Michellia Wilson
\nPoetry Marathon Hour 10 (2021)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
THE DAY THE LIGHTS WENT OUT<\/strong><\/p>\n I. It was an evening like many others – The next day, II. <\/p>\n III. IV. V. VI. VII. Michellia Wilson Poetry Marathon Hour 10 (2021) THE DAY THE LIGHTS WENT OUT I. I first noticed a long shadow cast on me from the West, pensive sunlight restrained by dusk, a murkiness akin to the water lapping the pond\u2019s edge. It was an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95165,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94375\/revisions\/95165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI first noticed a long shadow cast on me
\nfrom the West,
\npensive sunlight
\nrestrained by dusk,
\na murkiness akin to
\nthe water lapping the pond\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n
\na sink half full of a day\u2019s dishes,
\na small pile of laundry
\nin the hamper;<\/p>\n
\nthe shadow moved in –
\ndaunting – enveloping –
\nwith curtains drawn tightly,
\nthe previous evening poured
\nprecisely to fill a new day –
\nand yet,
\nin that void,
\nI grew unable to discern time,
\nthe darkness manifest itself
\ninto all my time.<\/p>\n
\nI stood a the threshold of the shower,
\nfor what felt like hours,
\nunable to step inside.<\/p>\n
\nMedications lined up like obedient soldiers,
\nwent untouched.
\nI inhaled blackness like cigarette smoke.
\nI saw darkness as my only choice in hues;
\nmy pupils grew large
\nand the day came when I could not see,
\nI WAS the darkness.<\/p>\n
\nI lost myself in the azure mountains
\nswallowed by an ebony skyline.
\nI lived in that ancient hill
\nI built inside my apartment.
\nThe light that might save me,
\nmasked by curtains floor to ceiling.
\nI stood afraid to part the cloth
\nthat could possibly resuscitate
\nthe sun high above my shoulders
\non a fall day.<\/p>\n
\nThe day passed through me like I was
\ntranslucent – from the light that hit the pane,
\nrestrained by draperies.<\/p>\n
\nNothing changes if nothing changes.
\nEverything then was just twilight –
\nmuted dawns,
\nand as time has turned pages,
\nnot much has changed.<\/p>\n
\nThe medications are still in a row,
\nexcept – now I take them every day.
\nThe air remains thick, but I can breathe –
\nthrough a darkness I have come know
\nbetter than family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"