Where We Live

spires and aerials me at night

I live where you live, in the darkness of a mind,

Empty chills around us, lit from lights outside,

You sense what I feel, gloaming casts the beam,

Inertia of the moment, all is as it seems.

I am where you are, upon an empty street,

Vacancies around us, no one left to meet,

Somewhere a bell peals, resounds within and calls,

I stand when you stand, fall whene’er you fall.

me flash

I hide where you hide, behind odd flash of light,

Night and day combined, it seems, still the light’s not right,

You know what I know, behind each night the stars,

Distant, surrounding, burn up but leave their mark.

We know the answers are not to hide and dwell

Inside self-portraits, untrue moments, hollow bells.

I’m brave when you’re brave, awake when you’re awake,

Gather our courage, own battlegrounds at stake,

We fight together, embrace the fear and win,

No hideouts, no heroes, just conquering one of mine.

19 thoughts on “Where We Live”

    1. Thanks, Daniel. I’ve sat on this post for a while. I wrote it based on the accidental top selfie taken a few weeks ago walking home late from my sister’s and trying to photograph the night sky. (Bit of a plonker with the camera.) The ‘self-portrait’ spoke to me but I wasn’t brave enough to post it until now. And the poem didn’t work so well without it, I felt, when I deleted it from the post! So, courage in both hands. I hate photos.

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    1. Good of you to drop by, especially via Oliana. She was one of the first people I clicked with here on WP. I’m presuming you’re doing the Poetry 201 or 101 here on WP. Or perhaps it’s another course altogether? I’m glad you enjoyed the poem. Thank you for reading and commenting. I’ll be sure to stop by. And good luck with the course.

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      2. I’m sure you’ll love it. I ended up gravitating more and more to it myself. I did consider doing the 201 this time around. I quite fancy it. But I couldn’t commit the time needed to do the rounds. Maybe next time around.

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  4. I`m so glad you found the courage to post this, my friend, it truly spoke to me…what a beautiful poem. I would love to reblog it at my other blog Stigmahurtseveryone. It is such a message of hope like you are speaking to “solitude, isolation…lonliness” Bravo, my dear!! x

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    1. Reblog away, Oliana. It’s out there now anyway. I couldn’t believe the look on my face when I saw this on my phone. I’d been at my sister’s, shared a few glasses and it must have been around 3a.m. when I walked the few short doors to my house. I don’t recollect feeling particularly melancholic/isolated or whatever is on my face. Normally, I’d just have deleted a hellish photo but there was something in this one that made me feel the poem written above. I had to really force myself to include it. I hope others relate to it.x

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  7. You wrote a poem, ‘Weeds’ I think it was called, recently, and this one, for me, works well along side it. There is a universal truth within this that we are, at any one time, more than the sum of our parts, and that we must acknowledge as much.
    Listening to Elliott Smith, so I’m in the right frame of mind for this!
    A great poem, Anne-Marie!

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  8. Thanks, Chris. I think that is exactly the essence of it. We only ever see little flashes of others through what is allowed to be revealed. The rest of the time it’s as if we’re in hiding – even from ourselves. For me, privacy has always been a big thing. Blogging has changed that somewhat, life has changed it too, but maybe if we acknowledge the universality of common experience we’ll be more open to each other with fewer fears.

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    1. Do you mean now? Or then? It was a late night, I remember that much. But that’s only because I can’t recollect what happened yesteday let alone a few weeks ago. Absolutely heehaw to do with anything else. 😉

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