Mask

Behind my shield

A secret hides

The mask in the mirror

Isn’t my image

Just a shadow

A veneer, brittle and thin

 

The smogs seeping in

Upon my mask’s

Deepest sockets

Oozy false lashes

Dark as pepper, they burn my skin

Scaly wrappings

Grotesquely etched

But the camouflage remains

 

A ceremonial face

Oversees my disguise

Then abruptly soaring aloft

Over oceans and skies

I am a star traveller

Old and wise

So Who am I?

Beyond my alien eyes

 

Ivor Steven.

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ivor20

G'day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I'm an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those personal thoughts, throughout and beyond my life as a Carer. I've been blogging for over 2 years, and writing poems for 19 years. Of course a lot of my poems are about my favourite subject Carole, but since I've been blogging my writings have become quite varied, humourous, mystical, observational, and even a few monster/horror poems.

46 thoughts on “Mask”

  3. Wow! Another beautifully written piece. This false, seemingly unfailing sense of security we feel cloaked in when we put on those masks gets so quickly torn when we ache and disappear behind them. It requires an alien sight to see through them into our soul. I love the final touch “A ceremonial face, /Oversees my disguise. / Soaring aloft, / Over oceans and skies. /A star traveler, / Old and wise. /And Who am I, / Alien eyes.” ❤

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    1. Thankyou soulful one, I’m not sure how I digressed so much through this poem, but it just grew out of my depths somewhere. Originally the poem was supposed to be a light little rhyme, as a thank you verse for the gift of a Mask I’d won.

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      1. My pleasure, Ivor 🙂 Congrats on the gift! Digressions happen so often when you start writing and your hands just won’t stop typing. It is a lovely feeling. I think this one digression made your poem! It is wonderful you let it come through.

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    1. Oh so glad you like this piece,, It started off as a thank you note !! Sometimes I immerse in words, and all of a sudden there’s a whole page full of words in front of me, Oh Colleen, I laugh at myself about , I don’t Know’s !!

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  9. Your poems keep sounding more imaginative. But I feel like it’s also an insight into what you’re feeling in that moment. I don’t know if it was meant to sound like that, but I certainly felt the depth in this one. The mask, the breaking free, the alien eyes. So lyrical.

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    1. Thankyou Karen, I’m so pleased you liked my poem, originally it started off as a thank you note for the gift of a Mask, that I won, then somehow the words flowed from my thoughts, and my poem evolved , I suppose my subconscious wanted to say something about how I was feeling. ..

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  13. Oh I like it! It is so similar in theme, yet very different. Thanks so much for sharing. I’d not read this one before. Quite dark, too .
    I like it! 😊😊😊

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  14. Oh this is very nice! I feel this way and maybe everyone does at times. I’m an alien in a strange land where I don’t fit in. Lol inside I don’t see the ugly that they see. That is what I feel from this wonderful post.

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    1. Thanks Stella, originally I was writing a thank you message to the person who made and sent me the Mask., which was a prize for a little article I posted in their Magazine(Slasher Monster Magazine), and when I sent them the thank you note and the poem, they published the poem in their Magazine. And everytime I read these words I find another layer of myself that I’d put into the poem.

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      7. Lol I’m the same. I learn by doing. It’s hard because I’m a University student and I have to go home and reteach myself everything my professor tried to teach me. Lol

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