Writing Assignment: - Choose one word and learn everything you can about it (song/movie/book references, its history, its origin, etc), then write a poem about it.
Some Better Place
When I say crazy is a bird spinning over my head,
you tell me it’s just peri-menopause, the war,
it’s living in a small town with so many trampolines.
I find crazy in the dictionary—
the act of obsession, brainsick, unsound,
bizarre or fantastic, extremely impractical.
You say there are better places to look for crazy.
You say: high school, post office, mirror.
I remind you, unbelievable things happen
because of crazy, like the man who followed me
through a downtown street saying he wanted to kill me
with kindness, handed me a fifty, and disappeared.
You call strangers with cash a miracle, but I believe
all humans are gods with different wallet sizes, gods who live
for funerals, for fury, for free meals at Sizzler.
When I say crazy is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting a different outcome, you say, Repeat that.
Yes, I say, I’m going, I’m almost, destined for crazy.
You say, Would you like me to seduce you?
Is that what you’re trying to tell me?
We break bread with no crust, clink glasses of plastic.
I tell if you if I could choose my own last name it would be
Robinson or Springsteen. You say you’d just go by Seal.
We listen to Patsy Cline and I admit I’m the crazy bird
spinning in my own head and you say you’re thankful
for my breakdowns, it gives you some time to rest.
Note: Title from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, “…some better place, Fitter for sickness and for crazy age…”
