skonen_blades

There's an event called A Day at the Races where poets go to the horse races and they each pick a horse name at random from each of the seven races and then use that name as a prompt for a poem. At the end of the day, we read out the 'winning' poem from each race and then whatever other poems we think turned out pretty good. It's a fun day.

This is poem 01 from race 01 and my horse's name was Monte. It's an ode to a caustic and fun friend of mine named Monty who passed away a few years back.

-------------------

Dead friend Monty
You name meant mountain
You weren’t much of a hiker
(With your cane and your sarcasm)
But you faced your storms
Angry and fist raised
Naked on life’s precarious hillside

You insulted us all
to make us laugh and feel noticed
and you did the same to life

For some, spite is a mode of travel
Defiance is a gear
found surprisingly deep in the spirit

Monty, you exposed nerve
Smiling through the rage and pain

My bartender
Pour me a pint and tell I’m ugly
Because I miss you

tags