Kim Edwards
From SolSeed
I'm a single Libra who likes rainy nights and long walks ...
Yeah, I tend to feel like these pages are way too much like an extended personal ad.
Seriously. These pages tell us so much about a person. For instance, this page can tell y'all that I overthink things WAY too much. (You think this is bad; you should see some of the Facebook discussions I've gotten into ... I even metacognate over the "What's on your mind?" post.)
I feel like I should put more here ... so I'll list 10 random things about me and then be done. :)
1. Both of my cats sleep with me, while staying as far away from each other as possible. That means I have to be careful not to kick Sylvia.
2. My friends and family know to write my address in pencil. On average, I move once a year. I will do so again this July.
3. Each time I move, I purge. Two years ago, I donated my TV to the college I work at, and I haven't owned a television since.
4. Still yet, I watch more TV than I like. I actually wish it weren't so readily available online.
5. Almost two years ago, my step father made me a beautiful bookshelf (with glass doors) out of oak. It's still in Michigan, where I get to visit it every time I see my mom.
6. My oldest cat, Sufi, turns 16 in August. Minus hairballs, she's perfectly healthy. Still, I'm afraid of her dying.
7. My favorite color is purple.
8. I stole the "ten random things" idea from a "25 random things" note in Facebook. None of these are the same as the ones I wrote there.
9. I love stupid forwards that ask me to share information with my friends.
10. I used to do Sudoku; now I do Kakuro. I think it's more challenging. Kenken is fun, too, but it's harder to find.
Okay. I'm not done. I came back. Here are two poems a wrote a year or two ago.
“Bone and word”
Each time I read his lines again,
the scalpel cuts further past the surface
I’ve spent a night listening to acoustic snippets
Of concerts on You Tube (never thought about that
Phrase making it into poetry until now)
And watching people who’ve lived their lives
Behind microphones, in front of the world.
Good for them.
They live on bone and word, cutting to the essence
Of communication and life and self,
Sometimes cutting too deep
And finding themselves in puddles of
Flesh, muscle, and mind that’s in need
Of rehabilitation
Too many people blame the lifestyle of
Road and fame
When in fact stripping yourself down to
Bone and word
In front of an audience, for their pleasure,
Night after night
Leaves you with neither bones no words of your own
Only feelings too raw, too honest, to bear without crutch.
And here am I, on a comfortable couch and with a secure job
Just wishing I would cut a little deeper
Bleed a little more onto the page
And let the world take a little more of me.
After all, what proof will I have
That I’ve given all I can
Unless I’m stripping myself down to
Bone and word
Behind a microphone, in front of the world
Leaving myself with no bones of words of my own
Night after night?
On You Tube, Dave and Tim are starting the intro for
“Lie in Our Graves.”
Good for them.
What I Failed to Say
Is that I, too, feel sick and lonely, and scared
I find reasons not to write this poem
And I find even more to look for yours
Inevitably, your words compel me to type my own
And then I feel trepidation as soon as I hit send
Will you laugh at my phrases
Or be repelled by my ideas?
You are the man whose poetry blinds me
I see your images, and see nothing else
Until I have shared my responses
Whether through a quick word or a poem of my own
Like this one is tonight
It took me two previous poems to get to this one
I’m sure they each have merit of their own
But they were both about avoidance
I was afraid of writing this poem
The one that still fails to say
What I need to say
In response to your unveiled thoughts
And if I don’t get to say it,
If I run out of time, space, or courage,
Please know the intention
Is that one day I’ll let myself know
What I need to say to you
And as soon as that happens
The words will be yours.
I swear I'm done now. :)
You're welcome to get in touch with me at kime16@gmail.com.
