Stone Soup Croutons, 2-8-23: Time Off

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions selected from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.

Black Byrd had to cancel this Wednesday due to a family emergency. I didn't get the news out in time and people showed up for the show. We had a couple of round robins and even had some people join by phone due to the new laid back vibe.

That's part of the reason why the poem is so short. The other reason is that I was in a bit of pain that night due to some tendon flare up in my left arm. I'm thankfully better now following a completely unrelated medical appointment I was stressed about yesterday. But on Wednesday, I was hurting bad.

Bottom line: On Wednesday I took no notes and had to commit everything to my increasingly faulty memory. I was also in a dark mood due to the pain. Sorry to anyone I may have been abrasive to. 

That explains the poem's curtness. It also explains my rare use of the pronoun "I."

 

Here's hoping I'm back in full gear next week for Skoot Mosby's online feature.

Thanks for reading.

Time Off

Need forgiveness

for further education

never perused.

 

Shield me from blue 

jay's suicide dive 

on latest veneer.

Keep me from man

reminiscing coitus 

near middle school.

 

Entire lifetime

unclean and sober

and no one cares.

Family folktales 

exist to highlight

every failure.

Rope held out,

alleged lifeline,

will keep me hung.

Left my name off the open mic, but I was there!

Special thanks to Jan Rowe, Kittay, Chris Fitzgerald, Nancy Dodson, Carol Weston and James Van Looy.