I THINK…

I THINK I could be a hand model

Family says they look real

delicate

feminine

graceful

like my great grandmothers

-I just know they cramp up

when I write too much.

I THINK Pop Smoke has a lovely voice

Makes me want to snuggle

into my TJ Maxx throw blanket

and dream of my very own Pop

-Reminds me of that song

my air conditioner

sings to me all through the end of May

June

July

August

-Reminds me of home.

I THINK Pop said what we all been thinkin

“My PTSD startin’ to kick

in so I gotta get high”

I THINK I only want to sleep when

the gloomy shade of blue slips

into my room at 5 am. It always

gets past my dusty white window

shades. I guess I should just clean them already.

I THINK I reach Level R when the nail polish

on both of my index fingers chip

R is for Rage

R is for Red Jasper

R is for Rodriguez

R is for Reyes

I THINK I’ll paint my nails

blue next week

Pay Pop some respect

Write in my blue journal

with a blue ink pen with my

LED lights on blue.

Just for Pop.

____________________________________________________________________

This poem is dedicated to my favorite rapper, Pop Smoke who passed away recently. He will forever live in my heart for his raw lyrics, catchy beats, mesmerizing voice, signature braids, and Brooklyn pride. I enjoyed writing with the repetition of the line, “ I THINK…” because that is something I do a lot of.

Thomas Benke: Looking Around In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott, in the Chapter “Looking Around,” says this: Now, if you ask me, what’s going on is that we’re all up to here in it, and probably the most important thing is that we not yell at one another. Otherwise we’d all just be barking away like Pekingese: “Ah! Stuck in the shit! And it’s your fault, you did this …” Writing involves seeing people suffer and, as Robert Stone once put it, finding some meaning therein. But you can’t do that if you’re not respectful. If you look at people and just see sloppy clothes or rich clothes, you’re going to get them wrong. She goes on to speak about empathy for other people and also, as an extension empathy for yourself. So, in a sense as you try to write believable, relatable characters, you will come to forgive people their trespasses—because no one believes they are the villain of their story, so you have to write “bad,” or “evil” characters from a point of view where they rationalize what they are doing in such a way that it is the right or only way they see is possible. By extrapolation, then, if you begin to forgive and withhold judgment from your less-than-desirable, or annoying characters, perhaps you can extend the same courtesy to yourself and forgive your own trespasses and sins. This, for me, starts to enter the realm of “writing as therapy,” and though I am a firm believer in that—I practice it to this very day—I think I would caution anyone who thinks that simply writing through things is going to lead you to a place of light and love. I am not saying it can’t by any means. What I am saying is I have wrote through my thoughts and my problems and my desperation and depression for decades and I still had enough baggage on my shoulders to supply an army platoon with rations for a year. In any case, when thinking about craft, it is very important to step into the shoes of all of your characters, especially those characters that you see as antagonists and villians. I believe there are very few universal maxims in writing but one thing is virtually certain: every character you write is your version of that human being. Confucius said “everywhere I go, there I am,” and that is never more true than when you are writing. So if you are writing a character that is distasteful to you, it might be effective for you to ask yourself why that is the case. I wrote a blog for Obscura last semester titled, “The Puppy Had It Coming.” The gist of the article was to pose a puzzle to writers. How can you write a scene where an adult human kicks a puppy across the room and the reader at least understands why. I am not saying there is any way to justify the action or for the readers to be on the human’s side unless they are sociopaths. I am saying you need let the reader know how dark the place is in the character’s mind that he is capable of doing that.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Need help with the Commons?

You May Also Like

The perpetually learning mom…

Rock Reading Tuesdays

Child of Frankenstein

Leave a Reply Cancel reply