Another great poem to use as a model for a poem of your own it This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams.
It has also inspired a few books including the wonderful, This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman and the equally fun, Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine.
Here’s one I wrote.
I HAVE TO TELL YOU
I have taken
the blank paper
you kept in your desk
and which
you were probably
saving
for masterpieces
of your own
Forgive me
there were colors
beautiful colors
waiting to escape.
–Susan Taylor Brown, all rights reserved
Your turn.
Love the idea of a false apology poem, and yours was beautiful. The last verse is my favorite.
ellie
Thanks, ellie. They are so much fun to write. I like to write them to inanimate objects, too.
I WANTED TO TELL YOU
I hope you are no expecting an answer
To the letter that you wrote to me
The one that you copied five times
For each of us to read, unbelievable
You could not even make them personal
Everyone else answered, either by
Coming to visit or calling, or writing
I was a wake up to you though I knew
You just wanted sympathy, oh woe is you
If you are feeling down now who cares I say
You only have yourself to blame, it was fine
For all those years when you were content
To put me down, to make me feel guilty
For things that I had not even done, fine then
I refuse to let you do it anymore, I am over it
You thought that you could just cast us all aside
So when you were ready we would all be there for you
I can tell you right here, right now, I refuse
Refuse to bow down to your demands, you know where I am
I should not have to go running after you, no sir
Things like that are supposed to be equal but not for you
How dare you try and say, we don’t know how you feel
Do you even take a moment to consider how I am, ever
I didn’t think so, it is all about you, has always been
I feel sorry for you I do, not in the way you think
You are the one that has missed out on seeing us all grow
My family still continues to grow but why would you care
I will have all the hugs and kisses that you miss out on
You were never big on that anyway, again I say your loss
I just feel extremely sorry for you because I know
My family will never know you as you would hope
Then again I really don’t want them to, primarily
I don’t want you to do to them what you did to me
Break my heart into a million pieces, that hurts
Yes better that I just throw the letter away now
To try and remember the father I never really had.
– Anne McKenna
Oh Anne, this one is so painful and yet rings true.
I love love love this part:
The one that you copied five times
For each of us to read, unbelievable
You could not even make them personal
Good job.
I REALLY MUST
I really must tell you
How lovely you look, so regal
Your beautiful blue eyes shining
Piercing through to my mind and soul
Giving me back my confidence, sadly missed
I really must thank you
For loving me, caring about me
Giving me hope for a brighter future
Helping me to believe in myself
To achieve things never thought possible
I really must commend you
Showing me a different side to horses
Getting me to trust you like no other
Including me in your circle of friends
For being there, most of all just being you
To know exactly what I needed, you saved my life
For that I truly thank you.
– Anne McKenna
( Take 2 much more positive)!!
Love that you took another swing at this one with a positive twist.
Fav line here is:
Giving me back my confidence, sadly missed
A few things–
1) What a cool resource this is! This is exactly what I’ve been thinking about, appealing to teachers. And how wonderful your month’s worth of poem starters is! I hope lots of teachers find it and use it in their classrooms. I’m going to add a link to it in my blog sidebar.
2) Speaking of sidebars, the piece of orig art you have in yours right now is stunning. You are an artist, no two ways about it. Are you selling on etsy or anything yet?
3) Congratulations on sticking with your series for an entire month. I could barely keep up with a rough draft of a haiku per day. Kudos!
XO,
Laura
Thank you, Laura. I am also going to put them all together in a downloadable collection for teachers as I think that might get them to grab it more than going through a month of blog posts. I’m debating a few ways of going about that now.
And thanks for the kind words about my art. I haven’t set up a place to sell it yet though that is my plan. I have some ideas to work in some photographs as well but really want to finish this current WIP first.
This time around poetry month was a killer for me because of the hummingbird stuff smack dab in the middle of it. And when the hope around that was crushed it really took the fire out of me. My poems are all first drafts and need some attention but that’s another great opportunity with doing an Ebook of some kind.