Tag: expat life
Today I needed a poem at the end of my workday because we’re all exhausted and sad and dysregulated and doing our fragile, terrible best. My hairdresser accidentally stabbed me in the face and it made a beautiful kind of sense.
—
Image description: a poem in white text on a gold background is surrounded by white Christmas lights. It reads:
It is December. We are all running
with scissors. Quick to cut, quicker to bleed.
Skin rubbed raw against the ruin of days,
the clutter of months. We have forgotten
how to howl with. Instead we snarl at.
Pitch and claw. Mistake fingers for hooks
to hang pain. Fresh fault burning in our palms:
hold this. hold this. hold
on for the break. For the stall door to close
behind you. For wind down and wrap up
and reindeer flying. Remember it’s bad luck to shatter
anything that looks like you.
4 months ago
This is neither a poem nor a revelation. It is the most basic and obvious of lessons that I think I might finally be learning. So here is a reminder for me, and maybe for you too.
8 months ago
We’ve made it to the end of #APoemADayInMay for 2023! Hopefully we’ll be back next year, if AI hasn’t replaced us all.
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Image description: on a white tile, a poem by Jane Symonds titled “here’s what I know” is typed in black text. It reads:
“the robot says, sketching this corner of the universe
on a napkin. Orders two of everything:
is still becoming. Says you can ask him anything.
So the poet smiles and whispers:
how do you feel?”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago
A cat doing its best brings gifts for day 30 of #APoemADayInMay. And we are so proud of it.
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Image description: on a black and grey background, a poem by Jane Symonds titled “thank you for sharing” is in white text. It reads:
“I bring last week’s emotions to therapy
like spit-roughed mice, limp but still warm
the fight gone out of them. lay them
in front of the couch and say
I’m actually quite proud of these.
half-grown joy, barely a bite each but often now
a whole litter in my mouth. roadkill desire
picked over in skulking hope.
stray fur of sadness long swallowed.
shames so big they drag. And anger too good
at hiding, snarls outside the door.”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago
Day 29 of #APoemADayInMay is an ode to the sweet joy of not being very good at your hobbies.
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Image description: on a white tile, a poem by Jane Symonds titled “Jack in his time off” is typed in black text. It reads:
“sings a half-song, clutches at sentence splinters.
Turns up to the party with flat biscuits, wearing
a skirt with a crooked hem. Leans on a lamppost,
wheezing. Drops stitches, treads on toes
falls heavy from the green wall.
Has mastered only saying,
I’m quite bad at this, and
Isn’t it brilliant?”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago
We’re getting things spectacularly, wilfully wrong on day 28 of #APoemADayInMay.
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Image description: on a semi-transparent background of an explosion, a poem by Jane Symonds in black text reads:
“tell me about your favourite mistake.
the one you make again and again just to get it
wrong. the scene you recast, rewrite
replay when the cinema is empty, rewind
to the explosion to see yourself
come back together. the mistake you ran right into
heels in your hand, sirens in your ears
eyes wide open. tell me how it felt
to know and do it anyway. to shout iceberg
and maintain heady course. tell me
if I sink, will you remember my name?”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago
I can’t believe we’re already at day 27 of #APoemADayInMay. Today’s poem did NOT want to be written, but I refuse to be defeated.
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Image description: on a white tile, a poem by Jane Symonds titled “late-onset nyctophobia” reads:
“Nightfall has been howling
since dawn, prowling cold circles
beneath the high ground of the afternoon.
I scurry home. I watch it come.”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago
Day 26 of #APoemADayInMay was a lovely day.
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Image description: a poem by Jane Symonds titled “take the day” reads:
“the weather has finally turned 21,
is painting the town blue and gold
just as May approaches retirement age
(arguably). boys with tender eyes and careful diction
draw blood so gently I thank them for it.
between patches I finish a book
about being unproductive. the hero triumphs unscathed
and I veer off the path home. am reminded
babies do just fine after bathwater.
go get the help I need.
run right into groundcover love.
unknot and tell the data-point truth: life is good.”
—
#APADIM #poetry #poem #poets #PoetsOnIG #InstaPoem #PoetsOfInstagram #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #JaneSymonds #JaneFSymonds #SmallPoemsBigFeelings
11 months ago