I EXIST

Tonight you are living
in the ruins of other people’s dreams.
Sometimes in your sleep
you can still hear the clapping
of hands and teeth
and bodies,
two shadows saying you are theirs.

And so it is.
So you are.
So you hand over your body,
only this time it doesn’t shrink,
this time it lays open
like a wound,
like an atlas with its layers
and layers
of places you could have
lived and died in.

This time you are a stage,
this time you are filling a whole room,
this time you are the one clapping
in the back of their minds,
you are the one screaming
look at me, look at me,
look at all of this
everything
in me.

And so it is.
So they do.

Reviews

[Inject Positivity]

Beautifully done dear frnd... I really loved your word choices... It seems very thought provoking... You have portrayed a perfect picture here... There is both dark and hopeful thoughts in the which the poem really stands out... Such a gorgeous write...

Sincerely
Dhiman

[anne]

Oh thank you so much! You are so, so kind. This really means a lot to me.

[Pete]

This is really excellent. Many great lines here. I like how it flips around from dark to bold & positive.

[anne]

Thank you so much! I appreciate it.

[Shredded Cabbage]

This is wonderful. The opening line just feels you in. I disagree with the interpretation by the other reviewer, respectfully of course. It seems to me it is about fighting against the weight of tradition and all its vices as well as its virtues. It recognises that without tradition and evolutional discourse as it were we are just pissing in the wind and most aimlessly. This is true poetry

[anne]

Thank you so much for your words!

[Adam Adams]

Ah.. so touching! Ur poetry sounds like a rhythmicity of melodious song melodically pen'd up by the very dulcet truism of ur fleecy spirit that has so much to be spoken. Excellent! Enjoyed reading ur work. Looking 4ward 2 reading ur work!

[anne]

Oh wow this is beautiful. Thank you so much for these words. They mean more than I can tell.

[Adam Adams]

Beautiful? Who? Me? You? Or WE both?? Ha! *kidding*

[anne]

Both of course!

[WillGrant]

Ha. I love this. Your opening line "Tonight you are living in the ruins of other people's dreams." Puts into words what I've been thinking for a while. Nothing is original anymore. We are forced to live in the shadows of cities and communities other generations have dreamed, but there is no room for individual thinkers. No alternatives to the path civilizations set in motion generations ago. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, be a writer, be a actor. But where are the professions we came up with? We are all living someone else's dream and claiming it is our own. I enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing

[anne]

I love this description. Thank you so much for reading and thank you for your words.

[Jacob Clifford]

I like the layers this piece has. And then the way the title ties into it... Well written poem, Anne.

[anne]

This means a lot to me. Thank you for your time and your kind words.

[Philip Muls]

Very experimental and authentic at the same time. There is truth in it, but it is buried, you have to dig for it. Well done, very sophisticated work, layered.

I'd love your opinion about my own existentialist stories Angst and Tipping point.

[anne]

Thank you so much for your words. I really appreciate this.

[Gabriel]

Excellent poem.. extremely well written, can't say enough. Thanks for posting it.

[anne]

Oh wow thank you! That really means a lot.