Jul 2015
This is a performance piece. It should be said with energy, it can be happy or tragic, but you need to sell it. Let the audience make up their own stories to go with the comment.
[Point at someone in crowd]
“You, I thought you were my friend.”
[Pause]
[Find someone to focus on each time]
“and you, did you think I wouldn’t know?”
[Exasperation]
“You knew me,
I was right there.
Waiting.”
[Pause]
[Matter of fact]
“You could have done it different.
You chose to do it that way.”
[Pause]
[Smile sweetly, gently]
“I wanted to marry you.
Surely you could guess the reason.”
[Pause]
[Passionately]
“I loved you,
and that’s it?
That box?
[sarcastically] Thanks.”
[Finish]
“No, really, thanks!”
[Point at someone in crowd]
“You, I thought you were my friend.”
[Pause]
[Find someone to focus on each time]
“and you, did you think I wouldn’t know?”
[Exasperation]
“You knew me,
I was right there.
Waiting.”
[Pause]
[Matter of fact]
“You could have done it different.
You chose to do it that way.”
[Pause]
[Smile sweetly, gently]
“I wanted to marry you.
Surely you could guess the reason.”
[Pause]
[Passionately]
“I loved you,
and that’s it?
That box?
[sarcastically] Thanks.”
[Finish]
“No, really, thanks!”
Written down 6/18/2013 on the back of an ATM receipt from Clearwater Casino. Performed at the Seattle Poetry Slam open mic held at Rebar. Cecily Schuler was the host for Daemond Arrindell. Cecily gave me a ‘wow’. I was last up before feature Graham Issac, Richard Hugo House’s open mic host. Bruce V. Braken was there, and kissed my hand. In the olden days (BCP - Before Carla's Poem), poets had to dig into their own hearts to share their feelings and experiences with others. I, efficiency expert that I am, made the audience pull their experiences and feelings out of their own hearts.
(Seattle, WA)
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