To sort things out
The heavy things
That needed mental heft
To get in place
The unspoken thoughts
That should be brought to light
To free the space
The waylaid plans
That needed a serious revision
To map my route
Instead I was rewarded
With a blank mind
Focusing on nothing
Finding myself approaching
A place I had not intended to go
But still scarily familiar
Because I’ve been here before
I don’t want to go there
In thought or otherwise
!Gunshots! – One! Two!
Smash the windy silence
Halt the inward stridence
Three! Four! Five!
Hunters far too close
Killing their prey
Turning, I change my course
With the need for self-preservation
Fully forefront in my mind
I walk briskly from dirt to pavement
Where I realize
The universe
Had just given me
The answer I sought.
I file it down deep
And head home.
December 26, 2012
Benson, Vermont
This one came about from a combination of listening to “All At Once” by Pete Yorn on repeat and going for a walk in early December. I supplanted the feelings and thoughts from the song to what I witnessed while on my walk that day. This had been sitting in Line Ideas for a while, so I added to and finished it.
Light Fluff
Cold winter day
Window looking
Watching the white
Light fluff
Go nuts in the wind
Falling sweeping
Spinning twirling
Like motes of dust
Dancing in a fanned room
December 27, 2012
Benson, Vermont
Swirly Blur
Sitting here
In the midst
Of another
Time where
The colors
The sounds
Are working
In concert
Are working
Together and
Forming a
Swirly blur
In the style of
Monet, Manet
And all their
Contemporaries
But in a less
Museum-like
Sterile setting
And more of
A living alive
Kind of way
Reinforcing
The feeling
I get when
The world’s
All about the
Good things
Life has to
Offer and gives
Back in the
Best way
Possible
December 28, 2012
Benson, Vermont
I’ve had the phrase “swirly blur” in Line Ideas for a few days and have been wondering what I could do with it. By the looks of it, I could do something thin and impressionistic with that phrase.
Re-Living The Moment
…Re-playing
The event and
Re-living
The moment
On repeat
All the time
Like I shouldn’t do
Because it gets
Me distracted,
Gets in the way
Of living
In the present
But I can’t help
Myself from
Re-playing
The Event and
Re-living
The moment
On repeat
All the time…
December 28, 2012
Benson, Vermont
Sometimes I think about things too much.
Ending It
Sometimes the wall
Comes at the right time
Take the case of 2012
We are currently
Properly positioned
To be ending it
As we wind down
This current year
And are getting ready
For the next one
Full of optimism
Brimming with good plans
Bursting with potential.
So yes, I am fine with the date
And the time left in 2012
Because I am moving forward
Full-on focused and
Readily obsessed with 2013
To the point where
I can hit the calendar running
And not look back
December 31, 2012
Benson, Vermont
See you next year!
Thank you for reading Trying Not To Blink!
To find out about upcoming works by Eric Nixon, sign up for the email list at EricNixon.net.
Other works by Eric Nixon
Poetry Collections
Anything but Dreams
Lost In Thought
Fiction
Emily Dickinson, Superhero – Vol. 1
Short Stories
Incident on the Hennepin
Retribution on a Jetpack
Plenty of Time
About the author
Photo by Kari Chapin Nixon
Eric Nixon is an author and poet. He published his first collection of poetry, Anything But Dreams in 2004, which was selected as an iUniverse Editor’s Choice book. In 2011, Garrison Keillor read his poem “Riding the Red Line” on the nationally syndicated public radio program, The Writer's Almanac. He is the author Emily Dickinson, Superhero – Vol. 1 and of several short stories, including Incident on the Hennepin and Retribution on a Jetpack. Eric lives with his family in Vermont where he is inspired by his surroundings and is explores his creativity through poetry, photography, and writing.
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The Writer’s Almanac: “Riding the Red Line”
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