Look Alive

i swear to god, kid.
sometimes you look at me,
and it feels like
the moment that followed the fading
of Audrey Hepburn's last
breath from the world.

i am not the man i was supposed to be.
i am not anything anymore.

and no one ever tells you
that the lies we teach to children
are all that sustain them in the end.
the only truth that ever was
burned
before any grownups could know it.

there is no recourse, baby.
it's all ice and riptide.

now
look at me.

Reviews

[Ariel B.]

This is incredible! It's like so many of the best things about so many of the best songs. I could never have described that feeling so well as "the moment that followed the fading/of Audrey Hepburn's last/breath from the world" - such a perfect summation of the impact of a hole. And I love that her name is the only thing capitalized in the entire poem.

[Lilly Negoi]

vicious circles smeared with adulthood...

[MAC]

sometimes we want those lies and we cling to them like a security blanket so we have someone to blame later on. sometimes not. great poem!! you native to rochester? lived here since i was 5.

[Elizabeth]

To the lies that sustain us... and to the riptide sucking us out into the violent seas of adulthood. Loved this. Short, sweet, balanced and unnerving.

[Alicante lullaby]

All ice and rip tide
i loved the irony in
the lies we teach to children
are all that sustain them in the end
kudos...lovely.

[Robin]

powerful symbolism , this a deep look into the casting of our roles upon this stage of ice and riptides ...

( Audrey ... sigh )

[OT]

circular motions - no recourse just riptide - mental waves - look at you now indeed! nice! favourite lines - "that the lies we teach to children
are all that sustain them in the end.
the only truth that ever was
burned"

[Nobody.]

Nother powerful piece. Damn good.
Cheers!

[NoneOfYourBusiness akaK..]

the lies we teach to children
are all that sustain them in the end.

it comes full circle~that it does~

[Saraplenty]

As a small girl my grandmother would say, "When you grow up you're going to be Miss America". Somehow to this day I cannot stave off that underlying disappointment.

I think I am finding a truth that will sustain me.

I love how your words provoke actual thought.