View from a Window

I’m not locked down anymore

But sometimes I feel locked in

Locked into myself

I wonder who my neigbours are

They know I’m a stranger

What if they find out

I write poetry

How strange then will they think me?

Why do I make up stories about my neighbours

Who actually seem pretty friendly?

Perhaps it’s because I’m a stranger here

Like the ‘extravagant and wheeling stranger

Of here and everywhere.’

Destined to forever gaze upon beautiful views

Out of successive windows

Never mine.

Written for dVerse poetics: Looking out of the Window

33 thoughts on “View from a Window

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  1. That’s a lovely view you have – and looks like your neighbour is out on their balcony watering the geraniums.

    There’s a lot in this poem. I liked the ‘no longer locked down but locked in’ – phrase – a feeling many of us have. I also liked the dynamic in the poem – watching and being watched – full of uncertainty leading to the Othello quote – where Roderigo insults Othello as a shiftless wanderer – making the poem’s questioning even more pointed. There’s a wistfulness in the last lines – how beauty isn’t all that great if you don’t have a home. Thanks so much for sharing this.

    1. You’re very welcome and thank you for your kind comments. I have moved around a lot, sometimes it feels like a blessing and at other times a curse!

  2. How immaculate everything looks – so typically Slovenian, at least in the parts of the country I have been. Even in the lesser ‘well to do’ areas I have seen ladies of a certain age sweeping outside their houses, and window boxes dressed in their finery.

  3. That is a stunning view, Ingrid! I identify with the feeling of being locked down, even out of lockdown; even after twenty years of living in a little village, I don’t really know many people, and the neighbours we did get to know quite well moved away last year. I too make up stories about my neighbours, fictionalise them and give them alter egos. In fact, I’m currently near the end of one. I think your neighbours would be very curious and thrilled to have a poet in their midst.

  4. I love the way you end the poem Ingrid … ‘Destined to forever gaze upon beautiful views

    Out of successive windows

    Never mine’.

    Like someone finding it impossible to settle somewhere.

  5. Oh this is lovely Ingrid… yes I have similar thoughts sometimes… you’ve written it so beautifully.

  6. The view is lovely, but there’s something pensive about those last two words. Perhaps one day a window of your own!

  7. Can’t wait to hear what your neighbors think when they read your words in print… They’ll look up at you from the window saying “wow, how lucky am I that someone so beautiful and astute wrote about me”.

  8. A very good poem of contemplation. It is interesting that these days few people actually know their neighbors. I love your view from your window.

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