Roadkill (a love poem)
Tiny Lights, Poem 10
“You’d search everywhere for something to wrap it in…and lay it in the backseat in some contortion that would spare its wings.”
The inspiration for this poem
Writing/Meditation Prompts:
Sit in silence with who you are and what you have brought into the world. Maybe it is simply your silence and observations. Maybe it is an accomplishment. Maybe something you made or created. Maybe it’s your own survival. Honor it, whatever it is.
Do you have a family heirloom to write about? Is there something that deserves some words to explain what it means and why?
Can you create a family or personal treasure by recording right now your thoughts about something meaningful in your life that you would like to see live on after you are dead and gone?
Where would you place it? Perhaps it could go inside something of value. Words to accompany a treasure make it millions of times more valuable!
Take joy in finding something worthwhile to name and/or claim as your own. That’s how to build a legacy!
This poem has become a mainstay at my readings and classes because of the story behind how such a metaphor could become a love story. The short version is it happened in a writing class where we were asked to think of a special family heirloom to write about, and I was blank except for one inappropriate word. When the instructor asked what I had chosen I mumbled the word “roadkill” under my breath. He was so intrigued that he encouraged me to explore it. This is what came out. The next day he pulled me aside and asked if I would share. After reading it he asked if I knew that this was a love poem. I did not. But in hindsight it became one of the gifts writing has given me: a family heirloom capturing my love. You can read the bigger story here under the title: Roadkill: How to Retell Your Story and Reinvent Your Life. You will also find in that blog 10 practical ideas to empower you to tell the messy, beautiful story of your life, your way.
