Quite A Performance
Next time I hear a perfect poem
I’ll call you; don’t hold your breath.
Move me to laughter – maybe
give me truths or tears
stop boring me with “clever”,
no more raw emotion, no more pushing limits
only because they are there
my toddlers at bedtime
did the same.
So you’re a cynic?
Go deconstruct your emptiness
in a bottle of wine
or the puddle of oil
your car left in my driveway
when you left at 3am
swearing it was over again
(and again and again and again)
because a creative, brooding soul like yours
is beyond capturing
by the likes of me and my empty stars
seen through a veil of missing you – how mundane
and you forget how I made you laugh.
But I am middle-aged now,
self-deprecate with a half-smile
and an overpoured glass of something
self-indulgent
something mundane, something ideal, something sublime
but I tease,
I know I am a fat mother of grown-up kids
and none of this becomes me
no one listens to the poets,
you applaud politely at all the wrong times
but could not care less
until 3am when I am sitting on the fridge
screaming obscene, unimaginative rhymes
and suddenly you like me
and want to get me drunk(er)
I’ve been clever,
I’ve invented, been innovation,
I’ve been in love with the people
who were in love
with me looking in the mirror
in love with my own precious words.
I loved it whenever you said I was “wise”.
I saw the same thing at the zoo once;
a monkey, thrusting hard against the bars
in desperate rapture: self-gratification.
We should have all applauded then
but he broke the rules,
went over two minutes.
Tell us something interesting about yourself
The author:
wants you to be their next lover,
thinks computers are from the devil
once killed a man as a dare
can drink you under the table
thinks Sydney is the capital of Australia,
thinks adulthood is an elaborate hoax,
used to own a bedazzler,
was in a band called Pancreatic Acidosis
in the 90s (but I guess you had to be there),
prints off their rejection letters and uses them as cigarette papers,
only does what their pet alpaca allows,
believes s/he is actually a mermaid,
is the only (forgotten) heir of a small country in Europe,
is secretly a billionaire,
is really an octopus in a morph-suit,
doesn’t want you to know about their other 4 children
(it was awkward but social services are onto it),
works for ASIO,
has 17 cats,
is a virgin (cat hair will do that),
can’t spell desember X decemmber X oh you know the month I mean,
passed the Turing test last week,
practices witchcraft,
died 2 years ago and is now an elaborate scam to keep earning money,
is a character played by 3 different actors.
Riddled with Arrows 5.2: “Spotlight 2022”
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