This is the end, they said
The air thick with the stench of solemnity
I smiled and stopped breathing
Finally
The prompt for #OctPoWriMo was the end. Because we’re on day 29 an it’s almost over. Even though I joined very late, I’m happy I joined. I haven’t written this much in a long while.
The challenge on #OctPoWriMo today was to record yourself reading a poem. I remember how mortified I was when I read that prompt last year, but that I jumped in anyhow. I had never written a poem out loud, not even to my boyfriend.
I credit the prompt as an important contribution to me reading poems on stage half a year later, en to even share that experience on YouTube.
Today I’d like to share both recordings. Both to honour how marvellous this prompt has been for me, And because I have three children running around the house today, not a great setting for a new recording.
Everybody wants a happy ending
But it’s hard to do the work
To say yes, to say no
To say I do, to say I won’t
To look into a mirror and accept your shadow
To look at your shadow and accept your beauty
It’s hard to define your happy ending
and live happily ever after
OctPoWriMo day 27 had happy ending as a poetry prompt. Mine is slightly morose I’m afraid. After writing it. I had a happy ear worm. Thanks Joe Jackson!
Jesus died
*nodding*
for somebody’s sins
*goosebumps*
but not mine
* tears*
I am lost
Written in the aftermath of her concert in Utrecht on October 24. I’m joining #OctPoWriMo 2015 very late this year.
Pissing in the river
watching it rise
I can do anything
Walking through the sea
watching it part
I can do anything
Making land from water
on a Sunday afternoon
I can do anything
Giving birth to a child
who refuses to do what I want him to
because he has a mind of his own
I can do anything
This poem was conceived during a Patti Smith live show. She’s an inspiration.
