my tears in a jar

empty memories

sitting on the rock
of the person
I used to be,
contemplating
the half empty jar
of tears
I have left.
I shake it --
a maudlin snow globe
that chronicles her past.
I open it,
and spill out
a little more.

It is
an historical collection.
fit for a museum,
but  it's not
in mint condition,
and will continue
to evaporate
over time,
like the whisps
of his memory,
encrusted on the rock
I will one day leave
entirely behind.

Author's Note

Reviews

[Paul Bell]

Oh there's a lot of pain about today. I would love to be a rock when my time is up. Sadly there are too many broken people in the world. Great way you put it into words.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you so much. I was happy with the way this one turned out.

[Inject Positivity]

So true and touching, we all have such moments and memories in our life, and your title of the poem "my tears in a jar" stands for those memories of heartbreak but the hopeful ending of the poem is so beautiful and leaves the reader with a positive thought that one day we will rise above from the painful past and tears that hides somewhere in our own world of heart... So beautiful...

Sincerely
Dhiman

[Lyn Anderson]

thank you so much, this is one of my more treasured recent writings.

[barleygirl]

This is so excellent & meaningful & precisely crafted. I love this: "a maudlin snow globe that chronicles her past" both becuz it's a great analogy, but also becuz you use "her" and thereby distance yourself (the narrator) from this jar of tears & memories, we can almost feel the intensity evaporating & transforming into something else besides the sadness it used to be. There are so many aspects of this message that mirror my own life at the current moment.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you. I am so glad you picked up on that. I have had a couple people think it might not have been on purpose.

[andrew mitchell]

a well written piece dear poet. the imagery so clear and the title was very clever for this poem.

[Lyn Anderson]

Well thank you, I appreciate that.

[V]

I love the words half empty jar of tears, I think they perfectly describe the feelings in your poem. Memories of things that had a strong impact on our lives are hard to forget, even though we want them to vanish entirely, they still might hide in any dark and deep place somewhere in the back of my mind, I can tell by experience. But as your positive and hopeful closing lines have already said, maybe some day our lives are filled with so much joy that we can let them go completely. Your poem provides such a marvellously calm and thoughtful mood, I could drink your words in and feel them myself, mostly because I can relate to the content.

[Lyn Anderson]

That is so wonderful, and exactly as I intended. Apparently this poem only confuses men.:)

[V]

Because men often really think differently, they sort of connect things in other ways than women do.

[Lyn Anderson]

So true, although, I guess, like me, you have been accused of "thinking like a man" on occasion. It is the curse of the woman who is strong and independent to be labelled as less than female.

[V]

Yes, I know. Though I often tend to get along better with men than with fellow females, maybe because they're less complicated in a way ^^

[Lyn Anderson]

Me too. Women friends are in short supply.

[redzone]

really nice written poem KL, one of my favorites from you, even though it has given me an achy heart thinking that there is still this "half empty" jar slowly evaporating, too slowly if I get to throw my 2 cents in...
one suggestions you may consider is the change the "her" to "my" since it is a very personal "history", your history, not "her" history as though you are somehow disattached from those tears.... but of course, unlike me who leaves you things to correct intentionally (honest), I may of course be misreading... in any case it is a minor thing to consider...

so KL do you need someone to come and ask you to get your butt off that rock of past regrets??? I know its a rough and dirty job, but someone has to do it... lol... should I go an d talk to that farmboy/cowboy??? I mean we need some distraction here!!! by the way, I liked the use of "maudlin" in this poem.. it is a good way to describe this snow globe full of tears... and unfortunately self pity (the definition of maudlin) does not evaporate, it sticks and remains until shattered... so KL me and the posse are coming to rescue your a*s from this rock... no worries the farmboy will be leading the charge!!! no worries KL, just me being my usual weird self...

redzone

[Lyn Anderson]

Yes dear, I meant to convey detachment on purpose -- as him and her are over -- and you got exactly how I meant the snow globe -- something that should not be kept. I am glad you like it. For me, the angry and bad memories are less and less, and that is the evaporation.

[Lyn Anderson]

and with that, you have inspired a poem -- I love your reviews ...:)

[Lydia Shutter]

The only memories that evaporate over time are the ones we WANT to forget. Those that are truly important to us hang around. I liked the metaphor here, KL. I am not in mint condition either...some days I am not even a gummy bear! :) I liked this one. Lydi**

[Lyn Anderson]

Thanks, Lydia, I think you got right away that I was referring to past bad memories, and nothing from the current relationship. And "mint condition" is a common expression here -- apparently not so in the U.S. You learn something new every day.:)

[Lydia Shutter]

Oh, I have heard "mint condition" before....I was just trying to be funny!

[Lyn Anderson]

oh, ok, Einstein pointed it out too, so I thought it wasn't commonly used there or something.:)

[Einstein Noodle]

creative half jar of tears ..for me a very original thought .. great lines: "a maudlin snow globe" and this bit:
"but it's not
in mint condition," ....love it! ;) did you mean to switch to third person in the first verse, tenth line? .. i know it is picky but should be "a historical " instead of an historical ...unless my lacking higher education puts me in the dark :)) first line so powerfully opens up the sdness in me ..the loss of confidence and knowing who we are is traumatic ..sometimes fatal ... closing lines with the dissolution of tears but briney crustaceans remain .. to drop off for sure tho it may take some time ... your poem took me to a road i have been over as many readers also have .. intricate weavings in a language that is universal ..enjoyed the read ..feel the sadness and hope ;)
E.

[Lyn Anderson]

As to your first question, yes, I intended to make it her as in him and her are ancient history and that her is no longer a part of me. As to your first question, as a Canadian, I hang on to the British way of spelling things in many instances, and this happens to be one of them, as in, we are both correct, just from different countries. The only Americanism I am accustomed to using most of the time is the Z in place of the S in words like recognise and scrutinise.

[Einstein Noodle]

ah! i wondered if that were not the case ...and thank you for my Canadian lesson for the day ..:)) much appreciate ..

[Lyn Anderson]

Yes, perhaps I should do a little Canadianism poem

[Einstein Noodle]

Yes! i think you should!! :)

[Papaya]

There's years of pain and hurt that go into filling our jars. They used to fill up quickly in the beginning but over time time do you find you cry less at the truly sad stuff? And isn't that in itself sad? That we become desensitized? Spill the tears from the jar, and release all the pain held inside. xx

[Lyn Anderson]

To the old hurts yes, and I don't think that is a bad thing, to finally empty the jar.

[Papaya]

Nope, not a bad thing at all. :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

sometimes tears can be beautiful, but the pain that brought them about is not...and the pain and suffering through the years makes us feel that the glass is not half-empty, but completely empty...

and there are no remains of the optimistic, loving person we used to be.

j.

[Lyn Anderson]

Everyone sees something different when they read someone else's pain. For me, this particular jar needs to be emptied, for the tears inside are of something that wasn't real. :)