Transformation

A glance into my own life..

Days turn to lives
And years into yellowish, brown leaves.
Time can take a full stop when it wants
At some old, familiar places
Where we no longer live.

On a depressing and misapprehended afternoon
Invisible crows bark and Unknown birds squeak.
Lost, long familiar noons each as similar as the other
Were lived here in peace and futuristic search.

Baudelaire and Steinbeck are companions today
With the wonderfully smart Mac.
Their were days when I had no Mac's or
even dreams of owning one.
Poetry was a jumble of words
Only to read after intellectual stimulations
When smart friends were around.
Times when Isla Negra did not mean Black Island to me
and Neruda was a name and a book in father's book shelf.

Oh how I miss those ancient days,
When morning coffee was served by mom.
Dad used to hide beneath newspapers
but still managed to introduce me
To the world of Camus & Kafka.
Human Psychology was a household world
And my girlfriend could be one of my crushes.
Ever loving and caring sister always used to be around
With her stoic madness and insolent whimpers.

Today I sit here and endure the bites of the resilient mosquitoes
And ruminate about the past.
What all things I had but never realized
How even monotonous could be a favorite word.
Of how even a pillow and a blanket
Could remind you of the sunny past.

Perhaps I had not seen the world.
Perhaps I had not known you as much.
Perhaps I had not written my first line of verse.
Perhaps Life had not been mean as such.

Everything today is a continuum of the past.
Familiar sound and familiar touches.
I am getting back into the exoskeleton
Of my half million year old past.

© Nothing Personal. December 29, 2010.

Author's Note

I have used the word "past" multiple times, deliberately. The last line of the fourth stanza is oxymoronic in its sense, it means the opposite to emphasize the emotion. "Isla Negra" is a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

The poem is a trip to my past too. Those old memories of comfort in a warm house with a dear Grandmother taking care of me and sister. Age teaches us to be thankful for all the kind people in a life. I like the story you weaved in your words. Thank you for the outstanding poem.
Coyote

[trainwreck]

Thats an interesting work. I personally think that the past isn't exactly being reminsced on, but rather analyzed with clearer, emotion-filled eyes. Its a nice take on the past.

[OT]

a very thought provoking poem!! makes us question what we have and do and we want to have and do, nice and powerful!!!

[paul]

such a feeling to this powm
remarkable wrtiting

[Sarah McConnaughey]

It's sad that we never realize what we have until it's gone. This is a great poem that really makes you think of and appreciate the past. I found myself thinking of my own past, my childhood, while I read this and all the things I miss from it; mostly the simplicity. Well done and thank you for sharing.

[Kimberly]

This is wonderfully written and offers a deep insight into the person you were before and also the person you are now. A person, now, that ruminates and looks backwards into a more simple time but is grateful for the lessons, and a person, then, that maybe took them for granted as they were happening.

Very clear write. Very good.

[Marie Harrison]

I'm in awe of this poem. It's so powerful. Your life before you discovered poetry. I love how you depict your life before poetry and how it's evolved since it's discovery. I loved the literary references too. This pulled me into my own past too being nostalgic.

[Tai Chi Italy Take Two]

This was such a pleasure to read NP, so poetic, so introspective and so so true in that our past shapes our today. I loved your oxymoronic line!

Happy New Year to you and yours

Smiling at you

Tai

[Undying Glory]

this was great work, very powerful. it's amazing what we can come up with when we reminisce, no? thought this was very unique and you've opened a window into your life with this one. believe me, we all like what we see!
and that oxymoron you mentioned really did make this one cool, don't think i've read much poems with oxymorons here.
wonderful work here! you've done well indeed!

[Jeffrey Gershom]

Reflecting on the past can be hard for some, others are indifferent. For me, the past is a bit of everything. As I read the poem, it did remind me of happier times. Especially when I did get a Mac; now don't laugh, it was a Fat Mac 512K memory back in 1985. lol That was a fun memory. We do change over time and remembering the past will hopefully keep us on the right course.
Good job. And like some of the other reviewers: Happy New Year.

[Sara Mercury]

Wow. You are as gifted as you are cute. We all have these moments throughout our lives, about home and family. Yours sounds like a very good one, compared to those who have not had it as well. The way you describe your past, your home, and the ones you love, you are a very fortunate person indeed! Happy New Year to you!

All the best for 2011--
Sara...