Rainbow picnic

[alee_grrl]

Sunday, every Sunday, let's have a community picnic. It's probably been a long week, and it's lovely to have a few minutes to sit back and relax and enjoy some good conversation in a less formal space. Feel free to bring something for the Picnic Basket - a poem you liked this week, a thought you had or something you experienced, or even something completely unrelated to poetry whatsoever that you just feel like sharing. Just take a moment to say hello, and maybe have a bite to eat; no one is going anywhere fast, and the shade promises some relief from the everyday heat. Let’s get to know each other a bit better, here under the branches of the poet’s tree.

Comments

[ashestosnow]

I ran into this poem (or, possibly, fragment thereof) just recently, from the collection Crush by Richard Siken. I haven't read the full collection, but, based on this, I feel I ought to.

The blond boy in the red trunks is holding your head underwater
because he is trying to kill you,
and you deserve it, you do, and you know this,
and you are ready to die in this swimming pool
because you wanted to touch his hands and lips and this means
your life is over anyway.
You're in eighth grade. You know these things.
You know how to ride a dirt bike, and you know how to do
long division,
and you know that a boy who likes boys is a dead boy, unless
he keeps his mouth shut, which is what you
didn't do,
because you are weak and hollow and it doesn't matter anymore.

[zirconium]

I borrowed it from the library a while back (maybe on the rec of someone here?). "Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out" speaks to me, especially in lines such as "Let me do it right for once,/
for the record, let me make a thing of cream and stars that becomes,/
you know the story, simply heaven."

[alee_grrl]

Both this and the excerpt shared by ashestosnow are gut wrenching and powerful. I will have to add this collection to my too be read pile.

[zirconium]

A friend asked for a copy of Measured Extravagance for his birthday. :-)

*sending around a really tasty quinoa salad I picked up from the bakery down the street*

[alee_grrl]

Yay! That's very cool.

I love a good quinoa salad. :)

*passes around pitchers of iced coffee, iced tea, and cold lemonade*

[alee_grrl]

I managed to write a longer poem this week, though it is still a bit rough and could use another revision. Trigger warning: contains dental trauma.