The Poetry Marathon

Hi, Anxiety. I knew you’d show.

But maybe this time you just want to say,

“Bon voyage,” and wish me well.

For you know that this time,

You are not making the trip with me.

The Universe is teasing me

With the temptation of music.

She knows I have to gather my things,

And yet she finds it amusing

To distract me with her gifts.

“See?” she says.

“I will give you everything, my dearest one.”

It is the last of such a simple thing

For a long while.

The mind likes to catalogue

All the heartaches, large and small.

But I think I must be stronger now,

Or have had the sentiment burned out of me,

For though this is the last breakfast in America,

And I have always hated goodbyes and that gaping unknown

We call the future,

I am not beside myself,

Nor in tears.

I am just having breakfast in America.

The wood is damp this morning,

No tinder waiting to devour everything

In flame, with the touch of a match.

But I don’t mind,

For the sun is coming out.

Hey everybody, I am looking forward to the marathon, and am really happy to be among a group of poets. I have written poems all my life, but the last few years have been prolific for me. However, very recently, I haven’t been able to write anything I am happy with, and it’s been frustrating. So I am really excited for the marathon, because it is so madcap, that it is bound to shake things up and tap into a place that I haven’t been able to reach lately. And as I explained on Facebook, I am flying from my native NY to my home in Dublin that day, leaving family behind…a sad day, a crazy day, a perfect day for writing poetry. In fact, I have repeated that day of leaving so many times over the last decade, that when I think of the feelings of that day, which I will certainly be feeling this Saturday, poetry starts to flow in me, and I think, “Oh no, save it till Saturday!” 🙂 I think it will be an amazing way to spend such a crazy day, and my sleep will be so screwed up anyway after an overnight flight to a timezone five hours ahead, so I feel like I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. 🙂