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BECOMING A STRANGER

Bound at home too many days
by temporary infirmity
watching tube until eyes glaze
I think of days that used to be......

For the first time in many years
just as a nap overtook me
memory returned by ancient gears
of a game trail that used to be.

So when I was at last set free
I decided to check if it still went its way
thus in my old truck I went to see
on this cold clear late winter day.

But it was a confused trip.
Nothing was as it used to be.
Time had crushed all in its grip
like a vine slowly choking a tree

What happened to that country store?
Had the narrow gravel road been paved?
Nothing seemed like once before.
No familiar landmarks had been saved.

I drove and searched for half a day.
Never found the road much less the trail
'cause everything had gone away
dooming nostalgic trip to fail.

For I'd waited way too many years
which allowed for too much change.
I guess as my old age nears
too many things will become strange.

Style / type: 
Free verse
Review Request (Intensity): 
I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back
Last few words: 
I'd started to title this "Stranger In A Strange Land" then remembered there is already a book titled that
Editing stage: 
Content level: 
Not Explicit Content
Opt-in: Neopoet AI will critique your poem.

Comments

I like the name Becoming a Stranger
It has deep meaning. Lev Tolstoy talks about how a person gets alienated to the environment before death. You talk about how with age we might grow apart from fastly changing reality keeping loyalty to our preserved by memory images.
It is a profound poem, my friend. I can relate very much.

IRiz

Sometimes the best titles have been used up."You Can't Go Home Again" would have worked too but it is not only used but worn out lol. I appreciate the visit and kind comment.......stan

author comment

Thank you

IRiz

u hv taut me how 2 read epicurial puitre

lol me

this is hardly an epic but I'm glad you dropped by......stan

author comment

u always silence me
all neop's can c

Stan you have demonstrated that you re as good in free verse as in rhyme in a poem which rhymes about the changing times....it also superimposed pictures from a photo album with real time images...it is therefore pretty melancholic in its mood...
.................................................................................................

raj (sublime_ocean)

I think I'll write my next poem as a free verse. It occurs to me that a lot of new members might think I'm a rhyme snob lol. Too many are the time I go to places and have only memories of the sylvan scenes that were there before. Appreciate the visit.......stan

author comment

I've just become seventy this May. My left knee is starting to go, but I suspect that it will last long enough, that the doctors won't want to operate because of my lung problems and circulation. I have lived in this area since my birth and only spent around fifteen years away. I've seen woods and fields and streams, fade away and disappear. Places that I've hunted are now filled with condos and malls.
Soon, even the land that is left [and posted by the way], will be buried under another bunch of condos or a strip mall. I really value the small spots of woods and lonely places left here. Thanks for another look at the changing scene. ~ Gee.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

and different guys different ailing
life is not for asking
but lies in its making
by our own imagery
so compose poetry

you have stopped encouraging me
ole man he/me

Thanks for dropping by and I'll return the favor tonite.......stan

author comment

it's just a desire life is for ever on fire the day comes the night passes but stan always by passes tonite never came till tonite a millennium gone by

I commented as promised

author comment

My excuse is... that I am extremely tired and haven't been writing or posting as much as usual. Therefore, not because you are any less prolific Lovedly; but my attention has been taken elsewhere. Keep trying, eventually you will connect. ~ Gee.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

I'm gonna have to start calling you Mr. Geezer lol. This poem is based on the place where I killed my first deer about 40 years ago. I had not been back for about 30 years and decided to take a friend to the spot. Not only could I not find the trail I could not even find the road due to all the changes. Talk to your Dr. about knee lubrication injections asap. Your knees might not be too far gone for that to help and it's a Lot less painful and a bunch less expensive........stan

author comment

I'm gonna have to start calling you Mr. Geezer lol. This poem is based on the place where I killed my first deer about 40 years ago. I had not been back for about 30 years and decided to take a friend to the spot. Not only could I not find the trail I could not even find the road due to all the changes. Talk to your Dr. about knee lubrication injections asap. Your knees might not be too far gone for that to help and it's a Lot less painful and a bunch less expensive........stan

author comment

Next time I go to the docs' I'll ask about it.~ Gee.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

it will at least allow you to delay replacement a while, Mine were already too far gone for it to help

author comment

I have no idea how I over looked your comment But my late reply is to first of all thank you. The next is to join you in commiserating the loss of places to hunt and even just walk through

author comment

doesn't want me to post reply to you gee

author comment

that everything will become strange as we age in a changing world (the world wasn't always changing so fast, in which even each new generation can barely relate to another) This is a noble theme for a poem.
I would drop the first stanza and the further reference as it is not pertinent to the poem, which can simply simply begin with a memory. The abstract reader does not know why you are apparently in the hospital and get released, (rather than home recouping from that dreadful new knee operation)

The poet is Frostian. I think it could be shortened and tightened up, but the message is one that I have not seen and feels both original and personal. I would explore that a bit further in the is poem which has the framework to be very powerful.

Eumolpus
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance
ee cummings

I'm always going back and editing so I'll keep your idea about the first stanza in mind when I rework this one........stan

author comment

Yes I still have that. Uncle Sam hasn't figured out how to tax that away yet lol.........stan

author comment

Have you thought to elevate your style at the end of your poem? To make the ending more emphatic?
For example,

As I have waited way too many years,
too many things have changed. I guess,
the world and its observer grow strange
approaching cold late winter age.

IRiz

I am aware that this poem doesn't end with a bang. But does that not fit the subject? The changes which slowly turn the familiar into strange over time doesn't come of a sudden nor does the realization that it has happened come suddenly..........but I'm always going back to poems and your idea will be in mind when I do next edit on this

author comment
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