Douglas MacGowan

Legacy

by Douglas MacGowan

Wednesday 17th January 2018 6:06 am

I dare you to breathe

standing in front of me

weak apologies and sloppy explanations

You give me road maps of journeys you never took

What do you think of me?

That I can be cast as stones

and fortunes to overcome?

Cast aside indeed

pale markers at the side of the road

impossible to follow you though the screens you scattered in your wake

Flowers may bloom or alter into dead things beneath boots

drip, drip, drip

weak rain falls from the tree canopy

you stand stock still

waiting for me to loosen my ties against you

I dare you to breathe

share the very air with me

you have fallen

but I just might pick you up

🌷(2)

◄ a (hopefully) funny poem for Edward Gorey

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Comments

<Deleted User> (13762)

Thu 18th Jan 2018 08:19

thanks for the explanation Douglas.

Douglas MacGowan

Wed 17th Jan 2018 19:32

Hi Colin! Thanks very much for your remarks -- very appreciated.

When I wrote "screens" I meant literal window screens: something that lets the air in but is not quite fully "open" in that you cannot pass something back and forth between two people on both sides.

But I like your interpretations, too. Especially the idea of a smokescreen.

<Deleted User> (13762)

Wed 17th Jan 2018 08:38

I very much like this poem Douglas. For me, the road analogy works very well as do the things encountered around the road - the stones, markers, flowers, trees, rain and air - and at the end 'pick you up' seems such a fitting description given the journey and the objects.

I wonder if you could explain your use of the word 'screens'? I'm taking it to mean barriers or as in smokescreen? It seems to stand out as not quite fitting in to the aforementioned analogy but it might just be me making too much of a single word!

I've read this through now several times and it gives a little more with each reading. Thanks for posting. Colin.

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