Poem: Some Things That Are True

Some Things That Are True

Wise ones preach “write words each day”

I’m inclined to listen to what they say

Words bleed from my fingertips; poetry

Or come hard, slow, like good sex; story

Today I determine to entertain the paper

Without using tired, stock plots, a raper

Women, children, first abused then rescued

It makes them stronger or so it’s been argued

 

Fuck that. I was strong at birth.

 

I write because no one else will listen

Except the white square, it pays attention

When I press the keys and letters appear

And I tell the tales you don’t often hear

 

No overused plot, busting up drug rings

Badass men or women with guns and things

Same backstory about their addicted family

Kids went to school dirty, smelly and hungry

 

Fuck that. Killing kingpins hasn’t solved the problem.

 

I inhale thoughts and exhale dialog

Mine my anecdotes to clear the fog

Throw energetic verbs at lazy nouns

Read aloud to hear how it sounds

 

Stop trying to shove me in your boxes

I run with wolves not with foxes

Life doesn’t have to be mean or bitter

Books don’t have to bruise the reader

 

Fuck that. I’ll make a cup of tea. I’ll write a laugh; write kind people; write a world we want to live in.

 

Judith Jennings 3/13/24

This is DWTS Mark Ballas and Lindsey Stirling version of the Paso Doble

Stirling wrote and played the music they danced to