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My life is a series of strange
tree branches fluttering out the window
A roommate puttering past
my half-out, half-in feet on
a couch he bought, I live on
& a silent phone – silent
over and over again.
Your life is a series
of strange unknowns
that you tell me (and I believe
that he asked “Why would anyone study
pasta?” when you said you were in
“linguistics,” that you made the
ink
for your tattoo and you'd play
the cello in the corner
of your room – with its
hat-rack mulling like
a raccoon-eared butler –
if your roommate hadn't
broken the bow).
Life is a series
of strange I-didn't-think-
I'd-meet-you- today-
or-think-of-you- tomorrows
enjoy-violet-bruises-
shaped-like- your-
knuckles
see-
you-3
-more-
times or care-
knuckles
see-
you-3
-more-
times or care-
if-my
-phone
-stayed-
-phone
-stayed-
quiet-for
-12-
hours
and
-12-
hours
and
are we
having
lunch
having
lunch
tomorrow?
* Thanks to David K. (chess game & candlelight pizza), I. (stomach bruises) Evan K. (window-wating), the blogs IdenticalEye (summer girl) & Milkmoon (swing children), Hilary D. (State street fiesta), Krista L. (deer & palm fronds), Gabriel B. (Jacob's Well – Texas), & Julie P. (fox chemistry & “I'll wait”) for making this collage full.
ReplyDeleteNA also = Narcotics Anonymous {a 12-step program that focuses on addiction … if you want to categorize my restlessness thusly} Emotions Anonymous - formerly Neurotics Anonymous {also potentially fitting, here}, Na – sodium's chemical symbol {if you want to go all gothic Emo & imagine this as the prelude to a salty-teared breakdown – which it's NOT! Spartaaa!!!} or the one that I was thinking: n/a – abbreviation for “not applicable” on forms, etc. {because how am I going to draw ANY conclusion about whether or not we're still on for lunch, given the strange, strange world I'm/we're sitting in? I'll just have to wait} – 16 April 2013
Or of course n/a = not available, just what your often-turned-off cellphone and not-so-often-touched email inbox sometimes make you appear.
ReplyDeleteThis poem was very difficult to make sense of (or rather seemed to mean many things at once), especially without reading your explanation. Its almost written as if it were an amalgam of many smaller poems or lines of prose that come together to mean something. As one of these constituents comes to an end, another begins on the opposite side of the page. This also resembles the branching of a tree's limbs (which is an image used in the first stanza). Another interesting connection (I'm not sure if it was intended or not) about the style is its resemblance to a collage (because of the amalgam-like quality), which seems to be a recurring theme in your work.
ReplyDeleteI try to make the words move in ways that reflect their meaning ... so yes, more or less, intended.
Delete