“Your life is your life, don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.” — Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse
The early morning is a palette of bold;
sherbet orange singing upon the rooftop, so as
to make a statement,
here is the dominion of birds,
of wintry mist,
and all things that represent
the hues of the world; but my heart is heavy.
I cannot write of sugary love; not when
there is a condition of chaos prevailing,
not when there is bedlam,
someone has to address the rubble,
the splintered glass, the blood
and the bones.
Here the shadows tilt with every step,
the crocus yellow
blooms despite the odds,
this city devours time and pumps feeling
inside the concrete,
perhaps it too is aware of trepidation that’s building.
We all feel the pressure at times;
feel the walls closing in on us, feel breath
coming out in gasps,
but with time, I have learned
to dance with sorrow, to explore
the dark spaces of being,
and to give in to whispered waves of emotion,
until it’s time to let go—
we aren’t meant to be faultlessly curated,
aren’t meant to wear pastels
everyday, sometimes monochrome is a choice
that’s better suited.
The best thing we can do
is to allow ourselves to feel the weight of what
we are experiencing.
It’s like Bukowski said, don’t be clubbed
into dank submission,
we must wake with the truth, we must
give in to the reality that greets us
every morning
of every day, in the newspapers, in the faces
of passersby—
we must learn to battle with hope and echo
the hum of the city.
STAND WITH UKRAINE 🇺🇦
Photo credits: Fair Use, Pexels.com
Posted for Open Link Night #311 @dVerse Poets Pub
36 Responses
Wow, you tell it like it is, making an old radical like myself want to march in the street, garner socks and jackets and sleeping bags, and send them off to Ukraine, along with hurrahs and stinger missiles and anti-tank guns. I liked,
“sherbet orange singing upon the rooftop” and “here the shadows tilt with every step”. This is tough love, minus the sugar.
Thank you so much, Glenn 🙂 This is one of those many poems which were bursting to come out, so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Indeed… we must get used to facing the truth… and if that is monochrome, then so be it. I just want a little bit of sugar between a pandemic pest and war…
Absolutely! Thank you so much, Bjorn 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Truth is an ashen beverage these days, and you expressed it very well.
Thank you so much, Christopher 🙂 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Battle with hope, yes — to have hearts big enough for that poetry when we need it.
Thank you so much, Brendan 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
The best thing we can do
is to allow ourselves to feel the weight of what
we are experiencing.
Difficult as it is, we must.
Thank you so much, Kerfe 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
A beautiful write, Sanaa, I love the third stanza especially and feel the same. How can I indulge in whimsy or laughter when there is such chaos abounding? And yet the city still hums <3
Thank you so much, my dearest Sunra 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Sanaa your words ring with truth. Many have been living with placebo reality for too long.
Thank you so much, Lisa 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
I do believe we need to feel the emotions that come up in our lives or else they may fester and cause us even more discomfort if we don’t. We have been hit with so much in the last couple of years and then to have a madman declare war on an innocent country…it’s almost too much to bear. Your poem speaks volumes, Sanaa, and you write so eloquently.
Thank you so much, Gayle 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Beautiful Sanaa! I love your sad poem. You speak a truth we all should heed!
This is a great line… this city devours time and pumps feeling
inside the concrete
Thank you so much, Dwight 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Sanaa, this is wise and welcome in this time of shifting sands, sorrow, and madness.
Thank you so much, Anna 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
great poem. favorite lines:
“with time, I have learned to dance with sorrow.”
“we aren’t meant to be faultlessly curated.”
Thank you so much, Tzvi 🙂 so good to see you 💄❤️
Sanaa just so powerful stated….war needs the antidote of poets….so many lines that resonate so strongly, so many lines that seem to crack and splinter as they are read, like the shards addressed, among the bones and blood…no, we cannot be curated…and there, among the debris, maybe is secretely the strongest line…that you cannot, will not write about “sugary love” in these times……stunning, Sanaa, stunning…
Awww gosh! Thank you so much, Ain 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
So eloquently said, Sanaa!
“aren’t meant to wear pastels
everyday, sometimes monochrome is a choice
that’s better suited.
The best thing we can do
is to allow ourselves to feel the weight of what
we are experiencing.”
Thank you so much, Merril 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
There is no denying the feelings of outrage (tempered, or perhaps fueled, by empathy) that news of war raises in all of us.
Thank you so much, Ken 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
I think only when we feel the monochrome can we begin to transmute that blah and we eventually alchemize the fears to faith, once again. Your verses are on point, and I am blessed to read them! 💓
Thank you so much, Tricia 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
“I cannot write of sugary love; not when
there is a condition of chaos prevailing,”
You told us like it is. You images are on point.
Thanks for dropping by to read mine
Much love
Thank you so much, Gillena 😀 so good to see you 💄❤️
Much love back..
Very powerful and full of truth. We must indeed learn a different way to live now, and fight back.
Thank you so much, Hedgewitch 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Such a powerful write, Sanaa. We cannot remain unmoved.
Thank you so much, Punam 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️