Now, open your eyes
Poems that sit with you when you're feeling low
I wrote the first poem a couple of years ago, when I was dealing with a pinched nerve (zero stars, do not recommend). I wrote the second the year earlier, when its first couplet kept repeating itself in my head.
Lately I’ve been at a low point in energy and spirits; no big crash, more of a dip. When I went looking for poems that would speak to me — and maybe to others — in such a state, these two had things to say. They speak in very different tones of voice, but both of them love you. And both of them believe that things can get better.
PAIN 2024
Well. Here you are, sans invitation,
here in the house of my own bone and flesh —
the sort of guest I never ask, the sort
I flee, when they announce themselves
at others’ parties: loud, unheeding,
interrupting every conversation
with stories of yourself, your self expanding,
your blatted voice crowding all peace,
all comfort, all true conversation
right out of the room.
And here you are,
in my room, and if I could only find
the door — it’s shifting now, the way things do
in nightmares when you need them — I would thrust
you out so fast, even you would understand
you were unwelcome. Instead, though, here we are,
trapped in here, both of us, and if you’d hush
your holding-forth just once and let me catch
a breath in quiet, I might recall the trick
that lets me wake myself, that frees us both
from this room’s looming walls, frees me from you.WHEN YOU NEED MORE LIGHT 2023
Set something on fire.
Run a current through a wire.
Read for the words that shine through lies.
Now memorize.
Say something true with your voice or body or pen.
Say it again.
Wait for the sun to rise.
Now open your eyes.
Perfectly described!
Gorgeous!