Someone once said, be in the moment otherwise you will miss your life.
I don’t know about that.
Once I was stuck in the moment.
It was like being stuck in a lift.
I was going nowhere.
Not even up and down.
There was no way out.
No alarm button to press.
No side passages to explore like in a labyrinth.
I was stuck. In the moment.
That moment when at three in the morning
the phone shrieked at us
from the hallway.
I could hear the old Minotaur lurching down the tunnels
of my brain.
I tried not to panic.
Tried smoking a cigarette
Humming a tune
Studying a fly on the wall
Studying me
Reciting my nine times tables
the alphabet back to front —
do you know how difficult that is? —
And then suddenly SNAP
I was out of it.
I don’t know how long I was in the moment.
But I did wonder if I’d ever
Get out and join
The flow of life again.
John Malone 
Ahhh a scary moment to be stuck in. You do the drama well. But you remember it. I think the point of being in the moment is so that life doesn’t pass you by unnoticed. So much of life is unremarkable. It is these remarkable stuck moments that hover in our memories like the haunting swarm of a zillion bees.
LikeLike
love the bee image; thanks Worms: so true; Buddha said it, I believe 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love it. Stuck in moments, like the old record that’s reached the end of its track and keeps revolving without saying a word, or humming a line.
LikeLike
ahhh yes, the stuck in the groove image; that might not work for millennials, too young for the old technology —
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a wise saying. To live in the moment for me is to not look back at the past or fast forward to the future.
It’s a very difficult thing to do, accomplished in spurts only. Meditation helps. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
you’re right: if I actually lived in the moment I would not have ‘visited’ that dreadful moment years back that I had —
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes it’s hard to let go, no judgement intended. We all revisit moments that are difficult, if only to confirm we still feel the same way. And if not, then something has obviously changed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks, Eden, for your understanding 🙂
LikeLike
It obviously has stuck with you – intense
LikeLiked by 1 person
there are some moments, Beth, you want to stay in forever and others you want to skedaddle out of as soon as you are in them 🙂 Jim Croce said it most eloquently in ‘Time in a Bottle’
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done finding the fault line in that almost cliché statement, “be in the moment.” Sometimes it’s good to be in the moment, but as you point out, sometimes it’s not.
LikeLike
nicely put, Bob, thanks 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very thoughtful. I’ve felt that way myself: stuck in the moment…minus the Minotaur.
Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
thank you; it’s good to get a new reader 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love how you build up the drama of getting stuck and then the freedom of flowing with life. Some moments you just want to get out of ASAP. Excellent!
LikeLike
appreciate that, Ulle; I’ve been told I’m bit of a ‘drama queen’ 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very different take on an old saying. I enjoyed the dilemma.
LikeLiked by 1 person
my mentor told me: always look for the odd angle — that’s where your poem is 🙂
LikeLike
That’s really uncomfortable. It might feel like being paralyzed or stuck in a recurring nightmare. You definitely conveyed the agony well, John. 🙂
LikeLike