the dress

the first time i attended
i did not know what to wear
i did not know what to do
so i found something tasteful
(i thought) and readied a smile

only to find everyone
beautifully bedecked
finery and livery
while i masqueraded in
painfully poor tastefulness

so i thought
this year will be different
this year i will be fitted
and i will glitter in sequins
and i will beguile

but then i realized
i don’t want to turn heads
i want to be an invisible seam
plunging my worth in my neckline
would be too revealing

napowrimo #11: the thing you didn’t choose

Everyday we make choices. Some are small: English breakfast or Lipton? the highway or back roads? Some are more significant: convertible or mini-van? farmhouse or condo?

Some choices lead us straight into the life we’re living, but for this poem, think about one of the things in your life you didn’t choose.

Be concrete. Pick an object — something tangible* — and write your poem directly to it, as if you were writing it a personal letter. Explain why you didn’t choose it. What could things have been like if you had? Talk about what your life has become without it. See where the “confession” takes you.

*As an alternative, dig a little deeper and write your poem to a person you left behind.