4.20.15

The prompt for Monday was to write a poem about things that you know--I started doing this for myself, and was coming up with lines like "I know an appalling amount of soft-rock lyrics from the nineties" and "I know the cat's secret poopy spot"--and while that might be amusing to pursue someday, it wasn't what I was in the mood for, so I abandoned what I know and dipped into fiction.  This is a persona poem using the "I know" prompt, from the point of view of a character of mine from another project.  Cross-pollination FTW!

Character Sketch

I know the rules.  Oh, do I

know them. I know how to rattle

you, and I know how not

to get caught.  I know fourteen words

for the color “blue,” and I know

the names of the stars

between here and home.  I know

freedom in spurts, in the feel

of the wind in my hair, tearing

away from here. I know which end

of the gun to point away from myself,

I know how to hit a moving target.

I know that wanting is useless, and

that wanting never stops.  I know how

to handle a  man with knives in his boots.

I also know how to dance, but

not worth a damn. I know it’s all bigger,

better than they let on. I know the fear

of falling miles, the fear of sudden,

violent nothing.  I know that one day

it’s all going to split wide open, and I’m

going to be there—you bet your ass

I’m going to be there.