I’ve
trodden this path before
And
the footprints still, lie frozen in my heart.
Chilling
my dreams, the imagined landscapes, what I hoped -
To
see, now blown over.
Yet,
still I can’t help wondering, what’s there beyond all the snow?
I
see a piece of metal logged in the ice, a broken mirror perhaps, a snapped
window?
And
it shines, like the warmth
Of
your reflection as it permeates the ice.
And
so, I nervously look up, and now
It’s
my frosty stare that’s been broken,
Thawing,
my feelings of ice...
Something-cracks.
By Elizabeth Haruna
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Discovering an exotic forest, one day I move through its green, its broad foliage. Soft braches, breaking beneath my embracing
feet, as I level The rich, chocolate earth. I see the birds aloft, beating, their long
elegant wings And through the cracks, in the plants I feel, the warm meandering breeze. Quaint crickets, jump – I move, I hear Their clicking sound, And see a school, of defiant red ants,
Marching As I look upon the ground. Birds soaring, with outstretched wings Intoxicating red, heat, Sweat, clinging to my skin. Like little oceans, almost afraid to spill. And as I near the break, I peer down- To see Pillars, of smoke And tractors whirring, Sound, Of sand And mortar? Stirring? Then dust… Like a mushroom cloud, Swallowing, the scene Searing though my prefect forest
dream.
By Elizabeth Haruna
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Breaking Breaking from the curt,
cords of your neat office files, black fax machines and paper. Struggling through a
splintered stream, of lightly bobbing faces, places brush past me Leaving you,
swiftly behind. Reaching to the soft edge,
of a boundary barred, boundless In its latitude of
unfamiliar joy. Travelling now, And touching the iridescent
dome, of unrealised weather- beaten dreams, and Un-visualised heavy, clouded Hopes. Breaking form the curt,
cords of your, neat offices files, Black fax machines And paper. Tell me, do I Terrify?
By Elizabeth Haruna
Notes: This poem
was written to express the feelings of a person who feels trapped in a work
situation that they want to escape. Instead of a jail cell being this
woman's confinement, it is her job. She works in an office driving her to
"achieve and succeed", but her real desire is to break free from the
confinements of an obsessively -success driven work environment to a more
natural one, one where she can be truly free to express herself as a unique
and creative individual. The curt cords mentioned
in line 1 can be seen as the obstacles preventing the woman's freedom,
the psychological chains that hold her back from being who she really is and
living, as she really wants to live. The use of alliteration is a deliberate
effect aimed at giving the poem a sense of speed. This should enable the reader to grasp
the erratic and to an extent desperate, feelings of the individual at the centre
of this piece. The "splintered
stream" conveyed in line 2 is representative of the vast influences
and pressures that she faces from work. It is splintered because of broken
perspective she holds as she struggles to escape her tense environment. In line 3,
the "soft edge" and "boundary barred" are depictive of the
limitations that the woman is now becoming free from. The idea of a
boundary itself, being barred is an attempt to strongly portray this. The "iridescent
dome" described in line 6 reads of a fantasy or a dream becoming
real. The line carries on to explain how the dream has suffered setbacks,
it has been "weather-beaten" or harassed by the seasons of life. The "Hopes",
described in the next line as "un-visualised",
"heavy" and "clouded" speaks of wishes that have been so
greatly desired and, at the same time so much doubted that they have been suppressed
and left unthought-of consciously. In the third stanza of
"Breaking", the poem repeats itself-ending how it began.
With the image of the woman breaking away from her adverse environment. In the last two lines,
the poem borrows the words found in Sylvia Plath's poem, "Lady
Lazarus", "Tell me, do I terrify?". In this poem, these
words are used to make a poignant statement from the worker to her almost
tyrannical boss. She asks him if her desire and decision, to break away
from the "status quo" of the office is a statement which he finds intimidating.
What would your response be to this woman?
- Elizabeth, DPW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- River Eyes Your deep, river
eyes… I saw them, not
long Ago.
And as we talked, your soul spilled out, and caught My inner woes. Your,
innocent… river eyes, Set sail, in me
these thoughts. Outside,
voluminous conversation Hovers, stirs.
But, I Remain, inside. It’s your
river, eyes.
-By Elizabeth Haruna
© 2005 Elizabeth Haruna
