Reflected blurriness in a
spilled cup of coffee, dripping
and spreading over the
counter top. No fuzzy
paper towels to wipe up
the hot mess of
blackish
brownish fluid.
The scuff on the polished
shoe when the woman
with the three bags and
backpack tried to squeeze
her ample frame passed you
as you calmly moved toward
the exit. Her bustling body,
muscling like a bowling ball
through the morning commuters,
amidst interior protests from interior
monologues of annoyance and
her treating everyone like
they were white painted,
red necked bowling pins.
Hearing the last few seconds
of your favorite song, that takes
your memory back to the summer
when you were in love and wet
with passionate desire, but only
the last few, the final notated
few seconds before it’s swallowed
in the din of the world and the
present.
Wondering why they all
looked at you funny and
whispered and snickered before
you discover the toothpaste
smear on your black pants in
the most inconvenient of
spots.
The conversation that
abruptly ends when you’re
near-by. The thing in your
shoe that’s tickling your sole.
The knee pain. The missed
haircut. The boring work.
The sleeplessness of thinking
about the boring work.
The missed fun. The forced
fun. The randomness of evil.
The randomness of good.
The new twitch in your hand
as you type. The nonsense.
The sense, common and uncommon.
The days do try us, to break us
against the mundane and petty
rocky coastline of life. To crack us
and feed on the gooey nectar inside
as it spills out on the sand.
Hello! *waves*
ReplyDeleteHope you don't mind me making a comment that isn't the usual blog comment luvviness. You're clearly serious about your writing and you do some good stuff, but I always feel it you tightened it up a bit it would be stronger.
Your challenge: as an exercise, you may find it useful to take something you've written - a poem or a story and reduce it by half. take out any words that aren't doing any work, that have been said before. Like reducing a sauce, it makes it more powerful. e.g. I love the woman 'muscling like a bowling ball' but she gets swallowed up a bit in her surroundings.