This Poem was Submitted By: Mark Andrew Hislop On Date: 2009-09-03 10:26:11 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!

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The Vacancy

Listen. I’m going to tell you something that I heard. You might need more than one try to understand: there is an opening that you alone can fill; unless you die its offer will never expire, a special offer with a special catch, that it's up to you to identify  its name, nature and location: that much and great gifts are yours. Now, hear the small print: you’ll get no help that no-one doesn’t get; you’ll need to think like grass, to bend with wind but hold through hurricane; endure cold, hot, famine and, I’m sure you guessed it, disease mainly though not only of the spirit; you’ll need to put your fantasies to use. Apart from that, that’s all there is to it. The caveat that all of this lies under, a kind of Rumplestiltskin clause, is: don’t doubt yourself. If you ever dare to wonder “But will I get away with this?” you won’t. You want to think about it? Sure. It’s late. Just keep in mind that there’s this opening that has your name on it. But it’ll wait. Come back soon. Good luck with all the thinking.

Copyright © September 2009 Mark Andrew Hislop


This Poem was Critiqued By: Claire H. Currier On Date: 2009-09-13 12:54:39
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.83333
Lots of food for thought within the lines of this one.....I always enjoy the way you speak to us individually with your writings as your words flow like a river with no end in sight. Thanks for posting, God Bless, Claire


This Poem was Critiqued By: Duane J Jackson On Date: 2009-09-12 23:08:31
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
Hi Mark, Interesting. And it certainly makes one think. This 'vacancy' can mean different things to different people. For me - the promised land, or a tryst with victory. My favorite lines were - "....you’ll need to think like grass, to bend with wind/but hold through hurricane; endure cold, hot,/famine and, I’m sure you guessed it, disease/mainly though not only of the spirit.....". I liked this. Duane.
This Poem was Critiqued By: DeniMari Z. On Date: 2009-09-12 23:04:03
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.83333
Your poem is thought provoking, no pun intended; but for guessing on intent; it's a mind play piece - & grabs attention of the reader - I sense a touch of spirituality in this - a lesson to learn; but what is the lesson - the individual reader must decide. "But will I get away with this?" can be taken two ways. The sleeping clause says not to doubt; yet not to take risks; which is a bit confusing to me; unless I'm reading this wrong. I'm convinced I've missed something here - a deeper play on the poem that escapes me. Deni
This Poem was Critiqued By: James C. Horak On Date: 2009-09-08 09:37:32
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
Chuckle,chuckle...(chuckling into my closed fist.) A lesson well learned, young fellow? A poem whose substance justifies its break with most modern poetic demands, even that of slightly mocking form. You've left a practitioner of the black arts, I hope, with a loss of monthly stipend. Again, a chuckle. Self-discovery can be rebirth, only this time with a coming-out suitable for the stay. Where looking around is just not the play of light on things (so to have various things stuck into one's mouth seen,) but a stage upon which to forment real thought. And now we're dangerous...and hardly able to be stifled. JCH
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