Blatherskite

http://vimeo.com/10647024
I wanted to participate in National Poetry Month so I made a video of myself reading a Pantoum I wrote last year. The poem is from an old letter I found in my mom’s genealogy files years ago. It was written to my grandmother when she was researching our family history and it is written by a woman whose husband died. She starts the letter casually and then goes into detail about the the day her husband died and how it happens. It has always haunted me.

When I was in my poetry writing phase last year I was interested in working with the pantoum. I realized that if I took lines from this letter and worked it into this form it might make a good poem. After being there for the death of my step-dad a few months ago I can say that this is a really good form for this theme. When you witness the death of a loved one your thoughts are scattered. You try to have normal conversations but when the subject goes to “how are you doing” all you can think about is your loved one and how they died. At least that was my experience.

I hope you enjoy my poem. I’m kind of shy about sharing so this is kind of a big deal for me. I almost chickened out but I’m going to just put it out there because poetry is meant for sharing.