Normally, I come up with blog ideas over the weekend, let them roll around in my head on Mondays, and write down my conclusions by Tuesday. This week my only real idea for a post came to me at 11:30 pm last night while I was taking and shower, and rather than forcing myself to pull out something relatively profound, entertaining, or just coherent with such a short turnaround, I figured I would share something that’s had a little more time to marinate, as it were.
This is a poem I’ve been working on since the first week I was on campus this year. This is the fifth version of it, and I’m hesitant to call it the last. The basic premise (in my mind, at least) has remained constant, but the words have changed around a lot. I’m pleased with the current assortment, so I’ll finally let some other people have a glimpse of it.
That’s all I’m going to say about it for now. I’d rather you be able to come to your own conclusions than wrestle with mine. Enjoy (or not):
Flower Thoughts (A working title)
A thought blooms in my skull,
Presses against the insides of my eyelids,
So vivid I can taste
Its honey sweet nectar
Dripping down the back of my throat.
By the time I pry it from my brain,
Tug it down my spinal cord,
And pinch it
Out from underneath my fingernails,
It’s bruised,
Twisted,
And already wilting.
I plant it in soil dark with ink,
A compost of circumlocution,
But it’s too late.
Brittle, brown petals rain
From its ghostly white stem
Onto my desk,
Reminding me
That a thought once picked
Can never be replanted.
Rachel Alatalo 