Poem a day #1 and #2

So a friend (Duncan Shields) on fb did a poem-a-day challenge for April, which was national poetry month. It was inspirational in many ways: some were amazing, not all were great or finished poems, but they were *there* and the process and the not-quite-right ones were out in public, and different ones moved different people.

In true PDA fashion I'm going to do that starting now, not even across a calendar month but for thirtyish days, goal is to average one poem a day.

Here are the first two:

Poem #1

Fifteen years to realize that when you stole my voice
You stole my voice.

There was sunlight in the kitchen when I was singing
With my lover, we were washing dishes
You came in and, deniable as always, said
"How cute, you're both so out of tune in different ways"

Ten years to sing in front of another human.
When I stopped he turned to me in the car and said
"You can keep singing if you want,
It's beautiful"

I sang a lot that year.

Ten years to realize my voice can be beautiful.
Fifteen years to realize it doesn't have to be beautiful for me to sing
Even in front of you.
Now I am writing a poem and putting it on the internet for all to see.
Fifteen years and I have stolen back my voice
And stolen back my voice.


#2: The Poetry Police

Long before us
Homo erectus put sounds together
For meaning and
We must assume for pleasure.

Since then some words
Sound beautifully right on the tongue
Soothe the bell of a heart when rung
Share solace or joy when sung

It was a human endeavour
Words and delight in them
Until we begun to measure
Your expertise, how
Many poems have you
Published? What do the critics
Think? Does it fit the form?
I don’t even think that rhymes.
That was derivative
And that other piece was
Almost certainly copyrighted.
That sentiment is trite and
the other is too obscure.
If you’re any good
You’re a professional and
Get paid. That’s when you’re
Allowed to write
Poems in public.