This week's assignment was to write an imitation poem.
The poem I'm imitating:
The Woman Who Is Earlyby Nin AndrewsThe Woman Who Is Early is always at least one step ahead of
time. She is always rushing and rushing. Where-ever she goes,
she is already there long before she arrives. Whatever she is
saying, she has already said it before the words leave her lips.
Whatever song she is singing she is already so sick of it, and she
wishes she could get it out of her mind. Whatever meal she is
preparing, she has eaten it before taking the first bite. Whatever
man she desires, she had made love to him a thousand times
before he ever undresses her. A man can never make love to her
the way he did once upon a time, before he made love to her. Of
course therapists tell her she should slow down and rest a spell.
Relax. She has heard those words long before she ever sees
therapists. Does she have to explain it to them again? How a
great wave is chasing her? It is rising above her head even as she
thinks of it. If she looks back, just once, it will wash over her.
She will instantly drown. Of course, she is right. That's why she
has already drowned.
My poor imitation of it.
At least this class is teaching me literary humility.
The Woman Who Is Late after Nin AndrewsThe Woman Who Is Late is always at least one step behind time.
She is always lounging and lazing. Wherever she goes, she never arrives.
Whatever she is saying, she says to no one in particular since they
have already gone before she can speak. Whatever book she loves,
she never reads since it has long since gone out of publication. Whatever
meal she makes, she has to throw away since it has expired before she
can taste it. Whatever high school sweetheart she longs for, she tries to
seduce after he has already married and retired. A man can never love her
when she is only now in the present, considering the boy of the past. Of
course everyone tells her that she needs to stop dawdling and stop making
everyone else wait for her. Hurry up. She doesn’t hear these words until it’s
too late. Why didn’t they tell her sooner? Can they not see that the moving
sidewalk she is on even now is slowing? She chases the people ahead of her but she can’t ever seem to reach them. If she trips and falls, just once, she’ll be sent flying backward. She will never be able to catch up. Of course, she is right. That’s why she is left alone in the past.
