Xs, Os and Ws
Abecedarian thoughts
All the steps I’ve taken
between there and here
can be seen in the where,
detailed in the when and,
etched in the memory of the who.
Forged on my mind in an endless
game of tic-tac-toe.
Have you done this?
I think you should try that.
Just give him a chance.
Kiss your future goodbye.
Let the path lead you if you choose the right one.
Maybe it’s too late. Maybe it was never meant to be.
Never say never.
Obstacles revisited are not obstacles, just
pylons tossed
quizzically onto the
roadway of the hows and whys that
shape the journey long
travelled. And on those travels,
unless modesty be my tormentor, and
vanity my champion,
who cares if I never worried about the
Xs, so long as I crossed off the Os.
Yesterday is done and I have
zero time left for regret.
About the Creator
Cathy holmes
Canadian family girl with a recently discovered love for writing. Other loves include animals and sports.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
Keep reading
More stories from Cathy holmes and writers in Poets and other communities.
The Light Turns
It's Tuesday 7:13 a.m. A cold and clear November morning awaits Ray on his morning commute. Ray rubs his hands together in the front seat of his Subaru. He turns the air temperature up, but keeps the air on low until the air warms up. He looks at the backup camera screen and reverses the Subaru out of his driveway onto Trimble Road.
By John R. Godwin2 days ago in Fiction
Comments (25)
Ah freedom! Loved it!
This poems makes me think of the phrase "The past is set in stone, the future may be a worry, but right now is a gift and that's why they call it the present." This poem also has a feminine sense of stoicism. It's carefully reserved but still facing the future steadfast as "we all face the future with the weapons that we have prepared today." So, hopefully that chance You gave him was the right path and that the obstacles to You were nothing more than little speed bumps along the way.
This is so empowering. The final line is a real mic drop and words to live by.
The flow is great, and this runs smooth even with the letter constraints. Nice!
Fantastic entry! Flowed beautifully, and loved the message! Great work, Cathy!!! 💞
Great entry, Cathy!
Wow! Excellent poem! Great ending!
THIS!! IF THIS DOESN'T PLACE IN THE CHALLENGE, I'D BE SOOOOOO ANGRYYYYY!!!
This is beautiful and such an encouraging poem.💗
This flows so seamlessly, I was at U before I realised it was an abc one 😁
I love the last two lines the best. Yesterdays regrets only brings sadness, let's be done and forge ahead. I take this one very much to heart. Onwards and upwards.
Thank you for taking us through this in this form. Great challenge entry
Ohhhh you nailed this. Love how you played with the last few letters. I’ve seen so many toss in fancy words, but sometimes you don’t have to overcomplicate to get the letters checked off!
Cathy this was great! I love the stream of consciousness type of style and your cleverness with some of the trickier letters!
Well said, Cathy. Forward, ho!
Flows so perfectly x Fantastic entry! And love the title!
Wonderful, Cathy! And love that you built the poem kind of around that very tricky letter "X"!
This is so good and so clever. I didn’t even realize it was for the challenge as it flowed so seamlessly. Fab.
Ha! cool title and great poem. You have a clever way of weaving words in your poems. They always arrive at a thought-provoking message... Well done as always, Cathy!
This is a good piece, Cathy. Creating a rhythm and story in alphabetical order is a task... nicely done!
Beautiful entry!!♥️
There's a bit in the Tao Te Ching this reminded me of. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially it says that acknowledging and understanding the reality of your obstacles renders them ineffective, i.e. "know thine enemy and spoiler alert, it's you". You took that and slapped a hard "doesn't have to be" on here that I think a lot of us would be blessed to remember more often.
That last line!!!!! So much 'yes' to this, my friend :) Loved the entry.
Love the flow and the Xs and O. Brilliant last line!!!💕❤️❤️
Excellent piece! I've struggled with this challenge. Lol