Poetry Unbound

Today is the day my friends leave

and I think I'll miss them when they're gone

although yesterday I wasn't so sure.

As I write, I wonder about friends

and I think I'll miss them when they're gone.

When I was younger I wanted them to miss me.

As I wrote, I'd wonder about friends:

I couldn’t have known how much I'd miss

when I was younger. I wanted to be missed,

and anyway, is every missing a lack?

I couldn’t have known how much I'd miss.

I had a dream I was stuck, waving at the gate

and anyway, is every missing a lack?

Tomorrow I may not be so sure.

In this one I'm stuck again, waving at the gate.

Today is the day I leave.

Today, a guest in my house

And I am in a spell

Although yesterday holds me too

I hear myself attend

And I am in a spell

Younger, attention magnified

I hear my attention attend

I couldn't have known its gift

Younger, attention magnified

And anyway time is a dress

I couldn't have known its gift

In a dream of presence

And anyway time is a dress

Although yesterday holds me too

In a dream of presence

Today, a guest in my house.

I wasn't sure how to read this.. a guest in your own house, or a guest you were hosting... I love the dream of presence...

These lines add up to more than the sum of the numbering! I love the waving at the gate line.

This is stunning.

Nice, Adam. Your pantoum made me think about Willy Loman and how we all want to be "well liked" in the end. I think the questioning here is something we all do. We can never know anyone else's true feelings, even the people we are closest with. When our daughter was four (she just turned 50... Yikes!) she was on her bed in a time out for lying. We knew we were in trouble when she said, "You can't know if I'm lying, you're not inside my head!"

“...is every missing a lack?” Wonderful pondering!

Adam, I love the way the pantoum comes together and the musing behind it. Am I the only one who enjoys imaging people saying how much they will miss me at my funeral?

Total surprise when you went from "my friends leave" in the first line to "I leave" in the last line. Wow!

I have been thinking about friends I don't seem to have time for any more, and this speaks to me...is every missing a lack? Mike Rosen has a wonderful poem about how people walk with you for a time and then leave you, or you leave them and you try to hold it lightly.

Gorgeous!

This works so well. You've really caught something.