Frog In a Well
Frog in a Well
By: Joanne Jin
1.
The Frog
I am the frog in a well:
I do not speak; I do not move–
I think of sundaes and sunshine and all the euphoria,
But I can’t help but carry a heavy weight
On my shoulders.
There’s a ginormous boulder in front of me,
But I can’t do much about it.
All these people around me
Calculating numbers,
But I do not seem to care what they think about me any more
They aren’t significant as they seem to be
To me,
They are
E-n-d-l-e-s-s d-o-t-s
Circling around ,
Surrounding me
In another galaxy
Far
Far
Away,
In a foreign place.
2.
Pov: The Phantom
I am a Phantom
Roaming around a ghost town–
Not knowing where to go or who to see,
I have left my past life where it belongs
Trying to move on from my past
The one where you and I were together.
It’s been a century of tears,
You are still my lover
You are engraved
Deep,
Deep,
Deep in my thoughts.
But as time heals all the tragic wounds,
The beaten up brutal past
As your face is haunting me
I am a changed soul,
Having matured by understanding,
Having a deeper connection with nature and those around me,
And I realized that it’s okay to not be okay.
Sometimes, even when life is
Breaking, breaking
Down into a dark deep hole
Full of all my cataclysmic thoughts,
As you still roll like thunder
Rumbling inside my brain.
I already know who you have chose”
Her
And I am no longer a bitter fruit as I wept
Over what could have been
When life was as simple as a soft leaf ,
Falling,
Falling
From a tree
When all of life’s justices and freedom
Are forever forgotten away
In the land of make believe –
Knowing that my mind has come at peace
Finding myself truly once again,
Maybe I’ll see you in another life
Somewhere
Far,
Far
Away
From the ocean.
As you sang me to sleep
With a sweet lullaby
In the Grand Prairie
You broke my fine china
As you also broke my heart
For it has been bleeding for the stars in the sky for
So long.
In my dreams
You are a shooting star,
Soaring high up in the moon
As I’m thinking about you,
But the rain forest burned itself to death.
Staring at you is like staring at King Midas:
You view me as a stranger from an unknown planet
You mean the world to me and all of it above
But I am just another toy that you play with–
You left me there, stranded on a deserted island
Full of corpses of all the plastic dolls you adore.
We are older now
Wrinkles of time
You are with your lover
And I am with mine.
But for some reason
There are still lingering thoughts about you
For I have missed what could’ve been–
As you were my forever sadness and happiness
In the night sky–
Trying to find my way around town
But missing every route and turn
As I’m thinking about the oldies,
The blues we used to listen to
Billie jean was quite amusing to dance to–
You in your cowboy boots and chestnut hair
Far,
Far
Away
In a foreign place.
3.
Her
She’s one of the beautiful doves flying in the night sky
The way she looks into your eyes
She and you were destined.
You’re
Sinking,
Sinking deep
Into her forbidden love
I’m
Fading,
Fading away
As you and her
Are
Flying,
Flying away
To paradise.
3.
When the Party’s Over
I don’t remember what happened after the party was over,
Whiskey bottles lying on the kitchen floor
Shattered pieces of a heart
Left in a graveyard,
But it’s still beating
Even though it’s bleeding.
I am forever fortunate,
I have a few gray hairs
And knit sweaters for the homeless–
I do not know what to say as I’m growing older–
I have lived my life well and freely.
Copyright © Joanne Jin | Year Posted 2023
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