Outline of a Man

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Tue, 08 Feb 2022
  • 680 reads
8 comments
 

 

From a distance

I’ve seen you before

You’re a person from my past

Or maybe in a film

A man with two names

He was always running

Running towards a place

Where the trees form

A tunnel of secrets

 

I wonder which one

He uses now

I only see an outline

A scrapbook of sparks

Black smudges here and there

I remember now

That he dealt in forces

But there was so much 

Still to learn

 

My memory morass

Wires, oxidised

Worn by all the

Unremarkable times

From a distance

You look like him

Maybe just your outline

I remember now

That he dealt in frequencies. 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I can identify with your words Jane. It's amazing how many people I see that look like someone I've known, but can't always place where from. Then there's others where I've been tempted to approach and been shocked to find out it's not really them, almost like meeting their twin.

Glad I'm not the only one. smiley

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ha ha, yes me too Jenny. I wonder if when you reach a certain age you've just seen everyone, or at least their relation so a huge number of people actually look familiar, although you may not remember from where. Thanks for your commentsmiley

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

So much to wonder at in this first reading, though will have to come back tomorrow and have another go to get deeper.

I love "running" being on two lines, reinforcing the impression of endurance, distance, breathlessness, tiredness.

Also "scrapbook of sparks" is an amazing phrase. I love that. Just on a visual level, the thought of the dull thick soft black paper in scrapbooks being like a starlesss sky with meteors burning, caught there forever, page after page.

I liked "memory morass" too, the repeated m sounds melding together like your oxidised wires, short circuiting as you try to go back to the past.

And "dealt in frequencies" I really want to understand all the meanings of that.

It all made me think of you seeing this person like a glitch. Outline of a Man could also be a terrible insult, or the chalk round where a body lay

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks for reading and your comment Di_Hard. I often see this man in my neighbourhood, his outline reminds me of somebody from the very distant past. Somebody I barely remember except for his energy, if that makes sense. Recently I've become much more aware of the energy people give off, rather than simply what you can see or hear. A scrapbook of sparks is all I can recall of certain people, the precious ones who've disappeared. 

 

Submitted by celticman on

a dreamlike progresson. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks for reading and commenting celticman. And thank you to the giver of cherries. 

 

Submitted by marandina on

"Where the trees form a tunnel of secrets.." "Perfectly oblique and so well done. Paul

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you Paul - 'oblique' I like thatsmiley