2012 Poetry Month

Metaphors Be With You

xphoto (c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved
DON’T TRY TO FIX ME
by April Halprin Wayland
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Just let me be.
Just for a while.
Some big, dead animal presses down.
I don’t know why I feel like this.
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Don’t try to fix me.
Just let me be.
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I have no breath.
There isn’t anything to give—
there’s nothing left.
But I give up.
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The sadness stays.
A heavy greyness settles in.
My bones lie down.
I am alone.
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Don’t try to fix me.
Just let me be.
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I read the paper.
About a friend who’s now a star.
I should be calling—
or sending flowers.
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Don’t try to fix me.
Sit next to me.
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c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved
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The story behind the poem:
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Yesterday I was feeling so tired.  So unmotivated.  So unanything.  Everything weighed in, pressed down–like a dead elephant on my head.  At the end of the day, I realized that it was connected to the fact that I was helping to list autographed books for author Brenda Novak’s FABULOUS on-line auction for diabetes research (which includes books, gift baskets, trips, concerts, jewelry, critiques by well-known authors and much more)
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So many wildly successful authors. So many golden lives.  And my book needs yet another rewrite.  Yes, oh, yes, I was comparing their outsides to my insides. I knew it.  Still, that insidious hopelessness crawled in and made itself comfortable.
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It helped tremendously to identify why I was feeling so low.  Just articulating it to myself helped. Then a fellow writer texted, in part: “It’s all smoke and mirrors, Sweet Friend!  And when I see you, I’m delighted at God’s Party Dress!”  Ah, the balm of friendship—when I’m brave enough to share.
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Now it’s your turn.  What are you feeling right now?  I felt as if there were a dead elephant on my head.  What visual metaphor can you include in a poem to make us feel as you do?  Who are you brave enough to share this poem with?  Do.
xphoto (c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved...share your poem with a friend!
Share your poem with a friend.

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