NaPoWriMo

We all know NaNoWriMo - this is the poetry equivalent. I found out about it on Erin Noteboom's journal, which led me to versAtile, the inventor of the thing. A poem a day, for a month. Sounds way easier than a 50K word novel in a month, doesn't it?

That's because you aren't a poet.

But I am game. I owe four poems already, since I am slow on the uptake and only found out about it today. That's alright. I'm good under pressure. Here's the first one. Watch this space!



He was going to ask me
something. He had a hand out.
I assumed, spare change, and leaned
backward, instinctual, disassociative,
don't touch me.

When he fell, then
I was too far away to catch him.
Blood on the ice, his
dazed eyes. Shame
bitter in my mouth.

I bent to help him, I put
a hand beneath his arm,
and when I could not lift
him, had not the
strength, or the leverage,
I knelt on the street.