This will be my first non-poetry post on this site, but I am attempting to participate in Nanowrimo and PAD Chapbook Challenge for the first time (each) so, it may be a while before I post anything new. Or it may not. I have no idea!
the love he told me (by Rebecca Chasteen) Thursday, May 14 2009
Uncategorized coffee, love, perspective 6:28 am
Today is Tuesday, which means two prompts.
First prompt: Write a love poem. Or,
Second prompt: Write an anti-love poem.
the love he told me
this guy i had coffee with said that love is all the same.
that it all springs from the same place, that it
only matters what we do with it, how we
give it, use it, hold it, move it. i just nodded because
i always thought there were so many different loves that
i’d never considered just one. and now i see he was saying
the same thing. he just changed all my worries that i never
loved anyone enough since i’d spread out my love so much. now,
i see how i fold each heart into mine, how i carry
with me every one. how i choose how i show what i show of
all the love i now know is just the same
thing we all chase, we all have already. it’s just
tap into it, it’s just open it, it’s just hold it, it’s just
what he said.
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2009/04/14/AprilPADChallengeDay14.aspx
Fridays Then, Fridays Now (by Rebecca Chasteen) Sunday, May 10 2009
Uncategorized flirting, friendship, life, living, longing, lonliness, love, personal history, relationships 8:31 am
For today’s prompt, I want you to write a poem about Friday. Do you like Fridays? Despise Fridays? Of course, you can also write about something that happened on a Friday–or write an ode to Fridays. Or, as you know, I’m all for seeing you attack this from an angle I haven’t thought of yet.
Fridays Then, Fridays Now
Fridays were
G movies
with mom and Rachel,
air popped popcorn
with melted butter
soggying up
a few
best pieces
that we would scramble our little hands
to get
Fridays were
sitcoms,
and sleepovers,
too much shock tart candy,
Mad Libs,
and making Ouija boards
out of Lisa Frank desk sets
Fridays were
getting mom to drop me off
at the dollar movies
and pick me up 30 minutes after the movie ended
so I could hang out
flirting, acting grown and cool
(until I crawled into the blue
and wood-paneled station wagon)
Fridays were
football games,
boyfriends,
and scrawling their names
beside ours
with hearts
then inevitably marking them through
to make room for the new
Fridays were
dates
ice cream sundaes
parked cars
a dozen little beginnings,
just as many endings
Fridays were
loud,
blurry,
expensive
indulgences
with friends that
also didn’t go away
for college
One Friday
was the wedding rehearsal
Fridays were
falling asleep (mom-to-be)
watching MTV
while Jason worked 3rd.
Or I would stare into
internet worlds
with an old classmate’s
music page filling the silence
with something I never could manage to hold
Fridays are
G movies
with my husband and Natalie
we do pizza
that leaves soggy marks on paper plates
and has me scrambling
to wipe little hands
before they grab my arm-
or my couch.
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2009/04/10/AprilPADChallengeDay10.aspx
Consequence (by Rebecca Chasteen) Saturday, Jan 3 2009
Non rhyming and Uncategorized aftermath, consequence, relationships, self, sex, substance use 9:59 pm
What makes a girl fight for, then turn against herself?
like there’s no one else…
what gene is that?
or is it something about middle school boyfriends,
rooms with exposed rafters
and scratchy couches
and no one to stop her
but something her pastor
and the health ed teacher had said
it’s all so cliché, the friends with beers in the basement,
dads stoned at the bar
moms believing there are children still-
a future flashed between shorts on the ground and everything else
it was the least of any dream
for a (little) girl
not quite ready to give it all up
and following
the breakup and the rumors,
the responsibility for who you want to be
is so blatantly yours
it’s impossible to think anyone else will bear this
it’s inescapable;
consequence
