Truancy
I’ve been spending
my mortality
like rolling dice
hoping for sixes
but getting twos
I’ve been present
to my absence
guarded by
my silence
You can’t even spot me
walking to the mailbox
Like a bird losing habitat
I sing less and listen more
I’m my father’s homebody
and my mother’s skeptic
floating through days
like a ghost squeaking floorboards
Eating chocolate before lunch
and scrubbing burnt pans
At night I pray for dreams
and sleep out on a limb
Ever since they chip-sealed
the Blue Ridge Parkway
I avoid the scenic route
I hear every car
like it’s breaking news
ready to expose
my isolation
________Colleen Redman / Poets United
May 6th, 2018 8:44 am
Being a conformist is dull, stick to what you are doing it sounds great to me.
May 6th, 2018 9:56 am
There’s nothing wrong with retreating when you need to…and one Dove chocolate after breakfast will always cure what ails me. 🙂
May 6th, 2018 10:59 am
How i love “like a bird losing habitat i sing less and listen more.” Me, too. Indeed, we are all losing habitat.
May 6th, 2018 11:22 am
Love this especially “Like a bird losing habitat I sing less and listen more.”?
May 6th, 2018 11:28 am
A wonderful write, I entered your space, and I felt your “heart.”
May 6th, 2018 2:07 pm
I love this…..
‘I’ve been present
to my absence
guarded by
my silence’
I too have learned to sing less and listen more….
May 6th, 2018 2:27 pm
I like this poem. It gives me an idea of life as it is. This poem makes me want to sit down and have a ‘kaffee klatsch’ really. I admire someone who eats chocolate before lunch. Smiles. And I wonder how many of us really roll sixes. Do keep writing, and think about a book in your future.
May 6th, 2018 2:27 pm
I love the lines:
‘I’ve been present
to my absence
guarded by
my silence’;
‘floating through days
like a ghost squeaking floorboards’
and there’s nothing wrong with eating chocolate before lunch!
May 6th, 2018 3:19 pm
I love this line:
“like a bird losing habitat, I sing less and listen more.”
May 6th, 2018 4:08 pm
Love the way you give a reflection of life but just slightly askew. It draws me back into the poem again and again.
May 6th, 2018 4:33 pm
Ah yes, those dice, they must keep rolling as the alternative is not so good. Enjoyed your poem.
May 6th, 2018 4:35 pm
Mary, maybe a second book. Here is the first: https://www.amazon.com/PACKING-SUITCASE-AFTERLIFE-Colleen-Redman/dp/1635342872
May 6th, 2018 6:34 pm
nice refection of life.. I can relate a bit to this… nicely written
May 6th, 2018 7:46 pm
I too am getting more hermit-like with age! And can join you in both the chocolate before lunch and scrubbing the burnt pans (usually burnt because I get caught up in reading poetry on my computer!).
Beautifully related, Colleen.
May 7th, 2018 6:17 am
I hear every car like its breaking news… wow! And chocolate works- before breakfast…after..again!
May 7th, 2018 7:44 am
A thoughtful write. It left me thinking about how life is a roll of the dice…
May 7th, 2018 11:40 pm
I love where this took you. I followed on your thought path. Unexpected and wonderful.