Invisibility
Not this
We are not invisible
immured in our houses.
We have not disappeared
behind our doors and fences.
We are indelibly present to each other
in the very fact of our palpable absence.
We all know we are all here
contained and waiting.
We are tangibly fretting, en masse,
for the time, unknown as yet,
when we can all walk free once more.
But that
Invisible is when I am no longer
even in your consciousness —
anyone’s consciousness.
And yes, there are ways.
If I remove my attention
and cast it ahead of me, leaving
only the tiniest bit of awareness here
to move my steps and keep my body
breathing, cohering, circulating blood....
I once walked undetected past two angry dogs
who always barked and ran along the fence, raging,
except that time.
Written for April 2020, Day 14, at 'imaginary garden with real toads'.
We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage /
And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, /
We Poets of the proud old lineage /
Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ...
(James Elroy Flecker)
This is so evocative!đź’ť I resonate with the idea of 'not being invisible immured in our houses,' it's just what time requires of us at the moment. The second half of the poem puts me in the mind of inner-strength, bravery and perhaps power that renders one invisible in times of danger!đź’ť
ReplyDeleteYou’ve captured the moment for me, Rosemary. I’ve been feeling invisible for over a month now and want to shout your opening lines from our front window! It seems that the only people who know I exist are on the internet! I like the comforting lines:
ReplyDelete‘We are indelibly present to each other
in the very fact of our palpable absence.’
My (offline) friends and I have been phoning to check on each other now and then, which helps a bit.
DeleteYes, I do agree! There are more ways to turn a person invisible, than merely disappearing from view.
ReplyDeleteLove this...I struggled with feeling invisible even before the pandemic...It's a carryover from childhood. The noise of a neighbor reminds us we are not alone in our seclusion.
ReplyDeleteOut of sight, out of mind, doesn't always work. It did for those dogs. This was a nice and fun read, Rosemary.
ReplyDelete..
Oh you've expressed so well in the beginning that feeling of self isolation, sheltering in our homes and fretting about what is outside. But I most especially love the last lines and their shift to walking past those dogs. Just excellent imagery throughout.
ReplyDelete