I don't "do"
poetry readings. I have nothing against poetry,
per se, but the whole idea of it being
read aloud I don't really grasp. It seems like a private thing, almost like prayer, and I don't get why I need to have it read TO ME. I can mostly read.
So, I would never have really planned on going to a poetry reading, but they had one tonight at the deli down the street from our apartment and my roomate's girlfriend was so-"jump up and down" and crap. She insisted I get up and read something I had written in my journals. (The same ones she steals when I'm not looking and reads to her friends). I am not a public person so I am just sitting there. Blank face and pretending I don't hear/see her-pulling on my sleeve. She begged me, again, saying: I HAD TO get up and read something and I kept telling her NO. Finally I grabbed a black marker out of my bookbag and told her to walk up there WITH me.
Here is the deal, I said. if you come with me, I'll write something and you can read it.
It was supposed to be a dare, but anyway...
This is what I wrote on one of her arms:
she has silver swirls on her fingers,
macrame rainbows around her ankles
and soft brown eyebrows like waves
over her ocean blue eyes
This was the other:
at dusk she will remove her rings
and walk without belts and buckles across the landing
barefoot against the hardwood
wrapped in quilts and candle scent
anticipating his weight on the stairs
one step at a time
So, she read them aloud. One person clapped and two people booed and she sat down and smeared the words all over the tablecloth.
I don't think she's going to mess with me again about this stuff.