I Have Worked Hard
i have worked hard
as jokes –
and punchlines fell out of me
sat there relaxing
or stressing and anxious
as the 1990’s swam away
and the ‘noughties’ –
turned into just another day
but i have worked hard
as feelings –
constantly punch and kick
and internal fireworks –
wrestle and then glitch
as worry and doubt –
tell me that nothing really fits
i have worked hard
as jokes –
and punchlines fell out of me
as parents died –
and my collective apathy –
took a deep breath and sighed
as the decades finally got up –
and went back inside
i have worked hard –
as jokes –
and punchlines fell out of me
with a wind across my sails
avoiding a salt water trench
these days,
these times,
these summers,
something feels more entrenched
v
James Garratt – Friday 14th April 2023
More poems at
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/
More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/
More poems from 2023 here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2023/
I Have Worked Hard – Written Friday 14th April 2023 (Aged 48)
The Boy Behind The Glasses. Poetry and Writing 
Wow! Wonderfully placed repetitions; each stanza is a poem in itself. A kind of delicate sadness keeps building as you read on… excellenty penned. I love the feel to it… honest, real, vulnerable and thought-provoking. Beautiful work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I want quite a mundane title and then something a bit more for the poem. It’s a combination of professionally I’ve worked hard and in my life I’ve worked hard, but I can’t claim to have had a plan or that I’ve really gone at it. I wanted to change the last stanza to be a bit more optimistic but I’ve left it. This is a very me piece of writing in terms of style and imagery. I think the really working hard, is working hard to make sure life doesn’t drift and you end up without choice of feeling powerless. I guess like all of us, you work hard to overcome yourself 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do we really need a plan, if we constantly keep changing (as we should) & the outcome of almost everything is never really what we planned, anyways (at least, that’s how it is for me)? In my opinion, the best we can do is let ourselves grow… not grow into the image of others or grow into our predetermined place in society, but find the quirks & facettes that make us unique… and nourish them as far & as well as we can. When you work towards having a good grasp on who you are, how can life drift away from you?! When you have fudn yourself, how can you be lost?! 😉 I think you’re doing it right…what I read between the lines of your poems strongly suggest that. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree РI think you have to know yourself and as clich̩ as it or might be, be comfortable with who you are. I think amongst the chaos of being young you think you have some sort of plan or an idea that certain things will make you happy but then life happens to you and the best you can do is have a good grasp on who you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. 🙂
LikeLike