For a time when I was in my twenties, I dated a guy I called (not to his face, and not exactly affectionately) “Jekyll & Hyde.” He could be tender and sweet and then from one moment to the next turn angry and shadowy. I called him Jekyll & Hyde not to the world, only to my one friend. She and I sat together in a booth at a Bob Evans halfway between the places we lived—an hour and a half apart—and I would tell her stories about the storms between him and me.
What I remember best about that time in my life is how my friend showed up for me, no matter what. There’s a line in this week’s poem that reminds me of that kind of loyalty. The poem talks about someone/something being “willing / to trample anyone who was mean to you / in your childhood.”
Mostly I love this poem because it made me laugh and it also hit me in the heart, the way all poems I love do. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have:
This poem was first published in The Sun and is posted here with permission from the poet. Brett Elizabeth Jenkin’s first full-length poetry collection is forthcoming from Riot in Your Throat press. Thank you, Brett, for allowing me to share this poem. I have loved it ever since I first read it.
It’s National Poetry Month! Every week during the month of April, I will be sharing poems I love from contemporary writers. I hope to pique your interest in poetry, if it needs to be piqued, and to show you that a really great poem can be accessible to all.
“See” you next week with another poem.
Photo credit: ce xu from Unsplash.com
Only ONE WEEK Left to Get the Early Bird Discount
Other Upcoming Online Writing Workshops
