On You, Across The Table

We all want to believe our children will love us
Hold us, kiss us, stay with us,
and wrap their little hands around our fingers
Big eyes watch big people with big love

But they're a squirmy type
Run away, out of our arms
No matter how far we stretch

Exploring dust bunnies in corners
Carrying shoes to bury in the sand box
They all, will all, run away

And you see then,
Perhaps they are not yours.

Individuals behind those big eyes
And we, again, are left to watch
Like past loves left,
Mother, fathers, gone,
And a thousand friends,
drifted away

We own no one,
Our children owe nothing
And we will all realize how little we are
How alone we are

And in that we must find some happiness
We must find some truth
For them, for us,
For you

Reviews

[Nathan Strange]

Hey man, Charles, I've never read much of your stuff and I'm not gonna blow sunshine up your arse as you are the owner of the website. Let me tell you something pal, this is f*****g good mate. It sums up how I feel at the moment! I'm just sitting in front of my computer screen waiting for the computer to speak to me, waiting for reviews. I'm too tired to review at the moment, I can't think let alone read!
I have a beer in front of me sitting by the keyboard. My forehead is creased up, my eyes black, yet I sit here endlessly, waiting for inspiration to write something. I have this dying urge to want to produce just something, even if it's tedious, yet I know that I'm in no state of mind to write anything half decent.
I saw you were on line and thought, let me read something of Charles's for once. He is responsible for this site. Well man your words spoke to me, that last stanza;

Unable to maintain this moment
This connection
This intimacy
Required to record it
Such is the curse of a writer

[Diana Owen Busy with Li..]

I love how you wrote this piece it was a well worth read, I expecially liked this part

And staring across the table
I see you lost in the world of jumbled words
Wrinkled forehead
Tired eyes
The darkness outside
The table light, bubble of glow
Papers and pens
Tea and napkins
Bags and books

[TL Boehm]

As I was going through the plethora of read requests in my in box today - politely placed there by the NEW and IMPROVED cafe sorting mechanism - I - being my anal self thought - even though I know I have reviewed all this - perhaps I should check each on to be sure... And here I am - I missed one.
I love this because I have used this metaphor or rather this setting myself - visualizing my self in a lonely corner of the cafe...never saw YOU sitting across from me which is a good thing or I might have spilled my latte..
I especially relate to the final stanza. Writer wannabe that I be those last lines resonate.
What an honor to get a read request from you.

[Richard McLin]

This is a very good piece. I think every writer might feel like this at one point or another. You have told this poem perfectly, and the structure and flow is spot on. Great job.

Richard

[Gordon Greene]

The problem with being a writer is sometimes the experience is simply worth the write.

So if we're completely enthralled with the desire to write, do we write about what it's like to live, or do we live with the intention of writing, therefore defining life's outcome?

And then again... maybe I'm reading into your piece for the occasion to simply write some more.

Either way, writing and believing is more important than living, and this is a very good write... Gordon

[Emily B]

This is a lovely, conversational piece. I'm certain that everyone who writes or reads would agree with your words whole heartedly. Is it a curse that we spend our days writing and reading? It seems like more of a dream to me. . . to have words of my own, to have people who are willing to read them, to feel like I have something worth sharing with the world.

[Rich Lampani]

This speaks to me in so many ways. I really like it. Thanks for the inspiration I needed today.

[Mae Bee]

The first lines hooked me in the mouth. both line a fishing hook and like being punched in the face.
It's universal for writiers. Feeling the intimacy of someone else across from you and being able to record everything.

[W Alt. Burns]

sigh. yep you've summed up every poets plight. good job.

[Captain Blackheart (The..]

A wonderful write.....:)