HIDE and SEEK

If the lockdown has changed one aspect of my behaviour it is that I am meeting more frequently, via Zoom, with the Secret Poets. At present we are meeting every two weeks. Thanks to them for helping to shape this week's new poem.

hide & seek

It got boring after a while

I had assumed I was good at finding

but when I stopped in the woods

I had no idea where he was.

Then you came up shouting,

asking if I had found him

because, by God, you had not.

He emerged eventually,

smug in his tradecraft.

The next time he took me with him

and I watched you look for us

in all the wrong places.

The original looked liked this:

hide & seek

It got boring after a while

I had assumed I was good at finding

seeking out, tracking down,

but when I stopped in the woods

I had no idea where he was.

Then you came up shouting,

asking if I had found him

because, by God, you had not.

He emerged eventually,

smug in his trade craft.

The next time he took me with him

and I watched you look for us

in all the wrong places.

We debated only a couple of points: the redundancy of the third line and the phrase tradecraft. Tradecraft refers to the techniques spies use, dead drops, encryption and the art of hiding in plain sight. I like the term, and as it is relevant to the poem, it stayed.

This poem has altered only in title.

exhibit168

man in an impersonal space

note the wall paper, never his choice

and that mirror, too long by far

the bed that has followed him from house to house

the wardrobe arrived with his wife

he never liked it

the carpet will go

along with the wallpaper

one day

the wipeable whiteboard behind his head

is for your comments

but please observe health and safety guidelines

and wash your hands before and after use

Here is the other Nirvana.

Until next time.