03 May 2007

Response to April 29 Prompt

Sixteen Candles

I left roses on your windshield,
slipped chocolate in your pocket;
you took it as a desperate plea for a wedding ring
but I just wanted somebody to take me home.
You colored me a picture of a turtle
on the kids' menu at the burger joint,
twisted my hair around your finger,
gave me a cupcake with a candle for my birthday;
it was just enough.
But every time I called you,
you had dishes to wash,
leaks to fix,
engines to rebuild;
I found contentment in a bottle of wine
and a late showing of "A Room with a View,"
but you showed up at two in the morning
hungry for my manicotti,
I lit white candles
and pretended this was something I knew how to do,
I wore perfume,
put on lipstick,
I even wore pink.
The last time I saw you,
you made me take out my poetry
and read you every word,
then you leaned in close--
my stomach was a brick
and it was in my throat--
but it never happened,
you leaned back on the sofa,
crossed your arms in front of your chest
and asked me why my poetry was so sad.
I stopped leaving flowers
on your windshield,
stopped slipping treats
in your pocket,
I had a bottle to drink
and a bus to catch.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christie,
This is lovely. I hope you are sending work out every day. There's no excuse if you're not.
I love the twist at the end of this one. It seems to me to be about what can happen when you get to know someone you've had a "crush" on. Everyone can relate to this. Most of us pulled out less gracefully than the speaker of this poem.

Street said...

hey- what didn't you like about word press as a blog site?

Street said...

This is great. I am so impressed with what you do. The imagery is simpley perfect. Liz says it better than me...I really love the ending. So been there.

Christina Hile said...

Originally I chose wordpress because there was so much more you could do
with your blog, especially as far as visuals and customizing. I kept
thinking, when I have the time I'm really gonna make this look cool. But,
of course, I never took the time and, finally, decided I just wanted
something a lot simpler for the time being. Now that I've been using blogger, I get frustrated that I can't do more with it. So, who knows what I'll end up doing in the future. Hope that makes some sense. :)

Jenn Kim said...

Wow I really really like this poem. It's beautiful, and like Liz said, something everyone can relate to.

Love,
Jenn