{Not that Pedestal}

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 The prompt for 'Not that Pedestal' was to write a poem about a form of technology that is obsolete or is headed that way.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.

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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.

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Ajanta Judd, Photo and Words: Poem 2020; Digitalised Photo 2022

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