National Poetry Writing Month 2018, Day 2

Kevin J. O'Conner

Using the prompt from Napowrimo.net—to ‘write a poem that plays with voice.’ Adopting one of the suggestions, I took an earlier poem and imagined the other side of the conversation (as such)…

88 and counting (duet version)

1
I went down the list
and counted

You have left
eighty-eight pieces of yourself behind
so far
that I have picked up
and collected in one place
to remind me
that there are other ways
to say what I feel

I will have to look
for more poems
to add to my collection

2
I left pieces of myself behind—
as many as I could get rid of—
so I could walk away free
without those reminders
of the things I used to feel

I don’t want them
to be important anymore

By this time next year
I plan to have forgotten them all

I didn’t bother to keep count

(1 April 2018—posted April 2nd)

8 thoughts on “National Poetry Writing Month 2018, Day 2”

  1. The use of voice works well here, the importance placed on those pieces in the first piece and the importance of not carrying them forward in the second. Just wonderful.

  3. A striking, simple glimpse into the everpresence of dualism. I really like the contrast you have shown.

  4. Pingback: NaPoWriMo / GloPoWriMo 2018 – Day 2 – “A Cocktail of Cryptic Metaphors” by David Ellis | toofulltowrite (I've started so I'll finish)

    1. Thanks. I used a significantly edited version for the first part, as the whole thing wasn’t going to work in this context.

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