I look into the faces
that pass me on the street
Do I know this one?
Will this one blow my cover.
I am eager to find an old friend –
It’s my past I’m afraid to meet - - -
In my proper place
None will say to me:,
“Hi, remember when?”
Or:
“What happened to you and ...”
Or
“Didn’t you know?”
But here the possibility exists,
more remote with the passing years
pehaps, but real that I will
face a ghost –-
a man destroyed,
a ruined beauty
a story of loss,
tragedy,
betrayal ---
three decades grief
in three minutes
I look into the faces that pass me on the street
Looking for an old friend, its my past I fear I’ll meet
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when i was a home early this month i spoke to someone on the phone who said "I remember you..." as i couldn't remember her i was a little anxious ---
the resulting poem is very much a work in progress .............
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Reviews of "hometown paranoia"
Reviewed by Patricia Boudreau (Reader)
Reviewed on January 23, 2003
..."it's my past I fear I'll meet"
Wonderful line...wonderful piece...
That's nothing,John- it took me 25 yrs. to write one poem. Think about finding more specific nouns for "beauty,tragedy,grief etc" or describe in more detail- destroyed by what? How did she look with beauty gone? What is the poet afraid of about his past.I really like the sound of your opening lines, & how lovely to repeat them at closure.
I like "three decades grief in three minutes." You strike a familiar experience seldom written about. Have fun.
Excellent John, makes me recall many similar feelings when going back somewhere after time...and time doesn't always heal all things;-)wonderful write!
Oh boy, do I know this feeling!! I actually dread going back to my home town, not from past transgressions, more like past stupidities!! :) Love your piece, John!
Reviewed by g g (Reader)
Reviewed on January 18, 2003
This is excellent(:
Reviewed by Kate Clifford (Reader)
Reviewed on January 18, 2003
I know this feeling. I keep hoping to run into a few from the past but not with fear :-) Great write.
I know how you feel. A few years ago I met someone who swore he had watched me having sex with a Turkish - Cypriot girl at an office Christmas party 10 years before that. I had left that organisation but the event had become part of the corporate folklore, the number of "eye - witnesses" grew year by year. In fact, on the day in question I had been 200 miles away Christmas shopping with my family and the girl, Hayat, was on a flight to Nicosea to spend the shutdown with her (muslim) family.
Yes, its stange that most of the things from our past that haunt us never actually happened the way people think they did. Truth bends I suppose.
On February 20, 2003, pyrotechnics at a rock club in West Warwick, RI set off a devastating fire that roared through the crowded club, killing 100 people and injuring hundreds more. Gina Russo was one of the survivors, and she retells her harrowing e
This is not a drill. The attack on Pearl. They were the ghost planes of the night, deadly, illusive, sharp-clawed Black Cats. The Memoirs of ARM H.P. Lawrence, a Pearl Harbor survivor, Black Cat, and decorated war veteran.
Wonderful line...wonderful piece...
I like "three decades grief in three minutes." You strike a familiar experience seldom written about. Have fun.
Enjoyed this...
Thanks
Trixie :)
Yes, its stange that most of the things from our past that haunt us never actually happened the way people think they did. Truth bends I suppose.
thanks for your forgiveness
Love
Tinka
especially the last line.
Loved it!!