Rebellion Of My Middle Ages Poem by Candice James

© Candice James Poet Laureate Emerita,
City of New Westminster, BC

In the rebellion of my middle ages
Reading between the dog-eared pages.
In the shallows of a sun stretched afternoon
I zip myself up but come undone too soon.
Alive in the slant of my childhood ghosts
I recall my trajectories, substitutions and roles.

At the farthest edge of an indigo night
I was searching in vain for a glimmer of light,
Courting disasters and hidden dangers
Down dark highways dancing with strangers.
A renegade hanging around with rednecks,
I was playing head games with music and sex.

Running in circles hungry for love
Searching, searching below and above;
Lying inside the curve of a sentence
Body so far removed from repentance;
Faces drift by unrecalled, undefined
Just hazy memories crossing my mind.

In the shallows of these sun stretched dreams
Unzipped and tearing at the seams,
I peer through my Versace shades
Searching for fellow renegades.
Lovable losers and rag-tag rebels
Old Romeos and Jezebels.

In the shortened gasp of a borrowed breath
Rrunning away from the ghost of death
In the rebellion of my middle ages
I witness my life passing by in stages
As I slowly dissolve…
Into the pages.