along with the poems that can't be saved

 

along with the poems that can't be saved

 

 

don't need a bucket list....

i have enough of them,

 

one for my old sandbox

which has become a quicksand box of painful memories

 

i have that bucket of tears

but cried it dry

 

the bucket used to clean up my emotional messes

but so many holes made it useless years ago

 

i had buckets of well wishes for friends

but they kicked the bucket

before i could send them

 

and now i have a bucket of unused flowers

which never survived the weeds

of shame

 

don't need a bucket list...

i will continue to do what needs to be done

the wishes will have to be saved

 

for the next flood of philandering 

miscues and hopeful attention

that might need to be thrown into the 

 

wishing well.

to drown with my sorrows.

 

 

erin-cilberto

9/22/17

Reviews

[marilyn 1225]

loved it great work emotional and beautiful

''i had buckets of well wishes for friends

but they kicked the bucket
before i could send them'' amazing soo good
 

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Annette,
j.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Methinks thou dost self- deprecate too much. It's just our good old human nature...that thing we all use as an excuse for our own bad behavior but a plea for others to act better...it's a puzzle of sorts. And I wrote a poem once called Life gets In The Way....headlining a list of my own excuses. It's not a theme uncommon in music. Harry Chapin wrote Cats in The Cradle and John Anderson wrote Wish I Could Have Been There as two examples. Waylon Jennings wrote the lines, "I can't say I'm proud of all of the things that I've done but I can say I've never intentionally hurt anyone." There's a saying about where good intentions lead as well but I believe they're at least better than the alternative of meanness and cruelty. We are all flawed, every one of us. Emerson said, "There is a crack in everything God has made." And Leonard Cohen said, "That's how the light gets in..." Perhaps sorrow and regret are but shadows we have cast from being in the light. A friend of mine's dad used to ask when confronted with any problem his kids brought him, "But did you LEARN anything?" I always thought there was a most apropos point in the asking...no matter what the answer. Loved this.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing these examples....yes, "Cats in the Cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon"

thank you for your kind review, Fabian.
j.

[Leslie Philibert]

great poem, great idea, well written ; a thought provoker of a poem from one of my favourite writers here, one who well deserves the attention he becomes !

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Leslie.
j.

[Cory Barrett]

Leaky buckets get a bad rap; they never hold onto a mess.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that is true...thank you, Cory.
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

I wonder, j. how many uses did we have for that old galvanized bucket? Slopping hogs...Feeding the chickens....Stool...Drum...Rain hat...most of the memories of those youthful moments are faded and holed like my old jeans. I like this one.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Ted...

j.

[Gee]

Some good lines in this Jacob.
Crossed one item off my bucket list Thurday ( wasn't really on there)
Had an endoscopy, ouch, carried out by a lady doctor, watched by 4 more women and me on a screen positioned straight in front of my mush.
Made me realise two things, 1, my arse needs a good gardener to attend to it as it is very overgrown, 2, I ain't gonna be getting a boyfriend any time soon !!!!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i had one of those two years ago...but male doctor---and was knocked out...yes, the need for that good gardener...and no boyfriends...ha ha.
thanks, Gee.
j.

[Jimmy Yetts]

How fortunate that most of us are unaware of every "bucket-kicker" we've known--undoubtedly, dead soldiers for miles.
Know something about that "quicksand box," those "weeds of shame" and drowning my sorrows.
These are a few things that struck me--but, obviously, your poems always say so much more than could possibly be contained in this relatively small, rectangular space.
Impressive stuff, Jacob!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your understanding insights...Jimmy
j.

[William Gardner]

Great overlapping reflections and imagery. Really enjoyed this one, and no you don't need a bucket list! Thank you for sharing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, William....
j.

[andrew mitchell]

I enjoyed this write of yours Jacob, so relatable and such a great term these days the bucket list.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, andrew.
j.