Taking a long overdue mental health vacation. I will check in when I can.
Years and years gone by
Couple hundred miles apart
And here I come to find
You with that old piece of my heart
And just like that, I’m taken back
To whiskey lips and cigarettes. My old car and you’re shotgun
Going nowhere for hours,
Entranced on parking lot pavement. Wondering how we got here. After months of clumsy
small talk, stolen glances
And you’re beaming as I tell you of my plans to paint my furniture, dumbfounded as to
why you’re so enraptured
Said we should go home soon, but talk is cheap, and no one moves
My god, your smile lights up the room - or any space - for now, my car
And suddenly I’m falling hard
You admit, we both are—shifting quickly into past tense
Harder still, we go
Wine glass in my hand, you’ve got that look again. This is why you couldn’t look at me,
you say. You knew you’d give yourself away. Both madly in love with the smallest of
details…
Old typewriter in the corner,
Your eyes,
Your voice,
Impassioned rants about music and how you love Joyce
That look you had every time I bit my lip, at one point was subconscious then I did
it just to see it
Riding top down in my car, adventures with our playlists
Already knowing I’m going to wreck this. Came out of the blue, we didn’t expect this
Crying in your arms with no explanation. Young and naïve and afraid of
commitment. Finger on the trigger, I can taste the resentment
Just like the bad habits I was trying to break then,
I kept pieces of you everywhere that I went. From the Jameson in my veins, taste of
menthol-bummed-cigarettes, typewritten font, and that scene from Atonement
My notebook meant for history, filled more with love notes to you
But you’d already moved
And then I, onto other things, building different lives
There were reasons I didn’t see you when you came to visit
Wasn’t just him who stopped me, though I do still regret it
I knew myself better than to risk it. Guess I finally worked through
my fear of commitment
Favorite whiskey on the rocks now burns for different reasons. And that one song by The
Beatles now carries different meanings
-And yes, I remember, I remember now. I just gave it a listen-
And just like that, I’m taken back
To whiskey lips and cigarettes
Years and years gone by
Couple hundred miles apart
And here I come to find
I have that old piece of your heart.
-
Author:
HannahElisabeth (
Offline) - Published: September 14th, 2021 12:09
- Comment from author about the poem: More of a short story/poem. Funny how one phone call and a song can take you right back like it was yesterday.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 30
- Users favorite of this poem: Heart of Babel, Coyote, L. B. Mek.
Offline)
Comments5
Very clever!
Thank you!
Love that
Thank you for reading 🙂
The geography of one of your relationships well scanned, Hannah.
I speculate that everyone caries pieces of past relationships within them – hopefully positive pieces; yours sound positive, learnt from and definitely not bitter. A well textured story I enjoyed.
Oh most definitely a positive piece, despite the slightly negative title. I'm glad you enjoyed my little walk down memory lane with me
I definitely need the exercise in lockdown. I can look forward to regular little walks, I hope....
4 more comments
This is a wonderful poem Hannah. Hauntingly beautiful and poetically moving. Love the reference to the Beatle's and the Old Typewriter 🙂
Thank you friend! Nice to see you back around!
reads like words
being whispered to our ears, intensely private
love the drink theme, linking
as metaphor and anchor, for your poem
reminds me of an old post
I shared, titled
'Saudade in a savoured cup'..
(thanks for sharing, dear Poet
such a great read)
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