Posts under ‘poeTRY’

This is one of the poems sent to the people on my National Poetry Month email list back in April.

I hope you take it personally.

Personal

Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—

the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,

the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me

and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.

The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,

and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.

Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of Talk

Get over it, they said
at the School of Broken Hearts

but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;

I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,

I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back

and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with I’m Sorries

like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.

Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?

You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.

I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:

trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.

-Tony Hoagland

Before articles, short stories, and blog posts, I fell in love with poetry.

It started with a poetry book in the Childcraft book series my mom kept in our living room. I memorized poems by interestingly named writers like X.J. Kennedy, Judith Viorst, and Shel Silverstein. Then I’d recite them to anyone who would listen.

I mean, anyone.

I’ve been reading some poetry again, and this morning I woke up needing to write some. It was as natural as the need to empty my bladder or eat food before I got dressed.

I tried to explain a dream I keep having in this poem called “Tiny Desks, Big Hearts.”

It’s Poem in Your Pocket Day!

I couldn’t forget about you. (Please excuse the poor editing).

Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day! from Amanda Green on Vimeo.