Play Pretend – Written Thursday 11th September 2025 (Aged 50)

Play Pretend

I live in my own world
because
the air is more breathable.
And that is why I play pretend.

But on my own,
the crowds — all the crowds —
they just leave me feeling alone.

And I know
I am the last of my line,
factory shut,
overrun with time.

Time, it’s flooding in,
causing the lights to dim,
as power and personality
play Monopoly with earlier sins.

I am the last of my clan,
the ones
with handheld plans,
knowing that what we show
is a semi-transparent sham.

I live in my own world
because
the atmosphere just fits.
I play pretend
because crowds never really give me a lift.

I play pretend —
there I am, almost fixed
and always, always on the mend,
searching through buckets of the past,
looking for memories of friends.

I live in my own world,
and that is why
I play pretend.

James Garratt – 11th September 2025

More poems at
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/

More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/

More poems from 2025
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2025/