Micturition
·
There was that time
After support group
I had to stop at
Target and I was
Dressed feminine but
I wasn’t out and was
Just starting to look a
Little bit like a girl
And I felt good I
Had the courage to
Be out at the store
But then I had to
Pee and it was like
Not something that could
Wait but I had to primp
And cross and flinch
And I was terrified
So I went back to
The family restroom
By the pharmacy and
It was locked and I asked
The guy at the counter
Who looked up absently
But it was not his
Deal and I had to find
The night manager all
The long way up at
The front who said
They had lost the key
So I asked if I
Would get arrested if I
Used the ladie’s room
And he looked at me blankly
And said I could use
Whichever and thank God
Because I barely made
It and it was such
A sweet relief even though
The place was just stark and
White and bare and
Smelled disappointingly just
Like every men’s room I
Had ever pissed in so
At least though
There was that time
When my friend was
At the other big
Box store down the
Road and she had
To go and her
Shoulders are more
Broad and she has less
Hair and she is taller
But she has a gorgeous
Rack and a take no
Prisoners smile and
Attitude but she was
Stopped by some big
Hairy-leg in a yellow vest
From going where she needed
To go and it all just
Flowed down her leg
And wet her dress and the
Piss and her
Tears formed a large
Puddle on the floor
And she just pushed out
Of that place and wrote
A letter full of just
Wanting to burn them
To the ground about
That flood and they
Apologized but with
Some attenuated circumspection
But at least
There was that time
All this week
Our whole valley is
Flooding and some
Can’t even get to work
Let alone piss comfortably
And Bjorn says
There is no snow
In freaking Sweden
This winter and
Still I have to
Drive and shop and
Consume warmly like
Everyone else here
In my inland
Home so the beach
Might be closer
Even though it
Would be a nightmare
Of all those places
And dreams covered
In puddles but none
Of us feel urgency
But at least we
Might Remember
Giving a damn once
So at least
There was that time.
·
-Lona Gynt, February 2020
·
This is written in response to Amaya’s prompt at dVerse “Meeting the Bar: Death Sentence.” the prompt has four rules.
·
- It has to be one sentence, even if it is a long run-on sentence
- The poem must explore the theme of ‘the end of civilization as we know it.’
- the story must tell of an odd or embarrassing incident, either heard about, witnessed, or autobiographical.
- The poem must be improvised. ie: written in one setting and not edited. I wrote this poem in 7 minutes and is unchanged except for spelling.
·
Here is the link to Amaya’s prompt:
·
·
Amaya’s prompt was itself inspired by Michael Simm’s post on “Vox Populi” where he gave ten poems, all written within the parameters outlined above in less than an hour. It is phenomenal. Thank you Amaya for showing us this. Here is the post to Simm’s poems.
·
Michael Simms: The end of civilization as we know it
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All rights for text and pictures on this post to Lona Gynt, February 2020
Lona I felt the agony in this poem. It brings truth to the expression “I could have died” 💕
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Thank you Christine, sometimes simple things are made complicated. 🙂
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Sadly yes, and not necessary. Happy Valentine’s Day Lona 🥰
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💕you too!
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I really left the best one for last. This hits the prompt right on target. I’m just sitting here shaking my head and trying not to believe that we won’t make it.
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It is sobering, but Hope is my middle name, maybe we can still do something. I had decades of hopelessness about my life, and that got better once I stopped suppressing the truth, maybe the collective humanity can get there too.
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Standing ovation, no pun intended but i have to inappropriately chuckle a little bit finding a lot of black humor in this lovers day when I cried at my daughter’s school after teaching the kindergarteners Día del amor y la amistad, a song of love and friendship and realizing the irony in me, one with so little of both, to be the one strumming away on the old guitar like I was still a child myself and what I sang were true but I know you’ll find some humor in it all too as the best of friends always do and the best of the best know there there essentially is no difference between joy and sorrow but just the two lines of the narrow path.
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Joy and sorrow are two lines on the narrow path, indeed, this is true, and these lines intertwine, constantly, how can one be grasped or even insinuated without the other? I love the humor through all of this, and the smiles, the chaos, and the peace, it is all so messed up all the time, I can find comfort in the fact that I think it was supposed to be that way, otherwise we would never know or feel that love that is just,
Just
Did you see Grace’s Quadrille on Monday? Reminded me of “Diminish” somehow. I like how both of our improvisations pull expectation management into the soup wryly:
“At least I have that.”
And
“At least though
There was that time”
What is that central tenet, that will hold and stop the unraveling, more and more I realize it is not most of the crap we put up with. But why not teach those children to sing? It is funny, and Wonder-full. They just don’t know the extent. Why not freeze tears into an icy snowman smile to delight a child? These things give me hope, maybe civilization is mostly pretend except for the least of these anyways? I don’t know. I think I might be losing patients. 💕 you my friend.
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I know now as friends in transition are mindful of my lack of understanding, it is clearly a painful journey (not because of the decision but because of people)not one taken lightly, and I hear the pain in this, thank you for sharing this.
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You are welcome, and thank you my friend. Life is a hilarious wonderful painful maze, I love it, like an escape room game. The point at which the pain of transitioning starts to become more apparent to the outside world is when it often is already so much better for those of us going through it because we have found ourselves, even if we are sometimes made to wet ourselves, it is still better. I always look forward to your kind words my friend
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I like your approach, strength and courage.
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Wow. Heartbreaking but really well done. Did you ever master the prompt!!
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Thank you Judy, this was a very engaging prompt!
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This is so good and excellent take on the prompt where all injustice and catastrophes are merged into one… that end is really powerful, let us all at least care.
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Yes. And thank you my friend. Thank you for contributing by what I read in your last Quadrille. It really surprised me to hear how mild your winter has been.
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It’s sad when we have to put those “times” on a little pedestal to counterbalance the obvious injustices that happen between. I felt the improvisational quality as you naturally told your story…and spoke your truth. It was a perfect flow….oh now that was a pun!
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It ‘twas! 😉
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This is stunning. I feel your pain, but I also feel your immense strength. Beautiful Lona!
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Thank you Linda! 💕
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Wow! I hope you are well, my friend.
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Thank you, life is crazy in so many ways, but wonderful also.
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