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Hiding From Landfills,dbsanders

I hear words without faces

Words written not on pages

But in spaces that appear magically on

A screen in front of me

Appearing there to confront me

Right there in front of me

Gently confront me

They ask where is Dan Sanders

I ask

Who is Dan Sanders

When you have looked the inevitable directly in the eye

When you have stared at the face of death

And when you have come to terms with having

Seen you own future

And when you know

This is the inevitable for you

That all your dreams and hopes

Will never be realized

Because that’s life happening

As you were hoping and dreaming

And packing your keepsakes away

And the memories kept in a box the pictures

The rings and jewelry

The manuscripts never published

Will someday

End up being unimportant

Thrown in a box and put out with the rubbish

Because no one else can live your dreams and have your hopes

They were yours

And now gone with the left over sandwich

Dreams lost

 In Landfills

At least you have given back to the earth

So when you ask where have I been

I guess you could say I’ve been

Crossing the desert and forest

The summers and winters

Of another s dreams and hopes

And while doing that

I have been dreaming and hoping

That I will leave behind

Very little landfill

 I have started parting with the tangible touchable

Objects of dreams

And learning that what really matters is the unbridled freedom

To go out and believe in the now

And leave as little trash behind as possible

So I guess you could  say

I’ve been avoiding landfills

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© 2012, Dan Sanders. All rights reserved.

avatar Dan Sanders (30 Posts)

I made it through college, started at Pace in New York, family seemed to think I needed a business degree. I didn't last long, two double periods of accounting a week and I was off to N.Y. U. To make a long story short ( too late for that) I graduated from UCLA and actually, my biggest kick out of that is just saying, especially here on the east coast UCLA, but I could care less, been in Boston since 1975, though I was coming for a year or so. A very good friend at the time, she said to me "Dan you'll never leave Boston" so dear Florida “Sun Spot Baby" you're down there, been in and out of radio, TV, acting and that's me in a nut shell.


2 Comments

  1. avatar
    Cher Duncombe
    May 8, 2012 at 7:48 am ·

    Dan, this really touches the heart. We all need to face the inevitable, don’t we? But you ended on a positive and hopeful note…as we all should. Finding solace in the “now” is not easy but when we do it the rewards are great. :)
    Cher Duncombe recently posted..Europeans Reject “Republican-Style” AusterityMy Profile

  2. avatar
    Anya
    November 19, 2012 at 9:00 pm ·

    Aww, Dan. I’ve experienced a version of this. I wasn’t even 35 yet when I realized it was time to give up on an 8-year goal to become a psychiatrist, and after that, I realized that not only had I abandoned a career in counseling for the futile effort at med school, but that no one was hiring professional students, which is what the last eight years had qualified me to do. I toyed with the idea of pursuing writing (as with many, a passion since childhood) but thought, ‘I haven’t *been* writing – I have nothing to show, and I don’t even know where to start!’ For about a year I lived in near-constant anxiety that my life would be nothing but unrealized dreams and unmet potential, a tiny life, a life of mediocrity and conformity.

    But your poem describes it much more eloquently. :) And I think the fact that you’re writing already speaks volumes about the topic of the poem.

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