One of the only things that’s gotten me through the pandemic and all the emotions that I’ve been dealing with as a result, has been poetry. I would consider myself a mediocre poet, as most of my poems are more prose than anything, but there’s something so calming to me about writing out my emotions in a more artistic way! I think poetry is definitely a great way to reflect on your thoughts and feelings, and it can serve as sort of a self-care practice. The beauty of poems – in my opinion – is that they don’t always have to make perfect sense to every reader, but a lot of times we can relate to the stories that poems tell. As with songs, you can create your own interpretation of the meaning, whatever resonates with you.
This one is a short “story” of two people who keep coming back to the same less-than-stellar relationship; I titled it Fire (written towards the end of 2020).
Fire
why do we keep doing this?
this song and dance and the
tiptoeing on eggshells to avoid
addressing a horrible thing
i guess it’s easier to let something
fade; to let the fire die on its own
rather than fueling its blaze with gasoline.
but i wish we’d just get it over with.
because the fire dies down and i think i’m fine
until i see you again and i think,
i think it’s your eyes,
but i can’t help it
and neither can you so we just do it all over:
this stupid little rendez-vous, meet in the middle,
both of us on a tightrope and ready to just fall
over the edge and into an abyss we’ve climbed out of
fifty-six times before
because at the bottom lies all of the good things:
the warmth of the fire without the burn
and the dancing we did before everything was
engulfed and transformed
transformed. not ruined
just different and fragile, charred but still
standing. so we don’t address it
because eventually char turns to dust
and dust blows away
and maybe with it the pain
and then we don’t have to even think about it
not ever again.