This poem was inspired by the July 31 poetry prompt in The Daily Poet: Day-by-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice by Kelli Russell Agodon and Martha Silano. I have handy book on my Kindle and while I don’t look at it every day, every once in a while I decide to see what the prompt for the day is. Today’s prompt was titled “Gritty, Gutsy, and Groveling.” It called for writing in the style of Kim Addonizio, who I’ve never read, but is described as a poet who writes about “regrets and resignation, pleasure and pain.” The poem was to include at least 6 of the following 11 words: stilettos, hangover, whiskey, cigarette, dying, love, begging, naked, jail, dog, and hotel. I’ve italicized the ones I used in this biographical work written from the perspective of an old friend.
8/6/15 update: Shared for http://dversepoets.com/2015/08/06/openlinknight-153/. Head over and check out some other great poetry.
Dying for Love
She never wore stilettos—they weren’t her style
But I remember her red crop top and hip-hugger jeans
And that radiant smile that masked her tears
the pain and loneliness she never shared
All she wanted was love—but as cliché as it sounds
she looked for it in all the wrong places
Parties filled with cigarette smoke—a kegger up on Fuller Hill
At the bottom of a whiskey bottle shared with a mutual friend
If you could have seen her naked soul
You would have known she was dying, or at least not living
I caught up with her on Facebook the other day
Her profile pic still had that radiant smile
But the tears behind it were different now
Tears of peace and joy because she’d found
Forgiveness and real Love at last