[Nebraska-senior-blind] A poem, about aging - take a read

[Robert Leslie Newman]

This is a poem written by a blind woman living in Arizona, and it was shared
on the NFB Writers' division listserv:

 

 

Note: This was a poem written for a class. An explanation of the form used,
and its opposite, the black-out poem, is at the end of the poem It is
depressing, but also the truth of what happens..

 

Not One of Us is Free From the Erasure

 

"Poetry. emotion recalled in tranquility."

Hogwash. Emotion recollected in rage, in grief, in loneliness, in erasures,
the frustration of memories lost-the final content of our poetry.

 

Erasures of body parts that no longer work- the hidden control of the
bladder and bowels, fingers no longer holding tight, knees no longer lifting
us, taste buds making everything taste bland.

 

Erasures put together-treasured moments- a life in passing, hearing the
details that cause laughter, seeing the fine-tuned expression on a
loved-one's face, to hear that wail-the soul of the Blues, a throbbing
boogie beat, 

 

but not having the balance to dance and move to the beat.

No transportation to beloved activities- concerts, jazz festivals, debates,
ballets.

No end to shrinking telomeres, non-functioning synapses.

 

Erasures of attention-things you want to learn and know turn to daydreams
and drifting memories- the poet's view of words, the fast-moving loss of
them steals names of persons, things and places. 

 

If an erasure is erasing parts of myself to create something new and
original, then God is picking through my after-life. Plagiarism is not far
behind.

If this is a new form of poetry, it will not be mine.

 

Jacqueline Williams         April, 2015           24 lines

 

About This Poem

 

Our teacher used a handout from Writer's Digest by Robert Lee Brewer about
the poetic form named Erasure. You erase the parts of the poem that inspire
you and make a new poem of them. In researching this further, I found the
flip side of this is a "Blackout" poem. Here you leave the original piece of
work that you want and blackout the rest. You must observe the 50% rule and
name the source. 

I used this form, instead, as an extended metaphor for what happens in old
age. While depressing, if you live long enough, it is the truth.

One could instead, use all of those erased parts and write a wonderful
Eulogy. In either case, it is not plagiarism. 

 

 

Jackie Lee

 

Time is the school in which we learn.

Time is the fire in which we burn.

Delmore Schwartz           

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