Ruins

Ruins

a stowaway of sorts

poems hidden in hatches

batches of old writings

with yellowed pages

gathering the dust

of experience

a packet of used pens

with nary a drop of ink

left within

and words i left without

knowing they would

be embers

that turned my life to ash

a phoenix poet

rising from nothing

writing about everything

wondering if anything saved

was worth the risk

of going back

to the pages

one more time.

erin-cilberto

3/13/25

Reviews

[emmajoygreen]

Every letter laid is a breath of life itself, dear sir.
Truth and more in your thoughts and - in life.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, em. You are a kind soul.
j.

[Labella]

“ was worth the risk
of going back
to the pages
one more time”

Absolutely beautiful and introspective writing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Labella,
j.

[Amanda Reynolds]

I love the reflection, admiration, and the want to renew- I find inspiration in your words- thank you.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your very kind words, Amanda,
j.

[wilmilller]

About https://Weed-Eckladen.com: Eckladen of Bliss – Nature’s Remedy for Mind, Body, and Spirit.

[K. Louis]

I love the imagery in this poem..especially the idea of hidden writings and ashes turning into embers. It's raw and honest, and i think it captures a deep part of your creativity.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind review, K.
j.

[Vol]

Erin,
About a decade ago, I started making some rather fancy leather journal covers. Prices started at fifty bucks each. I sold them all as I made them, when I decided to checkout the possibilities offered by ETSY. Three hundred PAGES of other people doing the same thing, many of the same quality as my own... three hundred PAGES!
All the liberal arts are buried under an online tsunami pf participants till no one stands out anymore, I know a ton of poets as good as any I taught drom textbooks. In my lifetime there have been architects whose name everyone knew, poets, novelists, and painters, too. I posted a poem about this very thing within the last week called Vacuum. I have poems I wrote in the sixties... and friends who brag about getting something published in a local rag.
As you say, though, the risk we face today of being haunted by past writings is not dissimilar from being haunted by something I wrote last week. Am I wrong to think we are probably spitting into the wind. Do we who are poets today only write for ourselves? I do. I had a professor of modern poetry tell me in 2002 that he was leaving the profession because no one reads poetry any longer.
So many on here have important insights into life in the twenty-first century, but all these voices just fade in the wind.
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I really appreciate what you have said here...and I wish we wouldn't be fading.
j.

[Thomas W Case]

Beautiful imagery. I can see it and feel it.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Thomas,
j.

[redd Brick Keshner]

A real archive and one holding treasures both raw and polished… now that is a space that invites periodic revisiting and reacquainting. 🙏🏻🕊

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Freds, I wish more would visit that archive...but who knows?

[redd Brick Keshner]

I do too, j. There is hope 🙏🏻🕊
Freds.

[Stella Armour]

Maybe, maybe not Jacob.
Sometimes i cringe when i go back to read my earlier poems but then they were all a process of learning, and very occasionally with only slight editing i find one or two are not so bad after all and i re-post them.
I had no interest in poetry until i was in my early 60's so not so many to trawl through as possibly yourself and other life long writers...

Stella

[jacob erin-cilberto]

From all I have read from you, you have a wealth of beautiful works...
j.

[Stella Armour]

A very kind thing for you to say Jacob, thank you..

Stella

[Sami Khalil]

Good poems are preserved for posterity; the poet lives on after his expiration date.
They bring back memories when read again and again.
Long live the poet and poetry.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

And hopefully our poetry will outlive us and not just die at the same moment.

[Soren]

A poem for poets. This is a feeling I have had so many times. Literally it applies to all writers but in metaphor to all people where the pages of our lives deserve to be returned to in memory and reviewed. A lovely write Jacob

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Such a perfect reply...thank you so much, Soren.
j.