when all is said and done

i want to be left by the side of the road
ash to splash and leave my mark
on the side of each car passing by

or can-kicked down a street
filled with knees and laughing children
my voice fading in the breeze of lost giggles

dust me from your shoes and purse your lips
blow me off the shelf you keep your heart on
toss me out the door with yesterday’s crumbs

i want to be the song you cannot scrape
from the tip of your tongue and the dance
you bobble out when you think no one’s looking

spin spin spin into the white whirl of wind
as it carries scraps from home and everything
gets dropped in the laps of perfect strangers

remember nothing of the spoken and every measure
of the pattern our two heartbeats mixed and
melded and never forget the midnights

we hollowed out with hands digging and feet
kicking life further back down the hill

if you have a box i want you to burn it
sit by the pyre and warm your crackled shins
listen to the howls in the cold dark behind you

and kiss the moon for me, just once
when she comes to light your way

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Linking in over at dVersePoets for Poetics today,
Marina asks some questions that will really make you think.
Join us!

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35 Responses to “when all is said and done”

  • brian miller Says:

    ha i like the quick rhythm of spin spin/wind….i like the thought of being dust that collects on each car that passes…also the adamance of burning the box….cool piece and nice energy in it….

  • honey Says:

    when all is said and done…big thoughts to say from a long way from done.

    loved it

  • d smith kaich jones Says:

    “remember nothing of the spoken . . . and kiss the moon for me.” that’s what i want also. that’s perfect and enough. exactly.

  • Michael Says:

    A perfect dance of life and never ending after.

  • Marina Sofia Says:

    Oooh, I like this very much…
    There is a gentle melancholy about it, a sense of the transience of all things, but then bang! some really powerful imagery to make us stand up and take notice:
    blow me off the shelf you keep your heart on
    toss me out the door with yesterday’s crumbs
    There is quite a bit of activity there, a lot of movement which belies the gentle lulling sounds of before, as in:
    kicking life further back down the hill

  • Laurie Kolp Says:

    So many vivid images… I especially like:

    can-kicked down a street
    filled with knees and laughing children
    my voice fading in the breeze of lost giggles

  • claudia Says:

    i want to be the song you cannot scrape
    from the tip of your tongue …. how awesome is that… i love all the images you paint in this and that close just made me sigh

  • Buddah Moskowitz Says:

    Absolutely wonderful. Great images/wishes. We are everywhere and yet we are no one place. Exquisite.

  • Mary Says:

    Many beautiful lines in this poem. Really, this might be one of my favorites of yours. The last two lines are a stellar conclusion to a really wonderfully penned poem.

  • Björn Rudberg (brudberg) Says:

    Oh yes.. to be kicked down the street and dancing in the wind.. but to me the lines at the end touch me most.. for those closest at heart… to be warm by the pyre… and of course kissing the moon…

  • ayala Says:

    Vivid and great images, Kelly. Love it.

  • Gabriella Says:

    Great tone and flow of words, Kelly!
    “i want to be the song you cannot scrape / from the tip of your tongue and the dance / you bobble out when you think no one’s looking” – this stanza resonates with me.

  • KB Says:

    Very well though out poem and poingant as well as reaffirming at the same time. >KB

  • Glenn Buttkus Says:

    Wow, just wow, a poem of poems, for this one captures rainbows that haven’t even sprouted yet, makes me glad to have decided for cremation, makes me joyous to be in the same dVerse lion pride as you; my favorite poem so far while out on the trail.

  • sarah Says:

    So great! Especially the last line, but then again I like the first stanza too … really, there is no dissecting it.

  • Freya Says:

    blow me off the shelf you keep your heart on

    Fabulous. I love this so much it hurts.

  • Anthony Desmond (@iamEPanthony) Says:

    i want to be the song you cannot scrape
    from the tip of your tongue and the dance
    you bobble out when you think no one’s looking

    There is nothing more staying than a song
    that’s stuck in your head… if you have that kind of affect on someone… you’re def all that’s left after everything is said and done… nice

  • Grace Says:

    Superb writing Kelly ~ The last two stanzas are particularly striking for me ~ Always a pleasure to read your work ~

  • Kathleen Says:

    have told my family to load my ashes up in an old folgers coffee can and then sprinkle me across the Ozarks ridges and hollow – loved this so much – K

  • Debi Swim Says:

    So many vivid images… and that ending, perfection

  • billgncs Says:

    just right – especially the last lines

  • Linda M Says:

    Oh! Really love this! So full of life with the splashing, kick the can — all those wonderful images. The closing smolders happily.

  • Sumana Roy Says:

    i love all the beautiful images specially in the second stanza and the wonderful close…i can still hear the giggles you know…and the sadness in the voice of the speaker is so touching…

  • KATiE MiA FredericK!iI Says:

    While i don’t think we always see it..
    this seems to be how parts of us affect others in life..
    in everyday life..

    The person who comes along and says i remember you doing this that affected me this way..

    when perhaps we don’t even remember what we did that could be so memorable as such…

    At my lowest ebb..
    when my life might be TOTALLY meaningless..i remembered if i watered a plant..i made life happen..

    and yes i still could make the difference..
    for someone else..

    dust as we are dust as we go..

    But dust in the eye..

    is a way to go..
    for fullest sight..
    of affect on others2….

    with or without eyes..
    of life..passion of life shared
    can be what’s left….

    forevermorenow..shared with others..
    connecting dots of life..never planned..
    just flowing put together..like random stars
    in pattern of galaxy as such..in swirls of golden spiral….:)

  • Marie Marshall Says:

    … and yet you leave us a poem.

  • viv blake Says:

    This is the way I should like to go out. I feel very connected to this poem! Thank you.

  • Rallentanda Says:

    And kiss the moon for me, just once
    when she comes to light your way

    Very moving and beautiful lines

  • John Thomas Dodds Says:

    It was a full moon last night and you must have been howling. Just a delightful poem, something to be sung on the way out.

  • wolfsrosebud Says:

    Such passion in your lines today. I think we all felt it.

  • Scott Hastie Says:

    Hiya, one of my faves of the night – starts great – refreshing and original and keeps right on going… Loved the ending too… Thanks for sharing this – great! With Best Wishes Scot http://www.scotthastie.com

  • kkkkaty Says:

    Very cool lines here that I’ve become accustomed to reading in your posts….love the last two lines the best..and the overall sense of ‘bring it on’ or at least ‘ I leave a mark, I was here, remember me…

  • CC Says:

    Such vivacious sensory imagery!

  • nana Says:

    “kiss the moon for me ” wow , is all i can say

  • Audrey Howitt Says:

    Lots of wonderful images–but for me–this piece just dances–wonderful rhythm!

  • grapeling Says:

    love this, and this especially: ash to splash and leave my mark ~

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