Poetry

[James]

Don’t you forget;
that I had seen you at a quarter past twelve
at the mall.
I watched you man handle one of those milkshakes
with those incredible blue lips.
I caught you trotting by the local
as I was sinking soured soul.
You were like a moth
flickering past my eyes in a picture carousel.
It went on like that for weeks.

We happened to be vacationing
on the same clock hand
I was poised like a salmon
waiting for my opening
but that bag check at security
it didn’t look too good honey
I’d never seen them in that uniform before
Perhaps you did smell too good after all
It wasn’t just me frolicking for your transience
I thought of you
at the all inclusive
I dined on prawn cocktails every night for starter’s
They always wondered why I ordered two
It was a quarter past twelve here
It was a quarter past twelve everywhere I went
But it only ever lasted a minute
that also happened for weeks
I stretched hope open for months
I was like a cat trying to get in a can of sardines
I knew it was over
And I needed this job
But your memory, more.

Discussion

[Kev]

Sounds like another poem from real-life experience.. And sounds like a love interest you never got to meet.. If so, dang, I can relate!.. I bet most people can.. How many opportunities for connection did I ever miss over the years for not having the courage and confidence??..

The best line is the carousel flashing across your eyes.. such a great visual, or way or translating it.. and the man-handling of the milkshake.. Lol..

I’ve been thinking about using your approach of translating experience and observation into poetry the way you do.. Would be quite challenging, as that’s not my usual way of creating.. I typically go internally and/or translate visions in my mind, often vague and nebulous, often attached to feelings.. But I’m thinkin’ ’bout it..

[James]

Funny enough Kev this is not a direct experience this time this was an internal story/dialogue that I conjured from within. But you are right it is relatable on many levels and as you say I am sure so many have had these experiences of potential love not acted upon.

I think you should Kev and perhaps I should do something of what you do from time to time and then we can compare notes 😉

Thanks as always.

[Eliza]

I second that 🙂 yes Kev – any writing projects that you start…I’m eagerly anticipating and encourage whole heartedly! And james – wow! You >>>pulled-me-in!>>>>Funnily enough…I was feeling just like the girl in the story yesterday and discussing it with someone .I’m the kinda’ person who is very friendly – or I’ll catch someone’s eye and can sense it…and I have to be careful because they can end-up sorta’ lurking around hahah. I can feel their eyes on me but I don’t engage. I also rarely have interjected when I be heard people gossiping about me…it even happened at confluence haha with the whole drunken crazy guy nightmare overbearing someone in the campground talk about having met me the night before. I don’t ever clarify or engage…I just sort of float by like a ghost. It’s a bit mischievous if I’m being honest. Don’t tell me she didn’t know that the writer was eating took many shrimp cocktails! Hahaha and this isn’t just with “strangers”…

Even Jed! Haha we met on a ski slope on the Nevada site of Tahoe and he thought that he was slope-stalking me! As if it would take me that long to fix the setting of my bindings. 😉 I got a winter cabin (shared Craigslist room share with a random girl) while working in sf to Tahoe with a picture in my mind of why I was going to be living in Tahoe and what I wanted…and then he just smiled on past me and I thought: well, that was fast. Years later, he said he was proud of himself because he’d “lapped me” (been so fast at skiing that he caught up to me still slowly riding like a girl – hehe) and we just ended up on the same lift…due to his athletic prowess and keen eye.

A decade later and I hope he doesn’t regret “catching” this fish. Hehehe

I was pulled into your poetry from the beginning and had to read it to the end, james. It was enthralling and exciting.

[James]

Wow Eliza what a totally unexpected response! This is very interesting and confirmatory that you have had such a response to my piece of writing. I am really thrilled it catapulted you back. Thank you.

[Kev]

Oh my god!.. I too have always been like that, where I just float in and no one may even notice me.. In fact, I adopted a fey name years ago (which I long ago retired) to capture how I can blow in, have an effect on a situation or reality, and then slip out, where no one was aware I was there, but dang, they got a dose.. Lol..

And that’s soooo cool how you and Jed met at Tahoe, on the ski slopes?!.. That’s a corny Hollywood rom-com, don’tcha know.. Lol.. But really, such a great story.. So good.. Did you spend time in SanFran?.. I lived there for a while back in the day..

I’m pretty independent myself, and have always been quite fine just me & myself, but I certainly have had longings for partnerships or pair bonding over the years.. I’m far too unconventional to put up with how people conceive of relationships though, so it’s never worked out.. I still sense it can happen.. Still holding out for that partner-in-crime who is independent, doesn’t need me to fulfill them, just wants a good heart-filled connection, etc., blah blah.. The way I’ve always put it is — I would never live with a partner, and if I did, we wouldn’t share a bedroom, nor sleep in the same bed.. Lol.. And if they hand me a bouquet of flowers on Valentine’s Day, they’re cancelled.. Lol.. 😍

[Eliza]

Well – I don’t think I’ve affected anyone quite like that – I just don’t interject if I hear gossip. In life, I’ve not always put in the work to clarify things with people – even if I know that they don’t understand a situation. I feel acknowledging this and changing my approach is part of the Living Law and sovereignty learnings that I hope to embody.

Now, when it comes to people “eying me” – I have definitely started making more eye contact and saying hello. It is much more fulfilling than flitting-by like a moth.

Jed is totally the calmer energy of the guy in this story whereas I am always moving. The reason our meeting was so interesting was because he was the first random (non-work) friend that I’d made in the mountains. I went out there specifically to find my roots (mountains, snowboarding and an East Coast kinda’ guy). He just happened to be from the town next to mine: I was from Sudbury and he was from Concord….so after working on the mountain the following year and sharing a ski house…we moved back to the East Coast to get our financial acts together and spend some time with family. It was just funny that the one guy I met / the first guy – happened to be from a few miles away from home.

Now: auspicious author of this magical poetry. Would you be able to write one that spells out the future? I’m hoping that Jed and I move to Europe and he focuses his masonry on fixing a crumbling medieval stone castle! A gypsy France / Italy / Spain sort of romance part two? Maybe if I read the poem as he is falling asleep..heheh…it will be like a spell! 😉

[James]

Haha! I certainly can try for you Eliza! Lets see what I can conjure up in the next few weeks. 😉

[Kev]

I think you’re the man for the job, JC!.. A romantic story of escape to Europe to rebuild castles & go all gypsy?.. That’s a bit out of my wheelhouse.. Lol..

But perhaps not.. The seed has been planted in the unconscious, and so the brewing begins.. we’ll see if anything emerges in the coming days/weeks..

😌

[James]

Lets get to work and compare notes Kev. I am inspired!

[Kev]

At this moment, I just found an angle on it — ancient megalithic stone building.. That’s what medieval castles are, essentially, and looking through the lens of sacred sites and pyramids and sacred geometry and ley lines and energy harvesting, etc.. Oh yeah, I’ve got an angle now.. Maybe the gypsies discover something beyond the official story of cathedrals.. hmmm, so many notions already flooding into my mind….

[Eliza]

I mean …. A poet and artist …. Surely such a request goes against the laws of art but perhaps not magic …

And Kev – my poet brother who always has so many funny similarities (we must be related – 😉 I think that you could whip up just about any Villanelle, vegetable, miracle or machine that anyone asks of you!

[Kev]

Perhaps.. At the very least, an interpretation, or something born out of the inspiration.. We’ll see.. Your gypsy castle restoration goodness is now planted.. we’ll see if there’s a germination..

[Author]

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