golly gee — what if I were He …
and I could sow what I would reap
in the heart and soul of this family —
we are family — aren’t we all?
did you know — come on — did you?
who doesn’t, captain obvious —
oh, please grant me the serenity
to change ch-ch-change — oh brother,
please can you spare a dime,
any change really for your thoughts
on the attraction of opposites and please
please please me — my sarcasm gets spread
real thick as maple syrup, just pile it on,
come on, do you want some pancakes
with that syrup — oh gosh darn it,
kill me with a spoon, make it stop,
just turn the dial to another channel,
and I count to ten, reeeaaalll slow
give myself some good ol’ fatherly advice,
what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,
don’t sweat the small stuff, ’cause
that shit will kill you, make you worm
food at very least, a tablespoon of it
will help the medicine go down
oh how sweet it is, being in the moment,
wishing the days away, but darn it,
tomorrow never comes, does it,
and we’re left with the moments we have,
with the days in between, and the guests
in the house, God in the house, they say
family is most important, my family
is my life, you can choose your friends
but you can’t choose your family
gee whiz … but what if I could?

∞

Submitted as part of “National/Global Poetry Writing Month” (#NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo).
Today’s prompt: write a poem that “talks.” What does that mean? Well, take a look at this poem by Diane Seuss. While it isn’t a monologue, it’s largely based in spoken language, interspersed with the speaker/narrator’s own responses and thoughts. Try to write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken – not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play, but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life. You might incorporate overheard speech or a turn of phrase you heard once that stood out to you – the idea here is to get away from formally “poetic” speech and into the way language tends to work out loud.