Sunday, June 12, 2011

I Still Breathe


Rob Hanson photo



Dust and rust and cobwebs sewn
Antique phone molds workshop wall
I still work and want to talk
But techno growth stole my soul

Hidden deep in cellar dank
Missing sheep in old folks home
I still breathe and want to talk
Lay alone in darkened room

Sunrise dawns and sunset fades
Stray light beams sneak in each day
I still hope and want to play
But grandkids use new iPods

Dust and rust and cobwebs sewn
Antique phones wear mold that's grown
I still breathe and beg to try
But new ring tones let me die

Buried deep in cellar’s cry
Missing sheep in old folk’s home


For One Shot Poetry Sunday Photo and Poetry Pantry #53

10 comments:

dustus said...

Great ringing, echoing effect... fits the subject perfectly. Great window into inevitable obsolescence and change from many perspectives.

Brian Miller said...

love how you break each stanza with a psuedo refrain...time marks one and we either march with it or fall by the side of the road...

Anna said...

This is beautiful, nostalgic. Love the refrain, with the plea, reaching out ("I still breathe.. I still hope..."). A lonely place to wait, "in old folk's home". You evoke emotion well in this piece.

Claudia said...

you have given this old telephone a personality and let us feel the loneliness and desperation...great metaphor henry

hedgewitch said...

Great personification. I really like that the phone has to talk for itself, since everyone else spurns it. And of course, the human parallel, though I know a lot of missing sheep that have no trouble speaking pretty continuously, thanks to the internet. ;_)

Louise Gallagher said...

Love the personification and the refrain. this poem brings such a clear personality to an object no longer in use -- lost in time.

Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Adored the rhythm and the repeating refrain here Henry, Brilliant and clever poem echoing of long dead voices and hopes and fears, and decay of the elderly. Well done indeed!

brenda w said...

Giving the phone a voice was brilliant. The repetition of words and phrases resonates beautifully.

Mary said...

Ah, Henry, there have been so many changes in phones over our lifetime.

Ann Grenier said...

Oh this is heartwrenching Henry, I guess because it is all too true. Great response to the prompt!

I'm Just a Man (Recording Experiment ... I can't sing)

I am in the mood to change my tree to a cubic version.