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!
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
