In another room

[PrinceMyshkin]

In another room,
a man stares out the window
facing north,

in another house,
a woman puts down her book
and reaches for a cigarette,
her third in the last hour,

on another street,
a child wakes up
and realizes that the dark
has a scent all its own.

On another continent...

[paperleaves]

Yet again, Jer, I don't know how you do it. I like the three stanza, close yet far comparison. I especially liked the image of the woman who "puts down her book/and reaches for a cigarette/her third in the last hour".

love
Kate

[blazeofglory]

A wonderful fusion and that leaves a staggering effect on the reader!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks, paperleaves & blaze of glory. Please note the structural change I made.

[Virgil]

I love the poem, though I frankly don't understand the theme. If there is an idea that holds all that together, then great one!!

Though I don't know about the repetition at the end. It doesn't seem to add anything, but then again I don't understand the core of its thought.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I love the poem, though I frankly don't understand the theme. If there is an idea that holds all that together, then great one!!

Though I don't know about the repetition at the end. It doesn't seem to add anything, but then again I don't understand the core of its thought.

In a couple of hours I will gladly PM you my interpretation of but for now I'd like to wait & see what, if anything, others make of it.

[firefangled]

I like this one for its mystery. I'm not sure I detect that mystery or if the intent is that the mystery is unknowable. The structure is such that the location seems to engulf the man, woman, and child. I have my own interpretation, but I don't want to say, if I'm correct (usually I'm not).

This is one of the most indirect of your poems regarding your observances of people.

I would remove the elipses at the end and have no punctuation.

The more I read the poem, the more I like it. Who says we can't see a moment in time and wonder without knowing exactly what that moment holds.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I like this one for its mystery. I'm not sure I detect that mystery or if the intent is that the mystery is unknowable. The structure is such that the location seems to engulf the man, woman, and child. I have my own interpretation, but I don't want to say, if I'm correct (usually I'm not).

This is one of the most indirect of your poems regarding your observances of people.

I would remove the elipses at the end and have no punctuation.

The more I read the poem, the more I like it. Who says we can't see a moment in time and wonder without knowing exactly what that moment holds.

Oh yes, the mystery of whether there is a mystery is very much to the point. It is a mystery you have sometimes marveled at yourself in so many of your poems, the mystery of the extraordinary mundane, of that which is hidden in plain view.

[MorpheusSandman]

I love the suggestion of synchronicity... the unplanned and natural connections between lives and life that happens between our intentions. It's chaos theory; a butterfly beating its wings in Texas can cause a tsunami in Japan. But, much like this poem, the connects are between the lines. Not in what's said in done but in the ephemeral and empty spaces; in the intuition of glances and unconscious recognitions.

I love it, Prince. One of my favorites from you!

[dibyendra]

it connects to vivid imageries. wow!

[Pendragon]

In another room, in another house,
on another street, on another continent

In another room, in another house,
on another street, on another continent...


Full circle with these lines, It always seems to be another world than this one where troubles strike, and yet what happens to others happens to us!

[cogs]

i see a theme of reflection, and that which draws our attention.

[Sampson]

This poem really struck me; I think you've encapsulated a subject very large, and put it down in a disarmingly clear way. The repetition of your open lines, I feel are at the heart of this. I many thoughts, but the thought foremost in my mind is that this is one of the best poems I have ever read. The imagery is vivid, and the short length of the poem simply enforces this to a point where it will become lodged in the reader's mind for some time.

Well, that's what I think...

[Silas Thorne]

'a child wakes up
and realizes that the dark
has a scent all its own.'

I absolutely love these lines!

I finish the poem, I think, 'So what?', and I read it again, and again. Still not sure where it's heading, but I want to keep coming back for more, like you cut these people out of your book and put them in my head, and now they won't come out.

[Buh4Bee]

I too read the poem and passed over it and came back to it as I often do to poems.
Prince, you writing is so elegant and at time delicate.
I enjoy the structure of the sandwich. After reading the poem, I thought of how prevalent loneliness and even anxiety are throughout the world. The poem has a sweet sadness to it.

[cogs]

watching, touching, smelling? 2 with 3 between? just guessing.

[PrinceMyshkin]

watching, touching, smelling? 2 with 3 between? just guessing.

Thanks, Cogs, and please note some structural revisions.