September 23

The Fear of Falling

Art, dVerse, fall 2014, Free Verse, The Unique & Sundry, The Unique & Sundry: A Poetry Collection

34  comments

Hello everyone;

I did say "haphazardly" participating in the April PAD Challenge. This is why day one is being posted after day two.
Day 1  prompt of "write an optimistic poem"

Not Dead Yet, Me


Is it really such a tragedy

that my sentences are raggedy

words tread together by similarity?

The conversation is still defiantly

expressions of me.


Is it really such a travesty 

that I wander aimlessly?

When I can travel through time so easily

…our life history

…a life lived outrageously.


Is it really such a disparity

that I have forgotten the melody

of your name? Still there’s some clarity….

I know the feelings of family

and passions intensity. 


Is it really such an indignity

that something once familiar is now a novelty.

Or that simple tasks escape me.

I still dance to life’s jamboree

and sing majestically.

Is it really such a finality

even as I become more absentee?

There is plenty of life in my legacy.

Don’t bother writing my eulogy,

when there’s still time to create a memory.

©2024 Delaina Miller

Fear of Falling by Brooke Shaden
Fear of Falling by Brooke Shaden

The Fear of Falling

She dreams of being a butterfly
bold colorful wings to lift the grey frailty
of her newspaper skin.
Read and crumpled in the corner
tossed there long ago
she cocoons herself and wonders
“Was I ever young?”

She tries to remember her last dream
and squeezes her eyes tight.

Radiant wings
Strength and Purpose
uncoil from her back.
She takes flight in the moment
fearing to stay in her place.

Today the poets at the dVerse pub are drinking in the poignant art of Brooke Shaden and writing poetry. To see more of Brooke Shaden’s art please visit her site:
http://brookeshaden.com/gallery

Come join Grace and the rest of us for Poetics: Passion of Brooke Shaden

This poem can now be found in The Unique & Sundry, which happens to be available on Amazon.

 

About the author

Creator of sounds. Poet on an energetic journey with words. Explorer of Frequencies.


 

Delaina J Miller

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  • Sometimes we are forced to take flight in spite of our fears and find that there was something brighter in store for us after all. I like your interpretation…very nice.

  • the use of the butterfly …and the newspaper as extended metaphors in this are great….the skin/newspaper/crumpled in the corner…i am not sure if the flight in the end is a good thing or not…i guess it is all in how you read it….staying put is sometimes good….but others not….

    • Thank you Brian!
      I so appreciate your comments and feedback. The poem was loosely related to the human trafficking motivation of Shaden in that case I felt I had to give our subject wings to remove herself from being forgotten news.

      Perhaps I need more lines to explain the transition?

      Thanks again!

  • a newspaper skin, and was I ever young.. these resonate with me a lot.. finding your way to playfulness lost is hard in the world we live in..

  • it is sad when we cannot remember our last dream and worse if there are no new ones…i’m glad she took flight there in the close and spread her wings towards new dreams despite the fear of falling

    • Thank you Claudia it is sad when we cannot remember our dream or to make new ones. I was hoping to touch on the Shaden’s motivation of human trafficking. I wonder, do dreams one had before fade like newspaper print?

      Thank you for reading and your comment!

  • Wow, haunting metaphor of woman as butterfly, either coming out of puberty & adolescence, or approaching the winter of her life, & the reaching within to her inner child, her youth, when her winds could support her needs; cool take.

  • Thank you for tending the bar tonight Grace. Great choice of artist. I hope as creators that our substance and purpose gives us the courage to take flight.

    Cheers!

  • Substance and purpose, when we find it, can make us fearless & willing to take flight where we want to ~ Lovely share Delaina ~ Thanks for linking up with D’verse ~

    • Things do seem easier in our youth when we look back but we are in a stage of become something new no matter our age. Thanks for reading Gabriella.

  • Ah, I can identify with “Was I ever young?” Sometimes I ask myself that; and other times I feel as if I am the perennial youth! I enjoyed this, Delaina.

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