Sunday, May 5, 2013

Secrets by Kimberly Stutevoss

Secrets by Kimberly Stutevoss

Secrets, secrets, don't make friends they told me
But I didn't listen. I had secrets
I kept them to myself and told no one
I was worried that others would judge me
When they learned about my secrets. Others
Had judged me and I lost many friends from
What I had told them. Some didn't believe
Some chose not to, but others were scared of
What I had to say. I had discovered
The secret of life. I had figured it
Out when I was younger reading a poem.
It was by my favorite, Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends. I would read it
Everyday and realized the importance
Silverstein was a genius and told me
The secret of life. At first I didn't
Say anything to anyone about
My new found secret. Who would believe a
Seven year old girl? So I kept my mouth
Shut until my friend's eleventh birthday
Her wish was to know the secret of life.
In her closet we sat in the dark while
I whispered to her the secret of life
She judged me and said I was crazy, I
Couldn't possibly know this big secret
I kept my mouth shut again until I
Was thirteen when I told my cousin Bill
He didn't believe me and continued
Not believing anything I was saying
Not until you that someone believed it

_________________________________________

Poem of the Day: The Secret

BY DENISE LEVERTOV
Two girls discover   
the secret of life   
in a sudden line of   
poetry.

I who don’t know the   
secret wrote   
the line. They   
told me

(through a third person)   
they had found it
but not what it was   
not even

what line it was. No doubt   
by now, more than a week   
later, they have forgotten   
the secret,

the line, the name of   
the poem. I love them   
for finding what   
I can’t find,

and for loving me   
for the line I wrote,   
and for forgetting it   
so that

a thousand times, till death   
finds them, they may   
discover it again, in other   
lines

in other   
happenings. And for   
wanting to know it,   
for

assuming there is   
such a secret, yes,   
for that   
most of all.

No comments:

Post a Comment