Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Western Dreams


For Three Word Wednesday, prompt words iconic, lithe, edgy. Also submitted to dVerse OpenLinkNight. I offer my apologies to both communities for linking when I am not sure how much I'll be around this week to read and comment on others' submissions. Overtime, sick kids, you know how it is sometimes. But this just rushed out of me in response to the 3WW prompt, and it had been so long since my last writing. 

Western Dreams

Dad followed a dream
out west, the iconic west,
to do better for us,
success as sure as the sun
rising. I had my own dreams
of cowboy hats and hitching posts,
of lithe flames of midnight
campfires licking the darkness,

but we lived in a house
much like our old house, and I went
to a school where the cocksure kids still
pointed fingers like blue-steel barrels.

So much the same,

yet the soil smelled different,
even the sun felt different
on the skin, like wearing
a stranger’s shirt, and Dad
grew edgy, hitting me
when the zipper of my winter coat
stuck hard in the fabric, frustration
not directed toward me, per se,
but toward life in general
and I happened to be nearest.

11 comments:

  1. Life isnt always greener on the other side of the pasture. It sometimes is just as painful or even more painful. Enjoyed the write.
    Blessings

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  2. ugh....life encroaches and even when it is not our fault, kids become an easy target...it had nothing to do with the zipper...and i bet your dad felt like it was much the same as it was before...not giving him an excuse but...

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  3. I specially like the last stanza, the difference in the soil, sun and skin & frustration towards life in general ~ Thanks for linking up ~

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  4. This is one of my favourites of your poems,heartfelt and insightful. "and even the sun felt different on the skin like wearing a stranger's shirt" great simile. Good to see you back again.

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  5. Ouch -- I am assuming this is not fiction?

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  6. A nice piece with some subsantial background emotion-- I like how it goes unmentioned, but it's there, this disappointment. ~peace, Jason

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  7. Yes, that zipper incident was a sure sign he had made the wrong move.

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  8. Somehow dreams can punch you hard..just like people..maybe it is better when we can find our own dreams and head west..leave the punches and the puncher behind..you have the hat..i hope it is a sign of something brighter..

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  9. dreams and reality, unfortunately don't always sync with one another. it's disturbing how crushed hopes can turns us upsidedown.

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  10. Dear all,

    It seems I have dropped the ball in responding personally as I usually do. Please forgive. Time is very limited at this point in my life, but know that I value the time you choose to spend here and thank you all. I had even forgotten I had posted this poem!

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  11. heartbreaking poem i like the way the last stanza points illustrates the heartbreak of a broken dream and how it not only affects the dreamer.

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