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Poem to a Kleenex
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking a Creative Writing course at school this semester. We've just finished the half of the class dedicated to poetry, and I thought I would take the occasion to share one of the my poems. Thanks to my classmates for their helpful suggestions and encouragement. With no further ado:
Poem to a Kleenex
At last you slipped into your white dress
and rose to join us, ready, smiling
when I picked you up and pulled you in
until finally we came so close
you felt my breath against your chin.
You'd waited forever for this, watching
companions get plucked up by young suitors,
one, two, another over your head.
Was the bottom of the pile so bad
in the meantime, when you were cushioned
by friends? I don't know what tissues
get up to when left to their own devices,
but I bet you had fun in that box
when no one was looking. Maybe you miss those days
now, but I know you dreamed for better
things. Then I came along (as if I was your dream!),
and maybe for a moment we felt like forever—
but there was barely time to blink before
I tossed you to the trash can,
soggy and spent, crumpled and crushed.
I know my sorry doesn't mean much
when you're at the bottom of the bin,
covered in gum wrappers and banana peels.
Your new neighbors will never know whose nose
needed you, and when the trash collector
comes, he won't care whose tears
you dried.
4 Replies to "Poem to a Kleenex":
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Alex Ostrich wrote:14 March 2009 — 2:40 pm
I like it. Just one technical thing, is the word “would” supposed to be repeated twice in the fourth line? It might be, and I just don’t understand it, but I thought I’d check.
I like it though. Before the “I don’t know what tissues…” line, I had forgotten the title and hence was just thinking of the subject as a human/girl/date and not a tissue, and it took me a couple seconds to look at the title again. Very good stuff.
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Joshua wrote:14 March 2009 — 2:43 pm
Thank you Mr. Ostrich, that second “would” was a typo, I have taken it out.
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Eric wrote:14 March 2009 — 10:48 pm
I like this poem. If it did not have that title, one might think of a really bad prom date. But perhaps, this can relate to both and how it can be taken either way is interesting. It has very good imagery, but I am not the one taking the writing course, so what do I know? It is a very nice poem, though.
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Ellen wrote:15 March 2009 — 9:15 pm
I like the poem, but I think that you should hold out to really mention that it is a tissue. You could probably switch the second and third stanza… with a little tweaks here and there.