Great post and poem! This immediately makes me think of how a unwell person is usually blamed for not becoming better. If you put all the onus of getting well on the sick person, you don't have to fix the sick society.
Obviously, I should go on a diet: losing those three kilos that bulge between me at sixty-seven and my pre-menopausal, pre-babies twenty-something self will make all the difference. I should give myself to charity:
helping others is as good a way as any to tone down self-obsession. And I should count my blessings; read more, doom-scroll less; stop wasting my time watching utter crap on TV. I should try harder. I will try
harder. I should stop voicing opinions, who is interested in them anyway? I should smarten myself up;
My once best friend told me to delete should from my vocabulary along with
heroes. Believing us all equal, not wanting to be on a pedestal. Believing in the power of positivity. Believing in the power of song. Until she decided to check out.
There was a time we believed we knew each other so well. We didn’t need language, belongings, heroes. We didn’t do what we should. No amount of positivity could pay our bills or soothe our minds but music could set us free.
She should still be here. I should have been more available to her. She was busy giving up, on language, belongings, heroes, power, positivity, her bills, her mind, her wit, her will. I can still hear her laughing or singing in the places she should be.
I was very moved by this - by your honesty about your struggles and the way it made me see how after all these years I'm still shoulding all over myself. I don't know if I can write a poem about it, though.
fab post Clare- Solnaz's poem is brilliant- that shoulding line is spot on. Also your v apposite list poem- fab.
This subject reminds me of a poem i wrote about working as a therapist in a girl's school- i hope it's ok to share an extract from it:
Do not make suggestions that are plainly stupid,
there are those who recommend
pinging a rubber band
instead of taking a razor to a wrist
but this is akin to gritted teeth
in an avalanche. Resist.
Never say it will be OK,
you are here to sit with them in
the tremors and not flinch.
Apparently it is possible to be buried
in snow and still breathe.
Hold still, no one feels listened to
by a fidget. Never check your watch...
i absolutely LOVE this, Charlotte!!!!!
aw bless you thanks
Great post and poem! This immediately makes me think of how a unwell person is usually blamed for not becoming better. If you put all the onus of getting well on the sick person, you don't have to fix the sick society.
That's why i rarely wrote about myself. I started writing poems to change the sick world and my desire has never really gone away.
Shouldify I it away?
Self-improvement
Obviously, I should go on a diet: losing those three kilos that bulge between me at sixty-seven and my pre-menopausal, pre-babies twenty-something self will make all the difference. I should give myself to charity:
helping others is as good a way as any to tone down self-obsession. And I should count my blessings; read more, doom-scroll less; stop wasting my time watching utter crap on TV. I should try harder. I will try
harder. I should stop voicing opinions, who is interested in them anyway? I should smarten myself up;
I should give a fuck,
but I haven’t got one.
That's brilliant, beth! no fucks left to give!
Thanks Clare. I’ve just written this:
Should should should
My once best friend told me to delete should from my vocabulary along with
heroes. Believing us all equal, not wanting to be on a pedestal. Believing in the power of positivity. Believing in the power of song. Until she decided to check out.
There was a time we believed we knew each other so well. We didn’t need language, belongings, heroes. We didn’t do what we should. No amount of positivity could pay our bills or soothe our minds but music could set us free.
She should still be here. I should have been more available to her. She was busy giving up, on language, belongings, heroes, power, positivity, her bills, her mind, her wit, her will. I can still hear her laughing or singing in the places she should be.
it's so beautiful, Ann x
Thank you 🙏❤️❤️🤗🤗
Thanks Clare. I have done as you suggest. And the result is below:
Should you
You should drink less
But more water
You should run more
But also weights
You should be grateful
But also remain on the look-out
You should travel more
But also appreciate home
You should listen better
But also not put up with shit
You should put regret away
But also know what to do next
You should tell her you love her more often
But spontaneously
You should change the word should for could in this list
You could do that
I was very moved by this - by your honesty about your struggles and the way it made me see how after all these years I'm still shoulding all over myself. I don't know if I can write a poem about it, though.
ah, thank you, Susan xxxx
Love this post and the poem. Thought-provoking. I am going to be playing with this all morning! Thank you.
Love this Clare! So much food for thought and so moving! 🙏
that's brilliant, Tim - really captures frustration and confusion of being buried in an avalanche of contradictory advice!