…a long black tube of tracks
Please click the .wav link to hear the poem recited to original music: .wav recording
Soot-Stained Sheet
Take me outside…to breathe the air around your hair,
to walk down city streets while holding hands,
navigating through the human flow, we break the ice,
our smiles and laughter brighten the blocks of sunlit sky.
I have lived inside this tunnel since I dug it years ago,
my monument to reclusiveness, a living tomb of hiding.
I bartered safety from the staring eyes, for a long black tube of tracks
and stuck my head under the ground, as life pulled from the station.
Take me up above where windows promise food and chic,
keep me safe from those who wish to bore me while they bore.
Shield me from the elements, for here I am a soot stained sheet,
only hanging on your arm, do I reanimate in living color.
Take me outside…to breathe the air around your hair,
to walk down city streets while holding hands,
navigating through the human flow, we break the ice,
our smiles and laughter light the blocks of sunlit sky.
Karima Hoisan
April 4, 2014
Costa Rica
Digital Rabbit Hole 
Karima! You walk a crisper path than most, but I would love a private picnic if I ever get out again.
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I like that idea RoseDrop:) a few nibbles..something quenching and…lots and lots of poerty:)
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Beautifully redemptive, hopeful, also deep and dark. And I love the two senses of “bore” there…
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Thank you so much Dale..for leaving your appreciative comment, and yes the bore was also bore:)
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Its weird, but really moving and it has something you can’t escape from… I mean.. I can’t 🙂
Hugs
Nat
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He he Natskers…thank you for getting “caught in it” Yeah…I know..it is weird..but sometimes I don’t have much control over that:) Glad you liked it!
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I’ll go with Dale on this one…. dark and deep indeed. What captured me was the “second voice”, almost as if a child was reciting it with you. That made it very haunting, even a little scary. ;o) Thank you Karima for yet another vision for my minds eye, built entirely from your words.
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Oh Shesa..what a cool observation! Yes..the( second voice is sort of childlike and therefore a bit scary:) (Whispering in your ear here the trick…shhh I used a “helium voice” and then modulated it much lower.)I am so delighted that you see my poetry, it seems, as visually as I do.Makes me understand even more why we have just “clicked” over the years my friend..:) Big Hugs and thank yous!
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I read this poem right after reading “Brand New” which you just posted. This is like the soul who has been beaten down by Winter, but a kindly soul helps them out of their hibernation, and then the fireworks begin in Brand New. Both very different moods, but tie together…great work!
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You know…you are right…Scottius..they Do tie together..and although I was not consciously trying, one is very winter feeling.the other airy Spring.. Thanks for leaving this comment…It shows you looked at both poems quiet deeply:)Of course I love when I reader does that..just like life..there are complicated things going on below the surface or the title..You seem to see that:)
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