A Trip On the Plane of Existence
I’ve enjoyed writing for many years. I'm dedicating more time to the craft in my retirement days.
In another life
He is this arrogant guy
He has and uses
A megaphone
A cheerer’s cone
To make it known
How very good he is
How much he has done
How far he has come
From the simple man
He once was
He started out as
Then as days pass
Laudings amass
And he believes the hype
Buys into it
Takes it onboard
Uses it like he owns it
Rides it like he stole it
He comes out the other side of the tunnel
A completely different guy
And he doesn’t know why
He doesn’t like himself
Still can’t help himself
And don’t help others, neither
Or nor
And what’s more
He doesn’t know what he was like
In that other life
The one he runs from
Changed from
The man he’d become
And now he runs
From himself
Down the alley
Bumps into a wall
Feels the bricks
Scratch his palms
His fingertips dig in
And then begin
To bleed
As he scratches
And claws
To escape the maw
The black whirling hole
That took his soul
For the unending ride
Drug him down
Underground
Brought him here
Drove him here
Dropped him off here
Wherever here is
And he’s not making a dent
In the bricks
Or the mortar
But the blood drips down
Hits the ground
Red drops splash on his toes
Copper smell in his nose
Crimson Rorschach on his feet
He wakes to find
That it’s cold in his room
It’s almost high noon
And he’s been sleeping
Since early last evening
When he was reading
Something wicked
About a guy
Wanting to live
Another life
In a parallel universe
Until he laid down beside his mate
In the foxhole
And slept
The eternal sleep
In their small stretch of trench
As the shells exploded
And lit up the night sky
Shattered the earth
So no red wiggler
Would stay in this land
Despite ample supplies
Of decaying, lifeless matter
A window pane shatters
And he wakes again
Looks down
At the megaphone in his hand
Author Notes
I was looking for a way to have my thinking and inspiration depart from the so-called "box", so I googled something like, "poetry prompts" or some such and I came upon this website. The prompts contained on this blog page are many and varied, so I just kind of scrolled down until something reached out and grabbed me. It was #33, "Parallel Universe," that did it. I then did a couple of 60-second drills where I just wrote as fast as I could until the timer beeped. The first of those drills produced the first six lines or so of this work. I then spent significantly more time taking this to the place I wanted it to go. All in all, it was a fun and productive exercise, and I am happy with the finished product.
© 2021 greg cain
