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FANTASIES IN FREEFALL
by W. Mahlon PurdinJust walking along the curbs of life
I drift in winds of wandering glances
And sudden worlds that flash open
And I go right in.
Pressing a water bottle to my lips
On a hot June Saturday I dream back to
A kiss I remember and redream it
As though she were still in my arms
Young and gay.
Waking in the night I feel the rush of tracers
Screaming past, touching others as they go.
I bend to help them with bloody hands
Eyes look up and say
"Am I all right?"
At a red light I remember my Mom's picture
I am wondering what it would be like to say,
"Mommy, are we there yet?" But then
The light turns and now I'm in New York
Rushing to a meeting that changed everything.
Day after day, always and always
Dreaming those fantasies of things
That may have happened, that
May not have happened, and yet
Could have happened.
Like a knife that cuts, I try to sort it out.
But it's not easy knowing what I know.
Choosing thoughts and picking memories
Takes a lifetime to do it right
Do it well. 07/01/2005 Posted on 03/21/2014
Copyright © 2024 W. Mahlon Purdin
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 03/21/14 at 12:28 PM it takes a lifetime indeed to sort out what we did or didn't do and it is a painful sorting out and if in the end we conclude that we couldn't have possible done half the things our recollection says we did, still a feeling persists that perhaps we did and that is a comforting and a consoling of sorts. |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 03/22/14 at 10:16 PM Memories good and bad affect the present unless sorted out it seems. As Phiip says, it can be painful. I think a human universal expressed in this woe-filled poem. |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 03/27/14 at 05:44 PM "I drift in winds of wandering glances" - a great line. I keep coming back to this poem, Mahlon. This is a fascinating peek at fantasies v memories, or how fantasy shapes memories. "But it's not easy knowing what I know." - I suspect the elasticity of our minds helps when this is the case. |
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