Notes About The Poem
7/1/2024 for This or That, Vol 26 Poetry Contest, sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Nadir
Born into a landscape,
Not quite littered with landmines,
But the occasional hole -
Holes that seem inescapable,
Like quicksand -
When I fall, I just keep falling.
Where is the bottom, the nadir?
It's impossible to know.
It's impossible to get out,
Like being captured in a whirlpool,
My only direction is in and down.
Like a lost spider in a toilet bowl
When it's flushed.
A vicious cycle -
The only direction is down and in.
I live in fear of these holes.
Above ground,
I find friends and pleasures,
Challenges and detractors,
But nothing I can't handle.
Once I fall in,
And approach the vortex,
I'm hopeless.
There is no pleasure.
My friends don't understand.
There is no way out.
There is no bottom.
I can only fall -
In and down.
Yet, I'm living proof
That one can escape.
Perhaps, I began in a kind of vicious cycle
A cycle of anger,
A cycle of hate.
Cycles upon cycles,
Round and round,
With no escape.
Tit for tat,
It seems such cycles
Can only deepen.
But, somehow, I got out.
It took time.
Like George Harrison said,
"All things must pass".
A few times, I fell in love.
It was like being pulled into a vortex,
Without choice.
My heart was broken.
Somehow, I got out.
It took time.
All things must pass.
Once, suddenly,
My health was dealt a blow,
Resulting in physical pain,
Sending me,
Down, down, down.
I thought I could never get out.
I still have the health problem,
But I'm out of the hole.
It took time.
All things must pass.
Once, suddenly,
I lost my girlfriend.
I lost my job.
I lost my house.
I lost my family.
The ground under me was removed,
I found myself with strangers
on Christmas day.
Even there, I was unwelcome.
And I fell down, down, down.
But I'm out of the hole.
It took time.
All Things Must pass.
I live in fear of these holes,
And I think I'm pretty good at avoiding them,
But there is no guarantee,
And I never know
When I will fall
down, down, down.
I'm sure many people
Have likewise fallen deep
Into seemingly hopeless
vicious cyclic whirlpools
Of despair.
I wonder,
If even whole societies,
Can suffer
Vicious cycles,
Tit for tat,
Of of hate, hopelessness, ignorance,
And despair,
And, if so,
One day, this too,
Shall pass.
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