over-shoulder weather



I’ve walked the length of my sentence
long after the gates unlatched,
counting the gravel underfoot
as if each stone might still accuse.

The years have grown moss over my name,
but transgression carved into memory’s vestibule
means there is always one chair turned away,
its back carved with the shape of my absence.

I’ve mended the fence,
stitched the torn sleeve,
poured water into the roots I once scorched—
but the wind still carries
a syllable I cannot unhear.

So I move,
but not without the weight of glancing—
a pilgrim with a mirror in his pack,
catching the ghost of my own retreat.

And forward is a road
that keeps folding back on itself,
a loop of weathered timber and rain‑dark stone,
where even the horizon
wears my shadow like a borrowed coat,
and the door I step through
is always the same vestibule.









Poetry by anonface The PoetBay support member heart!
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Written on 2025-09-16 at 00:09

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anonface The PoetBay support member heart!
Dear Allen,
'What was left unsaid waits in the half‑light, a confession the reader must walk the rest of the way to hear.'
You found the poem where it stands, half in shadow, half in light, leaning in the doorway so it never quite leaves. the tease you felt is there by design, not to withhold, but to let the reader’s own weather drift through, and because the voice stands in a place of personal risk, speaking from the edge of what can be said without naming it outright. it is, daresay, a participative confessional poem by invitation, where the spaces left open are thresholds for another’s steps and shadows to complete the loop. the double edges are not a mask but a mirror; (sentence as both road walked and line written, vestibule as place and state of mind) and if that feels like play, it is the kind that hopes to keep the work breathing.
your reading walks that loop with me, and in that walking, the circle closes into the same half‑light where the telling began, still open for whoever follows after and chooses to enter.
2025-09-17


anonface The PoetBay support member heart!
That is most astute a read and love the "one step forward, two steps back" dilemma. Thank you so much, shells, for sharing your most valued thoughts on this poem.
2025-09-17


shells
At first read, I had you leaving prison, whatever your personal prison maybe, almost one step forward two steps back. Then unsure, makes me think which s a good thing.
2025-09-16


Griffonner The PoetBay support member heart!
This could be a brave write, though I suspect it was written so as to be a bit of a teaser, with a double meaning. Nevertheless there are some unique metaphors that are to be admired and enjoyed in the reading of it. Blessings, Allen
2025-09-16