New Poetry by Scottish Writer DS Coremans #FoDiByLi
Monday 26 July 2021
Senryu – Score the Page
I score the pages,
2021©DSCoremans
as though my pen is a blade;
my bloody battle.
Villanelle – Lines On the Page
There are lines upon the page
from words and shapes I drew before;
the deepest lines are filled with rage.
Where I arrived at every stage,
a place I never could ignore
where there are lines upon the page.
My discourse cannot assuage,
intensity becomes a daily chore,
building deeper lines all filled with rage.
I may yet work to earn my wage;
only importance can implore
when there are lines upon the page.
From my past dawns yet another age;
it stands before me like a door
deeply lined and filled with rage.
The cleansing smell of burning sage
makes it harder to keep score
but there are lines upon the page,
the deepest lines are filled with rage.
2021©DSCoremans
Cinquain – Afraid
Scare me,
my fears are great.
Having lived through nightmares;
I rarely feel without knowing
horror.
2021©DSCoremans
Author’s Note
I would be nothing if I wasn’t afraid. I wear my fear like armour, and where I once charged headlong into battle, experience has taught me hesitation which I use now with a heavy hand.
The problem comes where life becomes a constant place of fear. Each night like the eve of battle, your fate going forward unknown and in the hands of the Gods. Living from crisis to crisis there is nothing left but fear to drive every decision, survival the only instinct that is listened to, but survival is the easy part, and truly living is harder each day that you must fight to survive.
The Coronavirus and life in lockdown has taught me that fight or flight is not the only option in a crisis. Sometimes the right things to do is sit still, pause, reflect. This can make the difference between taking ownership of a moment, or letting it pass by. The choice between choosing to survive another day, or to thrive.
“Bran thought about it. ‘Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?’
‘That is the only time a man can be brave,’ his father told him.”
George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
I wrote ‘Lines on the Page’ shortly after my birthday in March of this year. On reflecting on that period I was dealing with and processing a lot of guilt and anger than I was holding and directing at myself. A lingering sense that I hadn’t done enough, hadn’t worked hard enough, to thrive while living life in lockdown. But in this case, dealing with the unknown and uncertainty which lockdown and isolation created I am proud of all that I did achieve during that time.
Some of the things I tried to do didn’t work. The victory comes not however not in counting failures, but counting the success of having tried.
It is in trying new things everyday, even when those things scare us that we find the things that work. When we keep doing these things over and over we eventually find the things we’re good at and success comes more naturally and more often.
Be afraid, be very afraid…but never let your fear hold you back, wear it like armour when necessary and succeed.
DSC
26/07/2021
Senryu – Keeping Score
Are you keeping score?
Another line on the page
is used against me.
2021©DSCoremans
Recent Poetry from #FoDiByLi
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