It’s Poetics Tuesday over at the dVerse Poets Pub. Our host, Mish has given us the task of selecting one of the movie quotes listed above and incorporate it into a poem of any style.
I’ve chosen, “I wish I knew how to quit you” – Brokeback Mountain, 2005 –
The lunch bell finally rang. Friday was pizza day at Anytown Elementary—served on a warm, robin’s egg blue plastic plate with a carton of cold milk. The kid next to me rolled his pizza up like a flute and jammed it in his mouth whole. Chewing, chewing, more chewing…then he started to choke. Fifth-graders then didn’t know CPR and the lunchroom monitor was MIA. So we did what many adults do in the same situation:
Nothing.
We ignored the kid and hoped he’d stop. He choked to death instead.
The playground was empty that afternoon, and that kid remains in the dark recess of my mind.
It’s time once again for Share Your World, hosted by Melanie of SparksfromaCombustibleMind. Questions are below:
What are you most proud of in the last year?
Several times I took the high road when doing otherwise would’ve been easier and possibly even more beneficial. I feel good about that. I’m becoming a better person, and it looks as if… maybe…I might be growing up!
If you see a puddle on the ground, do you walk around it or give in to the child within and splash about?
It depends on what shoes I am wearing. I would be tempted though! A big pile of autumn leaves is even more tempting.
Do you feel free? Why or why not?
Nope! I have never felt less free in my life. Thanks to Covid, I lost my job and can’t find another one. Unemployment runs out in June or July. Even though employers are not supposed to discriminate against age we all know they do. If I ever work again I will be damned surprised. I feel stuck and under-optioned. Waaah! Enough whining. Now all of this cannot be blamed on Covid. My situation is also the culmination of a lifetime of bad choices and wrong turns.
What life skills are rarely taught but are extremely useful?
Resilience! That’s a good one.
Common sense. If only it could be taught!
One skill I have found to be most useful over the years is that potty-training thing my mom was so adamant about.Thanks, Mom!
Gratitude
I am grateful to have a very nice roof over my head in a safe neighborhood. I’m also grateful for fairly good physical health. (Mental is another story.) I am also very grateful that I/we are still free to practice whatever religion we choose, or no religion whatsoever.Things could be much, much worse.
Ergo, the Ogre 