I’m Haunted

johnjgeddes (75) in poetry • 6 years ago

Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind
Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,
Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,
Above, beneath, betwixt, between.
Neil Gaiman

I’m haunted.
Are you haunted too?

All ghosties and spirits,
Chain rattlers and specters,
Daemons of the mist within us
Accompany me forever.

What more do you need
To know about me?

My ghosts are never transparent—

Shadowy, yes, and murky,
But never see-through…
Though sometimes
Incandescent.

My memory is
Spirit photography
Where women in white dresses
Haunt me

It took me a while
To discover
I have a troupe of past lovers
Following me around

Sometimes they excite me
Mostly they’re uninvited
Accidental company—

Not like you.

You’re the watery wraith
Whose face
Is made of raindrops
Who sings to me of love

Last night
The sky was blue
With lightning.

And you, my rainy wraith,
With your lovely face
Peered in the window.

You possess me…

And I naïvely
Acquiesce
And cherish every dream

So foolishly devoted
That I continually
Let you in.

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6 years ago by johnjgeddes (75)

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nancybriti (70) · 6 years ago

Strong and mind-blowing verses, @johnjgeddes!! You remind me of a Venezuelan poet, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, who suffered all his life from insomnia and the presence of a woman he called his beloved and in the end was death. The poet is persecuted by his feelings, by his fears, as being sensitive is very exposed to the world! In this poem I see how the lyrical voice accepts its truth, its enchantment, but asks if the other is too. He finds this presence different from the other presences that visit him, he knows himself captive, devoted, lost. Greetings!

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johnjgeddes (75) · 6 years ago

I don't know Sucre but will check him out - Thank you, Nancy. It's the spiritual triptych - obsession - oppression - possession. It happens on the physical, emotional and spiritual levels. We abdicate our authority to another, or to a presence and before long we're enslaved. Passion can't be created, but it can destroy if left unchecked.