Aren’t we all poets? I know that I don’t really want to be one, and according to many English teachers and poetry ‘experts’, I am not. However, there is something that satisfyingly validates me whenever I open up the iPhone Notes App. Maybe it is the fact that I am almost 100% sure that everyone else does the same thing (much like recording yourself singing in Voice Memos) that has made me more comfortable with this fact. So here are a couple of the mediocre and lazily thought out poems that have plagued my Notes for a while.
Tears don’t fall in space
Tears don’t fall in space
But the ocean between us is
a DIY project I want to forget in
The shed
The basement
The dark spot in my head
That I don’t ever revisit lest to feed
swelling waves of resentment
Tears don’t fall in space
But we’ve never been further apart
I just never realized, but
suddenly I’m hyper-aware
That I’ve been drowning
In floods of
Unshaded rainbows—
Lackluster promises.
Tears don’t fall in space
But it’s not like you’d be here to
Say something else—
You can’t prove me wrong
When we were supposed to be one
You were perpetually counting
The sun the stars the moon the rings—
Yet there’s none
I believe that this poem is my favorite. It is so dramatic and angsty, but I think about what inspired it and laugh. I was watching an interview with an astronaut, and he said that “tears don’t fall in space”. I thought it was really cool. Fast-forward a few seconds, and he’s now talking about how the toilets in space have to suction anytime they go to the bathroom because much like tears other bodily fluids do not fall in space. So really, this poem should be called “An Ode to Waste in Space” but for the sake of anyone with a sensitive stomach, it shall remain.
Why we read
Don’t tell me to read because it makes me smarter.
Dumb people win all the time.
Don’t tell me to read because it’s fun.
Boring people routinely thrive.
Don’t tell me to read because the words are beautiful.
Beautiful things are always rotting.
but,
Encourage me to read to fill the gaps between
Empowered and oppressed
I like to think of myself as an extreme advocate for reading. I stay ready to defend my major (English), and the fact that my bookshelves are overflowing with books I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. I can go on forever about how books are important for many different reasons, but I will cap it at this one: books represent. Whether they are representing a person, concept, or fantasy, they are making sure that someone feels represented in a world where they may not be number one. So this poem is my sassy rebuttal to people who tend to miss the point and only can come up with reasons that can be disputed and contradicted.
So, those were a couple of the poems that my Notes have endured singularly for a while. They are not ground-breaking and the meanings aren’t that serious, but they are something that I have created! Many people try to gatekeep certain things and put limits and expectations on what it takes to be acknowledged as a ‘real’ fan or creator. I not a fan of those standards. I believe things people can enjoy and create should not be put to a specific ideal. Instead, the only thing that should be required is if a person enjoyed the product or the creation. People should be allowed to create and enjoy whatever they like, especially when the world is in such disarray. Enjoy your cheesy Notes poems and share them with people who didn’t ask. Keep creating!