If I were, was. Not Public.

05/04/2024

This piece is a blossoming hope for me, as it provided myself a feeling of freedom and self-realization. Sometimes, the self, is nonsensical! Silly and un-explainable. This poem feels that way to me, it explains an un-explainable feelings of joy and freedom. A true expression of self in what I would like me to be, if the constraints of society and conventional norms did not prevent such silly joys and outburst of wonder.

Poetry


Tobi Swearingen 
Third Year,                        Secondary Education Major


If I were, was. Not Public

Was I not in public

I'd roll myself

Wrestle with the sweet grass ground

Like I would a lover in my bed.

I wish to pull over the earth like hotel covers.

Like winning an arm wrestling with a father or uncle at 5 years old.

These moments sweet like the air

Misty dew drops dripping in my lungs

Like the tap, the one that fills the space of an empty bone house. Like myself.

Was I not in public

My socks and shoes would no impede the experience of warm tar

Flossing the cracked cradles of the road

I'd be graceful as a frog,

Slipping and falling as I leap

Knees bent, elbows like featherless wings, protruding

Croaking sonnets for wheat grass and daffodils.

Only for wheat grass and daffodils.

Was I not in public

I'd lick maple leaves

And bathe nude in the pond

Trapping every leaf and flower petal deep in the tangled unbrushed

Untamed hair bellowing from my temple.

I'd recite the alphabet of the weeds and vines

A is for alfeene

B is for beoleaf

C is for that cutie in the corner, growing out of a rabbit hole.

Was I not in public I'd be me.


© 2024 Cottey College, 1000 W. Austin Blvd, Nevada, MO 64772
Creative rights reserved by individual artists
Powered by Webnode
Create your website for free! This website was made with Webnode. Create your own for free today! Get started