Window Open, Closed
We enter daylight in the shape
of praise, little words
billowing through wire mesh. Across
the highway a busboy questions time
and the concept of never, while
someone plucks leaves from the bay
tree and plans her day. Roger Bacon
longed to manipulate the inner essence
of inanimate objects, to harness their force,
and a lonely man swallows prescription drugs
deliberately, releasing their attributes over time.
My eyes redden from juniper pollen as the moon
spins invisibly above our roofs, tugging at the
clouds. I once traced in a building of music
the organ’s sound to the woman I longed
to attract. Now, the window prevents the passage
of solids, but waves penetrate. I spread my fingers
across the glass, but feel no vibrations. Distant
sirens announce a procession of cause and intent,
of carelessness and indecision. Somewhere a voice rises.
This originally appeared during Bonnie McClellan’s International Poetry Month celebration, and is included in The Circumference of Other, my offering in the Silver Birch Press chapbook collection, IDES, which is now available on Amazon. A recording of the poem may be found on Bonnie’s site.
Lovely and wistful.
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Thank you.
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Great work!
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Thanks very much!
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” Across
the highway a busboy questions time”
This is so beautiful and love the picture too. 🙂
Roger Bacon. Who was this gentleman, if I may ask?
Thanks 🙂
Love and light ❤
Anand 🙂
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Thanks for your kind words. The photo came from morguefile.com. Roger Bacon was a 13th century philosopher who considered the nature of things.
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Oh, now I remember about having read them before. Thanks for refreshing my memory, Robert!
Love and light ❤
Anand 🙂
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Not to be confused with Francis Bacon. 😀
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There is a wonderful resonance in this work!
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Thank you, Dennis.
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Love it!!
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Thanks, PJ!
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Sirens are right and most exit daylight alone, beaten, but not all… Great stuff!
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Sirens usually disturb me, make me a tad nervous. Of course that’s what they’re for.
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This poem really included many aspects of life, possibly death with the sirens. . . You write interesting combinations. I enjoyed this, Robert! 🙂
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Thank you, Robin. Life is full of interesting combinations.
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A bouquet of excellence for this composition nd publication.
🌸🌷🌹🍁@🌸🌷🍀
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Thank you Steph. I hope you solve the mystery of your eternal consignment to spam.
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Sometimes I wonder why I left before entering this world, so many beautiful images using only words to paint.
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Just keep returning. 🙂
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Beautifully observed. 🙂
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Thank you, Carrie.
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I love the line breaks in this poem. And the images, as always. The wistfulness, as nananoyz mentioned.
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This is one of those poems that began with an ill-defined feeling and little else. We never know where these things will lead us!
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Love playing with ‘windows’- Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks very much.
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Very cool
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Thank you.
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