Poetry
(A Pantoum)
Patrick, do your homework,
or go to bed without any dinner.
Turn off the radio and do your homework.
I'm not going to say it again.
Or go to bed without any dinner,
and starve for all I care.
I'm not going to say it again.
Don't do your homework,
and starve. For all I care,
you don't have to listen.
Don't do your homework.
I'm tired of repeating myself.
You don't have to listen,
turn off the radio and do your homework.
I'm tired of repeating myself.
Patrick!!! Do your homework!!!
© 1996 Bobbie Ann Pimm
Forgive me,
I've been wallowing
in self-pity
brought on by
my demise.
I know,
no need to remind me,
it was our demise.
Perhaps, I should have said,
Please, please,
forgive me,
I've been wallowing
in my demised premises,
formerly known as
our demised premises
or were they promises -
yours, mine, ours.
Hey, it sounds like a movie,
Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball?
Or am I wrong again,
as usual?
Or am I thinking of
"With Six You Get Eggroll"?
I'm sure you know.
Somehow,
you always know.
Yet, somehow,
I'm sure,
you don't have a clue
as to what I meant by that.
Yes, yes,
I'm sure.
You haven't got a clue.
Have you?
© 2001 Bobbie Ann Pimm
I lost my heart
somewhere on 6th Avenue,
I think.
Most likely, when I
stepped into traffic
at 44th Street,
without looking.
On the bus ride home,
I convinced myself
you would find it
and bring it back to me.
But you never did.
Did you look for it?
Or were you too late?
Perhaps the pedestrians
already trampled it
into too many pieces
to salvage.
Or did you do that,
when you never even
acknowledged
that I came to you,
carrying my heart
hanging on its
final thread,
along with my
sanity and a piece
of my soul.
© 2001 Bobbie Ann Pimm
Brave little girl,
so quiet, so strong.
Brave little girl,
kept the secret so long.
Brave little girl,
only you knew the truth.
Brave little girl,
too old for your youth.
Brave little girl,
with secrets to tell.
Brave little girl,
wanted so much to yell.
Brave little girl,
yell out 'til they hear.
Brave little girl,
you no longer need fear.
Brave little girl,
if only I'd known.
Brave little girl,
I was never alone.
Brave little girl,
took me so long to see.
Brave little girl,
the best part of me.
© 2000 Bobbie Ann Pimm
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