Friday, May 11, 2012

There Is No Time

Some free verse for you all.


There Is No Time
Pristine crystal and expensive paintings decorated the walls
of that overpriced timeshare you always took for the winter. 
You made sure it was filled with the finest of everything,
but you didn’t realize that you had nothing of real value.


The only significant thing you could lose now would be your ignorance.  
You think you’re a master, an old pro who’s seen it all,
but you see nothing, and if I ever believed you did,
then I was as ignorant as you. 

Call me ungrateful, but I wasn’t the one
who never did a thing for anyone else,
who always had an excuse for where he was and what he did  
with “best friends” that I somehow never met. 
They were probably all criminals.


You would say “God loves a winner” to justify always getting your way,
as if success could prove your manipulations were good and right. 
There was nothing you couldn’t twist to your advantage,
and you thought you could smooth over anything and anyone.


Smiles and friendly handshakes may be tools in negotiations,
but they never provided any answers when I called out to you.
I was only damaged goods for you to hide,
and any ill effects could be glossed over and forgotten. 

You never wanted to know a thing back then,
and your money kept me on a string for long enough. 
But the devil won’t sleep forever,   
and my antisocial openness can’t be eliminated or ignored. 


Maybe you mean it when you say you genuinely care now,   
but I think you still just want to make the problem disappear. 
Why do you think knowing me now will change anything?
It’s not meant to be; there is no time.


Copyright (C) 2012 by Eric Landuyt

4 comments:

  1. This isn't a "good" or "bad" type observation: I find myself wondering if this is you or a trophy wife tired of going to the country club. I want to know more, too, why being antisocial is an issue for their relationship.

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  2. The "antisocial openness" was meant to refer to intentionally revealing too much personal information and thereby making a scene in "polite society." Perhaps I should have chosen my words better.

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  3. If you want to, or not. It's just you and she seem to have so much in common judging by this poem! That's just where my mind goes.

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  4. If the intention of this poem is to call someone out (similar to Bob Dylan's 'Positively 4th Street'), I'd suggest crisper, shorter, and harsher wording. The bluntness is effective, but seems almost too well-worded and intellectual at times. Weird comment, I know, but the effect of the free verse is worse for it if it doesn't sound like an actual person in that moment with that emotion.

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