Alice tilts her head
Leans into the static
Which has haunted us
For so many days
We are on the floor
Lavender wrapped around our neck
So tired not even the powder can seduce us
And yet we inhale
Deep breaths of longing and loss
How quickly time fades
Trickles like a burn
From the palm of our hand
That’s where all good stories begin
She wraps her sticky fingers in mine
I don’t have a life line
I think I will be stuck like this forever
Nothing urgent to be seen to
Nothing worth raising my head
The sweat of newsprint on cold food
Hard to swallow
We are always being watched
We force our eyes shut
Press the lids into the sockets of our skull
Try to remember what electricity tastes like
Shh, I whisper as we make birds swim across the screen
When the time is right
We will let the world in.
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Illustration - Tove Jansson
Oh no! Not another flamingo being used for croquet! Life seems so unjust, sometimes we want time to stay still at the good times at others we want the present to pass, then there is that urge to go back. If only we had a choice of worlds to live in Jae.
ReplyDeleteThe powder helps with that dilemma - thanks Old Egg ;)
Delete"And yet we inhale
ReplyDeleteDeep breaths of longing and loss
How quickly time fades
Trickles like a burn
From the palm of our hand
That’s where all good stories begin" I wish I had written this truth! Instead I inhale it, knowing you are at the source of all stories. Have you read "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie? And then you remind me of that TV show about wanting to be a millionaire which offers three "lifelines" before failure--although I think you are referring to palm reading--a delicious image for starting a story--though what does it mean to have none, or maybe have it burned away? Pain, I think. Unrelieved exhaustion. News media? Wrapped around fried fish, waiting at a closed door. Keep writing, please!
Thank you Susan - we will always try..
DeleteHow quickly time fades
ReplyDeleteTrickles like a burn
From the palm of our hand
That’s where all good stories begin.. love this Jae.
Thank you thotpurge...
Delete"We are always being watched
ReplyDeleteWe force our eyes shut
Press the lids into the sockets of our skull
Try to remember what electricity tastes like "
A very dramatic presentation of life in today's world of technology
much love...
Thank you Gillena
DeleteI especially love those closing lines.......making birds swim across the screen. A movie of one's own making, behind closed eyelids. I LOVE "when the time is right, we will let them in." Very hopeful..........watch the mail, kiddo. An envelope is making its way to you......
ReplyDeleteThank you Sherry - we look forward to that envelope arriving xo
DeleteThe sweat of newsprint on cold food----this line bites like dark and deep cold...Alice is filling up a hard life with so much imagination....great write!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sreeja
DeleteLike this depiction that we always have a choice:
ReplyDeleteWhen the time is right
We will let the world in.
Superb piece, Jae!
Thanks very much Khaya
DeleteLike all of yours, to be sipped not slurped.
ReplyDeleteThanks Colonialist
DeleteYou have captured the feelings of love and loss so perfectly, with each word, I remember, and then like folding clothes fresh from the dryer, I fold the memories and put them away. We have been there, I can't even say it is a nice place to visit, but the feelings are vivid and will last a lifetime. Beautiful, sad write. Sometimes "breath" is all we have, little one.
ReplyDelete