LAERTES:
And when you left for university:
A week-long silence, punctuated by
Short missives back and forth detailing our
Missteps and flights creating, fighting, drowning
And I tried not to feel too left behind,
And then the letters stopped.
Then I consoled myself, thinking that we
Had filled the pages with our tales of woe.
But still, I could not shake the feeling that
If they don’t understand it the first time
Say it again, unfamiliar this time
I know now of your days and the way you
Forget, sometimes I wish we could start over,
Write better, learn more about the story
That we claim to know.
I knew you all along but I did not
And so the years passed on and on and on
And I changed more than ever I thought that
I would. And you, too, left your cage and flew
And now you have come back again, my friend.
You’re raving about ghosts and you are set
To play this play as we pronounced it first
But I can’t think of anything except
A way to keep you here so you won’t rot.
(When reading or playing Shakespeare, look at the meter. An extra syllable at the end of a line, called a “weak” or “feminine” ending, signifies uncertainty. If a line is considerably lacking in syllables, the actor is meant to pause for the number of beats missing.)
Personality Quiz Time!
Poetry is:
A) Torture
B) Beautiful
C) Beautiful torture
D) Words on a page
You write poetry because:
A) I can’t breathe otherwise. The words are growing in my lungs like mushrooms.
B) I don’t trust you and I don’t trust me. I only trust the words on the page.
C) If I stop I don’t know what will happen.
D) What else am I going to do with my time?
What are you afraid of?
A) I’ll never get better/I am still only human/I cannot transcend
B) I can never be as beautiful as I want to be, and everything I ever loved is only something I imagined
C) What if I never write another poem? What if I’m always sick?
D) The Ocean
Why the ocean?
A) A tightrope between love and death, and that’s all there is.
B) The uncertainty. The depth. The blue, the blue, the blue.
C) Drowning sounds lonely.
D) What’s down there?
Mostly A’s: You are Paralyzed! You don’t like hearing your heartbeat because you’re afraid it’ll stop! You don’t like taking your shoes off outside! Do something. Do anything. See the ripples in the water.
Mostly B’s: You are Cynical! You don’t like it when someone brushes past you! You don’t like sitting in a salon chair! Stand still. Relax your shoulders. The present is and will be.
Mostly C’s: You are Scared! You know death is everywhere! You can’t sing anymore! Look up. Look up. Look up. It’s beautiful, I promise.
Mostly D’s: You are Waiting! You can’t join conversations because you’re not good enough yet! You stare at yourself in the mirror until you feel sick! Forget what you look like, forget what you sound like. Forget everything and start swimming.
Untitled Haiku #2
Construction worker
Crouched like an egg by the road
I wish I knew you
Avi Setiawan is an undergraduate student at Goshen College who enjoys writing, theater, and long walks outdoors.