The Stillness Between Heartbeats
Pondering the threshold
I walk a narrow passage
where silence presses close yet does not close in
each step feels borrowed from a body already fading
The air is cold but not cruel
it holds me in suspension
as if deciding whether to keep me or cast me away
Light seeps in thin currents
not sun nor star but something colder
a pale reminder that both directions exist
though neither calls my name
Hands tremble with memory of touch
yet no warmth gathers in the skin
only the reflection of what once was held
I do not reach forward
I do not return
I hover in a chamber of unfinished breath
waiting for the moment to declare itself
Perhaps it will never arrive
perhaps this is eternity itself
a middle without border
a hymn with no final chord
And so I remain
between the living pulse and the silence that waits
a traveler stalled at the threshold between here and there
hearing both realms but belonging to neither
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
Tim is an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. He writes about rural life, family, and the places he grew up around. His poetry and essays have appeared in Bloodroot and Coal Dust, his latest book.
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Violence Begets
"Any last words, cowboy?" "None you'd understand, sodbuster." "Funny. That's Marshall Sodbuster to you. But I meant some last nugget that would help us in the adjudication of the myriad offenses counted against you and your gang. I wasn't asking for penitence."
By Adam Diehl6 days ago in Fiction
Comments (4)
Oh man. You think of all the best lines. How powerful it is to think of someone borrowing a step from a body already fading. Cold but not cruel. The two c’s I see. It’s like it’s trying to pull the good from something with barely any. Whether to keep you or cast you away. Ouch! I do not reach forward, I do not return. Great use of the language suggested in the challenge. Hearing both realms but belonging to neither. Hard to choose a favourite line, but I think this one was one of them ♥️🤗
“ not sun nor star but something colder a pale reminder that both directions exist though neither calls my name” Beautiful, my friend.
I was holding my breath through the poem. 👏👏🖤
'only the reflection of what once was held' ' holds me in suspension' Okay Im asking for permission now...I may want ot use lines similar to these one day. There is a discriptive power to them, that grips the reader. I liked the flow to this one.