Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Place Poem

Another assigned poem for my Poetry Writing class last semester. We were required to pick a place on campus, describe it in poetic verse, then add a character to the location. If you go to Winthrop, try to guess where it is.

Also--I love feedback on my poetry--specific feedback. As in, this line works, I don't understand that line, etc. So do not withhold if you have something.

Decide, Decide, or Die
2009

A young man walks through
The small, secret, brick-lined tunnel,
Decide, decide, decide: Two white doors,
One knobless, contend on either side.
He bears a strange similarity to
The long, unused light, exposed by a cracked cover,
Residing with a pipe on the too-low white ceiling.
Why choose the knobless door?
Why not the obvious, knob-ful choice?
Four times sprayed paint calls him, with a
Revolutionary upraised fist to “GIVE IN,”
He wants to give in to the knobless door;
The knoblessness is no less than alluring.
The fifth “GIVE IN” fist, however, once
Scrawled on the ground, is worn away:
Many have walked that way before.
And, one time on the rusted vent, the fist
Reminds him of the temporary nature of things.
How this decision, indecision, result,
Are already all but gone.
Three prosperous green dots, blooming with
His potential, underline a lover’s note:
“It’s too late to turn back now…
I believe, I believe, I believe I’m falling in love.”
No. He turns back now,
He believes, he believes, he is loveless.
In dying retreat, he ducks to miss the pipe.

2 comments:

  1. Hey! I like this. Not sure why. The line "Why choose the knobless door? Why not the obvious, knof-ful choice?" is cool. There is a ryhme with "choose" and "choice", then "knobless" and "obvious". It just rang in my head when I read it the first time. Very cool.

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