Sunday, January 30, 2011

Monumental Poem

I wrote a poem a few days ago. It was, as I said to my friend the next day, a "monumental poem." The unfortunate thing is that now I have to go through and edit it, for every word holds symbolism which cannot be seen by the bare human eye. You've got to look through a window, and see beyond the typewritten word and dictionary definition...and use your imagination. (You'll understand the window parallel in a moment...at least I hope.)

Here it is...no stealing, please, or I'll be extremely upset. And an angry poem will, most definitely, be coming your way. You don't want that. So be good:

Window

By Mollie [last name omitted]

Window

Look

past

Panes. See

day

night

soul. You? Me?

Trees

of everything.

Leaves

slipping, letting

go a hello.

It falls in

the gutter.

It weeps for

a moment

and soon

it melts

into

the road.

Window

Look

through

glass.

You know

it’s there.

So ignore, go home eat watch TV forget and be.

Forget - deny - that

it’s glass

Not paint,

because you know it’s there.

But so do I.

And glass can be cleaned.

So look

through glass.

see

unborn smiles

holding

hands

with tired

pinched

eyes.

Of a child.

Lips cracked as

a desert sun,

beseech

ing

clouds

for

water.

See pink blue purple red green…rainbow, with peaces

turning her back

and

catching

the rays

of lights

from unborn smiles pinched eyes cracked lips…who are

searching YOU

for being.

Look

at light, don’t

squint.

See how

she

caresses

leaftops

and

lake ripples

and

snow meadows

gently.

see how

magnificent,

she.

Long for her to

stroke

you too,

For she cannot reach you

through glass panes screen frame.

Open

Window,

Where

I’m

Not

Defeated yet,

Or

Will be ever.

But light goes down crows swoop clouds cover then breeze changes and

Out your window

no trees leaves unborn smiles eyes pinched lips cracked beseeching clouds…

No longer beseeching clouds…

Since you

were

too

Late.

So

pull back

that hello before

it reaches the gutter

and cradle it in

your arms before

shouting out the world that,

“HELLO!”

And the mist

from that Hello

wipes off grime

on

his, her, their, my, and YOUR

window

so that

light can be seen coming.

And

link arms with

smiles, sparkling

eyes, stretched

lips, and

rosy cheeks to

Look past those pains

Through that glass

and

Open

That

Window.


I'm sorry about the length. That's always been an issue of mine... Anyway, overall, the poem is about not letting opportunities, specifically to help others, slip by. In the simplest terms. It's also about just opening your eyes to the real world around you and excepting that only a window separates you from the problems...or the joy, whatever it be. You've got to really look through the window and observe, and understand, and finally, when you're ready to feel the breeze, whether it be cold or warm, to open it up. And to not let that "hello" slip into the gutter. Have you ever walked by somebody in the hall, somebody you know, maybe by name or even just face, and a hello is on your lips, just about to break free...but you walk on by, silent, and it's as if there's something connecting you with that person, that person walking down the hall, because that hello was lost between you?

Well, that's what the hello part was about.

As I said, every word has symbolism, excepting those like "the" or "and." I wrote notes about the interpretations next to the poem in my notebook, but there are way too many to describe here.


I just looked out the window behind me to see an orange and white tabby cat perched on our porch rail. Not our cat. Just a frequent visitor. And there's something amazing about the fact that he's only a few feet away from me, living and breathing and seeing and smelling and moving, slinking across the rail, but I feel as if we're in different worlds. He probably doesn't even know I'm here. All because of a window.

It's crazy to think that a piece of glass can separate two beings so completely. A little scary, actually.


[Originally, I had the next post in the same post as this, but because the poem is so long and, I feel, deserving of attention, I wanted it to stand for itself.]


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