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Turning Twelve
by Glenn CurrierI once heard an old addict say
his emotional development
was arrested at age eleven.
He was sixty eight
turning twelve.
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Arms out fingers stretched
from the pit of the stomach
fret and fear of beyond
the blindfolded self
beneath the footfall
in the fierce waltz
yet to be danced.
In the Eagle Nebula
of his no-moon month
globules of confusion
stretch a light year
across his empathy
dense dark columns
confounding reason.
Enough of this third person nonsense
I am the first person
who missed the cosmic grains
forming in the daily pain
of being twelve
I collapse under my own gravity
wondering, waiting
for a new star to ignite. 08/22/2009 Posted on 08/22/2009
Copyright © 2024 Glenn Currier
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 08/23/09 at 01:05 AM Fascinating analogy. This is too philosophical for a "quick take"! |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 08/23/09 at 02:10 AM Very interesting write Glenn. And I suspect that if looked at closely, we are all addicted to something. Oh yes, astronomy, cosmology, philosophy, and which is most important, the beginning or the end of the universe? |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 08/23/09 at 03:08 AM Superb allegory, Glenn. I can so relate to that "arrested development". The universe can never fill the whole (hole) it leaves in just a single life. In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all order a secret disorder. Thanks. |
| Posted by Charlie Morgan on 08/23/09 at 09:46 PM ...i, the mouth am speechless; i see flowers when you touch the keyboard to release your heart...i was holding on to both sides of the dinghy[your pome]. tossing and turning with your...such an expressive wording/direction...loved it...along the Billy Collins way. |
| Posted by Clara Mae Gregory on 08/23/09 at 11:32 PM Wow. Much to contemplate here. Glen, I don't know why, but this poem makes me think of my brother. He is 53 going on 16(that was the age his growth got stunted)and he just never matured beyond his own personal trauma. He is on permanent government disability because of severe bipolar depression. I know this was conceived with(yourself in mind? right?)yet it brought my brother to mind, battling similar struggles. |
| Posted by A. Paige White on 08/24/09 at 10:36 AM I can so relate to this. We do try to alleviate intense emotional pain with the insertion of a third person don't we? Just to give some space between the real us and real hurts. I love how you caused the last line to leave us looking up to a new light outside ourselves, like wise men following the star of Bethlehem to the answer. Beautifully done. |
| Posted by A. Paige White on 08/24/09 at 10:43 AM This quote from my devotional reading today seems especially appropriate,
"To those of us who knew the pain
of valentines that never came
and those whose names were never called
when choosing sides for basketball.
—JANIS IAN
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