Tried a little blank verse for the first time since college. My scansion muscles are rusty, but I had fun! Maybe tomorrow I will write more about why I like metered poetry so much.
I have given up so much to rules
about the way a life should look and feel.
Arrive on time. Be nice. Take notes. Say please.
Say thank you and you're welcome. Close your mouth
while chewing, even when your words are caught
between your teeth and wrongs are spilling out
of everybody's lips.
Move on, at last,
when you have finished your task. There's no time
to savor the job you've done, no idle hands.
Decline straws to save the turtles, and don't
leave juice in the plastic bottle unless
you hate the living.
Exercise. Be strong!
(but small) Command respect from a light frame.
Don't take any guff, but smile, to show
you're warm and friendly. Don't have kids too young,
but have them. Eat leafy greens, even though
they taste like chewing through a flat balloon.
All of this, and you are asking me
to give up cheese? The rest I bear without
complaint, but this injustice cannot stand.
(I was told I have "slightly high" cholesterol today. I am a vegetarian and a pretty regular exerciser, so I am convinced that everything is random and nothing matters.)
I enjoyed reading your thoughts through poetry. And, that is a total bummer and I hate that even when you are a rule follower you don't always have the expected outcome.
ReplyDeleteLoved your poem today.
ReplyDeleteI am a runner and eat healthy and didn't qualify for the elite health insurance for the same reason. So annoying...
This is the line that spoke to me:
ReplyDelete"There's no time
to savor the job you've done, no idle hands."
Who ever came up with the idea that idle hands are the devil's work? I think people need a little more down time. I am a firm believer in moderation. Follow reasonable rules. Push back against the unreasonable ones. Eat the cheese!
I thoroughly enjoyed this poem, every line of it! I especially liked this one though: "Eat leafy greens, even though
ReplyDeletethey taste like chewing through a flat balloon." That description is magnificently unique and completely, 100% on point. I can tell you right now, without hyperbole, that I will think of that line every time I eat vegetables for the rest of my life. And not in a bad way, but because it captures the essence of my experience.
Oh, what a compliment! Thank you! That just made my whole day. Definitely softened the blow of being told to eat less cheese.
DeleteHa. Ha. I laughed at the nothing matters line. I feel you. and yes, "chewing through a flat balloon" is an epic simile.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you didn't take care of yourself, it would be more than "slightly high"? Unfortunately, my doctor said cholesterol has a lot to do with heredity.
ReplyDeleteLove your poem!