Poets & Storytellers United have a prompt "Substitutions".
This is something I posted in 2012.
It's theme is more that there are no substitutes.
The Open Window (Repost).
There is a sense of disbelief:
The window is wide open,
Your things are in disarray;
Drawers are open,
Turned out on the floor.
Intimate items scattered.
Someone has been here, in your room,
Past your defences.
And valuables are missing.
Money, money is nothing.
Memories, how do you replace memories?
Pawned for $20 in a bar somewhere.
Days weeks months later you go looking for something —
And can’t find it. Is it just lost? Or was it stolen?
You will never fully realise everything that you have lost.
Death is like that,
Like being burgled.
You never fully realise everything that you have lost.
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That is true, poignant and beautifully constructed... wonderful writing.
ReplyDeleteIt is. With no hope of the precious thing stolen being returned.
ReplyDeleteThe conclusion is the real punch. Sometimes it comes in and takes a few things at a time. It very much reminds me of a similar poem I wrote that came from a dream. https://looseleafnotes.com/2017/04/when-packing-a-suitcase-for-the-afterlife-goes-wrong/
ReplyDelete