I wrote this poem as part of a writing assignment the same summer I separated from my ex. Summer 2007. The assignment was to take the first line of someone’s poem and create your own poem from it. I, for the life of me, do not remember who the author is to credit this beginning to…but, I’ll figure it out and post it soon. In any event, I certainly don’t claim the title or the first line as my own original work and I am greatly indebted to the original author for their inspiration. I’ll do my homework and post the information soon.
With Gratitude I Hear My Neighbors Fight
With gratitude, I hear my neighbors fight
Two campsites over
I didn’t know what it was at first
The music of muffled comments
floating through the air
gradually growing in intensity but not too loud
Short staccato vibrations in the otherwise
still summer night.
There syncopated beats
Sneaking in through the window of the travel trailer
I borrowed from friends
Looking out, my eyes see the silent, lifeless shapes
of an RV park asleep
A place for happy families vacationing from their real lives
A make believe journey they can escape
by simply packing up
and going home.
They can choose to stay or leave.
But not me…for now,
for me this is not vacation
This is real.
Late at night,
in the deep, dark, noisy night
Semis rushing by, air brakes blasting
Their noise chases sleep when it tries to land nearby
Disturbing the silence
Not a hundred feet from my flimsy door.
This is not a vacation, it is my real life.
For now it is my escape
From a living nightmare
A nightmare I thought would never end
It is a refuge from hell
A halfway house for my kids and I as we flee Hades
This this is where we live…for now
But this is not our home.
With gratitude, I hear my neighbors fight
Two campsites over
the music of muffled comments
Sneaking in through the window of the travel trailer
I borrowed from friends
And for now, I know we are safe.
And I hope we will soon be home.
The Wild Mind 