Tuesday, January 20, 2015

To My Fellow Dreamer


Who are you, fellow dreamer,
whose windows I watch 
wink on and off each day?
How is life for you, on the sixth floor, 
Apartment 601-A ?

Behind every window lies a story,
yours as wondrous as the next.
I'm watching life pass by below,
gaze across at all the lives I imagine
but can never know.

In one square, I see a young man, 
gaunt and ill,
who seems to be saying goodbye
while living still.
A child's head peers out
at strange hours, in another.
I fret, wondering why
I never see her mother.

I dream romance in a young girl's rooms, 
before the hurting starts.
In another, a mid-life woman
explores the broken edges
of her heart.

Each of us, in our small rooms,
is ever drawn towards the light:
watch morning tiptoe across the sky,
dusk draw back its skirts
at night.

We watch it all, with fascination 
and not a little wonder.
I imagine, behind each golden square,
a rich story to plunder!


Mary's prompt at dVerse is to write to the photos of Totomai Martinez, a wildly talented photographer, presently living in Japan.


33 comments:

  1. it is amazing how many people we are surrounded by...how many stories that we are feet away from and sometimes only see dimly through a window....and many of our desires are the same....how similar we are and yet...can be so far away....

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  2. Several times when single, when alone, I would take long walks, looking at other people's windows, imagining, creating, all their dramas, stories, lives as forgot, for a moment, my own loneliness. Very nice piece, Sherry, really rocks the image.

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  3. What an imaginative use of this photograph! Behind the uniform regularity and symmetry lie many rich stories. Too many of them are sad, truth be told.

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  4. So very true that we really don't know what goes on behind the windows. We don't get to know the stories, but we know there are many stories. What we see of others sometimes does make us wonder. And as you said, behind each square probably would be a rich story indeed.

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  5. This Sherry is one of my favorites of yours.. I love the glimpses we see, and all the stories we can make.. Sometimes when i travel on subway I try to invent the reason behind a laughter, the sorrow behind a frown.. a wonderful inspired piece.

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  6. So many things we do not see behind doors and windows. It is fascinating, you are right. But then so much for the artist and poet to imagine. You did a great job!

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  7. i love how you try to see deeper and not just stay on the surface of the people around you... we all need people who really see us... def. shows your heart...smiles

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  8. I love how you framed this Sherry! The stories --for me, it is all about what is unsaid somehow in those stories--

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  9. so many stories behind windows and mailboxes... would be cool if people could connect more... at least with one new person

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  10. I agree, so many stories behind those windows ~ When I am riding the subway, I try to imagine those stories behind the buildings ~ Enjoyed the myriad characters here Sherry ~

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  11. would you believe if i say i am staying in the same apartment but nevet know my neighbors? but i am used to it.

    lovely poem and wish i know some of my neighbors.

    by the way, thanks for pushing me to make a photo book :)

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  12. This reminded me of when I lived in N.Y. in a large
    apartment complex. The windows all had mystery. So many stories untold. I like how you use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

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  13. Quite true...for each window, a story, a family or person.....I esp like how the "morning light tiptoes across the sky and dusk draws back its skirts at night~!

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  14. True. There are so many stories unraveling this moment behind those so many windows and each is as wonderful and awe-inspiring as the next.
    I like how you attribute the starting of the day as the focal point, when everyone drifts towards their windows to experience the first light and the hope it kindles in their hearts. :-)
    -HA

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  15. Sherry, this is awesome! You represented the photo very well with the right words & wit & emotions giving us all some rich realizations & reflections in life. There are always two sides in a window that we don't know well. The view from the inside may be either as lighter or darker within the eyes of the one who holds the view from the outside---different realities but only one journey of life shared together. Lovely piece, thank you Sherry!

    And No, Sherry. I haven't changed my blog. It is still the same poetry blog I run before, just did a couple of change like the title & newly composed poems. I haven't deleted my older poems. I have just to revert them all to draft as I plan on re-writing them for good. Smiles. It's true, I have been away for more than half a year but doesn't mean I have stopped writing during those times. I have only stopped blogging. It was only few days back since I started blogging again & going through my friends here is one that I truly missed. Thanks for the greetings earlier. Smiles.

    - ksm

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  16. Hey Sherry--I am reminded of the wonderful movie--Rear Window! Very cool and true. Thanks. k.

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  17. I live in front of a senor highrise, so I look at out my window and see shadows dance... I always wonder what that person is doing or what their story is

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  18. What a lovely poem. I love how you incorporated windows to the souls! You an I both had sunlight tiptoeing funny that! :)

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  19. Sherry,

    This was an excellent write.l I think you have captured so much in your words and I must confess I want to peek in on some of those dreams.

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  20. Wonderful poem, Sherry! Yes, behind each window, a story, and how much richer would we all be if we were all interested in the stories of others.

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  21. Oh goodness! This is something so close to me. Neighbours and faces behind the windows have always fascinated me. It is my favourite pass-time during my commute to create crazy stories for all of them. Wonderful!

    ~Prajakta

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  22. So many windows, so many stories and we can only but wonder or make up our own. Oh a writer's curiosity! :)

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  23. This poem reads like a movie, Sherry. A life-show seen through the soul of someone with open eyes. So many tales, indeed...

    The lines about the young girl and the child alone, made me stop and take a few breaths...

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  24. Reminds me of the Hitchcock movie Rear Window, where James Stewart, wheelchair bound, is given to watching the windows of a skyscraper opposite, and discovers a murder.

    :))

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  25. A lovely piece of imagination! Yes, we see so many people each day, and wonder are their lives like our own, or different...unique is probably what they are.

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  26. Neat! I really like this entire concept, Sherry.

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  27. Sherry, these are much the questions I ask when I see building like this--the mystery of so many lives enclosed in small spaces. This is actually the first photo I saw that inspired mine but then I couldn't find it again. I love this--there is a bit of sadness for me in such a lifestyle.

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  28. There are so many wonders that exist out there, and this is just one of those many wonders. I loved the story about this little girl that you talk about. It left me wondering what was going on too.

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  29. Behind every window there is a story and you have done a marvelous job relating this.

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  30. I love this, Sherry. It really resonates with me. We are surrounded by so many stories and lives that we do not know. I believe that the potential of connection is more than we can imagine.

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  31. Beautiful and imaginative, Sherry. I like your focus on lives and questioning how much we really know of people around us.

    ~Imelda

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  32. this has a curiosity that really touched me.

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