extinct, i won't forget you

PJ Ryan
Author: PJ Ryan
Word Count: 378
previous browse writing next

extinct, i won't forget you

for all the archaeologists of love and lust and similar buried feelings

extinct, i won't forget you belongs to the following groups:

Melbourne & Victoria, Midnight Ramblers, Pleasure & Pain, Short stories - Spherical Scriptings and The Red Writing Room

You are a weight sitting just above my collar bone, creeping over my shoulders and radiating down my back. Your tail slides down my spine and slaps against it occasionally.

Camouflaged within my vertebrae, you still remain extinct.

There’s no mistaking it when you slide beneath my lumbar; stubborn little penetrator.

Hiding within me, you settle into the places you like best.

You cause me to ache.

Dinosaur, I still miss you.

Do you remember late one night, at a house beside the beach, you called my mobile phone (those things will be extinct one day too) and you pretended to be out of sight in some place far away. You whispered to me until I ached for you (deeper) and then you knocked on the door with a thump, thump, thump of your tail.

You always were full of surprises.

The most beautiful of creatures.

That night, I stepped back from the doorway and jumped into your arms; you carried me down the hallway and into that place again.

We created something that hour, when the moon was low and the tide settled. A little bit of tenderness and a definite amount of appetence seeped into my bones, causing me to never forget you.

You crawled under my skin and settled within; an artifact.

You’re gone now, though there are traces of you everywhere within me and all of the time, space and evolution of my self never hides the fossil that continually resurfaces.

I don’t go searching for you; I stumble across you on the oddest of days whilst I’m walking through the yesterdays on route to tomorrow. Those footsteps are obstinate and my feet have grown since I last stood there, but it still feels strangely comfortable.

I will fade away one day and my crumbling bones will settle into the earth, my own relic of the life I have lived. Someone, in some place will feel me pressing in and underneath their shoulder blades, with an ache of lust and love and could’ve been desire, but it probably won’t be you.

It rarely works that way.

Admiration of such a beast is only one sided. A major attraction at a museum. Something to reminisce and wonder about.

You are my dinosaur.

© ryan

  • DanikaL

    DanikaL

    “I don’t go searching for you; I stumble across you on the oddest of days whilst I’m walking through the yesterdays on route to tomorrow.”

    These words chilled me. So beautifully written … you have immense talent :)

  • Teacup

    Teacup

    walking through the yesterdays on route to tomorrow... this line just caught me… such a beautiful write. x

  • skinnyman

    skinnyman

    wonderful writing PJ. x

  • butchart

    butchart

    seems we all have one….... the beach house story ( a story within a story) was such a beautiful memory to place down on paper…....... thank you for sharing these rich words of wisdom…....... bravo…..b

  • Alan Dean

    Alan Dean

    this reads like a letter from a world Alice would maybe visit one day ….

  • erich biemer

    erich biemer

    and yet there is life in your memory here…..

  • ArcadiaTempest

    ArcadiaTempest

    ” You crawled under my skin and settled within; an artifact.” .....that line was the core of the verse for me Nic…. I know this….XXX

  • JaneSolomon

    JaneSolomon

    Enjoyed PJ….you have your own very special inimitable way…..xxx

  • KathO

    KathO

    Walking through yesterdays…. Love that line:)

  • Holly Ringland

    Holly Ringland

    jesus – you know how much i felt this one nix, so i won’t try and articulate because i’ll ramble… and i won’t make any sense… but i will say… that just as much today, as the day years ago now that i first tripped over your words, you steal my breath with your ability to turn the mess and splendour of being human into the richest stories. i’m so proud of you and who you are. it’s absolute delight to know you the way i do x

  • Jess Andrews

    Jess Andrews

    You crawled under my skin and settled within; an artifact

    beautiful

  • joedonovan

    joedonovan

    if only those words werent true

    lovely piece

  • ShadowDancer

    ShadowDancer

    SHIT. this is.. i cannot believe how beautiful this piece is… honestly one of my favorite i’ve ever seen on the bubble. i think i’ve read it 5 times already. i cannot gather the words to explain how this dinosaur resonates inside of me, how this aching and rat-tat-tapping on my spinal cord has left me paralyzed for a lifetime. wow, i’m still breathless. i shall go so i can read again. xx

  • Tracey Mac

    Tracey Mac

    Hey Nic

    This….....................is just so precious, so very beautiful and so resonates
    Your words and thoughts are simply divine and the way you write, it’s like I can hear you, in this meloncholy voice kind of faraway…...I just love it all, and I think it’s my fav so far of your works….......a truly beautiful piece
    Huge Hugz
    xoxox

  • valentina63

    valentina63

    What rich and evocative writing . “I don’t go searching for you; I stumble across you on the oddest of days whilst I’m walking through the yesterdays on route to tomorrow” I didnt know my heart felt like this until you put it into words and writng …wonderful and unforgetable writing V:)x

  • rjcolby

    rjcolby

    This gets “under my skin and settles”. You write emotion to emotion, a direct link.

  • Rex Inkpen

    Rex Inkpen

    beautiful lament PJ written in that compelling, wonderful, colour saturated style of yours.

  • Ginny York

    Ginny York

    This is so beautifully written and only one who has felt this pain could truly understand the feelings that it holds. I too have a dinosaur.

  • Mel Brackstone

    Mel Brackstone

    So so rich!!

  • BiographyofRed8

    BiographyofRed8

    wow this is so infused with passionate dedication the words stand out on the page with life

  • koby

    koby

    i just stumbled across this for the second time, and adored it more than the first. thank you.

  • hsien-ku

    hsien-ku

    i hope you never lose your dinosaur – though the memory burns it is a remnant of the last magics. beautiful writing, so sad, so pretty.

  • silvercircles

    silvercircles

    Heartbreakingly wistful and so beautiful.

Add your comment

You need to login or signup to add your comment to this work.