Lavender

Oct 22, 2022 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

I Was Once Eighteen

I believe I will dance
perhaps later
perhaps now

dance away from this
unsatisfying pasta
into the night
while deflowering my
blackberry wine

off into the grass
now cool with the evening
under the moon, longing
to shine for me when I know
just how hard it is, sometimes
to shine

I once knew how to plie`
first position, second position
a young woman
who had not yet met herself
clothed in a wardrobe of yesterdays

when eighteen looked
ever so lovely
in mirror after mirror after mirror
when dreams were birthed
with wild, glorious epicurean expectations

and rendezvous laughed just over the horizon
ready to rise into the most lavish of memories
the best of what was to become my stolen days

perhaps I will dance
both now and later
dance away from the truth in the mirrors
away from the dreams, stillborn and forgotten

recall and remember the plie`
first position, second position
the feel of the floor's intimacy caressing my feet
the euphoria aflame beneath the surface of my skin

yet within these remembrances
I hesitate to declare
if this smile I wear, so sweetly
is from the temptation to dance
uninhibitedly with this revealing moon
or from the ecstasy and fulfilled bliss of my
blackberry wine
***

About This Poem

Last Few Words: After an evening spent with my young adult twin granddaughters, dining, observing and remembering what it was like to be the much younger version of myself. (Sigh...)

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Country/Region: United States

Favorite Poets: I tend to read Ted Kooser, Jim Harrison, Billy Collins, Paul Simon, Robert Frost. I like minimalist poetry, and poems reflecting on nature and Mother Earth.

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Comments

Rosewood Apothecary

2 years 8 months ago

“off into the grass

“off into the grass
now cool with the evening
under the moon, longing
to shine for me when I know
just how hard it is, sometimes
to shine”

If I had to pick something that stood out that’s it. That’s where I was drawn in. The rest just got better and better. May I share this with my sister?

Tim

Lavender

2 years 8 months ago

Hi, Tim,

Thank you for your kind, generous comment! Yes, please share if you feel your sister can relate! I'm touched!
Thank you,
L

Obadiah Grey

2 years 8 months ago

its a shame neopoet does not

its a shame neopoet does not support an audio section,
I'd love to hear this recited in your own "voice".

Loved it btw!!

Obi.

Lavender

2 years 8 months ago

Hi, Obi,

This one seemed to take on a "voice" of its own. I am so glad you stopped in to read it.
Thank you!
L

Geezer

2 years 8 months ago

Although...

I have many favorites from you, I can almost believe that this is my favorite, favorite of yours. Eloquence does not come to me very often and when it does, I try to grasp it firmly. This does not need grasping at all, it clings to my brain as a memory of great taste to the tongue. ~ Geez.
.

Lavender

2 years 8 months ago

Hello, Geezer,

I am so grateful for, and very touched by your comments. Many, many thanks for reading.
L

lovedly

2 years 8 months ago

Nostalgia over powers me I have grand daughters

Nostalgia over powers me I have grand daughters one past those long gone teens but never the light of that kind of teen seen another has just swum across the channel of time I wonder why we were those ancient beings compared to the current times They marvel me though mostly san ...but still the growing teen even though time has cracked my mirrors exotic many times but still nearing the estuary of oceanic time I still mime as if I were that eighteen still transfixed in the bloated ecstatic mind not dulled yet ...Hope our fresher teens will more advanced once be as mirrors of time continue to crack every moment ...Nostalgia is the black berry which white wine does merry believe me

thnx Lav for such a reality

Lavender

2 years 8 months ago

Hello, Lovedly,

Thank you for reading and sharing your lovely thoughts. I'm always grateful to you.
L

lovedly

2 years 8 months ago

Thanks Lav

hope your many such educative poetry's
are selected by Gee
I once composed such a poem
''You Just Can't''
the poetess authoress loved it
I gave it free for her poem book

Girls since ages thence and now hence
will always never realize after time it happens
till time dies

never mind each was born free to live free
and as YUL BRYNER has already said
ONE DIES ALONE
BORN AND LIVES alone......

Lavender

2 years 8 months ago

Hi, Loveldy,

Would love to read your poem. How do I find it?
L