Anonymous

Anonymous

the poem grew up

in a decimated neighborhood,

of lawless hearts

words continuously gunned down

by the harshest detractors

day after bleak day

until it had no more figurative blood to bleed

and just ended itself

with a single shot

no ellipsis to augment

a possible Lazarus moment

the rock in front of its tomb

the lines like blinds

drawn tight and dark

and one or two poets

stood aghast,

mumbling prayers,

but having no clever words

to induce a proper service

eventually, no one remembered the poem  at all,

(its typed letters smudged from  fossilized tears) 

not even the poet who had

conceived it.

erin-cilberto

6/15/18

Reviews

[Lyn Anderson]

I guess it depends on why it is written. Whether it remains anonymous or not, the words were placed there for a reason

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Lyn.
j.

[Michael Oliver]

Ah yes - ah yes whatever we might hope for - it is as the writer says vanity vanity all is vanity
VEry well put Jacob

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Michael.
j.

[Jon Roggie]

The words are waiting. The time may come for recollection, or possibly a resurrection.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that is true...thank you, Jon.
j.

[Bacchus]

Math and faith
Yes, please

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, :)

[Chris Shaw]

I have hundreds of unfinished poems, ideas that came to me at odd times that I thought were worth keeping. I know where the file is, but never go back to it. They might as well be dead altogether and given a decent burial. Your poem reminded me of them Jacob.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing, Chris...
j.

[h d e rushin]

I remember that scene from "The Grapes of Rathe" starring a very young Henry Fonda, where they had to stop their migration westward to burry Grandpa. After covering him with dirt in the wilderness, someone was asked to say a few words..."he was just an old man, wasn't sick or nothing, he just died". Most of the poems ever written we stand aghast and mumble prayers over.....never to be seen again..Hell, I lost almost 200 when my hard drive crashed in 2015...……..and still don't miss them.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thanks for sharing, dana...
yes, those lost ones we don't even remember we wrote...wonder if they miss us?

[Jimmy Yetts]

Piercingly poignant.
Has that man-on-a-ledge feel.
Compelling work!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Jimmy.
j.