Seven Apologies
1:
I’d apologise to my mother
in sketch pen and sequin
writing, “Sorry. I won’t do it again,”
in a cloud of pink and gold chamki
yesterday, I found these apologies again
(seven in total) still shiny with guilt.
2:
The roses have apologised for you
dressed in a triangle of plastic,
choked by a pink nylon ribbon
to a woman who slices their stems
and sticks them in murky water,
forgotten and never really forgiven.
3: Ladies, pick your Apology Fighter:
Polite Apologiser, Uncertain Apologiser,
MyFactsStartWithSorryBut Apologiser,
Apologiser wary of being bossy,
Email Apologiser Extraordinaire
Sorry for my appearance Apologiser,
Sorry for my disappearance Apologiser,
Sorry for apologising Apologiser
SorryX3 + a little laugh Apologiser
4:
And then there was was an apology
that left his lips quite easily
to settle down inside her
freeing him of that one thing
weighing her down with everything.
5: Adage outside a toilet or something, somewhere:
A sorry chased by an excuse
is a sorry excuse of an apology.
6:
At a party I met this girl who began,
“I apologise for coming from
a place of privilege but…” but,
I couldn’t hear what she said after that
I’d started to imagine this Place of Privilege
where she her floated
on a large, yellow, rubber duck
in a large, blue swimming pool
singing something terrible and out of tune.
7:
In the park, I hear a mother
ask her child, “Are you really sorry,
or are you scared of punishment?”
