Poetry Mixtape 33: Small Epiphanies

I did not have much time to read or write this week, the first full week of school and all the usual politics and inservice hoo-ha having sucked the life out of me. So I used a few spare moments to grab one of the numerous chapbooks living in my house and read a poem here and there.

One that struck me as particularly simple and poignant was the poem “From the Platform” from the chapbook Memory/Future by Heather Aimee O’Nell (Gold Line Press).

From the Platform

The subway doors close

between us. I wave goodbye, still

taste morning from your quick

*

kiss-toothpaste, coffee, a bite

from last night’s chocolate cake.

I walk alongside the train, turn

*

to catch your eyes one last

time through the commuter crowd.

But you look straight ahead into

*

the dark lines of the tunnel,

book resting on your lap, eyes

full of the hazel green of your scarf.

*

You could live without me.

*

(sigh) The poem seems like a simple routine. The last line is a killer. Enough said.

If you want to write:

1. Write about a simple routine between you and a loved one that ends in a line of epiphany.

or

2. Use the title “from the platform” as the starting point for a goodbye poem.

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