From a 2020, 24 hour Poetry Marathon that I participated in. I wrote one poem each hour for 24 hours straight. The prompt for 'Not that Pedestal' was to write a poem about a form of technology that is obsolete or is headed that way. The technology could just be referred to in passing, like a telephone booth, or it could be a CD that is the focal point of the poem. The degree of focus on obsolete technology was up yo me.
As Patti la Belle belted out from the old CD player,
She said to me, 'you take my breath away, Ajanta'.
I replied, 'It’s important to breathe'
Removing someone’s breath from their body is a concern for me
A heavy responsibility
Will I be too much. Am I too much?
Will that person be enough for me?
Am I already on a pedestal?
Goddesses forbid that for sentient beings
I might be elevated beyond my status as a mere mortal
with all my foibles and idiosyncrasies
which will no doubt emerge over time
personality traits - nuances - nagging little behaviours
The CD will be scratched - the song will stutter and splutter
You will assume and apply judgement
destabilising to a damsel on a pedestal
It could build up quite a wobble and down I'll crash in your estimation.
This thing we might share - a tenuous possibility
as the beat struggles to play through the flaws
Always the concern in the beginning and after all,
it has been said by others that I am too much for them
and when all was said and done
I was too much for them.
Ajanta Judd, Photo and Words: Poem 2020; Digitalised Photo 2022
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