Sunday, November 4, 2012

Poetics: The lights are back on.....


The lights
are back on
but is
anybody
home? Who
will scrape
the mold
and rust from
this building
built for
those who
marched
to a different
drummer
in a different
time:


When
summers sang
from ship to
shore,
when tales
were told
of a great
Nor'easter
back in the fall
of '25 —
the biggest
storm ever — 
thus,
nevermore.

Memories,
memories: 
Black mold,
red rust
March out of
this time
Drum ship to
shore
Tell tales
nevermore
of a biggest
storm.

The lights
are back on
but is
anybody
home?


Written for PoeticsThrough the Artist's Lens  — at dVerse Poets hosted this week by Brian Miller, who shared with us the art and photography of a blogger/artist named SueAnn. I selected her piece above as the prompt for my poem.

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13 comments:

Brian Miller said...

timely verse....esp in light of the tragic storm....i remember after the flood at my grandmothers...and all the clean up that needed to be done...it was not yet a home even though we had it back...but it was again, eventually. smiles.

happy sunday.

Kathe W. said...

very timely indeed! Well done!
Our daughter lives in Manhattan and will appreciate this.
My Grandmother lived in Providence Rhode Island and I remember her telling me about a flood that happened in the 50's I think?
Mother Nature truly is the boss.

Sabio Lantz said...

If you don't keep up the mold, there will be nobody at home. These floods are horrible. Buildings from different drummers are awkward.

I spicing up a used car I just got which I got from a very different drummer! :-)

Fun poems

Rosaria Williams said...

Such truths!
Yes, this will be The Storm in everyone's memory.

Anonymous said...

It's scary to think about how much of our human world was built in a different time, for a different kind of world.

Timely and moving. This catches right now so perfectly.

Fireblossom said...

Someone is home, but perhaps, like wind, they are not corporeal?

Lydia said...

Brian~ Thank you for a thoughtful prompt and especially for the stories about your grandmother.

Kathe~ I hope your daughter has fared alright in the aftermath of the storm. Even for those in areas away from the destruction there must be such a psychic sorrow.

Sabio~ Your comment was fun, and I am especially intrigued about your car. :)

rosaria~ Yes, let's hope none top that one. :(

Amber Lee~ I saw a report about what it will take for people to rebuild their shore front homes in New Jersey. The ones that survived undamaged have giant pilings dug deeply into the earth for stability. Imagine the expense.....

Fireblossom~ You gave me chills with that one.....mainly because you are undoubtedly right. A friend of mine in NY said that it's highly likely someone died at one time or another in many of the old apartments in the city.

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

I always find empty buildings to be a mix of sad and oddly poetic - there's something about the fact that whatever lives were there are now gone: whatever dreams were dreamed either failed or moved on

BTW - the music to Rain On Monday is now up on my most recent post "Five touring problems solved"

Lydia said...

Pixies~ "...mix of sad and oddly poetic...." is such a beautiful description. :)

Roxana said...

i know that this poem is related to a specific event but i cannot stop reading it in a more general perspective, especially the last two stanzas... they are all metaphors, it seems to me, for the storms of life, and the flow of time, engulfing everything...

i have missed you :-)

Lydia said...

Roxana~ Thank you, my deep beautiful friend, for the comment and the follow. I have missed you, too. :)

Roxana said...

yes, i realized that if i don't get organized i miss on many great posts out there so i took some measures :-)

Lydia said...

Roxana~ Tell me about it! I am driving myself crazy trying to be organized enough to read the blogs I so love, while still maintaining my other life!

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