THINGS
by Fleur Adcock
There are worse things than these miniature betrayals,
committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things
than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.
(the rest of the poem is at The Writer's Almanac)
I hate it when I goof: when I forget something important, when I drop the ball, when I'm late no matter how hard I've tried to be on time, when my intentions are misread, when I speak without thinking or without sufficient preparation. I am haunted by my mistakes. They leave their tracks everywhere. The snow will melt and others will no longer see them, but I can't erase them from my memory.
Mary Ann's got the Poetry Friday Round Up at Great Kid Books today.
Yeah, me too, even though realistcally I know everyone else has forgotten the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's that rehashing everything over and over...I should have done/said this. I like the use of snow to let everything evaporate and begin anew.
ReplyDeleteBeen there. A great poem.
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem! I've suffered the 5:00 AM worries many times. I love the footprints in the snow image to help gain perspective. Thanks for sharing this one!
ReplyDeleteI was 20 minutes late for a meeting because I was blogging and I felt guilty about my tardiness. I don't like to be late but truly, I was having more fun blogging! Thanks for the poem!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great reminder! Thanks for sharing it. I think I'll add this to the ones I'm sharing with the kids in my poetry project. I seem to be scoring big in that department this poetry Friday.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem! I'm a reader but too often I neglect the lone, lovely poem.
ReplyDeleteI've never read this poem before & I NEEDED to hear it after this week. I appreciate your commentary & wonder if you've been in my head this week. ;) Thanks for the reminder that I'm not the only one who drops the ball sometimes. Happy weekend, Ruth
ReplyDeleteOne of the funniest ironies of this poem is that after I posted I FORGOT to get my link to the round up!
ReplyDeleteAnd then *sigh* I just found out that my good intentions have once again gone awry in another situation.
I'm going to try to let ALL of these "goofs" melt away from my memory, and I'm most certainly going to banish them from the end of my bed! What else can I do? Obviously, if I let them accumulate, I'll be buried under them!! :-)
This is me too! One of my boys' coaches always compares that rehashing process to falling in a race. He tells the boys that you don't stand around and look at the place where you fell, instead, you get right up and run again. It makes a lot of sense, now I just wish I could do it!
ReplyDeleteIs it a matter of self-criticism? Being unable to forgive yourself when the world doesn't even remember what the offence was anymore?
ReplyDeleteMary Ann--
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how memories of things I said without thinking years ago come back every now and then out of the blue and make cringe.
This feeling is one of the reasons that I chose the motto Clean Slate for this year. I find my own continued guilt, anxiety, sadness, over a past issue, mistake, or transgression is FAR worse than the issue in the first place. I'm trying to look at more things with how I would operate with a Clean Slate - or even how I can clean the slate myself.
ReplyDeleteI like that. I also have trouble forgetting my small disgraces.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me about Poetry Friday. I meant to participate - but got sidetracked.
ReplyDeleteThanks, also, for reminding me to try to infuse my writing with a twist of poetry.
What a lovely poem! Thanks for sharing... I was initially drawn to it not for the subject matter, but because Fleur Adcock is this unusual poet name that's been kicking around in my head for years but I'd never actually read anything by her (him? I'm assuming "her" because of Fleur Delacoeur from Harry Potter, which may be semi-twisted logic).
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