Poem of the Month
Want to be up to date with the latest in all things rhyme and verse? Who is making waves in the seas of metaphor and simile? What are the best new poems (and poets!) that you should be checking out this year? – well look no further.
After Party by Maggie Bowyer
After all the guests
Left their fingerprints
On every window
And scuffs up and down
Each hallway,
I searched for you.
I looked underneath
The stacks of jackets
Forgotten by those
Donning flushed cheeks,
Peeked in the guest room,
Let your name shake
Now empty glasses clattering
And cluttering countertops.
They said you slipped out
While I was still dancing;
Now I just have pity parties,
All alone, drinking myself silly.
Featured in Maggie’s latest publication ‘Ungodly’, ‘Afterparty’ is a sobering (pun intended) look at unrequited love. In particular, lines 12-14 are hauntingly beautiful and sad, focusing primarily on the absence of the person the speaker wished most in the world to be there. Perhaps also, this poem examines the airs and graces that we put on to appeal to the person we desire and how those often fall hollow and flat. Authenticity is the order of the day; perhaps this person was not suitable for the speaker. The poem leaves us with more questions than answers. Who is this person? At what stage of the relationship is this? A green beginning? A spluttering end? Why didn’t they come to dance? The haunting answers are left absent as mere ghosts for us to grapple with and devise interpretation.
You can check out Ungodly by Maggie Bowyer here: https://maggiebowyer.com/product/ungodly/
You can also check out Maggie’s guest appearance on I Hate Poetry – the poetry-comedy podcast – Here: http://ihatepoetry.co.uk/the-most-awkward-intro-ever/
