#poem 5

[writing-is-fun-i-guess]

Poem #5

It’s funny to think I was young yesterday,

That I’ll be old tomorrow

Funny to think I’ll only be here, now, once

And then that’ll be gone

That version of me, gone forever

Never to return

Funny to think that’s what happens to everyone

No one is exactly the same as when you last saw them

I just think that’s funny

[dragonfootprintsprose]

April Poem a Day Challenge #5 

This poem is inspired by this webpage of fun prompts that a friend suggested! Again, I have a big feeling of incompleteness in this poem, but am I catching up to my poem a day goal? Yes! This one felt a little stream of consciousness :)   

[imadaydreamer]

If you could read my mind, You'll find your name tattooed in every side. Still enchanted of how our souls met on warm April midnight. That's the moment I knew, I found the right. Even the moon showed up lovely and bright. Pore over me and you'll see the eyes That will love you for a lifetime. Evermore sparkling like gold. Everyday I'll kiss you with my words. You and me till we're grey and old.

--

[041521] Happy 1st Anniversary!

[percybysshe]

avoidance

there is something else i want to write today something that i do not have the time for, try as i might to make it

forgetting is so easy, it is willful and simple and when it is not well, it’s not as if you remember

it is the easiest thing in the world not to do something, to excuse yourself from the needing to improve, from the toils of the day

the guilt and the grief and all that comes afterward is forgotten, unacknowledged but there it is, below your feet waiting to grasp at your tender, weak ankles

this evening, i will do it, tomorrow, i will do the things that i must do today i will forget, and i will hope that  in remembering i am not cowed by the terror of forgetting

[ehmjey]

a constant loop of songs

reaching something in my brain

that only music can

breaking my heart and putting it back together

just with how much i love them

with how amazing, complex, simple & full of emotion they are

finding comfort between the two sides of my headphones

and i'm still shaking, still overwhelmed

but i will keep listening

to every little detail

every background vocal, guitar riff, build up and change

until it blocks out everything else

nothing reaching me, all i can hear

a constant loop of songs

- mj

[frickengreenfrickyeah]

Live, laugh, love, my Lesbia

So, I know I’m only so-so at Latin and I’m definitely not a poet, but I wanted to share my personal translation of Catullus’ Poem 5 because I think I nailed it. (Catullus is a Roman poet.)

Side note: the lover’s name is Lesbia, which is a place name, not, like, a pet name for a lesbian. But the author’s dead and I think the poem works even better if Lesbia does mean lesbian, so... take that, authorial intent

---

Poem 5

live, laugh, love, my Lesbia. dab on them haters 

yolo after all

so let’s kiss 

a hundred times, 

then a thousand and a hundred, 

then a hundred and a thousand, and a hundred more

then fuck counting

and keep kissing

I mean, what are they gonna do

curse us

---

Fun fact: The ‘let’s stop counting kisses lest a mouthbreather curse us’ thing was a superstition in the ancient world. You needed specifics about a person to curse them, like a name or, in this case, the number of times they kissed their partner. 

The idea that someone could curse their love is a very real threat to the narrator, which is why I removed the punctuation from the last two lines. That way it can be read as ‘What are they gonna do, curse us?’ which captures the carefree spirit of the poem. Because, to the modern reader, that sounds ridiculous and thus implies that their love is untouchable. 

Or, it could be read as ‘What are they gonna do?’ with ‘Curse us,’ as an immediately sobering answer, which I think grounds the situation and evokes a peripheral anxiety about the longevity of a relationship and its ability to withstand the stress of adversity that people hate to acknowledge, especially when they’re in the honeymoon stage. It also implies that their love is doomed, which, you know, is angsty. 

but that’s just me. hit me up if you have thoughts

[thelionessandmedusa]

[links-hella-fine-booty]

Has your arm fallen off? Did you slice your leg? Do you need a band-aid? No need to cry, No need for tears, The blood will be cleaned up, For the caster will soon be here, Now don’t fret your little face off, There’s no way you will die, To someone that binds you up so tight, The fierce glow in his eyes, Sit down, Tied up, The cast so tight, Lose all feeling in that spot, Don’t move, Don’t blink, Stay quiet and still, As harmless as a trap to a mouse, Don’t slouch, Don’t pout, Shh, All your pain won’t go away, In fact you’ll keep on bleeding, But at least the scar has gone away, Under the wraps and cloth, Erased away your worries! Good day you lump,  You’re finished