Message from Your Future Self

You will tear holes in life, portals
from one self to another, city
to city, country to country.

You will adapt your nostrils
to different scents and smells,
your tongue to sweet and sour.

You will adjust your eyes
to everchanging landscapes,
falling from another sky

to land on concrete or grass,
sometimes on your feet,
sometimes flat on your arse.

You will learn the languages of birds,
hum songs of different bees,
and embrace new species of trees.

Each hole you tear will leave a scar,
crescent moons, comets and stars
tattooed on the skin of your universe.

Kim M. Russell, 24th May 2020

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A poem re-written for Poets and Storytellers United Writers’ Pantry

The original poem was a response to Anmol’s Poetics portals prompt for dVerse Poets Pub Poetics last Tuesday. You can find it here.

Maria commented:  ‘As I read this poem of adventure and discovery, I thought of putting it in future tense and saying it as a young woman about to face the world’, which prompted me re-write it as a message to my younger self. 

33 thoughts on “Message from Your Future Self”

  2. This would be a perfect poem if all you had were the 1st and the last stanzas; but you have all that other stuff in between, which makes it even more perfecter.

    My hat’s off, KR. well done!

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  3. I love the feeling of adventure you’ve developed here. There are definitely consequences for adventuring, as you point out, especially in that last stanza. But I think some cuts and bumps are worth knowing the wonders the world holds, especially that of the birds and bees.

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  6. This is absolutely stunning! I especially love; “Each hole you tear will leave a scar, crescent moons, comets and stars tattooed on the skin of your universe.” Woww!! 😍😍

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  7. This poem is beautiful – and the face in the photograph is so happy and precious it warms my heart.

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  9. I really like everything about this one, starting with the title and ending with the expression in the photo. And I love how the structure of the poem, the listing of what may (or will) come, promises a full life. I love the positive honesty of the voice, how it speaks of scars while reminding the subject to keep in mind that said scars can be the foundation for beautiful things.

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  13. i love the format of the poem, and the use of the future tense.
    it is a journey one must take, a learning journey, and it is not one without obstacles and heartaches, but one will wear the scars proudly. 🙂

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