moving through a third-person existence.

for Devons' photo contest..

a tiny man surrounded by a tiny world

scurries round the giant clocktower

that ticks away his hours, daily,

Big Ben intoning the times

he will eat his sarnies, drink his tea, 

dutifully following his role as laid out 

by all the starchedcollar tie-wearers that came before

never a pip, never a tut, never an outward sign of otherness

yet, unbeknownst to those he shares 

this little piece of the anthill with,

he lives a wilder life inside:

he scales the giant skyscrapers of his dreams,

while drinking deep of late-night ambrosia;

he sails the oceans around his soul and 

touches the stars with trembling fingertips;

all the while safely ensconced within other people's words...

his physical lips never truly imbibe the world round him

just the ones he wears in his mind

Reviews

[alan peter kelly]

Alan likes...Alan thinks this is about HIM!!! :O :) i can relate...this is ambrosia in itself with its endearing language transcendent of the possible bias of my having known you for so long...dreamers eh...i can stay in bed for days and write or be anywhere my mind may choose at any given time...it is my life...but like all life...it takes and learns and possibly adds some new dimension or twist from the wisdom of what it sees and soaks up every speck like gravy on a plate to one who is hungry for that which has texture / taste / and reflects the pleasure of being...

[Moonflower]

I loved this, you did a wonderful job.

[Pax Analog]

Ah, I see you are conjuring a scenario from a photo -- fun!

This is a good response to the Big Ben image, and has the savvy of clockwork, the dutiful "ant," w/the fevered antennae of fantasy.

It's a sobering miniature portrait of "normalcy," as well, that surface deception and abstraction that doesn't truly exist.

The poem also counsels writers to do work that extends the daily adventure, and doesn't merely escape from doldrums.After all, there are writers w/lives like clerks, and there are writers w/lives like adventurers, who build on real life edges, rather than only compensating for a lack thereof.

Pip pip, tut tut -- there goes another tie burned (they cut off the flow of blood to the brain)!

[R J Askew]

Marvellous stuff. We should be able to eat Big Ben and all other city buildings. You should see some of the stuff the archs are throwiing up in Lunnon ... noooooo class. There is brand new building near Wren's St.Stephen's Walbrook that is about 20 times bigger, yet looks as classy as a steel and matt black TV table. 70th anniversay of the first bombing raid of the Battle of Britain today. A Spitfire outside St.Pauls.

[D.R. Wilsey Jr.]

An excellent write with some amazing word choice (ensconced has always been a personal favorite) and beautiful imagery.

"he sails the oceans around his soul and
touches the stars with trembling fingertips;"

What an incredible image. Thank you for the beautiful read.

[FlawedByDesign]

You and Corey seem to have a hold on Devon's group. The stuff you come with by looking at a picture is outstanding. I have trouble drawing words from a picture, but you seem to do it so effortlessly. The world you created lives and breathes, even if it is within the tiny man's mind. The imagery, though drawn from a picture, stands on its own atop the picture that inspired it.

Great work :)

[miSS LEaf]

wowww, i can't believe we both said skyscrapers!
this poem shows your artistic ability to the fullest, Jen, sooo classic and classy~

[Robin]

you tapped into another level on this one. the tone, the "feel" ...

[Crowley]

Oh...wow...this is amazing and I do not know if I have the gumption to write for this picture after reading this. Who the hell do you think you are.....spoiling the rest of our good time with this perfection....lol. this was terribly cool, pardon my rant, but you just raised the bar my dear.