Poetry by Norman Abjorensen

              ​ ricky shore CC



​OTHER LIVES

The crazy man wants a conversation    that's why
he's roaming the streets staring at people full on

All day he's had only his own company    his own conversation
the saga of the hours    the litany of minutes
the ceaseless chant of time passing    & it's made him restless

Somewhere within all that babble was the germ of an idea
a free flying thought that suddenly appeared like a moth
fluttering about    & then vanishing just as abruptly

That idea seemed important    it must be recaptured
(too dangerous to be at large) but where is it?    seek out
the faces in the street    catch an eye & draw someone in
talk to them about everything    then let them reply
there in that talk will be the idea

You will snatch it & run    gleefully
& take it where you can examine it in detail
& ponder on it without having to count the noisy hours
that clatter away as the background to other lives


​

Norman Abjorensen is a retired Australian academic and writer who has been writing poetry on and off for more than fifty years.

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