Pacific by Robert Thiessen

Pacific by Alex Colville, 1967.

Pacific


We see no face, see no emotion, yet the scene is poignant and carries a sense of urgency.

I feel:

desperation,
sadness,
alone,
heaviness,
fog,
mist,
darkness.

The sand is on the beach yet it is on his shoulders.

He is looking at the water yet he is walking under it.

He is awake but is trying to run in his sleep.

It is daylight, yet it is dusk.

I feel like snatching the gun away.

Then I see myself standing there.

Robert Thiessen

Robert Thiessen worked at General Motors for forty years, most recently as a millwright. He is now retired. These pieces for the 20 Poem Challenge are his first poems.