I write a lot of poetry. But I used to keep a lot of it in secret.
I had a dark period of anxiety and an inability to perform. Prior to that, I had shared my poetry in school as part of the slam poetry club. Then I went into hiding.
But recently, I came back. At the Y57 Media summer fundraiser back in June of this year, I performed two original pieces, “Museums” and “The Perks of Being Short”.
Moving forward, I want to share a lot more of my poetry. And I’ll start by sharing the above two poems.
Museums
Museums have it right
Look, don’t touch
Stay behind the velvet rope
You break it, you buy it
Don’t deny it
You walk through life recklessly
Walking on eggshells but destroying everything in your path
Life is a museum
And the people are priceless statues
But sometimes we don’t care about their value
We walk into a room like we own the place
Pick the first one that appeals to us
Check out their body, their features, their face
Do they fit in or are they out of place
Will they fit in with me
My lifestyle
Who I am and who I want to be
How I want to be perceived
I was told to look and not touch
Don’t break it, or else you will be stuck paying it
Off for the rest of your life
But I was careless with my actions and
Reckless with my emotions
I played out our infatuation like a worn out piano
Playing broken melodies out of chords so dissonant
I was tone deaf and blinded by my
“Love” for you
You reciprocated every motion
Like some twisted dance for two
I tried to keep up with you
With every tempo change and fast step
And with every touch you pushed the boundaries
Created chaos in my brain and a bursting in my heart
Infatuation running through my veins
I was a statue that came to life
And you reached out and pushed me off the ledge
And here I am, trying to pay off the damage
I put you on a pedestal
Smooth like ivory and precious like gold
Your words were smooth and effortless
But they were also empty and weightless
I hoarded you like fools’ gold
I wanted every part of you
I wanted to grow old with you
At least, that was what we talked about
We would walk from room to room in our little museum
Taking in sweet domestic scenes and stormy scenery
Perhaps a sign of what was to come?
You would point out the strokes and I would be
Aroused at the colours that mixed together
Bright hues and conservative shades
That give me no clues or indication that
You would one day break my heart
Even after you promised me that you would be careful
Even after you promised that you would
Stay behind the velvet rope
Nothing ever stopped you though
No rules or signs or anything of the kind
You did what you wanted
You came and went as you pleased
You didn’t need me or anybody policing you
Because you didn’t care
All you wanted was my ivory body
You didn’t care what was within
So you came along and mistreated me
To the point where you broke me
Shattered in the middle of a velvet rope pen
With you running towards the door
Away from the responsibility
Who are you?
Where is the man I fell in love with?
Where is the one who promised to respect me
Who promised that he would respect the rules and play within the boundaries
Who are you?
You ran through our museum
My fingers slipping away from yours
Until suddenly I was left all alone
Just a pile of shattered stone
Watching as you run from one statue to the next
Leaving in your wake brokenness from your disrespect
I am broken, but I will try to rebuild
Try to walk out of this museum without incident
The Perks of Being Short
The perks of being short.
THERE ARE NONE.
I once enjoyed the luxury of height
Towering over my peers and seeing everything with a bird’s eye view
I would never have to choose between
Fight or flight
Because height worked to my advantage
High enough with my head in the clouds
Keeping me close enough to the stars
Holding onto dreams and anticipations that
I would always be on top of the world like this
I would fight if I had to
Take down everyone in my path
If it meant that I could secure my place in the sky
For a lifetime until I died
I once enjoyed the luxury of height.
But then, puberty hit.
As I tended my garden in the atmosphere
Chasing dreams in the stratosphere
Suddenly
Everyone was growing up beside me
My fellow flowers were towering over me
And as the world changed
And my friends took the magical escalator
Out of childhood
Somehow mine was out of order
I was trapped
Like a robber being stopped
I was trying to run away with my height
But my plan collapsed on me
My neck went from looking down, to looking up
Craning my neck to look at the sun
And practically everyone else
Because I once enjoyed the luxury of height
But it’s gone now.
As I advanced in age
I thought that my height would advance steadily
But that was wishful thinking
And I couldn’t believe my eyes when
Over one summer
All the boys came back
Leaner, taller,
Some of them really stunners
But I digress.
The tables turned and
Now they were looking down at me
My spot at the table has been taken away
As I can’t even reach the table anymore
Because I’m suddenly
Short.
The perks of being short.
Number one
You will always noticed
People will call the police because
You are deemed as missing
When in fact, you are actually in their midst
Standing in front of them, actually
Just below their eyeline.
True story.
The perks of being short.
Number two
You don’t have to do anything
Because typically, you can’t reach anything
You get extra points when you try
And people think it’s cute when you try
They smile politely and say
“Oh dear, let me get that for you”
Oh dear, that’s nice
Where were you when I was jumping up and down ten minutes ago?
True story.
The perks of being short.
Number three
You can’t see anything
So imagine how many horrible things you miss out on!
When people stand around you like skyscrapers
And you are just a flat top building
The world is so much nicer down here
Climate is more moderate
I’ll send a postcard up your way
Maybe a snapshot of what my eye sees
Because it probably most certainly is different from what you see
So come on by sometimes and see what I see
They say it’s much more fun down here
But I’ll never know what’s up there.
I once enjoyed the luxury of height
But slowly that luxury has been stripped away
As all my friends grow past me
Able to be seen
Able to reach things that I can’t reach
Able to see things that I probably will never see
And unfortunately
It looks like I will never gain the height that I want
Because all I wanted really
Was to be at least 5’3”
But I guess I’m stuck here.
I have resigned to the fact that
I have been the same height for nearly
Ten years.
So here we are, the perks of being short.
I hate to tell you this but
There are none.
Want more poetry? Check out my poetry blog, dedicated to – well, you guessed it – more poetry: poems & other words
Lead image credits: Elijah Bautista Photography
#fictionwriting #creativewriting #poetry #originals #poems #Fiction