a voyeur into my own life

a voyeur into my own life

 

 

 

i'm the eccentric

who lives across the curb

the one to which you were kicked

back in 1958

 

a Bronx avenue

a roller skater

tripped, while bullies scoffed

and the blade edged thinly

 

across the throat of the rich kid

while the pauper spread thin his appetite

nursed his bruises

forgave the city

 

then melted into a Midwest town

starting a new life

a figure rising into adulthood

rubbing pennies together

 

to age

into surrogate emotional healing

being able to stare at his image

without shards of mirror flying in rage

 

i saw you growing up

i will see you growing dead

and all the in between

will be a lovely ruse

 

in southern catastrophe

you will be a weary casualty

but i shall sustain a love for you

for me, for us

 

and will keep the key for those skates

close to my heart

until pavements turn back to oceans

and our ship sails concrete seas for the last time.

 

 

erin-cilberto

4/30/22

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

Nostalgic write. Reflections on childhood memories. Some of them can be painful, particularly if we feel unloved. I am picking up on a sensitive child here who had to fend for himself. I loved my roller skates. Nice work J.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, you are spot on...thank you,
j.

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Jacob… your Poem reminds me of Leonard Cohen’s Song Hallelujah… it is always a Risk to Love ❤️ someone… tenderly, Pat

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Even self.
thank you, Pat,
j.

[Patricia Wedel]

“To your own self be True… and it hshall follow as the Night the Day… you will not be False to anyone”. Was it Shakespeare who said that ? Amen, Pat

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, it was. Polonius in Hamlet when he is speaking to Laertes just before Laertes leaves to go find himself.

[Patricia Wedel]

Thank you Jacob … finding your true self is a Challenge… I am trying every day… even on an overcast day as we speak…. Pat