Sonia's Poem of the Week #36

Remind me how to be weird.
Alternatively, remind me how to be normal. At this stage in quarantine, I remember neither. I let CVS go to voicemail because I'm afraid of talking to a stranger on the phone. Actually, I did that before quarantine, too; it's just poignant and illustrative now. This week's poem has a throbbing heart and a weird voice. It asks for things and asks for them strangely. It longs for things and the longing goes sideways. Pay attention to how the sonnet gathers speed, how the internal rhymes drive you forward to an ending that's positively goofy right until it isn't. This poem makes sense to me. The whole world wishes it were just a little other than itself.

[I should have been in cinema. I should have been in paint]
By Diane Seuss

I should have been in cinema. I should have been in paint
or founded a band. I am certain of nothing said the tattoo.
Where is home scratched the chickens. I should have met
the Stones when I had the chance. Should have let Keith
turn me inside out. So what if I ended up dead or crazy.
I am big but this feeling is bigger, the silo whispered. I am
a movie screen drawled the pasture. I should have kept
the baby. So what poverty. I could have loved the little
fox-faced punk. I am buxom breathed the prairie. I should
have taken the radical path. I should have gone the cheerleader’s
way. Should have married Chuck before he enlisted. What if
I’m a star said the lamb. A star said the ham. A star said
the duck. A star said the truck. A star said the star. Is this music
about sound and not notes. What if it broadcasts a shimmering.

This poem was published in Issue 34 of The Adroit Journal. I read it through Lue's Poetry Hour.

The Postscript

You are cordially invited to check out comedian Cat Cohen's email newsletter, My Sexy Little Email. Every Monday, she sends riotous, original poetry and missives from her corner of the apocalypse. Sterling lines from her recent writing include:

- "it’s not my fault / 8am is the middle of the night / I’m exhausted from missing / so much all the time"

- "i want to put my arms up in a field and feel / less tired. i want the whole world to be so in love / with itself that we all stop emailing."

You can also find Cat sensually emerging from swimming pools on Instagram and documenting the collapse of her quar bedroom ceiling on Twitter.

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[I should have been in cinema. I should have been in paint] By Diane Seuss

The Postscript

[I should have been in cinema. I should have been in paint]
By Diane Seuss