blackbird, you danced like a romantic,
a poor woman reading the streetsigns
in the red light, so tell me.
when will you find where we're going
or how we're getting there?
the gemini years are long past now,
a saturday is just a saturday again,
no more
asking for digits and fingernails colored
like what you always wanted to be.
you are no longer in the grip
of a wasteland, beer and breasts and beer
and the weather working its way
into your hair,
no, you escaped long ago.
what happened to the woman
who was dancing with shadows
on the street corner, the woman who was
telling me that colors aren't just colors
and maps just maps?
where are the roads you drove down
searching out truth, and justice,
and the way the sky smells after dark,
and how we could escape from the isolation
of rhythm and power and knowledge?
you dont jump for shadows anymore,
wondering if they're ghosts or women,
and you don't call me up at three in the morning,
thinking about the meaning of life
and lust.
twenty eight years will past
and you will be old, but for now
you have forgotten how to sing
with the world watching, and i wonder
who you ever were when you knew me.
home alone again, the dreams
of parameters to hold in your nakedness
are nothing as you undress in the mirror.
and you know the angles of your hipbones
like a lover would,
and you are lonely
like a mother could be.
again, i see that you are no longer
hooked on teenage sensitivities,
and no longer wonder, and i have to ask myself
where the valor is in letting yourself
forget.
Author notes
"you simply pause to admire those who move with the grace of trees..."
ani difranco.
hope this was what you wanted love.
...
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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this is also one of my favorite pieces ever. and i've read it about 50 times.
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i love this beyond words.
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'and i have to ask myself
where the valor is in letting yourself
forget.'
way to pack a punch.
amazing.
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wow. absolutely mind-blowing.
so detailed yet so sweetly concise.
i can't wrap my head around this - it's so true and real and fresh.
just.. wow.
chin up,
swim.x
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A beautiful poem, and an inspiration to all. Keep on writing!
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love it this is an amazing write keep it up the flow all fit together i love it..
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I am giving a verbal award to these lines. The complete poem is awesome, yet, these lines stand out from the crowd!
"again, i see that you are no longer
hooked on teenage sensitivities,
and no longer wonder, and i have to ask myself
where the valor is in letting yourself
forget. "
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life...You were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly..." -The Beatles
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why have i never seen this poem???
anyway, i see my username in those last lines and that makes me incredibly happy [ignoring the fact, of course, that reading good poetry always makes me happy]. brilliant brilliant brilliant lines!
esp. the part where you named it after my favorite bird.
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