Monday, April 2, 2012

A New Poem


Telling

(From here on, they all count . . .

Whatever you think to say now will
sound silly. It is not about
patience, or wanting a thing so badly
that you can never have it. That's
the easy answer. The difficult question
occurs when you least expect it,
that's the candidness of real life, someone
you trust betraying your smallest
secret. BW recounting the story of
driving across the desert north of
Bakersfield, chasing the big priceless
Picasso and Miro canvases tumbling
end over end across the sand in the wind.
Dizzy with laughter, thinking how
absurd life can be, when the biggest secret
you've kept is finally ripe for the telling.


5 comments:

Curtis Faville said...

Dear Anon:

No reason to hide behind anonymity. As I've said many times before, that reflects more on your cowardice and lack of courtesy, than anything you might choose to offer as a criticism of my shortcomings.

I considered using the word "greedy" with laughter, instead of "dizzy" but haven't settled on the right word yet. You're correct, it's a cliché, but a lot of phrases in any poem that employs traditional straight syntax are going to sound familiar. "Greedy" introduces the idea of hunger for experience, whereas I wanted to emphasize the idea of being overcome with absurdity--a somewhat different thing. Have you ever been so amused by something that it makes you tearful?

This is based on a true story, by the way. Can you identify the person who told it? That might be a better test of your exalted intelligence.

Your comment makes you sound many times more bitter than me, of course.

Ed Baker said...

ahhh

Cold Mountain, Pick Up &
Big Stick dizzy with laughing...

one kiss from Stone Girl
&
I will tell you what she is thinking !

jh said...

hmnh
barret watten

just guessing

not wanting to dismiss

anonymous

jh

i like the poem

Curtis Faville said...

Nope.


It isn't Barrett Watten.

Guess again.

JH said...

"Greedy" would be better than "dizzy."