Iphigene here.
I seem to have resurfaced here and there. If you’ve been following GB, you would have noticed I have contributed a post here and there beyond Poetry Friday. It’s great, however, to be able to contribute something to Poetry Friday. While I love the written word, poetry and I have a long-standing relationship. It’s the one art form that feels like pumpkin soup on a very cold day.
For today’s poetry friday (hosted by Sally Murphy), I offer a poem I wrote back in May 2017. When Fats asked if I had anything to post, I was thinking of the new poem that’s been in my head for over a week now, but it’s too early for that. So, I dug through my drafts and found this poem that works perfectly into our theme this quarter.
The poem is inspired by a friend I’ve known for a little over 10 years but have never met. In some ways it’s an ode to this odd friendship we’ve forged. I hope you enjoy it.
Funny People
Seeking each other
To share mundane details
Of our lives:
Passing drivers ed,
Getting stuck
In traffic and
Reading a lovely book
Filling out the long silence
With tiny glimpses
Of our day to day
If not of our wounds
Dug deep—
Our addictions,
Depression and
Miserable families
Never the in between
Not our days in work,
Not about our friends
Where we’ve been
Or who we’re seeing
No, never that
As if the spaces between
Bear a blasphemy—
Not to be uttered,
Not to be shared,
In the tiny pockets
Of our meeting
How then do we define
The awkward space
Between us for so long?
For we are neither friends
nor lovers but
funny people
Finding the sacred
In each other.
Do you have such people in your lives? If you do, do share your stories in the comments below. Happy Poetry Friday everyone!
I’d love to add “Pumpkin soup on on a very cold day” to the community poem on my site. Check it out and let me know.
LikeLike
Hi Brenda. I’d be happy to have that phrase added to the community poem. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I added it and attributed it to Iphigene Daradar.
LikeLike
Even though the internet and social media in particular get a bad rap (and sometimes deserves it), it also opens the door to friendships that never would have begun without it.
LikeLike
Yes! Definitely. I was a bit wary when the friendship began, next thing i knew, 10 years had passed.
LikeLike
Maybe we shouldn’t try to define friendship as one thing only. Maybe it is true no matter its form.
LikeLike
Hi Mary lee
Yes, that is true. I think this particular friendship was something I wasn’t familiar with. It’s strange and wonderful all at the same time. But yes, each kind of friendship is unique.
LikeLike
Iphigene — I’ve made so many wonderful “friends” through both Twitter, blogging, and other Social Media venues. Only a few have I met in person, but all I treasure. They inspire me and encourage me each and every day.
LikeLike
Ah. I remember being hesitant about this online space, its less tangible, but indeed, we do get to meet wonderful people through it. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂
LikeLike
I love this reflection on those friends we perhaps never meet. I have many – including those in the Poetry Friday community.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, including this Poetry Friday community. 🙂
LikeLike
To me, the last lines say it all:
“Finding the sacred
In each other.”
No matter what type of friend, I think concentrating on that is the key to relationships that blossom and endure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Joyce,
Indeed. There is no one kind of friendship, each one differs, it is it’s own unique bloom. 🙂
LikeLike