User Submitted Poetry
 Interested in feedback about a piece you've written? 

eMule -> The Poetry Archive -> Forums -> User Submitted Poetry


Goto Thread: PreviousNext
Goto: Forum ListMessage ListNew TopicSearchLog In
Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 12:29PM

You look, but nothing is there.
You fight the urge to blink
for fear that whatever it is
will become harder to find.
You search the mirror,
but come up empty.
You know it's something.
You can feel it.
You ask your friends
if they can see it.
They just throw arms
up in the air
and walk away.

You look back,
trying to remember
how it all started.
Was it carelessness
or a wreckless throwing
of caution to the wind?
Or was it just the wind
doing what the wind does?

Time stops while you
pace the floor,
caught between
needing to know what it is
and wanting it to go away...
this unrelenting burn,
persistent gnawing scratch
like a thirst you can't quench
or a tear you can't cry.

Until finally, there's nothing left
to do, but give up on it.
Let go of the needing to know...
the wondering how and why...
the wanting it to....

Just letting the tears flow is the answer
when you've got something in your eye.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2022 01:10PM by UPMarty.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Mr. P (75.111.63.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 02:15PM

I believe that would be my mark to say something pompous. It's not the void, but the known we fear.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 02:46PM

We might not fear the void, but it can do a number on us just the same. Thanks for visiting Percival.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Mr. P (75.111.63.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 02:53PM

Indeed. But question where you will go once the problems you are aware of have been conquered.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 03:24PM

Yeah, like steering clear of wood chip piles on a windy day or making sure you have your safety glasses handy at all times.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: petersz (69.181.22.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 07:44PM

we do spend a lot of ourselves trying to forget what we don't see.

be well, Mary.

Peter

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2022 01:02AM by petersz.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 07:53PM

Thanks, Peter.

you too.

Mary


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: hpesoj (69.116.241.---)
Date: January 01, 2022 08:31PM

Just letting the tears flow is the answer
when you've got something in your eye.


Good advice, but so very hard to do. Thanks for posting.

Joe


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 01:40AM

You're right, Joe, damn near impossible. Thank you for reading and picking that out. I bet you're good with slivers too!

Mary


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Mr. P (75.111.63.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 02:01AM

Dilly dally silly sally


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 02:08AM

Do you have something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Mr. P?


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Mr. P (75.111.63.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 03:07AM

Often, but who wants to listen?


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: petersz (69.181.22.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 03:42AM

.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2022 04:27AM by petersz.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: les712 (68.185.69.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 04:25AM

Good one, Mary. It's curious how we all see life the same, and yet each of us faces differing illusions. Much food for thought here. A great poem to start the new year.

Les


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Mr. P (75.111.63.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 04:38AM

Peter,

You mean no one wants to listen because of my silliness? If that's what you meant to say, I'd have to disagree. If I weren't silly, I'm sure a lot less people would be willing to hear what I have to say.


Les,

The more I look at them, the more similar, hinting at identical, they become. Very complex stuff.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Merc (70.212.192.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 11:38AM

Mary, Marty my friend.
Joyfulness is wished for you this comming year.

I like this, but then I like most all of what you write.

Avoid woodchip piles on windy days... exellent... I was having dinner with Mitts one day last summer, she was speaking with an offspring unit on the miraculous cell phone machine and closed with the advise, "Watch out for lightening." My advise this day is don't squat with your spurs on.


and I misspelled "advice" twice but am not going to change it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2022 11:39AM by Merc.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 02, 2022 06:32PM

Thanks, Les. I think the title should have been Optical Elusions....not Illusions, but what you said probably applies as well.

Terry, I appreciate you stopping by. I'm sure you have much on your mind and going on right now. Advise...advice same difference. Glad you didn't go back and change it. I wish you joyfulness and healthfulness this coming year!

Mary


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Merc (75.209.246.---)
Date: January 03, 2022 11:48AM

Thanks hon, You too, ok?


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: lifeisbutadream (86.108.26.---)
Date: January 04, 2022 07:02AM

You look back,
trying to remember
how it all started.
Was it carelessness
or a wreckless throwing
of caution to the wind?
Or was it just the wind
doing what the wind does?

I love this MArty, and really appreciate your answer and title!

K.Q.

K.Q.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: IanAKB (210.84.14.---)
Date: January 04, 2022 08:57AM

Mary,

What I like best about this poem of yours is the surprise happy ending. And the nice irony of tears being the cause of the happiness.

steering clear of wood chip piles on a windy day or making sure you have your safety glasses handy at all times

Good advice indeed. You haven't by any chance taken up gem cutting? I once read the following memorable sentence in the introduction to a book on the subject: "Lacerated fingers, mutilated pebbles, fragments of stone in the eye, and a wasteful expenditure of diamond dust are the usual rewards of the amateur lapidary."

Ian


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Merc (75.209.137.---)
Date: January 04, 2022 11:15AM

An optical illusion is when the color of dress she has on makes her look nude from more than thirty feet.


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: UPMarty (24.247.69.---)
Date: January 04, 2022 11:20AM

Thanks, Terry.

K.Q., appreciate your comments. I also like those lines. Good to see you. Hope all is well with you.

Ian, your ears must have been ringing as I was just thinking about how we haven't seen you for a while. I'm not sure the ending is happy, but it is ironic that letting go is sometimes the answer. Although I once heard of a little trick where you grab your eyelashes and pull your eyelid down and out over the other with one hand, while pinching off the end of your nose with the other, then attempt to blow air through your nose with great force. It apparently takes an alternate path and shoots out through the tear duct. I tried it once. The headache and dizziness definitely takes your mind off the thing in your eye, but it was still there as far as I could tell.

Gem cutting? You make me laugh again. I will say, dear man, your sense of humor is uplifting of late. The inspiration was literally from having something in my eye. I was so struck by the metaphor that I sort of rushed into the poem. In retrospect, I wish I had put a little more time into writing it because subtlty is not one of my strengths and certainly doesn't come off well in a poem written hastily.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

Mary


Re: Optical Illusion
Posted by: Merc (75.209.146.---)
Date: January 04, 2022 02:35PM

Betcha




Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
This poetry forum at emule.com powered by Phorum.