Adrift

image by Ken Simm http://www.redbubble.com/people/Kenart

On days when

I'm neither here nor there

Adrift in a sea of senseless noise

Battered by waves of unrecognizable emotion,

Floating, just floating.

On days when I have

That faraway look

When you call my name,

Just know, you may have to call again

before I come back to you.

Reviews

[Delmar Cooper]

The poem floated my boat. Once, as a boy I stood on the porch watching raindrops fall form the eaves. I don't know at what point I came to believe the raindrpops were stationary and I was rising, but I do know at that point I fell off the porch. You poem knocked me off the porch

[Emily B]

Falling off the porch is one of the surest ways to know if is poetry

[Delmar Cooper]

Being knocked on your a*s is another.

[alan peter kelly]

Poetry is tearing something up and making it into something else... sometimes, anyway.

[Throwing Romeo]

Wow this hits home...
Several years ago i was
In despair and you lifted me
up with understanding and
kind words.
R.

[Emily B]

Oh, I really needed to come back to words like these. Thank you so much.

[Cherrie Palmer]

Yes the daydreams of childhood never end only grow as we slow down.

[alan peter kelly]

Hello Emily. This ghost town still houses treasures. They are more than memories and or history. I miss Ed Hart and Selene Skye Deme so very much I was able to say goodbye to my most treasured muse Selene. Ed said his goodbyes by I've been gone not to greener pastures just repulsed by what monstrosity the internet has become. I know we had a bond that separation and time and no last goodbyes could change I see no afterlife only what we shared what is as beautiful and real today as it was yesterday and Ed is immortalised in print...a time will come when I find way to thank him for each lesson and gift he gave beginning when you all took me in wrapped literary hearts and arms around me as family I was am will always be in awe of you and everyone who empowered and elevated me as peer my goodness how providence brought me here how one then two then every one who are so part of what I have creatively become I will come back and show loyalty give time I need not reminisce for something gone or missed it is still here, will always be here. Ed was a prophet. One part of both our histories was so mutual it could not do anything but bond us who have lived lives worth living I know if I dropped dead right now my final seconds would not include regret. We did not just survived our darkest pasta...we transcended them and he made me realise as teacher I have more to give before I go.. I do miss Ed Hart so. Somehow he fell of my friend list radar must have been a glitch. I was away for several years and on return I noticed he applied to be my friend. They're online words we never stopped being friends I pressed the "accept" button but because he's gone and his son has not returned to... anyway,.... I'll find a way need to access things only friends list lets me see. It was his wish I was not to know that he'd take sick and as much as I try find peace in one last goodbye if I can at least get back to how it was when his brilliant mind and heart and spirit existed with his life force. I owe so to Ed, to you, to others too. I was so privileged to be a peer with poetic luminescence I'm in tears...they are fruitless...and like the the everything's along this long and lucky to survived then somehow grown into another life..I must just them flow, then go, then find some way to contact Ed's family and sort this out I need to see EVERYTHING Ed was I think there must be a message somewhere he's left for me. I know Ed. He would have made a contingency. His friend request was purposeful. Everything Ed Hart did...was purposeful. I will come back and more of you Emily. Will spend substantial time here I need to do that. I'm on Allpoetry now. Alan Peter Kelly. The internet has turned into a cow dung show I've been in real life on creative projects, several local feature films, friendly street poets where I'm pre-covid published at least once in each year's annual. I know I'll find more inspiration reading every who show me love and made me realise my potential. If those who I revered so honoured me as peer, I must have been doing something right. Our collective in the Net's infancy was a powerhouse...I looked around you all were an elite not by design just by the unity with which you gifted me as part of that which even now gives strength to me my real life peers quite often do not like me I'm from a World Ed and and I had no choice but sometimes reflect upon and expose because as elders it is was and shall always be to not expect to change the world but change ourselves then lead by example. To deny the part of our lives which in part made him and makes me what I am today can neither be hidden nor denied. I felt such genuine affection from and for our unique creative family. Out here, I know they don't need to like me. As with the visual art scene, my tattoos, history etched in literature and visual art I can't nor would ever want escape my truth. As elders it's our job to teach the lessons that we learned from our mistakes. To lead the way for those or even just the ONE who will inevitably at some stage before the end of time serendipitously happen upon a piece and take some solace from that read away. Just as I was told by knowing peers in the arts how I needed not expose myself because the arts are often shallow and will judge I took their advice on board and exposed the truth in art which is imperative in everything a creative must do. One Gallery Director not only was surprised by my revelation in a public speech he gave me such support from that point on i mean, just as now I share the pages in some literary collections which poets I once read in books when I was in grade school. I am a peer with those who taunt me how to write....I now have shared gallery space walls with some great Australian artists who I looked up to in my youth. We're friends. It still astounds me. I worked very hard to get here. Still have much to do before I'm done with turning my history into something in the most opposite of what I once was bloom. Your poetry is radiant. I'm glad I came and read this one today. I've prattle on I know. You may not read this for some time. Please, when you do Emily, let me know how you are, and where you are of course, you're still here but I want to catch up and engage at least a little more with you. I know I'm gone to find some inspiration in each golden block within this literary treasury. Must spend less time in today's internet, where fascism is on the rise and Adolph Hitler is not rationalised in some quarters of American life, but glorified as the sort of "socialist" that apparently "Liberals" wishes they were. I have no politics. I believe in Democracy. What's happening will not go away because I avert my eyes but...observance of the the repetition of mistakes of how we're doomed to repeat what we forget will not change a thing. I need to find my poetic mojo again I got ten comments at Allpoetry today. Ten notifications told me that the block of poems I put up there, they were changed in accordance which a system they have there which shows practically what best words and formations to use for more professional production. It does not apply in every case. I sometimes leave a poem be because it's meaning would lose an important facet and I don't want a single flaw no systematic universal rating will change my mind's eye mind on certain works that are in most cases already in print. Of course, I will amend some for future reprints in different publications. I still prefer online as my learning place and in print, you know, the tactile feel, the smell of walking into a book shop...the dog ears...the slight breeze when one flicks through pages...see? those last few words...I see a glimmer of something there. I write every day. and once again I thank you for existing and for your generosity, your art, your respect of which I give you twofold In return. We have not engaged in such a time. My respect and consideration has not nor will ever change. Bonds don't disappear... don't go away...sometimes they're misplaced in amongst the piles of other creative endeavours...yes..in my real life...my culture...the establishment, the scene, the chin wagging old money not wittery..I need their love and acceptance like I need another nose on top of my nose. They give me respect. I earned it. It cannot be denied. Begrudging or otherwise. They must accept what I won't accept nor need from them. I give some art away. One occasion, you must understand how much cover money...I could well do without tearing a fifty dollar note up in the middle of some posh do dripping of diamonds penny pinching millionaires who want me to discount up to fifty percent a piece to purchase as they guzzle the free champagne and quaff down the posh party pies I don't do it out of spite I get a kick at seeing their collective faces KNOWING how word gets around its both meaningful of how art is not about aspiring to wealth. It reinforces what a lot of the art scene/society believes in the first place but it also built a upon my crafted public persona, impact and mystique. I turn it around. At poetry performances I have released so need not read so then I can use drama and not from spite or hate or pay back or anything negative other than psychology...I am more impactful in gesture, in eye contact, in meaning, depth, in seeing what comes naturally and using it to my advantage...when I look into eyes it's in conjunction with linguistic emphasis, in me faces the prejudice knowing the eye contact can be unsettling because it has psychological power that seems from their minds. It's not fear not hate, it's ignorance, misunderstanding, not easily changed but with consistency, understood...over time. Impact is good. Giving an audiences senses a shake is good. Having them in the palms of my hands is not powerful...it's empowering... it's real..it's me.. it's good. I respect and love them all each and every one idiosyncratic, interesting, essential to the collective health of any creative collective and community. I used to think then parasitic...blushers..while must scrimp and scrape and I do not believe in grants because with grants and funding comes some kind of beholdenment and well...at first I broke even as independent, second...broke even but my works were worth more but still I put on a show, food grog special entertainment like burlesque and music forms friends who give a hundred bucks and few bottles of grog for favours I've done then in the past. The next show will be my last. It's a big song and dance and while respect is fine I'll invariably break even because the cost of everything from material to venue to grog to food to entertainment people remember to electricity to advertising and time in management and organising and of course creating...no...I'll paint...will let AI do that because robots do everything better now apparently...actors, screenwriters, studying, novels, poetry almost everything creative has become something everyone with an app or a little tech savvy can create and pat themselves on the back like their all geniuses and worked very hard for their entire lives building to a point of peak performance no no no no...ten, fifteen minutes, maybe less..."I did that, it's a masterpiece, I'm a a genius...that poem... it's perfect.. publishable...I did that..I'm a genius...see that Nobel Prize Winning Novel? I did that ..I'm a bloody genius. Noel Coward once wrote something like thousands of people are talented...they may as well be congratulated for having eyes in their head " He also wrote "I like long walks, especially when they're taken by people I dislike.". I thought about you today Emily..you're still an inspiration. Be well. Be blessed as you existence in my existence has been a blessing to me. I'm not going to any hereafter just yet mate, but..if I DO happen to get run over by a bus well ..this particularly extensive stream will have been perfectly timed..

[Emily B]

I ran away. My world came crashing down and I thought my words would come back. And when I ventured very near it was just lecherous old men who wanted sex with words. So I've been very practical but I miss the flying. And I've been so angry at reality television and coworkers who won't stop talking because I haven't found my words again. I've been exhausted and heartsick but coming here tonight and finding words like these. It seems like a miracle. Love to you.

[Emily B]

We were pioneers once.

[alan peter kelly]

Historical context is what makes pioneers noted for what never ceases to be Emily. Lesser humans may forget that. That's THEIR job. What we were, are, even those of us have passed over, and shall always be...is what is entirely possible...we were the the first. When a small, phenomenal circle, including Ed...and Selene, took me in, encouraged and wrapped their poetic arms around what remained of all previous doubt about myself...I knew I was a part of something very special. I will be more creative on all fronts including here once my life changing payout drops into my bank account. May take a few months but I'm going nowhere. x

[Bhuyanshi Talukdar]

Your poem is very poignant and captures the feeling of being lost in one's thoughts and emotions. The use of metaphor, such as the sea and waves, adds depth and texture to the piece, and the repetition of "floating" creates a sense of detachment and disorientation. It's a powerful reminder that sometimes we all need a little extra patience and understanding from those around us when we're feeling overwhelmed or disconnected. Thanks for sharing your work!

[Zatoichi]

This is dated 2009; how did I not read this before🧐?

Your poems are light and delicious food for the soul and I am grateful to partake.

Your words illustrate the beauty in vulnerability and the strength in honesty in the most humble yet confident manner. Thank you.

I pray the New Year is one of health, peace and prosperity for you and yours. Last but most of all, congratulations on becoming a grandmother.

[Robert Haigh]

Yes, we all have such days, I think! My wife often has to call my name more than once before I hear her! lol!

[Emily B]

Thanks for stopping here to read :)

[Geodan]

This poem is so real for me. Sometimes I am just floating. This is beautiful! Keep on writing!

[ChocolateBird]

This is a truly touching piece of writing... great job and keep up the wonderful work!

[cooncomemasi]

beautifully done, you captured those "adrift" moments in such a concise way. keep em coming

[ROXANE DORSEY]

this is a very nice poem and thanks for sharing your talent.

[Emily B]

thank you so much