in my seventh life

in my seventh life

 

 

lived,

Miss Kelly boxing our ears

in second grade

 

and the park across the street

the subway exit opens its mouth

and my dad walks out

home from work

the New York life

left behind

 

Illinois happens

flatland

rude awakening

Suburbs arise everywhere

High School finds me

an Emily Dickinson Catholic

sitting in Church or evading it

like it were a dodge ball

 

and then south

the sixties

a draft, very cold and calculating

heavy textbooks

thinking outside the box for the first time

and then looking at it wondering why

I stayed in there so long

 

feeling the air twenty years later

more books, finally a goal

a Master at indecision

then a Masters of some language

I already should have known better than I did

 

Years passed by

flipping pizzas

trying to understand my past lives

my current decade with extra cheese

burning desire

 

and years from then to now

finally a comfortable position

guiding others

years of more books

this time assigning them

assigning myself to a reason

 

now the years pass by too quickly

I look back at then, I look back at now

 

I look back at the future

reading a book that blurs

words that slip away

my mind overwhelmed

 

still looking back

farther and farther

from those first five lives.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

10/24/23

Reviews

[Sumaira Noor]

It Made me nostalgic! It reminded me of a beautiful series of memories.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Sumaira,
j.

[Sami Khalil]

An illustrious life with ups and downs, foggy situations then realizations, the achievements along with failures; such is life. Cats have nine
When we are born, we become a promise. When you die, you become a memory.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, a memory....thank you, Sami,
j.

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome sir Jacob

[Coyote Poetry]

I do like the logic of these words Jacob. I have used many lives. I wonder how many do I have left? Perfect dance of words and thoughts my friend.
Coyote

[jacob erin-cilberto]

when I look back, I think the same coyote...
How many left.
thanks,
j.

[FGFRANKLIN]

I think you are missing an "n" in the final line of the fifth stanza, "known"? Or perhaps it was intentional which would be quite amusing considering the line. At any rate, I enjoyed this autobiographical glimpse into yesteryear. It's like watching a flickering reel from a film projector bringing up clips from the past.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thanks for your catch, Fabian...will fix that immediately....I guess I just saw what I meant to type.

[FGFRANKLIN]

No problem. I often think I'm a better editor than a poet. Anyway, I am a careful proofreader.

[Kelly Scheppers]

My goosebumps are standing at attention, as I swallow hard the lump in my throat. This one's epic, J!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind words, Kelly...this poem really wrote itself...I had not much to do with it.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

This was indeed amazing Jacob and I feel each decade is so different from the last. It’s probably better that way otherwise there will be a very boring memoir for those that write one anyway

[jacob erin-cilberto]

too many lifetimes...thank you, Julie,
j.

[Julie McCarthy (juliespenhere)]

Never too many

[W. Barrett Munn]

Jacob, I really enjoyed being invited into your remembrances and emotions. Here’s to seven more.

Winston

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Winston, but I would have to be a Vampire to have seven more...could a vampire write good poetry if his life was at stake?

[W. Barrett Munn]

I get your point. Ouch.

Winston

[ROSALIND]

Excellent inspirational of everyday past life feeling vunable emotions..

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Rosalind.
j.

[andrew mitchell]

Brilliant Jacob. This reminds me of that song, the title eludes me, sung by Frankie Sinatra , when I was 64 it was a very good year ….. it was a very good year …. On reflection life becomes a reference, our time seems to fly by and it’s gone sadly but in reality it’s not that we have little time, it’s how we manage it and we waste so much time that we have. Daydreaming and watching television can erase your time quickly. Yes great poem so autobiographical.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Oh yes, "When I was seventeen"...
Yes, it is how we manage it.
j.