He shrugged and stepped back, or perhaps it was more of a step off at that,
And let the spinning whirling planet make its way through space without him.
Alone at last, he gazed for a while at the busy vastness of the galaxy and beyond that into the depths of the universe. Old old light told him tales of things long gone and forgotten, of treasure earned and ill gotten, of sad scintillating stars, of crazed comets touring near and far, and of places where reality frays and where dreams are free to stray.
The bitter boy is better now. He closes his eyes, looks within, and folds the sheets of many hued paper he finds there into fantastical creatures that live love and dream.
See how the feet of the boy, one year older, gently alight.
He is home.
04.06.10 21292141
"Orchestra"
by Robert Lang
Ok, bit rushed this... I suddenly found out I'm off again this weekend! Ruined my carefully laid plans, it did. : j
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend everyone.
Enjoy the rush of the unexpected weekend, Alesa, after the quiet of your writing here.
ReplyDeleteI hope your weekend will be lovely, the best weekends are the ones that are not planned at all.
ReplyDeletexoxo
Bitter girl, still waiting to alight peacefully. Coming by for a dose of Pollyanna. Enjoy the weekend!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! But why was the boy so bitter?
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of waking a sleeping child, bitter to begin another day of school, trying to hold onto his dream state.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed the weekend!
ReplyDeleteI certainly enjoyed this, although I must admit I didn't quite 'get' it (don't think I needed to to enjoy it, though!). The phrase "sad scintillating stars" was amazing, and as usual, your descriptions are stunning!
"Unwilling for"? Just pondering that usage. It sounds wrong to me, grammatically off, but I'm not completely sure...
Hope you had a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteLove the poem, love the photo. Thanks!
Aloha Elisabeth! I did enjoy it, thanks! Retrieved my cat too!
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Ola Zuzana! Maybe so… Though weekends filled with carefully planned nothing and naps that slip by unnoticed, like a perfect nights of sleep, leaving one refreshed and ebullient are great too…
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Howdy Annie. As long as you stay on track, you’ll alight, sooner rather than later. I hope you got some R&R this past weekend too. : j
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Nihaome Alexandra! The boy was bitter for having seen malice and stupidity crush one beautiful person too many, and for witnessing the spoiling of something perfect.
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Kuairi Theresa! I know little about the daily lives of children, and I’m told mine was atypical… But your description instantly brings Spaceman Spiff to mind (Calvin and Hobbes). : j But what is this trying to hold to your dreamstate business? I didn’t know you could let it go! ; j
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Irankarrate Sangu! I did, thanks! Hope yours was great too. My weekend was very busy, it felt as if I pretty much did nothing but cook from Friday after work until Saturday after dinner. But I got to chill out on Sunday before catching my train home. : j
Hmm… What didn’t you get? Please do tell! : j I’d be happy to take it apart or defend it, whichever the case may be.
“Unwilling for” is fine as far as I can see… I’ve run it through a couple coworkers (who also work in editorial; which doesn’t prove anything, we could all very well be wrong) they weren’t shocked by it… Could you tell me how it bothers you? Would you be bothered if you read “I am willing for that to happen… But you’ll have to meet me half-way.”?
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Goeie dag, Talli! I did, thanks! I hope yours was as well. Nice to see you.
Hmm, that's the weird thing. "Willing for" doesn't read wrong to me, but "unwilling" did. Not sure why, it just sort of sticks wrongly, but then it's probably perfectly fine and I'm just unfamiliar with the phrase. I think it was more or less me reading it as you using 'unwilling for' instead of 'unwilling to', whereas I suspect you meant it exactly the way it reads.
ReplyDeleteYep, I've probably confused you even more with the above. I know I've bewildered myself! :)
In not 'getting' it, I think it was more than I had questions that I wanted answered, like what had happened to him to make him bitter, why he was so intensely absorbed in the details of the world and sky... to be honest, I'm a novel person and I'm not the sharpest at getting or reading poetry, so I think I always tend to want some kind of 'story' fleshed out behind what I read, because that's the kind of writer/reader I am. So it's really not about any part of the poem itself being obscure, it's just me wanting something from it that's purely personal preference. :)
LoL, nope not bewildered. Makes perfect sense.
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I think short shorts like this can sometimes be approached as seeds that the readers can brow whichever way they like...
I'll readily admit that it's a cheat I don't like to have like used on me (depending on how it's done).
It's a lot like a picture. It depicts a scene, and the viewer is left with the job of interpreting it. But sometimes, it smacks of "I can't be bothered, so you think it out for yourself."
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I always try to give enough for there to be at least a complete picture.
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On the bright side I should be getting back to some standard prose soon. Tonight maybe? I have ideas bubbling and a character interview seed to flesh out. : j
...But there will be more of this semi abstract lyrical prose with occasional rhymes, sooner of later (you know you have a problem when you need so many words to describe it). : j
I hope you enjoyed your weekend and lived life on the edge with no carefully laid out plans!
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