“Lessons in Bitterness” — Writers Block Poetry Contest Week 1
Lessons in Bitterness
Some days it’s especially hard not to think
the milk of human kindness has curdled
the same nights that all I could have said
ricochets in the echo chamber of my head
I’ll replay alternate scenarios or conversations
letting my good friends and dear relations know
in a few unambiguous words, just how I truly feel:
You’re false, jealous and, yes, a spiritual vampire.
Or, I’ll read out my mounting laundry list of grievances
real and imagined, petty slights I pretended not to notice
Yet, I ruefully realize, that more and more of my affairs
are sorted in this state between fitful waking and dreaming
Until the ratio of fictitious exchanges outweighs
the sustaining, authentic communication I crave
and I wonder, before this metaphoric acid reflux
with its telltale regurgitation of all I’ve swallowed
Did I irritate my condition with undue expectations
or am I outdistancing past selves and associations?
Most likely both… but I also suspect this shedding
of itchy skin must conceal a nascent interiority.
© Yahia Lababidi
(Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash)
I am so sorry to have found this too late to upvote. This piece calls to the soul of the outsider. People who know me casually are often surprised to hear me say I’m an introvert because years of practice have enabled me to carry on those “fictitious exchanges” so well. But they are so empty. And so common. Authentic communication is rare but your poetry is a stronghold of such authenticity. Thank you for bringing it to this platform and sharing it as you do.
It’s never too late, dear @jrhughes, for kindness or connection. It means a lot to be heard and seen, especially by a kindred spirit. Thanks, for these valuable words, I will keep them close ❤️
I’ll read out my mounting laundry list of grievances
real and imagined, petty slights I pretended not to notice -
Ahhh, you speak for me! :-)
And this -
I’ll replay alternate scenarios or conversations
letting my good friends and dear relations know
in a few unambiguous words, just how I truly feel:
You’re false, jealous and, yes, a spiritual vampire.
You really strike the universal! #Love it!!
Poor, suffering, sensitive humans... Thank you, @Carolkean for letting me know this resonates.
I posted another one for new twb competition, earlier today, that might also speak to you, on self-reproach.
Bravo my friend, bravo!!! Another masterpiece to add to your collection and body of magnificent work.
In this piece I feel I felt the soul of you as you peered through the life and experiences of yourself or maybe another, there was a tender , gentle vulnerable side revealed that is not always on front street,
yet so honored that you did show it so that it can be as the Balm of Gilead and heal many that will read this awesome stream of consciousness that you keep so real. Much success on the contest
Bless your heart, my friend. I did feel a little exposed, somehow, in posting this... But, that's the challenge, to lay one's heart bare with all its imperfections and insecurities. "I am human", Roman playwright Terence says, "and nothing human is alien to me". Hopefully, readers will feel the same way.
Many thanks, for your support, dear Ren -- I wish you a restorative and fun weekend coming up :)
whether the narrator is you or not, this piece certainly feels personal - like the reader is being given an insight into a the life of or as a trusted friend.
certainly helps pull the reader in and establish the relationship so that hearing the narrator explain their life experiences and process feels like you are in the trenches with them.
great share, mate.
The narrator is maybe-me, or a version of me —- all art, as I see it, is a form of autobiography, conscious or not. And, we are all each other :)
Satisfying to hear this pulled you in. I’m sorry, it’s a touch dark - but that, too, is part of it.
I so deeply agree..."And we are all each other." You are one of my good sides I show the world (lol)
What an incredibly sweet thing to say, dear @rensoul17... Truth is, I aspire to your idealism and generosity of spirit! Much love, Yahia
i can definitely feel and agree with the acknowledgement that no art is an island. i feel quite similarly, i think, in that no matter where my writing goes, it's always rooted in my experiences and an extension of who i am.
appreciate your openness in your art form, Yahia, and i enjoy dark writing as much as everything else. important to have balance, yeah? ^_^
I liked it, particularly the end you give it: "… but I also suspect this shedding
of itchy skin must conceal a nascent interiority"...Greetings
Thanks, for your kind attention. I was trying to find the good hidden in the bad (which is always there, if you look hard enough). Peace
You have to continue cultivating and exploiting that skill. Greetings.