I've been home a couple hours from participating in a poetry reading, something I hadn't done for a few months. I was all kinds of nervous prior to the reading, which is normal. I just want to get past the waiting, past the possible butchering of my name when I was called to the stage, past the awkwardness I always feel while a crowd stares at me and waits for me to start reading. Inevitably, there's some voice shaking and sometimes even paper shaking. But then I start and I get into whatever I'm reading and I can hear my voice, strong and sure, and I feel like I have command of the room and I like it. I could hear a few comments tonight, people saying they liked something I'd read, and I wanted more of that. I'm always happy to hear someone say they enjoyed something I wrote. I enjoy the work and sometimes it's almost a surprise when I get a compliment. I like it... but you like it too? Cool!!
I read my work quickly and then had to leave because my car developed a flat sometime after I arrived and I was reliant on my mom to chauffeur me home. I'm enjoying my quiet space now. I have music in my headphones, pasta in my belly, and a deep desire to dive into every word I've ever written and just swim around. I've given myself a deadline, though; I have to be up at 7:00 a.m. for work, which means bed by midnight. (Note that I didn't, uh, say sleep by midnight. I'm responsible but also realistic.)
Here's a piece I shared at tonight's reading. Interestingly, every D word applies to my life currently, in varying degrees of intensity.
abstract
we were dancing
in darkness
in the spotlight
in black trench coats
spinning in a slow-motion circle
as if we had blades on our feet
I stared into your eyes
knowing we were layered and meaningful
a little desperate
but never so broken we couldn't be fixed
we traveled like time
precious and new
glorified and glorious in satin
in shame
in suits of armor that disguised
our divine madness
our lollipops tasted like insistence
and I woke to a bedside bowl of red apples
and your cherry mouth
saying I love you
I love you
I love you
2 comments:
I'm a member of #theBloggessTribe and, after @beebesharkey posted that you were participating in the #AtoZChallenge, I decided to hop on over and visit you. I am really happy that I did and I am looking forward to getting to know you. Beautiful poetry, btw.
Linda K
@_theheadcabbage from
Tales from the Cabbage Patch
Thanks, Linda!! Glad you visited and liked what you read. :) xoxoxo
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