28 December 2006

Poetry Thursday: Untitled, 24 Oct 1989

I've had words and ideas in my head all week, but I couldn't work them into a cohesive poem. So I am pulling out another old poem. Honestly, I fell victim to all the last-minute craziness of the holidays and didn't take time to put pen to paper. I do want to move writing to a higher spot on my priority list, so I need to figure out how to fit it in.

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Sitting in a lobby
The size of a Ritz cracker
Waiting for a faceless someone
To mispronounce my name
So that I may follow the garbled sound
Down the antiseptic hall
To a nondescript office,
Sit in a vegetable-colored chair,
And answer soul-stealing questions
(Knowing that they have been asked
Five times already
That very day.)
All this I must endure
To recover my peace of mind.

--Dani M. Sanders, 24 Oct 89

7 comments:

Rethabile said...

The place you describe is very unlikable. Hope you don't have to go back there. Happy 2007 (and more writing).

Emily said...

I like this...the Ritz cracker, the vegetable colored chair...your words are very clear as you capture this moment.

Kay Cooke said...

If this is anything to go by - your writing will be awesome to read this new year! Love the descriptions of a tiresome, de-humanising process.

Anonymous said...

Why do we always feel so much worse after going someplace that is supposed to make us better? Wonderful poem.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting on mine. Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

i love reading your poems...I'm glad you started to post them! :)Happy New Year!

Jon said...

I like the uncertainty of the situation in this poem. Despite all of the negativity, the poem doesn't actually give us any reason to believe that this is a sham. Maybe the narrator really does have to do all of this to regain her peace of mind, unpleasant though it may be. In fact, I even wonder if the negativity is primarily because of the current perspective of the narrator? If she already had her "peace of mind," would the room seem so small, or would the color of the chair seem unpleasant? Thanks for sharing this poem.

Happy New Year!

Cassiopeia Rises said...

Sorry I am so late, I have been ill. Great poem and I wonder do we all feel like this?Thanks for stopping by and reading my poem. Please come again.


-bd