Even if They Dig



Even if They Dig

they still won’t find anything.

I search for kind memories
before you are gone.

It’s hard to believe you are dying
even with a written guarantee.

Cracks appear
and time enters a different way,

the unconditional
shelf life of kin.

Next year I will glance back-
over the missing,

unpack regrets
like a sky exposed for what isn’t there.

A heart dragged towards windows
to let in the light.

Together I could be whole,
but I am shattered from trying to break even.

Do I care we never cared? Detachment keeps me
behind a troubled haze.

Are you in there gagging on pretense?

When the world
gets this close, it’s hard not to look.

Anger blurs the eyes—a little
but no more than these tears

I’ve been holding in for years.

About this poem

Unpublished poem written to unpack how I feel about my sisters terminal illness.

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Written on October 12, 2021

Submitted by fast_foot on January 09, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
52

Quick analysis:

Scheme X A XX AB XX CD XA XX XX XD BX X XX CE E
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 773
Words 169
Stanzas 15
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1

Ellen Shelley

Ellen Shelley is from Newcastle N.S.W. AUSTRALIA. She is a poet who likes to write in response to real life. Published in Eureka, Blue Nib, Backstory, Other Terrain, Not Very Quiet, Eucalypt, The Canberra Times 2018,2019, Highly Commended for the Philip Bacon Ekphrastic 2019, It’s Raining Poetry Adelaide,Cordite 2019 D-amour, Manly Gallery Spirit of Renewal and Queensland Flying Arts Ekphrastic Challenge. more…

All Ellen Shelley poems | Ellen Shelley Books

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    "Even if They Dig" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/119483/even-if-they-dig>.

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