napowrimo # 21
The 21st prompt deals with flaws as opposed to perfection, or perhaps both.
Some People Just Don’t Understand Parenting
She accepted the act of giving birth
as an agony of course but
she had hopes it’d
be worth it. Then she fussed, and
pampered, coaxed, and pondered,
couldn’t leave well enough
alone, but finally, with some small pride,
and no doubt overlooking what flaws
they might have, she let them go forth
and BAM one was stamped
ordinary, another flat, another
strange, even (horrors!)
predictable.
She put them all away.
Wanda McCollar
Can't imagine that, Wanda!
ReplyDeleteI love this poem. Imagine...producing something
ReplyDeleteordinary...Horrors!So are you coming to my party?
Ral - Sure, I'd love to ocme to your party!
ReplyDeleteI like this Poem. The ending caught me off guard and I had to go back and read it several times. It is true of life, like Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." I have a son with both bi-polar disorder and Asperger's syndrome. We have days we never expected, but we have what we have.
ReplyDeleteUmmm - did I make it clear enough this is a metaphor? This is a perfectionist poet, these are her poems others criticized, not her children!
ReplyDeleteI totally got it & felt so smart! I've had a few of those myself.
ReplyDeleteI definitely got it, Wanda, and loved it! have a magical day!
ReplyDeleteThat would be horrible producing something ordinary although I do it all the time. Nice poem!
ReplyDeletePamela
Love it, as in I'm dumbstruck by the BAM onwards...can we put them away like love letters?! -Irene
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - that's the flaw in perfectionism. If a poet feels her/his work is unappreciated or misunderstood she might very well put it all away. As I said the poem shows the flaw. This same poet might pull them out again piece by piece and revise after time passes - or not. It was not mentioned whether the poems were any "good" or not. Also - some people can't take criticism. I wrote this poem about a person in a workshop I attended once.
ReplyDeleteBut I've thought of someone else. Emily Dickinson wrote 1760 poems (more or less) - but only 7 were published in her lifetime. The rest were put away in boxes. Of course, we don't know why - except that Dickinson had her own pecular way of punctuating, her own themes that departed from the poetry of the day - and she would not change or edit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, cool! The best rejection slip I got was one that said: This is not poetry!
ReplyDelete