24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Change in a Decade
I look down the corridors of time.
A decade ago, my life sublime.
Strong, no illness in this frame.
School, work, family focus was my name.
Illness knocked me over, out for the count.
Blew away my dreams, now I live with doubt.
Gone in one decade, only memories now.
Reinvent with new parameters, I’m still working on how.
Prompt Two – Text Prompt:
Write a poem from the point of view of yourself, ten years ago.
(My poem is 45 years ago, not 10)
My 12-Year Self
She jogs beside me, this child so sweet,
I knew her well, a long time ago.
We run in synch, on our neighbourhood street,
but share wee smiles as we go.
Does she like me at all, I wonder now?
Her approval seems to matter.
Does she think I’ve done all right?
I wish she’d stop and chatter.
She’s tough, this kid, will go quite far,
if she’s helped along the way.
How lithe her limbs, how long her stride,
riding, running, playing all day.
I look again, see young dreams shine,
Athletics arenas, gymkhana races.
There it is then, her twelve-year dreams,
writ clear on both our faces.
In the forty-five years that separated us,
life happened in its stead.
Dreams denied, young plans just died,
new ideas settled in her head.
Should I say sorry now, apologise to her,
for not fighting harder for those dreams?
But she looked up then and smiled at me,
I saw acceptance in her beams.
My twelve-year self was ok, thank God,
with what I had made of her own life.
A middle-class woman, now middle aged,
A writer, a mother and a wife!
(Being 44)
I don’t know
Neither do you nor the dog
Perhaps the dog knows
You work away
I spend my days
torturing myself
Lost in the lack of you
Lack of me
Something is amiss
I feel guilty
You have acquired
another lost soul
Tears stain our time
I’m raging inside
a slow deep burn
Detached from reality
I cannot see a future
I live in fear of loss
I want to smoke again
I need a prop
To ground me
I have failed
My mouth won’t open
I can’t see behind your eyes
I wake in the wild
a long dream forgotten
Dead Name
two
Write a poem from the point of view of yourself, ten years ago.
They say that objects in the mirror are closer than they appear,
But you are a blind spot filling my entire rear view.
I know the texture of your name like an echo on my tongue.
I don’t hear the same voices you heard
An unfamiliarity in the screaming spaces between our breaths,
I split like a cicada
Tearing free from a skin knit too tightly
Were we ever as one?
Because I feel like I’ve always been shedding you.
Image prompt:
gate keeper
you welcomed me –
somewhere I didn’t know I’d be lost to
in fog
and darkness
comforting and yet something not quite right.
gatekeeper to what has never belonged to you to keep anyone in or out of…
especially light
or darkness
or trees or fog or moonlight
and yet
I’m here:
on the edge of the light inside-
waiting for your blessing to enter.
(C) r.l. elke
You are a system
Made of millions of pieces
Working toward harmony
For no reason at all
How amazing it is
That every line written
Every word sung
Every figure drawn
Is the product of firing synapses
And the movement of molecules
Trapped in a looking glass
whiling my time away as well as my youth.
Wasting body, insanity is driving me to mindlessness.
My struggle feels too heavy and too enourmous for my shoulders
feels like I am carrying around this huge backpack full of rocks
while struggling to stay afload almost sinking to the bottom
water fills my lungs. air is escaping, I am helpless and without hope.
I scream for help but the voice doesn’t come out.
Any glimmer of success is robbed by bad timing.
It feels like I am stuck, I want to give up, I want to let go I want to stop fighting and trying.
Things will get better they say… have faith.
Trying at a losing battle sealing my own fate.
Second guessing myself my doubts are here to stay.
Glimpse in the mirror – I am afraid of my own reflection
It screams my truth – the one I have been snuffling like as if I am ashamed to admit.
How much further must I go?
How much more of my mental peace must I sacrifice
When will it ever be enough?
Under the light’s turn,
Like lead, it fell from the sky,
Crashed beyond the rocks.
POV
mumbai suburb
small house
three kids
housewifely
chores
housekeeping
tutoring kids
washing
the dregs
from the smug teacup
i told you so
it smirks at me
i told you so
it mocks me
the cup
all neatly wrapped
now lies as
pieces in the trash