When Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife Goes Wrong
You dream about a layover
and drinking tea at a café
that’s like your teenage hangout
but different
There’s a stranger you want to impress
and your bags have all been lost
You’re trying not to panic
because you forgot
to claim them
But then they come
opened and spilled
with everything strewn
in every direction
Not just clothes
but a yard sale of junk
and nothing fits
where it once did
and nothing feels like yours
You leave the mess
but vow to come back
You can’t sort it out
and your bus is arriving
It takes the long loop
of a familiar route
Just you and the driver
You sit half-way back
You watch sunset turn to dusk
as if you never left
as if there was no difference
between leaving
and coming home
____Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
April 22nd, 2017 9:07 pm
oh, that last five lines. perfect, just perfect.
April 23rd, 2017 8:47 am
Love it
April 23rd, 2017 10:33 am
as if there was no difference
between leaving
and coming home… just beautiful!
April 23rd, 2017 11:56 am
You watch sunset turn to dusk
as if you never left
as if there was no difference
between leaving
and coming home
This is so incredibly touching…!
April 23rd, 2017 12:41 pm
I’m in complete love with your title. What an idea.
April 23rd, 2017 12:53 pm
“as if there was no difference between leaving and coming home….” oh, so lovely.
April 23rd, 2017 12:55 pm
I find the title intriguing as well. The phrase “no difference between leaving and coming home” is evocative. I’m still thinking about that!
April 23rd, 2017 3:19 pm
So much of life seems circular, doesn’t it? So often we go….and then end up in the same place we thought for sure we had left.
April 23rd, 2017 4:01 pm
This is an instant favourite for me, Colleen. I am intrigued by the title and the narrative contains a kind of dream-like surreality while remaining completely plausible.
April 23rd, 2017 6:11 pm
and nothing fits
where it once did
and nothing feels like yours
Nothing seems right when it comes to trying times much against the clock! Rightly so Colleen!
Hank
April 23rd, 2017 7:28 pm
Divinely thought-provoking writing.
April 24th, 2017 5:57 am
How the reader can be right there with you as you make that journey back home. Beautifully written.
April 24th, 2017 9:56 am
I love this. Beautifully described! And I think she’ll find, when the bus arrives where it’s going, that she doesn’t need those outgrown clothes any more anyway.
April 25th, 2017 9:54 am
I really love the title! Such a beautiful poem 🙂
April 26th, 2017 1:47 pm
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