This is Poem #1 of 31 for the OctPoWriMo challenge. I decided to begin with the day's beginning. A slice of a beginning, a piece of pie of today, October 1. It is a witness poem, like the ones I often write. Note, however, it is not written in first person. Confessional poetry is great - but I prefer staying anonymous and sometimes weaving fiction amongst the facts. Enjoy this time of poetic and word-love immersion. I am grateful you are here! All comments will be returned!
Threshold
A forbidden hash brown enters her mouth
(worth two monopoly pieces)
Medium lemonade quenches her thirst
(two more monopoly pieces)
He is a responsible sixth grader now
so he is manages the
Monopoly game board
Her job? Merely to eat food that is bad for her.
The door to October opens
young Yemenis friend stands at the door,
Headphone in place he prattles on in Spanish,
she guesses, with his similarly dressed co-worker
on the other end of the audio line.
He hasn’t spoken to her since she started
wrapping her head in scarves perhaps
embarrassment because of the secret he
divulged to her: “I’m engaged twice. Two families
think I am marrying their daughter.” His
parents made the deal for him or for them?
This month’s catalog of racial slurs spill from
his mouth into the microphone to his friend
on the other end who is, she guesses, trading
wet back for towel head or something
equally distasteful to her whitebread ears.
She keeps her head down, writing, writing, writing.
Twenty-something weather boy hanging from the wall drones on
telling me and anyone else who is listening it will be
97 degrees today. Over 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
October? Her son eats a mountain of pancakes,
lured inside by the promise of a Monopoly game piece.
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Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield.
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You outdid yourself with this one. Perhaps I saw McDonalds in this... I love Monopoly.. and hash browns.
Posted by: Notavalibleinstores | October 01, 2012 at 09:31 AM
You pulled me in and through like you often do. I am so glad you are on this journey with me.
Peace to you my friend.
Posted by: Morgan Dragonwillow | October 01, 2012 at 10:49 AM
The complexity of observation and relationships and pure imagery is all here. A lovely poem to start Octpowrimo! Can't wait to see what's next!
Posted by: Beth Camp | October 01, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Thank you so much for your kind words! I enjoyed the heck out of writing it and YES! I was at McDonald's this morning with my son. The SHE was ME!
Posted by: Julie Jordan Scott | October 01, 2012 at 03:38 PM
All of this in one morning proves that life itself is poetry in motion. Great details. It's amazing how you took what could be mundane observations and made them pop by using particular words.
Posted by: TheWritersExpt | October 02, 2012 at 07:00 PM