"Earthquake", Amber Tamblyn

[ninasafiri.livejournal.com]

My entire life has been a huge earthquake
I slept through. All I know are the aftershocks.

The sound of glass being swept up
in my lover’s bedroom.

A story I don’t remember telling is the headline
of every newspaper the morning after.

My blackout in big lights.
All I see is the damage I’ve done.

My mother is the news anchor,
never allowing me to escape her natural disaster.

My father is the kindly neighbor
bringing me a candle and asking me about my injuries.

I read a diary full of old
New Year’s resolutions:

1) Ignore the commentary on your comical thighs.
2) Write more than just repeating his favorite song’s lyrics.

3) Report every shooting star to Mindy while out of town.
4) Tell him you love him before he figures out that you don’t.

My friends lie to me like a government.
They say the wreckage isn’t as bad as it seems.

My old flames head up relief efforts,
raising money to help the hurt survive me.

My thoughts are homeless dogs running wild.
I just want to know the truth.

I’d like to take the Richter Scale
out for a romantic lie detector test

and when the mood’s right,
ask what it really thinks of me.

When it doesn’t respond, I’ll tell everyone
to sleep in their cars, to move to Florida

where hurricanes announce themselves
before destroying everything.

Comments

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

This feels really weak to me.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I'm not finding anything redeemable. Is this person really a published poet?

[ninasafiri.livejournal.com]

i googled them and they came up under actress/poet, so i figured it was ok to post

if that's not, i'll happily remove at a mod notice

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I'm not suggesting you erred on posting it, just that I'm a bit staggered that she could be published.

[ninasafiri.livejournal.com]

that's fine :) i was just making sure that i was ok in posting it.

[moodyriver.livejournal.com]

I've actually seen her collection at my local library (the name popped out to me on the shelf since I know her as an actress), so I think you're good. But yeah...not impressed by this.

[bloodrebel333.livejournal.com]

Yes, really a published poet, but admittedly she was quite young when she began publishing. When she was 22 (in 2005), Simon & Schuster published "a book of poems that she wrote over the span of seven years".

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

That is so discouraging. This is really poor.

[bloodrebel333.livejournal.com]

Think of it this way: she might've been fifteen when she wrote this, in which case we can only blame her editor for enabling her to share her teenage, would-be deep thoughts with the world.

[sirenoftitan1.livejournal.com]

She was famous as a TV actress first, I believe...Joan of Arcadia. Take that as you will.

[kingnixon.livejournal.com]

not liking it is fine, i don't either mostly. but you're just being a dick now. yes she is a published poet; people are allowed to publish things you don't like. someone thought it was worth publishing and someone else thought it was worth posting, and imo it's better than half the stuff posted here

Mod note.

[moireach.livejournal.com]

No name calling. Keep it civil.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Fine. Some like this. Some don't. I don't. I should have just come out and said it rather than expressing my discouragement about the fact that it is, apparently, published material.

I do disagree with you about the comm, though. I would say 92% of what is posted is exemplary.

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

Oh good, it's not just me, then.

[everyforever.livejournal.com]

i like a lot of this... by itself. as a whole i'm kind of meh-y about it, but certain lines/images are nice.

[haggispatrol.livejournal.com]

Some of the images are wonderful, but the entirety is a bit teen-angsty. Still, all poets have to start somewhere. She might improve.