Now, Where Did I Put My Mind?

In sane moments we regard only the facts, the case that is. - Thoreau

Matthieu Jehanno - Lost In My Mind

Most of the time I'm lost.

A victim of life's steep cost.

Never fitting in.

Sidestepping sin.

Unconsciously frozen in time.

Swapping a quarter for a dime.

But that's ok.

I know a different way.

Where night is day.

Where Hell's angel's pray.

Where fast fingers fly.

Where the world's lies die.

Where lost souls cry.

Sailing away.

Every damned day.

Where lissome strings light the way.

And soulful chords have the last say.

Feel, don't listen.

As interrogation lights glisten.

Listen, don't feel.

As broken hearts crouch and kneel.

Hail Mary Full of grace.

In the human race.

Our father who art in Heaven.

Tossing loaded dice that never quite add up to seven.

The music does my talking

Like lame mutes walking.

No ifs, ands or buts.

Just the right stuff.

A sort of tempestuous bluff.

A place where I often float.

Without benefit of sanity's lifeboat.

Where I can be myself.

On a loner's bottom shelf.

Where castaway, musical notes of discord fly.

And lithe lips don't lie.

With a sprinters pace.

Unable to finish my own race.

Unconscious.

Standing before a man named Pontius.

A place where I'm with my own kind.

Feeling my way with a stick of almighty notes as though I'm blind.

Now,

where did I put my mind ...

Author's Note

"There is considerable danger that a man will be crazy between dinner and supper; but it will not directly answer any good purpose that I know of, and it is just as easy to be sane." - Thoreau

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

Finding our identity and purpose within a crazy world and mad minds has been paramount for humans. With trial and error, sailing and docking, we can leave shores and reach shores. Waves tug at our boats day and night. Thoughts take many forms. The struggle is continuous but victory is reachable.
Your poem takes us on this quest that never wanes. Your writing never wavers in the challenge. You are wise and explorative.

[Pete]

thank you for sharing thoughts sami. is it just me or is it getting harder as things seem to be changing more rapidly? ... :)

[Sami Khalil]

Might be both...Lol

[John Alexander McFadyen]

There is a touch or more of Catholiscism in this very morbid account of surviving the day to day slings and arrows. It has a disconected brutality as the protagonist feels doomed to accept his lot and feels he is losing control!

[Pete]

you are an astute reader even going between the lines. thank you for sharing your spot on thoughts ... :)

[emmajoy]

Seems we'd all like to feel one hundred per cent at ease with selves, with being who we feel we are but not always AS we are. There's that fight, that lone fight - rather like the one i think you've so vividly created above in your finely metered poem. To stand apart is


lonely but.. but.. sometimes tis all the individual owns in the fight in his/her own corner. Tis nothing to be ashamed or sad about but.. . Surely there re are others 'out there' who understand, have similar feelings, similar fears. Pete, i think you know that.

Your words hurt, they sting.. but they say more than imagination ever can.. perhaps because they come from the heart, the mind.. the very entity one man can be What you say is considered and contemplated.. they are you. Look to your friend, Thoreau, about Self..

[Pete]

hi em. always a pleasure to hear from you. thoreau wrote that, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” he also wrote that, "There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself." there is a sort of line in the sand and we have a choice - does it own us or do we own it? we must acknowledge the blessings the almighty has bestowed upon us no matter how seemingly small or insignificant. life is a gift. as you have pointed out to me more than once, we must acknowledge the almighty's gifts - the sun, the moon, a tree, even a sunset. love is really all that we have or need. your good heart and openness to reflection is well appreciated my friend ... :)

[emmajoy]

Without love, trust or faith in something or someone outside selves, life is less than it might be. Perhaps. Your writing inevitablly inspires me to think. Thank YOU.

[Fran Marie]

I'm still trying to find mine..mind that is..I can relate to your lines in this poem so well..I especially like..tossing loaded dice that never quite add up to seven..it's a mad mad world we live in. ..so hard make anything add up or make sense in our everyday struggles of life..great piece here..nicely done

[Pete]

lol, thanks Fran. let me know if you find it - might give me a clue as to where mine is ... :)

[Sami Khalil]

"I know a different way.
Where night is day.
Where Hell's angel's pray.
Where fast fingers fly.
Where the world's lies die."