Then and now

Drove through pieces of my past and it followed me home
Snapshots of another time and place
Memories of the insanity I dare not speak of
Those lost years
Every day clouded by substances that never covered the shards of broken psyche
People surrounding me...all lost souls...interacting like bumper cars
Hit and run
Nothing to hold on to...no way to stay in place
I think I can tell this story, but it has no flow
Gets caught up in the drama of misery
Theirs and mine
Wounded birds..grounded by life
Race, war, discrimination, abuse
A crash course in slow motion
etched in the tombstone of my mind
a detour from the edge
why did i make it out?
Only to see it being played again
from a distance
other lives mangled
continuing the cycle of pain that has no end
I thought the world had changed...I thought it had evolved
and I could leave the bodies buried and just move on.

nt

a crash course in slow motion!
(those lost years....did they deduct anything?)