How
can
I
accomplish my dreams?
The
hands
on my
clock
are
at loggerheads.
If when walking on the Avenue Of The Future,
I should happen to encounter
a fortune teller
who tells me: “You will mend your luck
when you turn back the clock.”
Will I deposit my gratitude
in the honesty box?
Or will I forge on ahead
weighed down by
regret?
I like your idea of the honesty box.
Thank you. I appreciate you reading the tale of the honesty box!
My pleasure!
I love this post. Great joining of words and image
Thank you for your warm appreciation. So glad you enjoyed this post.
It’s difficult to move forward when unresolved issues remain from the past. Honesty and awareness and forgiveness and compassion are great healers….
Thank you so much for reading Honesty Box. I very much appreciate the gift of your insight.
I love this. I’m still thinking about it! So few words with lots of meaning. Loggerheads, to be in dispute with no obvious resolution (had to look it up), like your stuck in life (your clock now), and in a dream you walk into the future to come across a fortune teller that tells you fixing your clock will mend your life. It’s almost like your unsure since being in a dream placed in the future and all you have to do is wake up.. and you wonder, is it really that simple..or should I stay asleep and regret never waking up?
Wow, thank you, I’m so moved by your interpretation of Honesty Box. Also, I’m grateful for the opportunity to see my words reinterpreted through your eyes. Everything you’ve said, I’m saying yes, yes, yes to it all 🙂 “…should I stay asleep and regret never waking up?” Financially it was easier to make a living “when I was asleep” when I woke up “I saw the light!”
Still thinking … shoot..the Honesty Box was more the then just doubt, the money going in was linked to finances of course. Sometimes if I look into it too much I miss what is right infront of me. Isn’t that true in life? My pleasure to read and attempt to interpret.
Believe me… your interpretation was right first time! I just wanted to give the poem some context. Thank you again for reading and thinking about all of this 🙂
Forge on with no regrets…
Thank you, there is only one way…
Your length was spot on, poetry to me is best running for the bus than running a marathon it gives your words chance to breathe more often, rather than go stale in a pool of repitition. I like your invitation to the reader to read again whilst still here and creative spin on the ‘Honesty box’ dilemma….will deffo read again, thanks 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words. I agree with you about the length of the poem. I endeavor to use as few words as possible to convey the meaning, and then hope that the images readers see in their own minds… in some way expand upon the meaning.
I’d forge ahead. Regret is not such a terrible consequence. The only way one knows regret is through discernment. Great poem!
Ellespeth
Ellespeth, thank you for your beautiful response. Very much appreciated. Peace and blessings, Michele
this is really good…thank you…
Thank you, my dear. This is high praise in view of your skill and mastery of words.
Aww…your are too kind…don’t sell yourself short, you are rather awesome
Being moving lockstep with regret is always the punishment for disregarding the chance to repair the past. The chains are heavy. This is stark in its beauty, but lends hope for eventually pushing the rock up the hill and keeping it there. Very lovely piece, Michele!
Sahm, thank you so much. As I hope you know by now I have great admiration for you and your poetry. Your beautiful insight and observations push me to delve deeper still…
Great poem, lovely imagery!
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it!
very good question!
Something to ponder?
Only Father Time will tell…
Indeed! Thank you.
I never thought you were such a great poet. I Read All you posts. Keep it up !
Warmest
Cheikh tidiane Ndiaye from Dakar
Dear Cheikh, such a lovely surprise to hear from you. I hope you are well. I’m blushing at your compliment. Thank you for reading my posts. Your kind words mean so much to me. Warmest regards, Michele
I wanted to start by saying thank you for liking so many of my poems, even after I deleted all I had posted before last week.
This poem means a lot to me in ways I can’t describe. I needed to read this and from it I intend to forge on with my work. Thank you, honestly and truly.
It was my pleasure to visit your site and read your incredible work. Please keep the faith in what you write… I am so moved by your words re Honesty Box. Wonderful to know that this poem has resonated with you in some way that might help you take the next step. Thank you.
Nice metaphor of the honesty box. I think for me it has been about accepting my mistakes as lessons in becoming a better person. But I don’t want to spend too much time revisiting the past if it means not moving forward
Thank you. I sense from reading about your journey that you’ve been here on some level. Wonderful to know you won’t be going back there…
I just clocked you’d written a new poem (see what I did there? Hohowhat!). Michele, dear heart, this is lovely, sad but lovely. may I suggest you forge on but leave the regret in the honesty box? When the clock strikes thirteen, you can honestly box off regret for good, failing to acknowledge regret is only being dishonest to yourself, dwelling on regret is only being dishonerable to yourself, for you have a noble heart, my friend; and deserve more. Great poem, loved it. 🙂
Kieran, I loved your joke. Boom boom 🙂 And then you touch my heart with your beautiful observation about leaving my regret in the honesty box. Thank you so much for your kind and caring words. I shall ponder them…. So glad you enjoyed the poem. High praise from a talented gentleman. Have a great night, pal (Baldy).
dito, mon amis, I think you would like (and laugh at) my silly poem: Plot, posted today 🙂
Wonderful! I’m coming right over 🙂
L’ha ribloggato su daisuzokue ha commentato:
Add your thoughts here… (optional)
Very much appreciate you taking the time to reblog Honesty Box. Many blessings to you.
It’s wonderful….my Zen spirit is here..!
Forge on ahead learning from past mistakes
Thank you for both your comments. I love what you said about regret teaching us what to do. Blessings to you. Michele
Welcome and blessings to you too.
Let our regret teach us what to do
Thanks! We need that box.
Thanks… yes, more honesty boxes and more peace agreements!
Very well written… 🙂
Thank you so much. Your work is amazing.
Hmm you’ve made me think now.
Ok here goes…I guess you can’t always mend what’s broken. Sometimes things have to transpire in ways that may be seen as unpleasant in order for positive change to happen. I’ve just placed a £50 note in the honesty box, but does it make a difference? Will it change what cannot be undone? No, I don’t think so. Will it provide hope for maybe just a moment? Maybe, and maybe that will be enough to spark the necessary change.
Not sure if that helps in any way, but it’s what came to me.
Much love
Lady Isis x
Thank you Lady Isis 🙂 I’ve been thinking about what you said and this piece about the Cathars came to mind!! http://www.rilko.net/EZ/rilko/rilko/page09.php?PHPSESSID=vbr366a8ehjjrcvjs58v8hpnh0
Thank you for the link Michele. How very interesting. There were several things in the article that most definitely resounded with me. How intriguing the connection with the Languedoc and Beziers and the history there. Makes me want to go and visit even more now! 🙂
I read the whole poem, but you already had me at
“The
hands
on my
clock
are
at loggerheads.”
Lovely work Michele, though I might change one thing: NOTHING! 😀
I’m off compute at weekend to rest eyes(Blepharitis) and have fresh air BUT have jumped on this morning to dedicate the first Arthur Lee Post to you. This was coped from way back and fixed up. By the way Jim would LOVE these photos and ideas. I often thought that about someone’s eyes. So I will hold their eyes hoping that HE sees ME and not the outside! Fantastic ‘off the wall’ material. Honoured you even came into my amateur place. Have a healthy, happy and safe weekend. Lots of Love from Anna and Smokey(14 yr. old English Blue Cat).
Wow, that is amazing!
Wonderful imagery and I may have to take the idea of an “honesty box” for a stroll… 🙂
Hmmm. Really good one.
Dear Tanyeno, thank you for visiting and reading. How did you feel about the hands of the clock being at loggerheads? 🙂
Hi Michele,
Absolutely. I took the hands of the clock being at Loggerheads to mean at a slow pace? I dunno…I know loggerheads…turtles…so…loggerheads…slow?
Why do you ask?
Are you thinking….she’s probably in another universe with this one? Lol.
Lol, ah… I haven’t told you that when I write a new poem I think to myself, “What will Tanyeno say!!” We groove on similar music which tells me that we hear the same tunes 🙂 Have a great day, my dear friend. Michele x
Ahhhhh. 🙂 🙂 Yes. Thank-you for letting me in on that. 🙂 🙂
Have a lovely day too Michele. 🙂
[ Smiles ] Oh, another nice one!
Renard, thank you. I love your [Smiles]…
[ Blushes ] Now you are making me blush.
Thanks for the kind sentiment!
Every day you share truth, knowledge and beauty.
Michele I have a prompt at my blog and if ever you would like to participate it would be a pleasure. For the current prompt I included photo submissions as well and hope to do so as much as possible hence forth =)
Really enjoyed the combination of message and picture here. 🙂
very cool!
I really like this piece. So speaks to what I am feeling this morning. Thanks for your visit, and thank you for your ‘like.’ I look forward to interacting.
Nice one! And P.S. thank-you for being my 100th follower. 😀
Loved “the hands on my clock are at loggerheads”. Excellent!
I love the idea of the honesty box. But still … it makes me ask “honest for who?” There is a certain element of subjectivity in truth that makes it so obnoxious, maybe even impossible, to pin down. And yet, despite it’s slippery nature, honesty is so important. But my box of truths and your box of truths won’t look the same or be filled with the same things … *spirals off into pools of deep thought*
Reblogged this on Stories and Poems and commented:
Interesting poem by Michele that asks some intriguing questions
I like the idea of an honesty box, and what interesting discussion under your piece.
June, thank you so much. Yes, I very much appreciate the comments. They are equal to — or more interesting -than the poem 🙂
Honesty box, very intriguing concept.
Some things are better left unsaid, but the hard part is recognizing the difference. Thanks for liking my work; yours so inspires me.
Sandra, even though I don’t know you personally I do know you’re a wonderful person because your light shines through everything that you do. Thank you so much for your kind words. You inspire me 🙂 Peace and blessings, Michele
“…will I deposit my gratitude in the honesty box?”
What an interesting turn of phrase.
By the way, thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m honored that you are following my blog.
I was pondering your poem. It always strikes me when I read an interesting phrase, What it was in the minds of the author I wonder. For instance, this time, I wonder what did you mean by “deposit” and “honesty box?” Is this a social offering of self? And what is the box? Is it like a “love jar” or a “god bag”, which are each objects used to leave thoughts or blessings or needs on deposit with some power greater than self… Is the gratitude deposited in recompense and then my own tendency to define things perseverance on language of course with this question; So might it still be gratitude if it’s recompense? *smiles* You see what I mean? I think that’s the fun thing about poetry. It is not an essay which illuminates an entire concept for a reader to consider. Instead it leads and leaves the reader to consider his or her own definitions and to glean from it something of their own even as they partake in the mystery of the author.
That’s a fabulous soul food.
I feel this way a lot.
Wonderful! Succinctly beautiful and thought-provoking. (Personally, I hope that If you ever do meet that fortune teller, may there be a nice, big custard pie in your hand…)
Excellent! The timing is right with my world today.:)
Dear Michele,
I really liked this piece as it took me several readings to get to grips with it. But I have to admit that I struggled with identifying what it was speaking to me of. Finally, it struck me.
The line that tripped me up was “The hands on my clock are at loggerheads”. This initially struck me as a problem. But then I realised, the hands are being what they’re supposed to be.
The minute hand is representative of experience; and the hour hand, of thought. They run at different rhythms, but they balance each other out. And as we age, we learn how to read the time by looking at the placement of the hands in relation to each other (the moment of clarity/understanding if you will).
We change our behaviour based on our understanding of a situation in order to “mend our luck” (change the outcome or change our response to it) and this then allows us to grow and/or move on.
Seen in this light, I would “deposit my gratitude” – because I am always thankful for that which teaches me. AND forge forwards regardless of regrets or no. Because for me, the essential act was in turning back the clock: the processing of and learning from, the experience.
P.S.: Thank you for the period of contemplation.
P.P.S.: I love the opening image. It held my attention for some time before I could get to the poem.
Simple. Subtle 🙂
Thank you beautiful Pamela.
wow.
such a very kewl reminder 🙂 ThanQ 🙂