Hello, Poetry Friends!
Ten days ago, I posted a note with rough drafts of two poems I had just written. While revising those two poems, I found another one I had written some time ago that I had forgotten about that also needed some polishing. This last poem mentions Tom Petty and since today would’ve been Petty’s 73rd birthday, I thought I would share it and the other two poems with you.
Here is the link to the roughs I shared on Notes:
What Do You Do?
I picked up a leaf off the ground that was too real to be real. It was the color of first semester freshman year dramatic literature love, the shape of the wishing star you found when gods abandoned you, and the goldilocks size for leaves— smaller than capitalism and bigger than the expected cramped answer to the question, “What do you do?”
Advice to Young Artists
If some nosy jackass asks you what you want to do with your life, tell them you plan on surfing autumn winds in a maple seed helicopter, hibernating all winter like an Alaskan grizzly who gorged on nothing but Pacific salmon and boysenberries, make love all spring like a dragonfly destined to perish at season’s end, and sway like a lullaby in the summer breeze with the coastal grass in August. Then they will leave you alone and never ask anything of you ever again.
Here is the last poem:
Are We Connected?
“Hello! Battery full. You are connected.” Her perky voice speaks into my ear. She has a slight accent, and is excited to deliver this update to me. She never tires of updating me. “Goodbye!” “Battery needs charged.” Only I can hear her. Everyone around me is oblivious to my connection. Tom Petty begins to sing to me—are we connected—Tom and I? Tom is dead. But, he’s still going on about his last dance with a girl in a party dress. Everyone around me is oblivious, only I can hear. How can I be connected when nobody else hears what I hear? Beethoven went deaf, but he could still hear the music. Brian Wilson hallucinates, only instead of images he hears music. Brian and Beethoven wanted to connect, everyone around them was oblivious. They transcribed the music only they could hear. We connect to that other realm through their music. I hear things too, not music. Not voices—my mom heard those. I hear stories, or I see stories, I’m not really sure which it is. I want to connect like Brian and Beethoven. I open my laptop and try to transcribe the stories in my head, I am not connected, not yet. I listen, look, and keep typing. Everyone around me is oblivious. “Hello, battery full. You are connected.”
Thanks for reading! Be the poetry you want to see in the world!
Cheers,
Jason
Anytime you can work in Tom Petty it’s gonna be a good day! Seriously though all three poems were great.
I love the "Advice to Young Artists!" It beats acting like a crazed apeman to drive away nosy fools.