Between the lines, San Francisco, 2006
This week I am pushing myself to be more transparent and to magnify all the thoughts and ideas I am usually too careful about. I want to experiment with exposure, embarrassment, imperfection and truth. My heart is wide open.
Between the lines
Between the lines lay our truths.
Next to them sit the fear of failure
And our friend safety.
By their side, hope doesn't stand a chance
And tears roll quietly down the blank space.
Thoughts of regret follow
Sweet little lies down a straight
And predictable path.
Passion is muted by the void
We create, as we let anxiety
Take over the smallest gaps.
Things are left unsaid and silence
Commands a new direction.
Before we know it, a joke
Covers up the surface and
Shadows of laughter and resentment
Obscure the purity once found
In fantasy and dream.
Timing finally wins over truth.
Soon is too late now
To find the way back to possibility.
A moment of restraint is enough
To stop the flow of emotions.
A lack of faith deviates us
From full acceptance and true living.
Sometimes I wish we had
Subtitles beneath our hearts.
I wish we could read
What can't be translated.
I wish there was a way to
Understand the mystery
Behind the logic
That keeps us hiding
And seeking
What can be found, surely,
When we expose the truths
That lay between the lines.
Comments (17)
I love the bit about subtitles for your heart. Wonderful.
Posted by Carol Anne | March 8, 2007 7:42 PM
Posted on March 8, 2007 19:42
I commend you on your willingness to be as open as possible. This is not always easy.
My favorite line?:
"I wish we had subtitles beneath our hearts"
Keep growing
Posted by Ron | March 8, 2007 7:48 PM
Posted on March 8, 2007 19:48
ah just beautiful! :-)
Posted by Marcos | March 9, 2007 2:04 AM
Posted on March 9, 2007 02:04
Oh, alex- thank you for sharing this wonderful poem and your heart as well. It's funny sometimes, this opening of one's heart- it lets in a myriad of things, but most of it all, when you open your heart, you open up to more love too...
Here's mine, Alex... xoxo
Posted by Regina Clare Jane | March 9, 2007 3:23 AM
Posted on March 9, 2007 03:23
wow. this poem really resonates with me. i have felt so much and hidden so much and you really do have an amazing way of describing things which i would love to say but cannot find the words for.
Posted by leonie | March 9, 2007 6:54 AM
Posted on March 9, 2007 06:54
What a wonderful way to start my weekend. So much to ponder. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. I really appreciate the comment you left.
Posted by Stacie | March 9, 2007 12:57 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 12:57
Once when i was suffering
terribly from a broken
heart I tried to bury it
in my insitence on
imposing my will on continuing to find poetry
everywhere - beautiful
things...which helped for a bit -
however eventually -
a poem "escaped"
and a line i treasure
(well, i treasure the poem
more than any other as it
is so fiercly "hurt")
the line included the words
"sorrowing with my blind pen"
your poem is recognized deep in my soul and experience and i find it
utterly brilliant that
you "named" this condition -
and have set your heart on
addressing it...
if i am making any sense
blabbing on here -
just -
what a wonderful post:)
hugs!
Posted by sophhie | March 9, 2007 4:12 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 16:12
I linked you because you
are soooo marvellous!
Posted by sophhie | March 9, 2007 4:18 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 16:18
Of yes my lovely, we are both thinking about bring truthful. Your poetry is so fresh and honest.
I'm also learning, working, and also sometimes just letting go -to be more truthful.
But somedays I also just wish for those subtitles.
Posted by Frida | March 9, 2007 8:49 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 20:49
Oh GG,
Yes, yes, yes! Wonderfully written.This speaks profoundly to me.
Posted by GeL (Emerald Eyes) | March 10, 2007 12:09 AM
Posted on March 10, 2007 00:09
"Sometimes I wish we had
Subtitles beneath our hearts." and "Soon is too late" - wonderful lines. I commend you on your decision to be more open - to say the things too often left unsaid. I think that's where the poetry is.
Posted by Kimberley McGill | March 10, 2007 2:14 AM
Posted on March 10, 2007 02:14
Alex - this is a wonderful post! Great poem. I think you've really captured that hesitation between saying what we want to say and saying what we end up saying instead. You've captured and perfectly described that moment!
Posted by Dennis | March 10, 2007 5:23 AM
Posted on March 10, 2007 05:23
Subtitles beneath our hearts - life would be so much easier then. Beautiful poem.
Posted by Dusty (Blogname) | March 10, 2007 8:43 AM
Posted on March 10, 2007 08:43
Wonderful photograph and poem. And subtitles for your heart - what a great expression! Would save a lot of confusion and heartache, I imagine. And thank you for your wonderful comments on my "red" poem. xo
Posted by Paris Parfait | March 10, 2007 3:17 PM
Posted on March 10, 2007 15:17
the honesty of that poem makes it beautiful.
Posted by [a} | March 10, 2007 3:53 PM
Posted on March 10, 2007 15:53
Beautiful Alex!! Just Beautiful... I am reading and re-reading your words--they are so powerful and so true. Thank you for sharing this--it's very relavant to my life now.
xoxo Nicole
Posted by rubyslippers | March 10, 2007 10:14 PM
Posted on March 10, 2007 22:14
This is so lovely and thoughtful, it bears re-reading many times. Like everyone else, I am so struck by the lines "subtitles for the heart." But these words resonate with me as well:
Between the lines lay our truths.
Next to them sit the fear of failure
And our friend safety.
By their side, hope doesn't stand a chance
There is so much in your words to think and reflect upon...thank you for sharing this wisdom :)
Posted by Becca | March 11, 2007 5:42 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 17:42