

Know. Where are you? I spoke to you yesterday,

Yet I can’t see you in my memory of the crowd.

Are you down there, sitting mute behind your view,

Keeping your fortress closed, breathing stale air?

I remember moments sewn in a patterned quilt,

And you, you providing the voiceover to each

Scene. I recall some, but I know some are gone now.

“Don’t loiter in the throughway!”

It’s my turn. Someone is urging me, pressing soft,

Steadily insistent. I know I have to take the step,

This leap into the unknown, the gap between

Here and the below, embrace the nothingness.

I wonder where you all are, every one of you.

It’s been two weeks, but it seems so much more.

I feel time ticking, even though it stopped dead.

The conductor nods his head and I know now:

I have to get off.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, March 27, 2020