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| Photo Courtesy https://hiveminer.com |
No need for kitchen sink, nor a shower, in her battered Ford,
Treasures forgotten but for one.
Treasures forgotten but for one.
She sits surrounded by her worldly possessions, clutching a full syringe.
Though murky windows restrict dominion, she's Queen of all she views.
Asphalt and concrete berms her empire,
Revving engines and slamming doors, the music of her estate.
Tormented by unseen brutes and vile fiends, enslaved by her addiction,
Out on a limb, on thin ice,
The fettered queen assails her throbbing vein with China White. .
Limbs breach. Ice fractures. No measuring when monsters chase.
With Smack it only takes a dram.
Enslavement wrenched away, "I am," Heroin stole the queen's "I was"!
With Smack it only takes a dram.
Enslavement wrenched away, "I am," Heroin stole the queen's "I was"!
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Isadora at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads issued a challenge to day to find a stranger and make up a eulogy for them in a poem!
Please, know that I am not a poet. Never was, never will be, but this challenge kind of hooked me. First stranger I saw was a woman living in her car at the park.
Here is my shot at a Eulogy For A Stranger.
... I think I'll gladly pass on that "royal crown". Well penned.
ReplyDeleteI'll pass, too. Thank you.
DeletePoet or not Toni, that was really good!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rain. I like poetry, just don't try it enough to know what I'm doing!
DeleteThere is lots of rich imagery here. Wrapped around a darker tale. Thanks so much for sharing, Toni!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Isadora. Coming from you, that means a lot!
DeleteOh, you have written this so vividly I can see her in that car. Such a timely piece taken from the dark life so many live these days.
ReplyDeleteSadly, there are so many in that dark reality now. We are surrounded by kings and queens of addiction.
DeleteHow well you wrote this so the reader could picture the scene so well and the slow deterioration to her inevitable end. The sadness is overwhelming but scene not uncommon but of no interest to the majority of people.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to watch but harder to try and help when help is not wanted or received!
DeleteA dark and poignant write Toni. I wasn't sure whether "berms" was a typo or valid word. I'm glad I looked it up
ReplyDeletemuch love...
Berms and I are mortal enemies! They trip me up almost every time!
DeleteWell done, Toni! You should try your hand at more of these challenges!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra. Maybe I will.
DeleteThat was really cool! You should do more of these. You're very good at it.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Somehow poetry is too much like math! Does that make sense?
DeleteWhat a sad portrait... I cannot refrain to think of the girl she once was (before)...
ReplyDeleteOr who or what she could have become!
DeleteThank you for visiting.
a dark tale well versed - a story behind the windshield - the unknowns filled in, blanks dark yet there was once promise - who's to say or know for sure .... and the ending of her story? you write of the most likely - but sometimes life deals another hand ...
ReplyDeleteglad this challenged hooked you - it certainly is an intriguing one - and I think, "poet or not" (as you wish or believe) you've done a fine job with these thoughts and expression :)
Thank you, I love how you finished it. I visited your blog and I swear I must know you, though it sounds like we are across the country from each other.
DeleteI hope your pain is eased as the weather warms.
Hi Toni :) Thanks for stopping by and reading - I'm not sure what you mean by "I love how you finished it" ? LOL - I'm having a "duh" moment, but I'm thinking you mean my Vincent piece? If so, thank you :)
DeleteYou seem familiar to me too - maybe we have crossed paths before.
I used to blog on WP - even hosted prompts etc. but I'm thinking, based on your blogger profile, that maybe I've met you when I was on FB - briefly - as I was participating in writing/poetry workshops with Jenna Schwartz. It's your "blurb" - about Act III that is sticking with me. But then, maybe it's just a question of you seem familiar because you remind me of someone else?
And thanks for the well wishes - I'm guessing you stumbled on my "blathering blog" too - where I just mind jot things down, to help keep track of the days, which blur with the pain.
Anyhow, I hope you have a wonderful weekend :)
Dang! I've gone searching for the poem that ended in a way that I liked and cannot find it. Though, I like the stream of consciousness narrative of all your posts. It's like your readers can see the gears turning in your mind! I wouldn't describe any of our writing 'blathering'!
DeleteI've never participated in a workshop with Jenna Schwartz. One of the workshops I did attend, one of our assignments was to take different aspects of our personalities and flesh them out. Give them names, clothes, speech patterns and mannerisms. It was so much fun that I started a blog about "The Crew", all aspects of me. It was a fun exercise in self-reflection and examination. The Guy was really bothered by it (a very black & white kind of mind where I am more shades of the rainbow). He felt it made me sound like I was crazy and had multiple personalities, so I stopped posting. It was entitled "Observations From The Edge" so maybe I am a little crazy!
So, I meant to say, that if you ever read that blog, we discussed ACT III of 'our' lives quite a bit. https://sanityblows.blogspot.com/
Deleteokay .... and no worries .... actually, maybe that is it - because the ACT III is so totally working in my head - and maybe I had stopped in and was reading/lurking or something ..... and LOL@ the "crazy" side - The Crew is totally awesome as an idea - and hey, we're all in essence, a sum of a whole whack of parts and pieces - and in some ways, are multiple people - and this is by no means a disparaging remark about mental illnesses - not at all. But anyone who thinks they are so rigid and are self-figured out problem is much less so. So this type of exercise and all, can be just another avenue to explore, expand and play - in all kinds of great and interesting ways. :)
DeleteCheers!
Powerful character sketch, Toni. I like the way you ended it. I wonder how many people are truly living that life.
ReplyDeleteSadly, in Redding there are too many! She is a lucky one, she lives in her car. Many just have the streets.
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