Them

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

“Let us stifle under mud at the pond’s edge
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything.”
Donald Hall

It's mostly all uphill 
this journey. And now somewhere
within reach of the finishing line
they've fixed focus on the horizon
though it undulates
with topography.

Roused from their beds
these are the walking wounded
with crutches, in wheelchairs
or just a limp. Shortness of breath
does not deter nor the quick quick slow
pace of heart. Some barely hear
or see yet they know 
the summit cannot be far.

Downsized to one backpack
for pills, a Will. a small few things
to bring. No books but stories
memorized, of wars
and loves, all lived and past.
Each line of every agèd face
a map, an inscription, a lyric
you'll hear them, going along, 
voicing the old songs, scratchy
as a record, backtracking through
the convolutions of their journey.
I know, I'm one of them.

For Bjorn’s MTB prompt: Perspective and Pronouns Revisited we are taking up a pronoun we do not normally use in order to write from a different perspective. I chose the third person group pronoun ‘They’ to initially create a distance which changes dramatically in the last line to the Ist person singular

41 thoughts on “Them”

  1. I really tried to figure out the group of people we are seeing… and the shift of being part of the group really is great. I thought about refuges first, but then it moved more to people at a poetry festival…

  2. Your title made me think of two things: Van Morrison when he was in the band Them, and ghosts. And then I read your poem, Laura, and it could also be the old, the dispossessed, the homeless or migrants. These lines kind of confirm that thought:

    ‘they’ve fixed focus on the horizon
    though it undulates
    with topography.

    1. I nearly entitled it ‘They’ but did not want to confuse with Sassoon’s war poem – the old are dispossessed because they can take nothing with them 😉

      p.s I had a crush on Them at school

  3. This is incredibly moving, Laura. I especially like; “Each line of every face a map, an inscription, a lyric.” Yes! ❤️❤️

  5. I’m with the other readers in my admiration of this outstanding work and especially so for the Ba-DaBoom last line. My hat’s off.

  6. Bravo, the way you were included finally into the group lends credibility to tge whole

    much♡love

  7. I’m one of them too and every line of this poem hit home. Wonderful.

  8. Uphill and yet somehow completely untethered. The change in point of view is very effective, and brings the reader into the group too (at least this elderly one). (K)

    1. it was refreshing and liberating to write from that distant pronoun and then finally own it – I like the untethered bit of your comment especially

  9. I pictured soldiers being sent off to fight – but with fresh eyes and reading others comments the I see they are older people. Such a strong poem and the imagery of the pills in a rucksack really stood out for me – Jae

    1. Jae the military metaphor that is hinted at seems so appropriate for these last battlers with the will power and motivation to see it through to the end

  11. Whilst setting out the challenges of the landscape of old age, Laura, you also include the treasures untold in each one’s memory, which can console the philosophical pilgrim…
    Histories are stored in their head, wars
    and loves, all lived and lost”

  12. Nice descriptions of life’s journey as downsizing and a final struggle. Also, a nice turn on the us/them dichotomy by showing the observer being part of the observed.

  14. This could be various groups and as I read I felt like it was the veterans speaking. You see it all over the country, veterans who have nothing, looking to just live and tell their stories.

    1. I like the fact that the poem brought your vets to mind since the elderly are veterans — the word derives from the Latin Vetis- “old, aged, advanced in years; of a former time”

      Since 1500s its used particularly to old soldiers – and they suffer the fate of being old as much as being cast off warriors

      1. My heart aches for veterans and now even active military in our country. All they do and sacrifice and they are left to flounder at the end. Some argue that they get paid good now and have pensions and all that but when you have PTSD or have lost a limb, life will never be the same.

  15. each line of every face a map. I love this truth. You made me think of “The Illustrated Man” where each of his tattoos tells a story. Great poem for us oldsters.

  17. One day we will all be “them”. I love how you describe the downhill journey. The rucksack is sometimes heavy with the past. Love the perspective, Laura.

    1. interesting that we think of decline as downhill but this end of life is more uphill and requires more strength of character than ever. The rucksack reference reminds me of Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’

      ““This hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
      The difficulty will not me offend.
      For I perceive the way to life lies here.
      Come, pluck up, heart; let’s neither faint nor fear.
      Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
      Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

  18. I have been watching my mom decline, once she turned 80. I agree about strength of character but once cognitive faculties begin to fail, it goes rapidly downhill.

    Oh, wow ! I am reading these lines from ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ after ages! Thanks for sharing, Laura. I must read it again.

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