Steve Scafidi
But let us be friends awhile and understand our differences
are small and that they float like dust in sunny rooms
and let us settle into the good work of being strangers
simply who have something to say in the middle of the night
for you have said something that interests me—something of flames,
footsteps and the hard heavy charge of an engine gunning away
into the June cool of four in the morning here in West Virginia
where last night I woke to the sound of a door slamming,
five or six fading footsteps, and through the window saw
my impossible truck bright orange like a maverick sun and
ran—I did—panicked in my underwear bobbling the dumb
extinguisher too complex it seemed for putting out fires
and so grabbed a skillet and jumped about like one
needing to piss while the faucet like honey issued its slow
sweet water and you I noticed then were watching
from your idling car far enough away I could not make
your plate number but you could see me—half naked
figuring out the puzzle of a fire thirty seconds from
a dream never to be remembered while the local chaos
of a growing fire crackled through the books and boots
burning in my truck, you bastard, you watched as I sprayed
finally the flames with a gardenhose under the moon
and yes I cut what was surely a ridiculous figure there
and worsened it later that morning after the bored police
drove home lazily and I stalked the road in front of my house
with an ax in my hand and walked into the road after
every car to memorize the plates of who might have done this:
LB 7329, NT 7663, and you may have passed by—
I don’t know—you may have passed by as I committed
the innocent numbers of neighbors to memory and maybe
you were miles away and I, like the woodsman of fairy tales,
threatened all with my bright ax shining with the evil
joy of vengeance and mad hunger to bring harm—heavy
harm—to the coward who did this and if I find you,
my friend, I promise you I will lay the sharp blade deep
into your body until the humid grabbing hands of what must be
death have mercy and take you away from the constant
murderous swinging my mind makes my words make
swinging down on your body and may your children
weep a thousand tears at your small and bewildered grave.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anger is a common emotion, yet it is extremely hard to write about it because it is often unjust or overdone, or simply unable to produce empathy in the reader. Here, however, the author manages to hold our attention the whole way through. It starts seemingly kind and understanding, an attempt at reconciliation. We aren't put off by an immediate anger that we don't understand; instead we identify with the peaceful speaker who merely wants to talk. And then we are sucked into an almost unbelievable story, one that sounds ridiculous, yet it captures the truth behind the anger as well, the effect it can have on us, and the honest feelings we have towards an unjust offender.
While keeping this poem in mind, its techniques and its messages, here are some prompts that you may use to write a poem:
- Recall a moment you were angry and begin from the moment you were at peace with whatever happened. If not at peace, imagine seeking a peaceful resolution. Then, slowly, back up and explain the situation, starting with an objective, yet interesting, description and slowly move into your true feelings at the time. Don't be afraid to reveal any silly actions you took as a result of your anger or to hyperbolize your feelings. What was your end wish for that person at the time and how does it contrast with your current wish for that person?
- Write about a time you were a victim of someone's actions and show us about that person through descriptions of what was done, instead of specific descriptions of the person.
- Take a line from this poem and use this in your poem (a title, a first line, or other). Write.
- What else does this poem remind you of or inspire in you? Write.
