Jul 22
Between Nowhere and Goodbye
somewhere is a shadowed place
lost between want and need
it’s here on this map
off the paved roads
maybe up the hill—
on a pathway with jagged ruts
a little traveled one-way road
somewhere waits
just beyond that river
water flowing from nowhere
all the way to here
leaves bouncing along
like promises of
I’ll be there for you
I’ll wait until you catch up
You’ll always have me
but there you are
always disappearing into the shadows
up the road somewhere
while here I am
between nowhere and goodbye
Pamela Olson, 7/22/08
This poem was written for the title prompt,
“Somewhere Between Nowhere and Goodbye”
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Sucks that you’re left behind.
Good write.
It’s interesting that you put this poem with this photo. To me, both have a similar emotional “bleached-ness” about them that compliments the other, but each can also very much stand alone. Great stuff!
This is very poignant… which I suppose is inevitable with this title. But I like the way you extend the idea of the space between contradictions, particularly the line “between want and need”
Beautifully written but, I feel such loneliness with this poem. It’s really hard to move forward when we expect something of another. Maybe the pictured road can lead somewhere better in life. Nice job. Have a nice night.
a moment in time so well express, I can picture two people walking along where one is behind while the other patiently waits up ahead but unsure if the other is still following, the photo projects an sense of loneliness and time moving so slowly, like the past still exist even when the two passengers are gone, even when the moment disappears
a brilliant portrait.. how often we find ourselves still waiting,, somewhere between nowhere and good bye….
Yikes. The transition mid-stream from an childlike description to the adult’s geography of abandonment is chilling and dead-on.