Holding on to Shoes and a Lost Daisy

Holding on to Shoes and a Lost Daisy

 

 

imagining the footprints of a life

disappearing into a bleak sunset

so many smiles in remembrance

but only a sullen mask for show

 

we loved once

with such aggression

we were turned inside out

but the footprints are now partial

 

almost invisible

my heart tries hard to remember you

ages have passed with flippant nature

a new garden has grown to forget you

 

I strain to see your face in my dreams

but wake to an empty canvass

draw blanks of who you were

the paint has run its course

 

footprints covered up with time

I walk away in perfect mutter

confused but convinced

that something happened.

 

and then I spy

that little flower

and shake my head.

 

 

erin-cilberto

2/11/26

Reviews

[Marie Kinnett]

This is really good and beautiful. The feeling of losing the memories of someone loved. Makes me have tears in my eyes.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Marie, for your kind words.
j.

[Brandon Houser]

Oh man. This one cuts. A beautiful ode to memories faded that we try hard to hold onto. I will read this repeatedly.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Brandon,
j.

[Soren]

This can be taken different ways a physical loss of some one or an emotional loss. I followed the latter where two people have lived together so long that differences have grown between them like calluses on a worn hand and that feeling no longer gets through until the flower is found as a reminder that someone still is there. A lovely write

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your words, Soren.
j.

[Soren]

My pleasure Jacob

[Curly Grace]

This one feels like a memory dissolving in slow motion, Jacob. The way a life once vivid thins to partial tracks, colors running off the canvas until only the faintest outline remains.
And yet that small daisy...

that stubborn flicker of what once bloomed, rises like a whisper from the past, reminding the heart that forgetting is never absolute, a beautifully haunted piece.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your very kind words on this mess, Curly.
j.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Strong writing which speaks directly to my heart, stirs my own memories. I feel as if you became me for a bit, then wrote while me. But I recognize you have seized upon an almost universal human experience, have written of it in a manner that feels personal and intimate to the reader. Those of us with decades behind us can step right into your lines, try the poem on for fit, and for me it fits perfectly.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Michael.
j.

[John Sullivan]

Oof.

The website tells me my review needs to have 25 characters, so I'm gonna keep writing, but there really isn't much else to say. I agree with Davidgeo. You do in fact make a universal pain a little more... defined. A little more manageable.

Well done, as always.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, John....It is ironic. We writing teachers try to get our students to be to the point, less is more. And WC wants us to keep talking and talking and talking.
I appreciate your words, my friend.
j.

[John Sullivan]

The best advice I ever got was exactly that, from my writing professors. Less is more, and it is true of most things in life, not just our prose or whatnot.

The pleasure, as always, is mine Mr. Jacob.

[Kris]

Beautiful and heartbreaking.
Perhaps my interpretation is flawed, but I haven't much human connection, So in my eyes this reads as a kaleidoscope of what you know and love changing, disappearing slowly.
Reminds me of my town, how even a decade ago the nature reserve was wild and beautiful, with emerald waters and rocky hills you could climb all the way to the top.. There's a pizzeria in there now, a wide cement trail that cuts the reserve in half and around, like a giant 🚫 sign around the mountain.
The hills are restricted by wire nets, and the many critters that have once lived there are gone.
- I'm aware your poem was definitely not about this specific thing, but it wakes up the imagination and really squeezed the heart until it aches.
Beautiful work all around

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for what you share here. And Kris, no interpretation is flawed. When I write poetry, my hope is that readers can relate to it in some way...there is no right or wrong in poetry, only reaction and response.
Thank you.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

That little flower, now you remember her clearer. A poem of loss. Hurts the heart. Time passes but the pain of loss lingers regardless. Poignant and lovely dear j.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your understanding, Chris.
j.

[Davidgeo]

This is beautiful jacob. You make a universal pain a little more palatable.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, David.
j.

[Desert Knave]

It's scary how quickly a "garden" fills with things other than the flowers you desire. ~Jim

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Very scary, Jim.
j.