The shelves are empty, are lined with dust
of centuries gone by–
we bury ourselves in knowledge of what was
and what will be
as each fresh apocalypse in our eye
signifies the damage or partial loss
to the earth; perhaps it is selfish,
but on some level, we don’t give a shit
and carry on,
holding that no one in mortal sin
could consecrate their lives to its betterment.
It is both a speck of truth and falsehood.
The chronicles date several follies;
describes the haunting beauty of dark things,
we know them
as one does the back of his hand,
we agonize, we atone, we set aside,
but the one thing which we fail to do is recognize,
sanguine daisies
hanging limply around the room with
the scent of ink in the air,
it’s no wonder that dystopia is mere decades away.
Outside the collective, we are browning leaves
thinking this to be the new normal,
our voices soft,
we sing of the sky and what is left behind.
As a human collective, we are bursts of fire
that occasionally blossom,
only to be doused later by bouts of despair.
The vulnerability of our soul
lies beneath cream-colored psychological clothing.
Which brings us back to the original subject,
are we stronger as a collective voice?
As someone who isn’t afraid of embracing chaos,
nor one who insists on being confined
within the boundaries
of one’s understanding, is it factual, can it be proved,
repeated or observed?
It would be ideal to think so, but for now
let us focus on the libraries of the future
if there is to be one, each fresh apocalypse
in our eye, suggests otherwise.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Bjorn hosts at dVerse where he invites us to explore our collective and try our best
to set our thoughts into a voice of that collective. Come join us! ❤️
Posted for MTB: Writing from a collective point of view @dVerse Poets Pub
34 Responses
it is the emptiness of the shelves of the books of knowledge, of history, like a past fragmented that resounds through every stanza
Thank you so much, Laura 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
This is stellar, and mimic many of my own thoughts, are we really better as collective, or is the belief in the collective bringing out the worst in us. Of course I love the last part… let the libraries shine (I might write a collective poem from the library’s point of view.
I would love to read your collective poem from the library’s point of view! Yayy! Thank you so much, Bjorn 😀 so glad you enjoyed it! 💄❤️
(and thank you for the glorious prompt) 🥂
Empty bookshelves are a disaster. I love that whole 3rd stanza Sanaa. We are stronger as a collective voice, but the question is, who will be the first strong voice to rise? Most people don’t care and just carry on.
Yes, I absolutely agree with you! Thank you so much, Grace 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
This is a stellar poem, Sanaa, and I love the way those empty, dusty shelves echo through every line. I know that burying of the self in ‘knowledge of what was and what will be’. I especially love the lines:
‘we know them
as one does the back of his hand,
we agonize, we atone, we set aside,
but the one thing which we fail to do is recognize,
sanguine daisies
hanging limply around the room with
the scent of ink in the air’
and
‘As a human collective, we are bursts of fire
that occasionally blossom,
only to be doused later by bouts of despair’.
Aww gosh! Thank you so much, Kim 😍 so glad you enjoyed it! It was a challenging prompt 💄❤️
“we agonize, we atone, we set aside,
but the one thing which we fail to do is recognize,
sanguine daisies
hanging limply around the room with
the scent of ink in the air,
it’s no wonder that dystopia is mere decades away. ”
Wow!
This is truly one of your more powerful poems, Sanaa. Beginning with library shelves stripped bare and ending with hope for the future. We, as a collective, must provide the knowledge, the history in our libraries so we do not repeat the terrible and so we use the positives as our motivations.
Yes absolutely! Thank you so much, Lillian 😍 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Powerful poem, Sanaa.
❤️❤️❤️
So much to ponder here. The empty shelves–if libraries exist. . .
These lines stood out to me because I think that’s how it tends to go. We slip into the horror and accept it.
“Outside the collective, we are browning leaves
thinking this to be the new normal,”
Thank you so much, Merril 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Sanaa: This is so powerful:
“we sing of the sky and what is left behind.
As a human collective, we are bursts of fire
that occasionally blossom,
only to be doused later by bouts of despair.
The vulnerability of our soul
lies beneath cream-colored psychological clothing.”
It speaks of how many follow and believe the false lies instead of taking a stand for the truth. It’s easier to wear cream-colored psychological clothing. How profound! xx
Thank you so much, Colleen 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Your poem is a prophetic voice crying in the wilderness! It seems we humans only react when it affects us personally. We like to live with our heads in the sand pretending all is well until it’s not! Well done, Sanaa.
Thank you so much, Dwight 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Hope and warning in one poem. This deserves to be read aloud.
❤️❤️❤️
“The vulnerability of our soul
lies beneath cream-colored psychological clothing.”
Clothing. Who needs it.
Thank you so much, Melissa 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Sanaa, this is powerful and thought-provoking! A library is a collective itself and knowledge is key but we are often, as a group, easily led astray by false ideas and then things get dangerous.
Precisely! Thank you so much, Lynn 🙂 so glad the poem and its imagery appealed to you 💄❤️
As wordy people, I think we attach a lot of importance to books and words, more possibly than they deserve. The words people read today are selective. We choose the narrative before and look for corroboration. The easier, the more sensational, least filtered and bloody the better. I wish we did try to learn from what others have thought, but (apart from in France) which schools teach philosophy as an obligatory part of the curriculum?
None that I know of! Thank you so much, Jane 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Libraries as we grew up with them, are becoming things of the past and the analogue browsing and cross-fertilisation that could occur there, I doubt there will be libraries like them again and we have to fight to burst through our digital bubbles – great writing Sanaa
Thank you so much, Andrew 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
“Which brings us back to the original subject, are we stronger as a collective voice?” ~~~ Time will tell, time will tell. Really enjoyed your poem Sanaa.
Thank you so much, Helen 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
A brooding but fresh look at the problems we face that only seem to grow bigger and harsher. Love the collective voice you have chosen, Sanaa, gentle, reflective, and daringly speculative.
Thank you so much, Dora 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Yes, we fail to recognise. This really makes me think, a wonderful write Sanaa.
Thank you so much, Paul 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️