A decade ago I had a different blog and website, which I neglected in my hiatus from the arts. Unfortunately, I never saved my posts before I let go of the domain. I know, I regret it a bit. Ok, a lot. But today I was able to find some work I saved on my laptop!
Back then I traveled to DC three to four times a week. I spent the majority of the day in my car, on the train, thinking, dreaming. So I started what I called the Commuter Series, a series of writing inspired by a commute, written or conceived while on a commute, written about commuting (a movement and migration of bodies) whether by car, by bus, by train, by plane, by my own feet.
Here is arguably the best work to come out of the series, a poem called A deep love poem:
You've turned into a favorite poem of mine.
I used to recite you on train rides
Not for practice
But like a cloud looming over my head
You were always there.
I thought if I repeated you enough times
I’d rhyme my way to a resolution.
With every attempt at memorization
The words would ease the discomfort in my chest
But the pain was still mine and mine alone
And you weren't going anywhere.
So I gathered my courage and told the world about you.
As the room sighed and ached with me
The microphone leading the way
I saw you slip away
Just as quickly as the time
You ran your fingers down my arm as if to catch me
But didn’t hold my hand.
Now you’re no longer mine
You’re no longer you.
Just a poem.
A deep love poem
A bittersweet poem
A clichéd heartbreak comfort poem
Shaped by an audience to fit their story.
three generations 