Poem of the Day: “slave to the future if” by Jonathan Dick

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “slave to the future if” by Jonathan Dick.  Mr. Dick has been published in The Commonline Journal, Poetry Pacific, and The Write Place at the Write Time.  A native of Toronto, he is on target to graduate this year from Huron University College with a major in English Language and Literature.

slave to the future if

Jonathan Dick

i have fed myself the pain

of life wasted away in the corner, of a bedroom

turning my head and praying to a god, not there

head was laughing

mouth crying, and bedroom lied 

to myself, spending more

money to reduce amount of shivering, in the night

of the lonely loss, must have been somewhere in the sun

that shivering beast lusted for, dawn expected

cloudy days but shone out through, sky 

waking up with eyes firmly, closed imagination 

a slave to the future 

a messenger of the past 

all the times, 

alive!

Poet's Notes:  In this poem, I lament the loss of my childhood.  When I was younger, I was taught many “facts” of life which turned out to be complete fallacies. Many of these fallacies I held onto so tightly because I believed I would fail hopelessly without them.  So, this poem emphasizes my realization as an adult that the sky is always above our heads, and the ground is below our feet, and some things in life will never change, even while I continue to change as an individual. 

Editor’s Note:  I was reminded of the work of Rosmarie Waldrop as I read this one.  The poet’s interesting employment of commas results in poems within poems within poems.