{"id":221,"date":"2006-07-28T10:16:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-28T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2006\/07\/poetry-for-fridays.html"},"modified":"2006-07-28T10:16:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-28T10:16:00","slug":"poetry-for-fridays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2006\/07\/poetry-for-fridays.html","title":{"rendered":"Poetry for Fridays"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got the first poem from Ammani’s blog<\/a>, and the others I went searching for, because I though the poetess, Sophie Hannah<\/a> was pretty fantastic :<\/p>\n

Now and then<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now that I’m fifty-seven,”
My mother used to say,
“Why should I waste a minute?
Why should I waste a day<\/p>\n

Doing the things I ought to
Simply because I should?
Now that I’m fifty-seven
I’m done with that for good.”<\/p>\n

But now and then I’d catch her
Trapped in some thankless chore
Just as she might have been at
Fifty-three or fifty-four<\/p>\n

And I would want to say to her
(And I have to bite my tongue)
That if you mean to learn a skill
It’s well worth starting young<\/p>\n

And so, to make sure I’m in time
For fifty, I’ve begun
To do exactly as I please
Now that I’m thirty-one.<\/p>\n

And this one made me laugh :<\/p>\n

Don’t Say I Said<\/span><\/p>\n

Next time you speak to you-know-who
I’ve got a message for him.
Tell him that I have lost a stone
Since the last time I saw him.
Tell him that I’ve got three new books
Coming out soon, but play it
Cool, make it sound spontaneous.
Don’t say I said to say it.<\/p>\n

He might ask if I’ve mentioned him.
Say I have once, in passing.
Memorise everything he says
And, no, it won’t be grassing
When you repeat his words to me –
It’s the only way to play it.
Tell him I’m toned and tanned and fine.
Don’t say I said to say it.<\/p>\n

Say that serenity and grace
Have taken root inside me.
My top-note is frivolity
But beneath, dark passions guide me.
Tell him I’m radiant and replete
And add that every day it
Seems I am harder to resist.
Don’t say I said to say it.<\/p>\n

Tell him that all my ancient faults
Have been eradicated.
I do not carp or analyse
As I might have when we dated.
Say I’m not bossy any more
Or, better still, convey it
Subtly, but get the point across.
Don’t say I said to say it.<\/p>\n

And then a nice, optimistic one \ud83d\ude42 :<\/p>\n

Pessimism for Beginners<\/span><\/p>\n

When you’re waiting for someone to e-mail,
When you’re waiting for someone to call –
Young or old, gay or straight, male or female –
Don’t assume that they’re busy, that’s all.<\/p>\n

Don’t conclude that their letter went missing
Or they must be away for a while;
Think instead that they’re cursing and hissing –
They’ve decided you’re venal and vile,<\/p>\n

That your eyes should be pecked by an eagle.
Oh, to bash in your head with a stone!
But since this is unfairly illegal
They’ve no choice but to leave you alone.<\/p>\n

Be they friend, parent, sibling or lover
Or your most stalwart colleague at work,
Don’t pursue them. You’ll only discover
That your once-irresistible quirk<\/p>\n

Is no longer appealing. Far from it.
Everything that you are and you do
Makes them spatter their basin with vomit.
They loathe Hitler and Herpes and you.<\/p>\n

Once you take this on board, life gets better.
You give no-one your hopes to destroy.
The most cursory phone call or letter
Makes you pickle your heart in pure joy.<\/p>\n

It’s so different from what you expected!
They do not want to gouge out your eyes!
You feel neither abused nor rejected –
What a stunning and perfect surprise.<\/p>\n

This approach I’m endorsing will net you
A small portion of boundless delight.
Keep believing the world’s out to get you.
Now and then you might not be proved right.<\/p>\n

Categories : _poetry<\/p>\n

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I got the first poem from Ammani’s blog, and the others I went searching for, because I though the poetess, Sophie Hannah was pretty fantastic : Now and then “Now that I’m fifty-seven,”My mother used to say,“Why should I waste a minute?Why should I waste a day Doing the things I ought toSimply because I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"I got the first poem from Ammani’s blog, and the others I went searching for, because I though the poetess, Sophie Hannah was pretty fantastic : Now and then “Now that I’m fifty-seven,”My mother used to say,“Why should I waste a minute?Why should I waste a day Doing the things I ought toSimply because I…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}