Plan C

I feel like people always tell students in the arts to have a back-up plan. While I understand the value of this, you know, being qualified to have a job after graduation and whatnot, I think they fail to realize that all of my back-up plans are just as crazy. When your back-ups include writer, hip-hop artist, street performer, professional wire sculptor, and 7-11 owner, you had better hope that your main goal doesn't fall through.

However, with the aim of getting feedback, I share my writing from time to time on this blog. Therefore, I will do that. The next three posts will be based on my writings over the past couple of weeks. I probably won't desire feedback on the haikus because I already know they are awesome. In fact, I know that I won't get feedback anyway, but at least my writing will be out there in the public domain.

The first post will be a poem. Some backstory - Several years ago, like more than five, I received a poem as a gift. I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the following poem, I don't know if I so much respond to the poem as take a line and build upon it. The poem was written with feelings (I know, rare). What you will read is the first draft of the seventh iteration, which could possibly be the seventh draft if it looked anything like its predecessors. It is dedicated to a person, but that person, if he/she chooses to read this, will know immediately that it is dedicated to them. I don't see a reason why that part should be public domain. So, without further ado, I present a poem.

Starless Nights

By Matthew Fife

One day I’ll find starry skies

And open air to live and breathe,

But in this concrete jungle

My memories of light must sustain.

From where I stand

The night sky is starless,

Empty of light without

Your sun to guide me.

I’ve seen the vastness of heaven

Dwarfed in the mirror of your eyes.

Here in my desolation,

A desert of endless sand,

Cactus, rocks, and shifting dunes.

But beneath the surface

Locked deep in the earth

Wildflower seeds wait to bloom.

Washed out by city lights

The heavens seem distant,

The stars sitting invisibly

In celestial thrones above,

But knowing they’re there

Keeps my feet firmly on the path.

From where we stood

We thought we saw everything.

We saw victory and defeat,

Life and death, love and loss.

But we could not, would not see

The future that is now present.