Tupelo Press 30/30 Poetry Marathon Commentary Days 1-5

By Thomas Page

For the month of January, I will be writing one poem in a “poetry marathon.” The poems will be posted here: https://tupelopress.org/the-3030-poets

As part of the marathon, I will be providing commentary on each of the poems every five days.

General Context:

For this marathon, I’m writing poems for a proposed collection I’m calling Terminal. I have written three other manuscripts (Scaredy Kitt, The Decimated, and Destruction) but I thought it would be interesting to show readers the process of writing a manuscript as it happens. The general theme of the collection is cataloguing what it is like to take care of someone who is experiencing health issues. This collection isn’t about any one person (for those who know me personally, you will know that there are, unfortunately, many people who this could be about) but a amalgamation of various experiences with caring for the sick. There will be a unified “you” in these poems to make it more cohesive to a reader as well as to keep anonymity as requested by at least one of the “yous.”

Day 1: Cop-Out

This poem is one of two that is about a condition one of my relatives experienced being a common way to kill off a character. The writing of this troupe feels lazy to me as it relies on shock value to do away with a character. While this condition is pretty commonly only discovered after it has killed the patient, it does feel like a crutch for writers.

Day 2: Placeholder 

This poem is the other one about a condition that is used to be a common sign for something bad. It is “one of the serious ones” so whenever I told someone about the “you” having it, the reaction was usually the same. The later half is about people discussing this with others without my or the “you’s” knowledge.

Day 3: Dr. Pepper Shot Tips 

We keep shot tips, which you’re not supposed to throw away, in a bottle to safe disposal. These bottles tend to be Dr. Pepper because its the most commonly drunk soda in our house. The second half of the poem is cannibalized from a poem I wrote at USF about looking at my skin in a mirror. That poem, at least to Jay Hopler, wasn’t very good so I don’t know how much of it was really used.

Day 4: Bloodstains 

You will have to clean up messes if you are taking care of someone. This is a combination of several events. Blood is the worst thing to clean up because of the circumstances blood is spilled and the fact that it requires a strong cleaner to get off of carpet. The rhyme of the poem is an abba pattern.

Day 5: Passwords

I keep having to reset the password to medical care portals. One system requires it to be changed every six months or so. The frustration of even getting into these portals inspired the poem, especially when the note in question is something like “get a flu shot.” The poem uses a 12-10-10-12 syllable structure.