the trouble with poetry

music: cole porter (with billy holiday) - easy to love

i had an interview for copyeditor earlier today. and after feeling so flattered that they liked my writing exam, i was told that i made the mistake of ticking the wrong gender identification box.

oh shit.

anyway, i really appreciated the input of the american guy who sat in for my interview. i was trying to explain that being a poet didn't mean i'd have problems writing 'boring' factual articles. issues of clarity and such, i suppose. thankfully, he admitted to dabbling in poetry himself and i think it put the other girl who was also interviewing me more at ease. we'll see how that turns out in a bit.

speaking of poetry, i was with coach yesterday and he lent me his copy of billy collins' the trouble with poetry. love love! ang ganda ng mga tula niya! napaka-simple pero mapapaisip ka. here is one of my favorites (aren't they all?); i felt bad/guilty after reading it. hehe. opo, magsusulat na!

You, Reader

I wonder how you are going to feel
when you find out
that I wrote this instead of you,

that it was I who got up early
to sit in the kitchen
and mention with a pen

the rain-soaked windows,
the ivy wallpaper,
and the goldfish circling in its bowl.

Go ahead and turn aside,
bite your lip and tear out the page,
but, listen--it was just a matter of time

before one of us happened
to notice the unlit candles
and the clock humming on the wall.

Plus, nothing happened that morning--
a song on the radio,
a car whistling along the road outside--

and i was only thinking
about the shakers of salt and pepper
that were standing side by side on a place mat.

I wondered if they had become friends
after all these years
or if they were still strangers to one another

like you and I
who manage to be known and unknown
to each other at the same time--

me at this table with a bowl of pears,
you leaning in a doorway somewhere
near some blue hydrangeas, reading this.