POEM STARTER
Submitted by Maranda Quinn
Write a poem which includes the motif of doors.
Whether open or closed, doors can be used to represent many different things.
A Door
A door is an object that separates
Here from there
Now from later
Seen from unseen
Do you go through? Are things better
There?
Later?
Unseen?
I see the strip of light
Underneath it
And I hear the voices, activity
Through it
I feel the vibrations
In it
What’s on the other side?
A door opened can never be closed again
Not really
Not really,
Because a damaged door knob doesn’t twist the same.
Because the hinges now scream in pain as we try to erase past choices we think we have a choice in changing.
And the axe we took to see through the locked wall, left holes. Holes where we can see through but makes us see through to the demons on the other side.
Leaving us raw and exposed to experience.
I tried the window but it was stained
and wouldn’t open, I tried in vain
but chronic lack of care
is the dirty secret I bear
But then I made the change
that made things rearrange
I saw, really saw, and finally gained
a feeling close to that of sane
new light both here and there
and inviting in the freshest air
Oh I can’t edit this. I wanted to. Damn.
The oxygen left my lungs open to new ideas
And I felt like running for my life. A new one.
So I ran downstairs and into my deep water under the bridge. Looked it in the face and splashed for the cellar steps. Pushed past the skeletons that wouldn’t fit in my closet, they grasped at my conscience but I kept going till I threw open the cellar to humility and suddenly,
I was free.
❤️❤️❤️❤️