Virgin Ears
Pardon my French, my language,
the expletives that have selected
this moment to show themselves,
so enthusiastic and unladylike.
Pardon me, forget what I said,
let me unzip the air between us
and let my words get sucked out
into the galaxy’s gaping maw.
Pardon the partition. I’ve placed
it between us for your protection,
you can pretend to be there when
you aren’t, absorptive as silence.
Pardon my trespasses, and also
the jaywalking incidents in which
I was so clearly at fault, scaring
the pants off the driver of that car.
Pardon me for my failure to RSVP,
for not répondez-ing in a timely
manner more befitting of someone
at the mercy of the great athlete, time.
Pardon me a thousand times over
what you think I would require
as far as forgiveness goes, round
up, be generous, Southern accent.
Pardon me for deciding what
you want and do not want to hear,
for assuming that you have never
encountered bad manners before.
"let me unzip the air between us"
ReplyDelete--I'd like to see this one performed at a poetry slam, t'would be perfect!
I agree with Terresa. This has to be spoken. I love, love, love the rhythm of it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem, Hannah. Great cadence. Like Terresa, I was thinking how much this sounded like a performance piece, how sassily it could be recited. Could also make a very cool audio-video poem.
ReplyDelete(I listened to all of the great interview you did and then discovered I couldn't comment.)
I love the voice, its almost compulsive upping-the-ante of pardon, in tension with the very controlled decorum of the line. Perform this, yes, I agree :-)
ReplyDeleteContinuous cursing is the curse of the age, if you ask me. (Which you didn't. So pardon me...)
ReplyDeleteyes, I agree with Terresa. I would like to hear you perform this one.
ReplyDeleteYes, we're pretty much unanimous on this: it's a voice that has to be heard, although even on the page it bowled me over!
ReplyDelete