Paul Willason Poet Free verse

Shopping Center Sailors

A leisurely coffee, conversation
that barely makes it across
the table before slipping back
into silence, shapes passing by
shadowed in the blurr 
of their growing distance.

They gather at ten, old men,
landlocked yet in their mind’s aegean,
letting out their long nets
beneath a vast shopping center ceiling 
arching over them like an endless sky,
horizons drawing them further out 
to where, one day, they won’t return.

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Deb M April 5, 2023 at 7:30 PM Hi Paul….so perfectly said! I often see the old men gatherings at the shopping centres and have wondered what their lives were like before getting old. Your title is what drew me in just love it as l do this poem. Debx Paul Willason April 5, 2023 at 9:17 PM Thanks Deb for reading and leaving your comments. I was bold enough one time to strike up a conversation with such a group, prompted by the same question you posed. Most were retired fishermen, hence tte direction the poem took.

Jenna Logan April 5, 2023 at 4:44 PM Hello, Paul. I saw your comment on Daniel's poem, so I wanted to read something by you. This is well written, and I love your line, "landlocked yet in their mind’s aegean," Paul Willason April 5, 2023 at 6:33 PM Thankyou Jenna for visiting and leaving such a kind note. Appreciated, Paul