Spoken Word
Last night I was washing the dishes when my 7th grade daughter walked into the kitchen. She was on assignment to "pick up your room and put at least 10 things in the trash, please." She returned too quickly to the kitchen with two pieces of folded notebook paper, covered on three sides with her hand writing. I was about to redirect her clean-up efforts when she holds the papers out and says, "Mom, I saw this at school and copied it down for you since you write about love. If you want a better copy, maybe you can find it on the internet." (No, really, this is the only copy I'll ever need. So sweet.)
As I read, I could not help but grin. She stood there and watched, waiting for my response. When I finished reading, I looked her in the eye and said, "I love this poem. Thank you so much for thinking of me and for writing this down." "I'm glad you liked it," she replied, "But, that is spoken word, not a poem." Excuse me. Okay, then - I love this spoken word and love even more that she brought it to me.
Falling in love is like owning a dog
an epithalamion by Taylor Mali
First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?
On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!
Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.