But we both know it was the children, sad as that is to say,
for the gift they have been. Your direction and mine,
different as night and day, had one exception,
their well-being and success. Discord
may have been evident, but not forefront,
as we gave to them what we could not give
to each other, a love that is true and unending.
There was no sacrifice on our part in fulfilling
the only desire we truly had and the reward it returned.
But that time has passed. It is now time
for us to follow our own directions.
Yours.
Mine.
This poem is in response to Reena’s Exploration Challenge #171, which is to use the provided image/dialogue, “take it forward from the perspective of the opposite gender, not yours.” I initially wrote this as a short prose poem, but I feel it works better with stanzas.
Regarding the prompt – without trying to sound sexist – I’m not sure if this works, as I once was told that I don’t do well in capturing “the female voice.” And I don’t mean the audio recording.
It Was Never You, Nor I
But we both know it was the children, sad as that is to say, for the gift they have been.
Your direction and mine, different as night and day, had one exception, their well-being
and success. Discord may have been evident, but not forefront, as we gave to them what
we could not give to each other, a love that is true and unending. There was no sacrifice
on our part in fulfilling the only desire we truly had and the reward it returned.
But that time has passed. It is now time for us to follow our own directions. Yours. Mine.
Reena’s Exploration Challenge #166 offers two short pieces as inspiration, to be coupled with an image, our own or found online. Of the offered short pieces I chose the following:
inkblots mutate
to form pictures,
alphabets,
stories
I did not create
The image is one I’ve used here in the past. It shows me on my fifth birthday, in 1958. Our family tradition has been to place an extra candle on the cake, for good luck in the next year, as mentioned in this Wiki entry. (Something tells me that blowing out candles on a cake will become a thing of the past.)
Stories I Did Not Create
Decades to come, too many to count,
when I look to the past,
see stories I did not create,
stories that unfolded before, around me
Will I follow the inkblots that mutate
to form pictures and create alphabets
to understand the elements that came
to define my perspective?
What does a child know of these things?
There is only now. Before and after,
anticipation and regret, these we create.
Will I understand this, then?
so below, within the pulse that emerges
star fields forming just beyond
flames engulfing, just as quickly receding
depth in layers revealing what was always there
currents that conceal nothing and everything
eclipsing perception even as stars dance
their light washing away all you perceive
offering instead an amorphous birth
life in starlight
This ekphrastic poem is my response to the prompt for Reena’s Exploration Challenge #141 – Free Flow, which is to express a free flow of thoughts inspired by As Above, a video by artist Roman Hill showing the surface of a fluid chemical reaction accompanied by a pensive score.
end to end
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