Tonight I’m hosting the wonderfully talented poets over at the dVerse Pub. No big-screen sporting events there, but instead a drink, a shared joke, mutual support and a poetic prompt. This week I’m asking everyone to write about what shatters their world to pieces, or else what helps them to rebuild their fragmented world. Here is my response, a simple list poem.
It’s the little, the minuscule, the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny
they always catch me out.
For the big disasters I can prepare, shut up my stall,
batten those flimsy hatches, but what defence do I have against
the thoughtless word in the midst of safe harbours?
Everyday forgetfulness,
the cups of tea never offered, iced cocktails never mixed,
the thoughts unshared or opinions unasked.
Banter with a core of heartless
mission with a sense of flight
running on lonely past a destination so wrong.
What patches me together? Small things as well.
Playing with words is helpful,
a smile sometimes more.
Smell of rain, the first bird in the morning.
Often the silence, a lull in wild thoughts.
And… always… amnesia of things past.
findingtimetowrite 