Tag: poem a day

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 49

Day 49: “Parasite”

Guilt was instilled in me young

By my father

By the Father

Everything I did I did for others

Never taught to listen to me

Never taught to trust me

Never taught to love me

“Me me me”

“You’re selfish,

Devilish,

Of the flesh”

That’s what they said

What they say

A look in the mirror

Would destroy them

I never knew pleasure

Independence

Strength

Myself

That’s how control works

Questioning is only okay if you come back to the Truth

Ritualistic chants

Drink of the blood

Lifelong contracts

Give me money

All your money

You’re bad

Bad

Bad

But just five easy payments of your soul

Will make you good enough

Good

Good

Just like that

Bow your head

Give yourself

Wholly

Until there’s nothing left

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 48

Day 48: “Process”

It’s interesting what gets left on the cutting room floor

I try to keep an open mind

Write from the heart

But sometimes

I just need to delete

And rewrite

And try again

I started today’s poem with

“I wish I was a witch

And sisters with Sandra Bullock”

Which I liked, but how do you follow that?

What do you write next?

Then I started a poem about gluttony

And that stopped right when it started for obvious reasons

Now

What’s left?

Something pretty meta

And I’m okay with that

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 47

Day 47: “Inspiration”

I look out the window

See the sun shining through the clouds

I listen to new music

On repeat

I watch a classic romcom

And feel nostalgia flooding me

I lay down

After a busy day

I move my muscles

And stretch

I take the bus

And sit on a worn, weathered seat

I pet my cat

And cuddle up to her

I talk with my loved ones

And give tight hugs

I cook

Paint

Clean

I see beauty all around

I’m inspired

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 45

Day 45: “Life in Sitcoms”

Sometimes I wish my life was a sitcom

I’d be funny

I’d have friends

A quirky, misguided group of friends

I’d have a nice place to live

I wouldn’t really have to work

Did I mention I’d be funny?

I could sit in a coffee shop all day

Or build a pillow fort the size of an entire dorm

Or have three guy roommates in a huge loft

Or work in local government

Or prank coworkers at a paper company

Or teach at an elementary school in Philadelphia

Or be a floor worker at a giant store

Or be an overworked nurse at a hospital in Oregon

Or be a rambunctious detective in the NYPD

Or reminisce about being in my twenties to my teenage children

Or be in a family caught up in white collar crime where there’s always money in the banana stand

The list goes on

I already think in sitcom jokes

And I laugh at said jokes

Maybe I should write a tv show

Maybe I’ll just rewatch “Community”

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 43

Day 43: “Couch Time”

Sleeping on the couch

Is a simple pleasure

Lay your head back

Put up your feet

Listen to the tv as you fade

Fade

Fade

Not quite asleep

Definitely not awake

A dreamtime escape

It’s comfy

Yet uncomfortable

You’ve got everything you need

Once you’re gone

In dream land

You awake with a start

And realize you haven’t even been asleep 20 minutes

Your eyes start to close again

Just 20 more minutes

And then you’ll actually head to bed

It’s morning

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 41

Day 41: “Gen Z Existentialism”

No one ever told me

that you can get acne in your 20s

Nobody told me

that being an adult is never ending tiredness

No one told me

that everyone is performing and nothing is real

No one said, “hey,

we’re sorry we made the world a terrible place”

No one ever told me

that it’s okay to take a break

Nobody told me

my younger me was right about a lot of things

No one said, “hey,

you’re cool” and meant it

No one ever told me

that my mascara smudged on my eye

And that’s fucked up

A Poem a Day: a Series – Day 40

Day 40: “Feelings of Happiness”

The fall feels like Christmas to me

which feels like happiness

so does watching “You’ve Got Mail” any time but especially at Christmastime

and so does watching “Practical Magic” in October

and “One Tree Hill” and “Gilmore Girls” in September through early December

New York City when I was younger felt like taking a full breath

and strutting down the street

in a rom com

after you met the love of your life

now, it still feels that way but less naive

like the end of “How to Be Single” when she tells the taxi driver she wants to go home and he says, “I don’t know where you live, lady!”

Reading on a rainy day

listening to the thunder and seeing the lightning

feels like summer growing up

and like watching “Twilight”

and like reading “The Hunger Games” for the first time

and then watching it for the first time in theaters

jumping when the mutts chased Katniss and Peeta through the arena toward the cornucopia

A sunny morning walk

feels like Sunday

making pancakes

and cuddling

a trip to a coffee shop

walking by a park filled with dogs

like listening to “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson

and “A Sunday Kind of Love” by Etta James

and “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5

Watching snow fall

feels like being a child again

beautiful

peaceful

like listening to “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones

like I’ll get to miss school tomorrow

Those are all things that make me

unbelievably

and irrevocably

happy

I love that feeling

I wish it was the fall

Don’t you just love New York in the fall?