WYATT
From time to time
there was an unpleasant smell
emitting from Wyatt’s armpits.
Sometimes I pretended it was cologne
I really disliked. Other times
I held my breath
until it was appropriate to suggest
we shower, where
I would try to clean him
the best I could
without being obvious.
What’s bullshit is he smelled nice
the night he broke up with me.
© Bryan Borland/MedicatedLady
This poem may or may not have been inspired from an email from MedicatedLady describing a brief relationship. Therefore, she gets a writing credit.
poeticgrin
November 24, 2009 at 3:36 pm
This poem may or may not have been not only inspired but written verbatim from an email I sent. I give poeticgrin a writing credit for inserting the word “disliked” where “did not like” used to be.
medicatedlady
November 24, 2009 at 3:43 pm
When I say inspired, please note that I mean that the 94% of the words were MedicatedLady’s, and that I just added a couple of words and the linebreaks. I still take credit, because she would have never identified what she sent to my inbox as a potential poem. I also take credit for deleting the lines, “Dear Lord in heaven, he washed his hair with regular soap. I swear he did.”
This may inspire a project to go back through old emails and share them with you, Dear Reader. Remixed as Poetry.
poeticgrin
November 24, 2009 at 3:45 pm
As much as I have enjoyed this ‘piece’, I have to say I’m comforted by the fact that our email correspondence has been minimal, Bryan! Ballsy!
Brad
November 24, 2009 at 6:38 pm
All of that is all you had to say in the first place, Bryan. That and give me first author credit. In truth, I did not identify that email as potential poetry, because, unlike you, I have to leave my life and be paralyzed by the stank I smelled. It had not occurred to me that this was something I was ready to move beyond. However, I do enjoy.
medicatedlady
November 24, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This idea is a gold mine for us. Who wouldn’t want to read our emails?
poeticgrin
November 24, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Your friendly bickering is almost as interesting as the poem itself. Conceptual art etc. etc. Or not.
queerlefty
November 24, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I love this poem. No woman, or man for that matter, should have to deal with stinky arm pitts!!! I think credit should go to medicatedlade. Poetic you did recognize the poem, but she wrote it. I still love it.
Jade
November 24, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Hi poet, Nice poem, well written, it reminded me of a friend of me who started dating a guy who always smelled, she really liked him but could not bare the smell, it took her years to train him but he made it.
mariana
November 24, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Oh man, it would be so meta- if the comments on this poem became a poem.
Joseph Harker
November 24, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m sure Bryan is working on that as we type.
Here’s my stab at making your comment a poem:
Oh man
it would be so meta
if this poem
became a poem
medicatedlady
November 25, 2009 at 11:24 am
God MedicatedLady, all you do is steal things.
poeticgrin
November 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm
love it though i have to agree Medicated Lady gets credit. thanks to both for being good sports and sharing this. have a great night.
Michelle Johnson
November 24, 2009 at 8:46 pm
not only a poem but also a poetic discussion about the high subjects of poetry. the ownership and the making. i must go with Bryan here, sorry lady. one thing is to say something, experience it or share it and another is to shape it into a readable piece. much of my writing are inspired by people’s lines and views. it is very mature of you bryan to be giving any credit for that.
Utopian Fragments
November 25, 2009 at 1:23 am
Love this guys! But not the smelly guy
Jessie Carty
November 25, 2009 at 6:57 am
Thank you, Jessie. I was willing to overlook it but he washed himself of me in a much more effecient manner than he washed himself of daily grim.
medicatedlady
November 25, 2009 at 11:26 am
Armpits, stink, email and men
No wonder it’s hard for me to stay Zen.
Val
November 26, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I absolutely love this poem! I can relate all too well and it’s weird the things that we learn to trick our minds into enjoying for the people we love.
mattacue
November 29, 2009 at 12:18 pm
This just might be the best thing I’ve ever read. From the poem, to the note on the origin of the poem, to the commentary on both. I envision a very scholarly conversation occurring in some MFA program about the literary value of deconstructing e-mail as metaphor for the great need that drives the writer … OMG. The best part of all: Wyatt’s been outed!
Annmarie
November 29, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Remember:
art is in the intent.
http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Halloween/Art%20mask%20bike%20skull.htm
If you intend your email as email, it is email. If you decide that it is art, well then, poetry it is.
Patrice Lynne Young
December 7, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Oh dearest Patrice, it pains me to disagree (at least partly) with you. Art is intent, true enough, and in that way, I do believe Bryan deserves credit. Art is also raw materials and to take someone else’s words and strictly denote them as your own without some sort of reference back to the writer who wrote the words (which Bryan did) is plagarism in my book.
medicatedlady
December 8, 2009 at 10:32 am
It’s not always plagarism…depends on the situation but in this case, we both deserve credit.
medicatedlady
December 8, 2009 at 10:35 am