Petra
Hello not real name, hello what it is I answer to these days, goodbye mother’s blessing, holy baptism, birth papers, penmanship practice. Hello, city of rock, Christ’s apostle, she who survived a great wave, as I wave goodbye, given name, hello, moniker, sobriquet, pet name, hello, Petra, Petra Pan, turning my head toward shadows, away from glum certainties of old age, call my name and diminutive, the child replies.
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(Just let me keep writing these terrible things, okay, I’ll get to the good stuff maybe, maybe soon.)
Version with proper line cuts:
Petra
Hello not real name, hello what it is I answer to these days, goodbye
mother’s blessing, holy baptism, birth papers, penmanship practice.
Hello, city of rock, Christ’s apostle, she who survived a great wave,
as I wave goodbye, given name, hello, moniker, sobriquet, pet name,
hello, Petra, Petra Pan, turning my head toward shadows, away from
glum certainties of old age, call my name and diminutive, the child replies.
I don’t know why you think this is terrible; tangina, ang galing naman nito, both as a poem and as a collection of musings on a nickname. I’d say it’s worthy to be tattooed somewhere on my body, if I ever get drunk enough.
I’m hurt by what I perceive is sarcasm!
It isn’t. I’m sorry you feel that way about my comment, but I really do like your poem, and I suppose I should’ve written that instead.
Oh, it’s all right, I’m just really sensitive and scared because it’s been a long time since I’ve done this. Thank you, though, for reading and saying so; you have helped!