Let me take a bite into the ivory,
Maestro,
getting a grip on Life doesn’t have to make sense,
not when you are a mess
trying to stop the process
of losing your pride in the madness.
But Pride isn’t your soul,
no,
it’s where anything else goes,
silly to think
I am better than you
because I can skip a stone across the pond six times,
every time,
or, I can eat ice cream with a fork,
and I can also befriend butterflies,
or smile
through my teeth
fifteen minutes after crying
about my dog who just died.
But I have to celebrate the small
things
as time flies around me
on the tilted axis of Life.
Let me press down on the spine,
of these ivory keys,
pin down the memories.
Maestro,
help me sift through glances,
mouth shifts,
and the lilt of laughter
to learn
intentions.
Moments are a moment,
no more,
no less,
I am getting silver in my head,
from these bugs itching my skin,
“Is that what I said?”
Maestro, we are out of keys
and this song is longing for something that I have to give,
mind if I open my ribs for you to
pluck at heart strings?
“Is that what I said?”
I am going rich
in worry,
I worry that someone will steal
my happiness away and let it rot.
I grew myself.
The King wears a paper crown,
the jester told a joke to well,
now he laughs alone in his cell,
don’t contain me
and my pride,
I fought so hard to keep it from the inside.
If women had voices,
they would never stop singing
about the knives in the kitchen drawer
and how they cut ties from their chicken legs so cleanly,
that the sky caught them
as they soared.
Maestro,
we are one in the same, creating a slice of something nice,
you and I,
our bodies our instrument, like rusted kitchen knives grinding on stone.
Maestro -
is grief pride too?
Is that why I play the music so well now?
Artwork: "Mica" (2016) by Jamie Hawkesworth * The Word Not World (WNW) series is an interactive anthology where I show a picture, and use the words inspired by the picture to make a poem, such as this one. This poem was inspired by the words, “longing," from @catscratch345 and, "creating" from @debbie_o_bottled_up_feelings on Instagram. Thank you all for your inspiration! If you would like to participate in next week’s Word not World series, keep an eye out on Instagram @enis.st.sparrow and here on St. Sinjin, I will post a picture on Sunday.