Where did you go? by Britta Benson

Here’s my response to this week’s W3 poetry prompt, set by poet of the week Brandon Ellrich.

The challenge this week: Write a riddle or puzzle poem. You can find the full guidelines as well as Brandon’s prompt poem here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2023/01/25/w3-prompt-39-weave-written-weekly/

My contribution is not much of a riddle. You’ll instantly know what I’m talking about. It’s more of a little musing. Here goes:

Where did you go?

Somewhere
between ‘wait!’
and ‘hurry up!’,
there’s a chase,
a race, a waste
of opportunity 
and pace.

Clocks can’t control
the peace of souls.
Each tick, a to do.
Each tock, a forget,
and the numbers 
will never add up.

We push, we shove,
we cram in 
as much as we can
until our breath runs out.

Then, we stop,
stare at the tide
and feel so much lighter.

What’s lost, a win.
What’s won, a loss.

We create systems,
machines increase speed,
and still, 
we can never catch up
with the now.

At the end of each day,
we hope for balance,
perhaps even credit.
With empty hands
we wonder:
Where did you go?

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