In My Pocket

Cherry

By onemorething

Mon, 11 May 2020
  • 1967 reads
8 comments
 

I carried the ghost of you 

home in my pocket, 

the filmy sides of the fog 

of you finding the seams.

 

Sometimes I roll my hand

around you, feel your anger

reforming to a cold pebble

from which I no longer seek warmth.

 

Occasionally I take you out and

we stare at one another, wordless,

having said it all before, and we are consoled

by the lack of mutual misunderstanding.

 

I show you the clock - the vacant slots

of minutes and hours, but we see

how time passes in your absence,

how it continues now you have stopped.

 

Image from wikimedia commons: 

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yoshitoshi_The_Ghost_of_Seigen.jpg

 

 

 

Certificate 15
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

This poem reminds me of when I was a child, how I would believe that everything in life had a soul, even down to a sweet wrapper left in my pocket. I could never throw anything away...even bus tickets. Mum was always having to go through my pockets and empty them, which really annoyed me at the time.. 

I suppose your poem represents having an invisable friend that only you know exists, I've been there many times and had many encounters and conversations with little creatures that weren't actually there, but through my childhood eyes were.

That's one of the reasons I liked your poem, because it reminded me of myself.

Thank you for sharing.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Hi Jenny, I think that's very sweet that you thought everything had a soul and therefore didn't want to throw it away. It's lovely too that it reminded you of that about yourself. Thank you for sharing that. In that sense, it doesn't really matter what I meant by it, it always interests me hearing what comes up for people when they read a poem. Thanks for reading and your lovely memory. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by littleditty on

the link - they'd make a Tarot pack or two, his art - memory attached to object, object to experience...and remembering, the object or memory morphing from a treasure I thought, brought home from a gallery, to a pocket watch, and back again - mysterious and the reflective mood, the energy objects can bring - 'consoled by lack..' line idea is wonderful... in that it made perfect sense a moment...lol...then double negative of it adds to the curiosity left your reader about subject/s and object/s, no matter - a curious remembering, ghosty but not a haunting. Liked!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Hi Nicky, memories are certainly tied to things or things to memories. I'm not sure which way round. I often think that about people who live in whitened minimalism, they must exist in their heads so much more, everything around me makes me think of something. And there is something too about the handling of things too, as if the memory has its own energy or is contained within it, and heavier. I like curious remembering. I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for commenting as I love your comments. 

 

Submitted by littleditty on

before shopping day...only benefit I can see is easier dusting. I am presently escaped from a spreadsheet, it has eight columns, x129 students, and each minimilistic little box has to have a number in it, some involving percentage calculations, some based on evidence based averages on work they haven't sent me. Im not allowed out until it is finished, then copied identically onto to another empty asylum somewhere called Onedrive. They have put me on a poem diet, I am allowed a comment now and then only, for procrastination purposes, no writing words whatsoever. Please write again! Lol. Nicky

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh yes, dusting, there is that I suppose. I don't mind pootling about with a cloth and feather duster though (hair in rollers, cigarette perched on bottom lip.) I feel bad for you. Spreadsheets are one thing, fairy data quite another and the onedrive...I am familiar with this mystery document container. Diets are bad for you, you know. They never work. You'll be comfort-bingeing on poems by the weekend. I have been doing extra reading and writing in what was my commute time and a lunch break that I now reward myself with daily. I hope you get the spreadsheet done soon and then you can get back to writing yourself. I'll look forward to it. 

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hi Rachel, catching up with reading after vainly trying to come up with something worthwhile to post and failing. Even Jessica seems to have lost her appeal.
Interesting how people's interpretations of your poetry differ. I have stopped analysing and just enjoy the richness of your language.

Best, Luigi x

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Luigi! Yes, I quite like the differing interpretations. But poetry can a little more enigmatic like that I suppose, lots of room to interpret with the backdrop of our own experiences. I am still very much enjoying the Jessica series by the way! Rachel x