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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

By Chance or Appointment - 12. Explorers

Another sonnet, for those who like them. As is ever the case, any errors you find will be of my own making.

Now come my love, let us as two explore

a territory left unsung, unmapped, unknown,

where wait such wonders, numbered by the score,

that careful reason might be overthrown.

Together, a delightful path we’ll tread,

through ridges, hills and sunlit valleys stray,

where climbs the rarest rose to bloom in red

atop a monument along our way.

Yet even as its mysteries we plumb,

it's clear we’re not the first to travel there,

For others left a mark or print or crumb

to show that they delights like ours would share.

It hardly matters we are not the first

to tarry as a pair to slake our thirst.



Thank you for taking the time to read this summer sonnet. I appreciate any comments or reflections you may have to share.
Copyright © 2022 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
  • Love 13
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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AC Benus

AC Benus 36,631

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I often feel things like this when out in nature. A part of me -- the explorer part, I guess -- wants to believe I'm trailblazing; seeing things unseen by human eyes before. But some sign or other always pops up to ruin that fancy. 

Yet in your poem, these indications of a trail less traveled, but braved nonetheless, are reassuring. As Gay people we often grow up feeling isolated, so signs that relationship like the kind we wish to forge have been successful in the past are welcome.

You've shared a wonderful poem!  

Edited by AC Benus
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Parker Owens
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1 minute ago, AC Benus said:

I often feel things like this when out in nature. A part of me -- the explorer part, I guess -- wants to believe I'm trailblazing; seeing things unseen by human eyes before. But some sign or other always pops up to ruin that fancy. 

Yet in your poem, these indications of a trail less traveled, but braved nonetheless, are reassuring. As Gay people we often grow up feeling isolated, so signs that relationship like the kind we wish to forge have been successful in the past as welcome.

You've shared a wonderful poem!  

You and I share that delight in feeling that we’re explorers trailblazing. And you’re right again that our own special isolation can might help us appreciate that others have shared our delights before us. Thank you so much for reading and for your reflection. 

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Backwoods Boy
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One thought that comes to mind is the saying that one can never "go home" again.  Another is a personal experience "discovering" a cliff-dwelling high in the wall of a remote canyon.  There is a time element to be added to "place" or "relationship" that makes it ever different.  You are the first to experience it now, and "now" is not the same as 100 years ago or even yesterday.

I haven't read many sonnets, but I love this one, and it gives me the urge to try out the form :) 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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Parker Owens
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2 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Makes no difference if others have been there, it's the first time for you and that's what makes it special and worthy of such a wonderful poem.

I think you’re right - if it’s the first time for me, that makes it more intense and full of memory and color - for me. And if this conveys something of that, and helps you feel it too, then I’m happy. Thank you very much for reading this and for your thoughts. 

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Parker Owens
1 hour ago, Backwoods Boy said:

One thought that comes to mind is the saying that one can never "go home" again.  Another is a personal experience "discovering" a cliff-dwelling high in the wall of a remote canyon.  There is a time element to be added to "place" or "relationship" that makes it ever different.  You are the first to experience it now, and "now" is not the same as 100 years ago or even yesterday.

I haven't read many sonnets, but I love this one, and it gives me the urge to try out the form :) 

I urge you to try tackling a sonnet. I know there is some excellent supporting material on sonnet writing elsewhere on GA. I sometimes wonder how my experience of a place or relationship  in the present moment might compare with someone’s in another time. As you say, they will be two different things. Many thanks for reading, and for your reactions. 

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Parker Owens
3 hours ago, pvtguy said:

That journey is not only in nature, but in traveling through life.  While others have walked/will walk paths similar to the one we tread, the influence we share on our journey and the challenges and joys we experience are our own.  Beautiful writing as always!

It’s interesting that two people can travel the same road, yet see it differently. I think that’s why it’s fun to journey together with another either literally or metaphorically. It lets us share that experience together, even as we color it in our own ways. Thanks very much for reading! 

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raven1

The sonnet was lovely.  It was like a memory of hiking with my lover through mountain meadows and forests. We knew we were walking trails taken before, but there were times we would forget that as we lookout on wonderful vistas.  Sometimes, we knew there was a change that altered the vistas and terrain.  These times we would wonder if we saw something new that no one had experienced before standing in the same spot.  This poem captures those memories.

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Parker Owens
11 hours ago, raven1 said:

The sonnet was lovely.  It was like a memory of hiking with my lover through mountain meadows and forests. We knew we were walking trails taken before, but there were times we would forget that as we lookout on wonderful vistas.  Sometimes, we knew there was a change that altered the vistas and terrain.  These times we would wonder if we saw something new that no one had experienced before standing in the same spot.  This poem captures those memories.

I’m very glad this poem stirred good memories of shared hikes and journeys. Each person on those paths today may wonder as you did, and know that their experience is as new to them as yours was to you. Thanks for reading this and for your thoughts. 

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