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Friday, June 26, 2009

ReadWritePoem #80

Written for readwritepoem prompt#80

SORRY!
I couldn’t tell you
that I didn’t tell her
what you told me to say.

I just hid it away
in my bottom drawer
till the lid fell off
and it started to smell.

At first I could only smell it
when I opened the drawer,
so I used to open and close it
quickly, and never looked inside,
‘cause it would have taken too long.

That’s why I didn’t know that
the flies liked the smell, and that
maggots were crawling all over
the bit that had spilled.

In fact I didn’t find out until
everybody else did, the day that
Smickford broke my six inch
ruler, in the inkwell on the
top of my desk, when he tried
to use it to flick a piece of chalk
at Jugghead while his back was turned.

But of course the whole thing
backfired, when the daft ruler
snapped and my desk toppled over.

And the jar of chutney
that I bought from the Bring and Buy sale,
with the pennies that I stole out of your purse,
rolled out onto the floor.

And it was too late
to tell him that I couldn’t
tell you that I didn’t
tell her, that you told
me to say, sorry!
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8 comments:

  1. Your tell-tale heart was a jar of chutney. Fantastic!

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  2. clever and entertaining ... rotten chutney must be a mess.

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  3. Clever complications start and end this poem with their layers of people invested in some particular course of action or the learning thereof. Nice, Andy!

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  4. I bet you never her you stole that jar of chutney from me!

    :D

    stuff I never told you

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  5. Nicely written confession..

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  6. fantastic!

    love the ending, especially!

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  7. This is god damn brilliantly fantastic and I am sure many can relate.

    One time I told a boyfriend to end it with his 'other' girl - then months later she called his cell phone while he and I were sitting next to one another...he hadn't told her - I threw the phone - then I threw him out!

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