Archive for November, 2002

From the chapbook…

pantoum: a poem of indeterminate length, composed of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next, the process continuing through the last stanza.

Living by the Fist

He learned life the wrong way,
living it by the fist.
He watched his dad with his mom first and
practiced what he’d been taught.

Living life by the fist,
he hurt her.
He practiced what he’d been taught,
beating the woman he said he loved.

He hurt her,
blaming her for his actions.
He beat the woman he said he loved
and stormed out of the house.

He blamed her for his actions,
she believed his accusations.
He stormed out of the house
and she was left to recover alone.

She believed his accusations
and tried to make things better.
She was left to recover alone
until he came home with flowers.

She tried to make things better
but saw the beginnings of the end.
He came home with flowers
to begin living life by the fist again.

I might have more to say this week…I’m not sure. Except that I’m in the middle of putting together a chapbook which is my final project in a class I’m taking. So, I still won’t be around a whole lot this week. Finals, in both the classes I’m taking and the class I’m teaching, are in 3 weeks. Yikes. There’s way too much to do.

I don’t have anything to say. I’m at a loss for words. That’s something new.

Heh.