Thursday, February 10, 2011

Friday Flash 55 ~ San Francisco Farewell

Forever... It Will Stay.


San Francisco Farewell

I.

In fog we breathed the exhaling breath of the earth and sea, and like plants the exhales sustained us. I left you many times before the last time, because our breathing was a joint effort; alone I was gasping too hard to walk far. But life was my ventilator. Now I inhale my own fog.



II.

Fog touched the streetlights and made them
Glowing balloons that slowly faded and shrank
As the fog of life compressed and swallowed us
Leaving only a shrunken skin
Without a shape

So many fires to put out
So few rainbows
But the silent clouds
Don’t want to talk about it anymore.

February 2011



Two 55's for the price of one. Such a deal, and only for the G-Man and friends

 
a celebration in 55 words
exactly
!


( Last stanza of poem has appeared previously as some of my twitter poetry)
Image: San Francisco Classic Street Lights And Fog, by Chaz Hawley copyright 2007

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25 comments:

  1. MonaFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:08 AM

    Oh, the month of February so beautifully described!

    The like the way you use Fog as the metaphor of Life !

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  2. moondustwriterFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:16 AM

    mmmm my romantic city - I think I lost a boyfriend in the fog in SF once

    Love, life, fog - I'm inspired

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  3. BelindaFebruary 11, 2011 at 4:55 AM

    Fog in SF and in life, both a reality for me. These are lovely 55s.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brian MillerFebruary 11, 2011 at 6:09 AM

    smiles. i rather like the fog...and the mystery it brings...as long as you are breathing fog not smog...eh?

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  5. AustinFebruary 11, 2011 at 6:37 AM

    Great pics but I thought you were going with the falling into the ocean! Very well written!

    Without Words is my 55 this week.

    ReplyDelete
  6. the walking manFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:24 AM

    The city never became what we thought it would become. But then most of us were just traveling through on our way to somewhere else and the fog was not so hindering.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis HallFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:30 AM

    dreamy imagery,

    when a place becomes history,
    it evokes much fonder or more beautiful memories..

    Enjoyed your remarkablke 55 here.
    Happy Weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis HallFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    remarkable, not remarkabike, ooops.

    Forgive me!
    Glad 2 read you today, you are missed at JP.

    Keep inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  9. G-ManFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:45 AM

    Normally I chide those that write TWO 55's..
    BUT...
    Yours were different.
    Yours were very descriptive and cool!
    Just Like YOU!!!
    Loved your City By The Bay entries Joy Ann...
    You Rock The World.
    Thanks for playing, thanks for solving my very easy 55 mystery, and have a Kick Ass Week-End..G

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:23 AM

    this makes me feel kind of heartsore, you know?

    i wrote a 55, too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. FireblossomFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    I like the first one, but i LOVE the second one, especially the ending.

    I can feel that fog, permeating everything.

    ReplyDelete
  12. izzyFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:26 AM

    love the second one especially! thanks.

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  13. TALONFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:48 AM

    To breathe on our own after a joint effort takes time and dedication, but it's so worth it. Fog is so all-enveloping - you captured that essence so beautifully, hedgewitch.

    ReplyDelete
  14. hedgewitchFebruary 11, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    Thanks all--I'm about to start checking everyone else's efforts.

    @G-Man--no no! Not the chiding! (Thanks for letting me bend the rules.)

    @FB & twm--I think I had a few too many hits of Brautigan, but sometimes the City does come back and haunt.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Monkey ManFebruary 11, 2011 at 10:21 AM

    Well captured. I love the inspiration fog brings.

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  16. gautami tripathyFebruary 11, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    Wonderfully put...

    lined up...

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  17. Doctor FTSEFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:02 PM

    . . and both of them very accomplished!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Maude LynnFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    Both of these are excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Alice AudreyFebruary 11, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    I should show this to my son. He just broke up with his girlfriend, and would totally get this where a few months ago, he wouldn't.

    ReplyDelete
  20. RNSANEFebruary 11, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    I fell in love with this city during my first visit - a short layover at 18, en route to Hawaii. I've now lived here for 34 years and I'll only leave here ( though I've traveled to 34 countries and 25 Caribbean islands ) when death takes me. I loved this double 55.

    Mine is at:

    http://rnsane.blogspot.com/2011/02/friday-flash-55-happy-valentines-day.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sherry Blue SkyFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:26 PM

    Hauntingly beautiful. Both go together perfectly. "So many fires to put out, so few rainbows." Loved this one very much, Joy!

    ReplyDelete
  22. limeFebruary 11, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    i have love san francisco on my visits there. never experienced the fog though. i'm sure it gives a completely different feel.

    ReplyDelete
  23. StrangerFebruary 11, 2011 at 10:42 PM

    both of these are beautiful but that first one took my breath away.

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  24. KavitaFebruary 14, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    Wowww... this really painted a sublime picture of SF before my eyes... all the times I have been there, I have left with a romantic film over my eyes.. and your poem did that to me again!
    So beautifully said in a double 55, Joy... thanks for sharing these...
    Happy Valentine's Day to you, my dear friend!

    ReplyDelete
  25. hedgewitchFebruary 14, 2011 at 2:48 PM

    And to you, Kavita. V. Day is your kind of holiday, I would think.

    ReplyDelete

"We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, out of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry." ~William Butler Yeats

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