Walk up, walk up, fair knights and ladies! Meeting in battle today for the first time ever are two poems of very different composure, manner and attire. The first, inspired by a verse from a ballad by that incomparable bard Sir Timothy of Br’ian, is serious and moody. A knight of darkness, riding to the rescue of damsels in distress. The second jumped fresh as a daisy from a line from Lady Claudia’s Book of Adventurous Deeds: sweet, rambunctious and all white fluffiness. They are competing here for your favours. Which one will get your vote?
1) One day you stop filling in cracks
with smiles, guts and vapour.
One day the paint becomes too heavy for the wall.
One night your eyes unblink in reddened wakefulness
and never come to rest again.
One morning your boots start walking all by themselves.
2) Â Time is a thin line on a cat’s back.
When you most want to tickle it awake
and grab it by its fleeting softness,
it scampers away in offended silence.
Yet when you blissfully ignore,
pace forth in multitasking skullduggery,
reluctant to waste a drop…
it curls into a placid ball
and purrs contentment into your impatient lap.
These two poems are in response to our ‘medievally themed’ week at dVerse Poets Pub, where we are bidding fond farewell (but not adieu) to Claudia and Brian, our founding parents. Do come over and join the celebrations! [I have marked the lines from their poems in italics.]
findingtimetowrite 
Good lines in the first one, Marina Sofia. One day a person’s boots just know it is time to walk.
Enjoyed the second one as well. Yes, sometimes time CAN be elusive, but other times it rests peacefully and resists movement at all!
ha. i probably dsturb the cat far too much…especially when it is curled into that ball all content…its just too enticing…it makes for a cool extended metaphor as well for time…
ah, hopefully i never get to the point i can not rest….my boots just carrying me on the farther…a ghost in my own life…
I too tend to prod the cat of time when it’s not necessary – I feel guilty if I’m not doing something all the time…
hey… that boots thing… happens to me all the time… somedays i wanna force them to stop as it can be so tiring but then… it’s their fault that i’m writing these lines from a little town near munich where the wind has blown me… smiles
Oh, and by the way, Claudia, I don’t mean to suggest that you are fluffy – just that my second poem is.
These are both really effective depictions. The second is an absolutely pitch-perfect description of the way time works. I wouldn’t have thought to compare it to a cat, but it works that way. And the first..well, I think we’ve all had the feeling of our boots walking.
Oh I love them both.. the way time is so totally unpredictable, just like the cat.. and the boots.. I feel very much like this describe the winter quests of getting through
I particularly like the first one. I like the idea that one day we no longer feel the need to hide and can eventually be who we want to be.
A bit like Glenn’s poem about masks – that was the direction I was aiming for, except he did it so much better.
ugh, time is like a cat… when I want to rush and play with the hands, moving them forward, it’s stubborn and makes me wait even longer… but when I’m chill and in the moment, that’s when it wants to play with me, aka going by even quicker… ha. this is a great write… never thought about how much cats and time have in common…
You got it in one – and I never realised how many cat lovers and observers we have over at dVerse…
I like them both, but the second is my favorite. You’ve captured time so well, and that’s not an easy thing to do. Peace, Linda
ah… you got me thinking about cats… ours gone about a month now
Aaaah, sorry to hear that. They do fill up so much more space in one’s life than you expect initially, don’t they?
Both unique offerings Marina ~ I am smiling at the boots walking by themselves at the first ~ And yes, time can passing quickly like a curled cat in your impatient lap ~
Tricky choice, but I’m going to have to go with the second or the cats would never forgive me. (Though secretly I think I prefer the first…)
Ha, you live in fear of your cats’ reaction, I love that!
How can you go wrong with boots and cats or wasn’t that Puss ‘n’ Boots-ha. I love the examples you gave for time, very good.
Puss in Boots, indeed! What an excellent idea – might yet combine the two…
Both poems are excellent and reveal quite an insight into life; plus, you give each a certain poetic touch that really touches the soul.
I enjoyed both, but am really partial to cats. It seems you and I were on similar wavelengths with that second one. Nicely done for both!
Having read your poem, I see what you mean. Really enjoyed yours as well.
I enjoyed both poems muchly! I know that feeling of the books walking by themselves…I swear they do. A very deft and poetic touch with both poems. I am so glad you used both because they are both so excellent.
Thank you – sometimes these writing exercises do release something deeper than we ever intended, don’t they?
These are both terrific! Being a cat person, perhaps I have a very slight preference fort the second, but there’s little to choose between them.
Very well narrated Marina. That’s exactly how time works!
Hank
Oh, you did such a marvelous job with these. Beautiful!
“smiles, guts and vapour.” — fun!
“multitasking skullduggery” — fantastic!
Excellent postulations in response to both. I especially enjoyed expanding the cat as time metaphor – completely different from my metaphoric take away from those lines. And you did as well with Brian’s. Very clever, very cogent, excellent poems.
nice! I like them both. I agree, too, with the comment above…that “multitasking skullduggery” is a wonderful line!
I, too enjoyed them both, but the first one is my fave; love the last line /one morning your boots start walking all by themselves/. You also used a line from both; gosh, the tally doubles often.
Maybe we just want them both to win! A little cheating, right?
the first one đŸ™‚
Oh, you did it twice. And in such amazing way, both really captivating poems. Well done, more than that!
Love. Love. Love.
I loved how you set this up and paid tribute to our dVerse leaders! The cat metaphors about time did it for me….just wonderful.