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Autobiographical Poetry

An autobiographical poem. -An example of narrative poetry. I had lots of fun with line breaks, white space and repetition in this poem based on a life shaping event. Ah, life's lessons are great fodder for the poet.













The Last Deirdre

She was my shining light
My immediate hope
My heart leaping inspiration
Yet, something didn't look quite right with this girl.
I think it was her chocolate brown desert boots
The ones she wore with blue school tunic which retreated
from her kneecaps.
The gum she chewed and twisted round her finger
Passion beat fashion ...easily
I dismissed this miscalculation
In the interest of flirtation
- For my heart's sake

I liked her smile
I liked her walk,
So confident. So easy.
The way her friends followed her
Back and forth
Back and forth .
Across the asphalt.
She was Aphrodite in D.B's .- She was Mother Duck.
Her name was Deirdre
Not Diana, Delores...Desiree
Names from my fantasy file
This girl didn't look like a Deirdre was supposed to look
She had none of my fantasy file features
She spoke to me first.
She spoke to me
To me
She'd heard a rumour that I thought, she, -Deirdre
Was a bit of okay
She glided past me
Her friends quacking in unison
And her words floated forward
Hi, howya goin...........?
Words that lingered with me
Hi, howya goin...goin...goin...
She looked almost... beautiful !
At that time, in that place.
I became a man of action
It was instant attraction...
'I can't get no Satisfaction'
My life's savings I proffered to buy Deirdre,
My Deirdre
Genuine, imitation gold earrings for her birthday
- From the jewelers next to the barber's shop
I missed the school bus to buy them
I missed every thing
Most of all I missed the point
But Deirdre, it mattered little then
Until my mother questioned my late arrival home
My passion was no match for a parent with questions

I resisted strongly for a moment                                     

A long moment.                                                       

A long drawn out moment.

Then tormented, I confessed
-Told her EVERYTHING
And she put down the iron
And showered me with the wisdom that only living brings
What a foolish boy you are!
She said
What a waste of good time !
She said
What a shame you wasted all that money!
She said

So, I gave Deirdre the earrings.
She stopped chewing gum and said...

Gee, thanks.
Immortal words
Immortal moment

Five days later it was over... 
Forever
There was someone else she said
Someone in year ten who was really great
Sorry, she said
Sorry ,said  her friends
It took days to forget her and the pain of losing.
The money I'd wasted took much longer to forget.
She was my last Deirdre.
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