Day 2: What's your favorite poem?
It sorta feels like cheating blogging so early. I have a feeling that my night owlishness is getting a bit extreme!
Hmm...favorite poem? Just one? It's by Rod McKuen. He's known more as a song writer but my senior year of high school I somehow ended up with one of his books, Stanyon Street and Other Sorrows, and fell in love. I painted this on the back of my denim jacket:
Do not tell me your name
why you came to town
what you do on Sunday
your favorite poet
movie
comic strip
your age and next of kin
in case of accident.
Say instead that I am warm
let your touch talk
let the motion in the darkness speak
then go away if you must
but not while I'm looking.
It was exactly right at that time. It was the first time that I read a poem and my world felt complete because of it. It fit.
It doesn't fit quite the same these days but neither does the jacket! I still have my jacket. It's one of those items that I will keep until I can't. I don't keep much from my past. Joel is quite a pack rat but I'm not. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and so I learned to let go of stuff. My painted denim jacket is nearly 20 years old and the paint is flaking off but it's still relevant. On one of the arms it says "Silence Equals Death, Support AIDS Research & Awareness Programs." The other arm features a sunset, ocean water, land and says "Save the Rainforest." If I remember tomorrow I'll take a picture and add it to the blog. It's not genius or gorgeous--it's just me, it's sad how much hasn't changed since then.
Hmm...favorite poem? Just one? It's by Rod McKuen. He's known more as a song writer but my senior year of high school I somehow ended up with one of his books, Stanyon Street and Other Sorrows, and fell in love. I painted this on the back of my denim jacket:
Do not tell me your name
why you came to town
what you do on Sunday
your favorite poet
movie
comic strip
your age and next of kin
in case of accident.
Say instead that I am warm
let your touch talk
let the motion in the darkness speak
then go away if you must
but not while I'm looking.
It was exactly right at that time. It was the first time that I read a poem and my world felt complete because of it. It fit.
It doesn't fit quite the same these days but neither does the jacket! I still have my jacket. It's one of those items that I will keep until I can't. I don't keep much from my past. Joel is quite a pack rat but I'm not. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and so I learned to let go of stuff. My painted denim jacket is nearly 20 years old and the paint is flaking off but it's still relevant. On one of the arms it says "Silence Equals Death, Support AIDS Research & Awareness Programs." The other arm features a sunset, ocean water, land and says "Save the Rainforest." If I remember tomorrow I'll take a picture and add it to the blog. It's not genius or gorgeous--it's just me, it's sad how much hasn't changed since then.
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