Friday, January 11, 2013

In Transit


     Image by Simon (@stmng)

We line up like dominoes
along the wall;
pressed, folded, packaged,
eyes down, hands clasped, shoulders hunched,
waiting...for what?.

We write our sins large
across the backs of strangers,
like graffiti on a bathroom stall,
public, yet anonymous. 

We recite muted incantations
forwards and backwards
through stale lips,
desperately trying
to conjure
happiness.

This is for G-man at FF55 where he asks us for 55 words of our choosing, and for the Open Link Night at dVerse. Check 'em out.

44 comments:

  1. Sis, your imagery blew me away. Fabulous

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  2. Mary Bach...
    My office at our dealership where I work is right next to our waiting room for service customers. Even though we have a 55 inch flatscreen TV, the latest selection of magazines, and the daily newspaper, at any given moment that I look up, I see EVERY SINGLE Customer with their cell phones out texting, E-Mailing, or playing games.
    Each lost in their own private pipeline to the outside world.
    It reminds me of your chosen pic here.
    Loved your anomie 55
    Thanks for playing, fashionably late is OK by me.
    ANYTHING that you do is OK by me...:-)
    Please have a Kick Ass Week-End
    (Thanks for letting me harangue you)
    G

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    1. Thank you Galen! We are increasingly becoming individuals wrapped in electric cocoons. Thanks for putting up with me and my timey-wimey challenges! :o) I hope you have a great weekend too!

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  3. I like the question...waiting for what ~ Good one Mary ~

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  4. this is a really great poem...there is truth in it as well...we wait a ton...and most of us are on a happiness quest....

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    1. Thanks Brian. And I think you are going about it in a better way than most. :o)

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  5. wrapped up in our own little world it seems, great capture of the pic too, hate to wait also.

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  6. Sometimes what comes out after a period of 'dryness' really is worth the wait. This is crisp, full of great images of isolation and alienation--love the second stanza.

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    1. Thanks very much Joy. I appreciate that comment!

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  7. Random acts of almost degradation.

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  8. Mary,
    I stopped by yesterday but didn't leave a reply because I was in a hurry, and this deserves more than a canned off-the-cuff reply. So I'm back. This reminds me of riding in an elevator with strangers, all carefully avoiding eye contact. Love the last stanza, but the entire poem is full of human sadness, how the more connected we are the lonelier we become.

    Have a great weekend. Sorry so late getting back to you.

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    1. Thank you Yvonne; I really appreciate your comments, and that you took the trouble to come back. I hope you have a great weekend too!

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  9. I was! And then I got off the 5 hour commute and ran over a fox :/ What comes after a lull? Usually rain, so what can we do but dance in it? ;)

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  10. Awww, sad about the fox, but good advice!

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  11. Reminds me of the last time I was in an airport, everyone waiting at the gate had a tablet or phone or printed media to consume, with the exception of one lady playing a violin. More of us should play violins.

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  12. We're so busy communicating that we don't even notice each other any more. Whatever happened to talking to the person in the seat next to us, or did we never do that?

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  13. public, yet anonymous. oh that is a sad state of affairs..
    i do try to chat up the person who at least meets my eye..:)
    great read

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    1. Yes, though sometimes one can almost feel the walls people put 'round themselves in public spaces... sometimes private spaces too!

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  14. Wow, loved this Mary. Such imagery! Your poem gets right to the heart of the matter. Seems to me we can't conjure what isn't in our hearts already. Well penned, girl!

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    1. Hey - good point Ginny. I bet you don't isolate yourself like that. Thanks for your comments.

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  15. The second stanza blew me away

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  16. Packed with intriguing imagery, and all achieved with a commendable economy of language. Great job.

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  17. Such a great commentary on an urban lifestyle that so many experience on a daily basis. Loved it.

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  18. yes i think we will go from digital immigrants, digital natives to digital orphans. interactions mediated by tech. adults inside their phones and kids too real to see.

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  19. I'd guess if we're lined up like dominoes we're waiting for someone to knock us down creating some insane looking chain reaction. maybe then we'd see the connections we have/make with all we come in contact with.

    I like this piece and the visuals you have entwined here.

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    1. Thank you very much RMP. And, like dominos we knock each other down, but don't help one another stand up :o(

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  20. Ha. But not us poets. We people watch :P. (unless we are blogging). You packed a lot of imagery in 55. I even counted as I was sure you were over. Nice!

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    1. Hahaha - yes, that's right we do! Is that creepier? And I really try to stick to the 55, sometimes the total number includes the title, sometimes not. Thanks so much.

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  21. Wow, this is incredible! Strong imagery

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