Second Hand Chance
I’ve written this poem before
It’s like a movie I saw long ago
that I can’t remember the end to
There’s a worn pathway that’s easy to find
but there’s also amnesia
and I can’t take my eyes off
the point of remembering
as it is happening again
I flip TV channels
while the monarch butterflies
fly 3,000 miles fighting weather
and songbirds raise their pitch
to be heard above the human chatter
Second movies are like second teeth
We call second-round children grand
because they bring a second wind
to the lucid dream of life
Some of us will have second childhoods
Our car keys will be taken away
We’ll eat too much sugar
and walk around in one slipper
I’ve written this poem before
I’ve written this poem before
But I can’t remember the end
_______Colleen Redman___Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads
May 11th, 2015 6:48 am
You cannot remember the end because there is no end. My vision for a second childhood involves more saying what I want and stamping my feet.
May 12th, 2015 9:52 am
Interesting, all the permutations of ‘second’!
May 12th, 2015 9:59 am
just live i nthe beautiful memories
May 12th, 2015 10:38 am
Sometimes its a good thing if you can’t remember the end.. perhaps its a second chance? 🙂
Beautifully penned..!
xoxo
May 12th, 2015 10:42 am
This brought forth my mother’s condition.. she has a tendency to forget everything.. a sad condition….
May 12th, 2015 12:25 pm
Powerful, powerful stuff. Especially that last line.
May 12th, 2015 7:03 pm
it reminded me of dementia too. still looking for oneself. i especially loved the end repeated lines. sigh.
May 12th, 2015 8:54 pm
What power and what truth!
“…I can’t remember the end.” Brilliant!
May 12th, 2015 9:28 pm
Thanks for visiting. I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
May 13th, 2015 6:21 am
Yes… this is interesting! I feel like I’ve written many poems before, so you had me from the first line, and then all the rest is awful truth as well.
May 13th, 2015 7:22 am
The circular nature of this poem bites like a saw into preconceptions and lays out that valley of monotony that in its blandness seems to enforce if not cause amnesia–so forgettable, life without purpose…anyway, a poem that speaks of sameness turns out to be in itself quite different.
May 13th, 2015 5:59 pm
I went back and retread this several times.
What an impact it makes!
May 13th, 2015 9:36 pm
[…] 7. Second movies are like second teeth / Second children we know to be grand / To the lucid dream of life / they bring a second wind / Some of us will have second childhoods / Our car keys will be taken away / We’ll eat too much sugar / and walk around in one slipper – Read more of Second Hand Chances HERE. […]
May 14th, 2015 5:51 pm
Re the penultimate stanza: Yeah, tha’ll be me
Re the close: Perfect.
Nice work, CR.
October 31st, 2017 2:36 pm
As a great-grandmother … therefore on my third round… I still can’t remember the end. Perhaps for the best.