How To Save A Life

by slighte   Nov 23, 2010


You have hollow bones but they
don't believe you, because
you are to blame. You and the spiders
that crawl through you.
-
It is too late. You have already torn your
self apart, you have lost your
self, but you are still mine.
i lost you.
-
They label you like a star, HX2847,
but to me you
are Mintaka, you
are holding Orion together.
-
Soon you will die and everyone knows
that when a star
dies
there must be an
explosion.
So you are waiting
for a collision, but you say
we don't
touch
even when we
collide.

So you are just waiting.

0


Did You Like This Poem?

Latest Comments

  • 12 years ago

    by Saerelune

    "You have hollow bones but they
    don't believe you, because
    you are to blame. You and the spiders
    that crawl through you."
    ^ Great opening, I think that this stanza is most related to the title, because I feel like the narrator is about to point out that he/she does believe this person, despite the thoughts of the others.
    Having placed "hollow bones" and "spiders ... crawl" in one stanza, I can't help but imagine these spiders crawling through the hollow bones of this person. It's creepy, yes, but my interpretation would be that these "spiders" are a metaphor for the past of this person. The past that keeps haunting him, and affecting his life. The past that has become a part of him, his body too, perhaps.

    "It is too late. You have already torn your
    self apart, you have lost your
    self, but you are still mine.
    i lost you."
    ^ Nice play with "your self", as if the person has lost his inner self, that it's become a distant thing?
    I must say that I am a bit confused about the "i lost you". It sounds paradoxical. Are you being schizophrenic here? That this "you" isn't some other person at all, but yourself? o.O That must be very wrong what I'm thinking here.

    "They label you like a star, HX2847,
    but to me you
    are Mintaka, you
    are holding Orion together."
    ^ While I loved the sentiment in this, and the touch of impersonality ("HX2847", perhaps because the other people regard this person as strange, a nobody). I couldn't figure out how this should be tied to the previous stanzas, qua imagery. Perhaps this was intended, like the Soteria poem ... that would explain the dashes you used. Perhaps this poem should be read like a bunch of chapters?

    "So you are waiting
    for a collision, but you say
    we don't
    touch
    even when we
    collide."
    ^ The rest of the stanza is excellent and obvious, so I skipped commenting that part. I am very interested in this part, though. The reader is again curious to know who this narrator is, and who this "you" is. "What is their relationship?" is what I've been thinking all the time. Surely the narrator cares a lot about him. But again, I am reminded of distance.

    That's a lot of interpreting going on above, and I am sure that most of what I think doesn't match your intentions at all. =p But I like this poem for its mystery.