The alarm is mute, empty of desire
So are my commute card, cellphone, lunch bag
I gather all my hours & go outside
To inhale summer's scent & sky
Sun waits
As I meander at leisure pace
Filling the jar with shells, cones, petals, pebbles
I am book to be lettered
I am map to be discovered
Carrying time in my pocket
Light as dove
Into the dusk light, I continue my search
~0~0~ ~0~0~
My shoes are bruised walking
this long road in this caravan of heat & hunger
The sweat and cries of other people
are nightmares tossed in stale bread
I dream of grass under my feet
this long road in this caravan of heat & hunger
The sweat and cries of other people
are nightmares tossed in stale bread
I dream of grass under my feet
And sitting serenely on a patio of an ordinary day
Not hanging on for dear life, on dingy boat with holes
Not listening to gunfire and threats of violence
Is it too much to ask
Not to see skeletons, stench of burning city for 1 day?
Is it too much to ask
Not to see skeletons, stench of burning city for 1 day?
Is it too much to ask
For a small garden to plant seeds & roots ?
Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Utopia, hosted by Amaya. Because our perspective of one is different. The second one is from the point of view of those migrants travelling in the caravan towards Mexico and USA.
Oh I love the two perspectives... one for time to slow down, the other for somewhere to settle. Utopia doesn't have to be much, just something slightly out of reach.
ReplyDeleteI, too, liked the contrast of perceptions and circumstance, and I keyed on it to write my own piece. I have habitually reached beyond my grasp, and every once in a while it has payed off.
ReplyDeleteI gather all my hours & go outside
ReplyDeleteThat is a fantastic line. I really like this poem a lot.
It kind of seems that in the first scenario, you have too much and are hoping for simple tabula rasa, while in the second you have nothing, are a minuscule seed in a storm just wanting to find ground. I can relate to them both but I think you as the poet really force the reader to realize that we may already be living in paradise. Just someone else's version.
ReplyDeleteEach side sure can see things differently, one wants the slow and the others want to quickly get to that greener grass they seek.
ReplyDeleteGreat shape and perspectives, Grace, and a matching pace with which to meander. I love the idea of filling a jar with all the things I love, and carrying time in your pocket. The bruised shoes and the nightmares tossed in stale bread are such a contrast, and the
ReplyDeletegunfire, threats of violence, skeletons and stench of burning come as quite a shock. It shouldn't be too much to ask for a small garden. But for some it's just a dream.
The way I read it, you have two lives, one familiar, urban, safe, and the other, exotic, foreign and troubled. Our lives tend to be unsatisfactory because there are not enough obstacles. For people in many parts of the world, our dissatisfaction is a dream.
ReplyDeleteAll devices off.....meandering outside....."Carrying time in my pocket" :
ReplyDeletesounds absolutely divine!
Funny that you and I both wanted to inhale utopia. You captured me right from the opening lines. Not too much to ask, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the saying, "We all live in our own little world..."
ReplyDeleteIt is sad and overwhelming sometimes to try to imagine what others in the world and next door are going through.
A wonderful view, two views.
ReplyDeletethe two perspectives both hold hope and it is not easy to put ourselves in another's shoes like this, so well written Grace, and your phrases about time really touch my heart - carrying time in your pocket - was my favourite one
ReplyDeleteLove these two mirror images reflecting each other backwards and forwards. The contrast adds to poignancy of the immigrants plight while somehow holding out hope, in part because the first poem is actually an attitude- a state of mind, which some fortunate folk can achieve anywhere, anytime. So wise to put it first Thank you for remembering the dispossessed with kindness.
ReplyDeleteCamu's answer to the question of how to survive in this world? Plant thy own garden. You are of a mind. Many of us are disillusioned with our world right now.
ReplyDeleteTrue Utopia Doesn't
ReplyDeleteLive On the News
But Hell
Can
And Will
Be Interesting
To Turn off to
Heaven More Real
As Back Yards With No Politics aT All
But Trees Breathing-Inn Forest Bathing me..:)
An achievable utopia! What a hopeful delight!
ReplyDeleteThese two scenes are striking- with the second one more vivid. A timely write.
ReplyDelete