NaPoWriMo - Poem 3

Hoping you are not getting too bored with these blog posts/poems. Feel free to return in May when instant poetry has stopped.

Ah yes, NaPoWriMo- filling the internet with bad poetry, one blog at a time.

But if you're following along, here was today's prompt--

From Writer's Digest blog--

Take the phrase "The problem with (blank)" and replace the "(blank)" with a word or phrase. Make this the title of your poem and then write a poem to fit with or juxtapose against that title. For instance, you could have poems with the titles of "The problem with government," "The problem with advanced mathematics," or "The problem with bipolar penguins." You know the drill: have fun, be creative.



THE PROBLEM WITH SUBURBIA


She is better-not, the flotsam
walking the sidewalks in search
of minus calories. She thinks
giddy and spellbound are words

she doesn’t say enough. Heartthrob,
another. A husband mowing the lawn
with his shirt off and his wife not noticing,
she has seen his bare chest many times
before. The wife. The neighbor.

The characters all have the same
pronouns. She’s a little shaky
from the bubble tea she had three weeks
ago or could it be the peanuts, something
is always wrong with the peanuts.

She waves to the man with little
chest hair. Heart. Throb. The voice
inside her says, Don’t seem too interested.
The voice of her mother, Never play
with married men.

They are both beautiful
with their imperfections—the woman
with her longing and the man
with his knack not to notice. She is better-

not touch the sold merchandise, the house
is off the market. She wants to go home
to a surprise party or to something smaller,
a hello from lover/husband/roommate,

if she had one. She turns the corner. Confetti,
the Yoshino cherry trees in full bloom.