Gum Wrappers and Lunch Bags
so much more than a poem
Inevitably,
they ask me
what I do for a living.
I ponder the odd, in-between jobs,
here and there,
this and that barely
holding everything together
like strings of floss.
"Actually,
I'm a writer,"
I'd sigh
in the relief
of finally understanding
my greater purpose.
They are eager to hear
about best sellers,
screenplays,
big success.
"Nothing like that,
very up-incoming,"
I jest.
They aren't interested
in poetry dense with layers
of sentiment
or old stories
just beginning to surface
on paper.
Instead,
they ask me
about marketing strategies,
book tours,
huge opportunities.
Suddenly, they are more concerned
with selling my writing
than the act of it.
I don't tell them
about the years
I scribbled impassioned
notes on gum wrappers
and lunch bags because
I had abandoned
journals for the sake of
levity.
I don't divulge how heavy
it feels to carry all these
words with me
or try to enlighten
about fragments
of myself buried in fiction.
Eventually,
they ask me
what I do for money.
"Oh, this and that,
here and there,
whatever
holds me over,"
I sigh,
clutching a mostly
empty journal to my
heart
like the little girl
who hadn't yet been told
that practicality was more
important than
her stories.
***
Hello, wanderer.
Please let this poem be a warm hug if you are feeling frustrated with pursuing your passions. Often big wins are the easiest to notice. Let's give space for the little ones too.
xoxo, for now
-your friend, lost in thought
Poems with kindred spirits:
About the Creator
Sam Eliza Green
Writer, wanderer, wild at heart. Sagas, poems, novels. Stay a while. There’s a place for you here.
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Violence Begets
"Any last words, cowboy?" "None you'd understand, sodbuster." "Funny. That's Marshall Sodbuster to you. But I meant some last nugget that would help us in the adjudication of the myriad offenses counted against you and your gang. I wasn't asking for penitence."
By Adam Diehl6 days ago in Fiction
Comments (2)
I cannot begin to tell you how warm inside this made me feel. Masterfully expressed and so on point!
This poem hit so hard and true. It's difficult to say you're a writer when you haven't made it as one. But it's also a dream which we'd love to express by saying we are this. Sending hugs your way 💛 You're a fantastic writer, Sam, and I hope you are able to revel in all the victories, big or small. Writing on bubblegum wrappers means you had (and still have, I'm sure) fantastic ideas that just needed to be put down.