SUNDAY RERUN: But...

It's time for another Sunday Favorite! If you want to join the party, just click on the Sunday Favorites badge in the left sidebar, and it will take you to Chari's blog and the instructions.

I seem to be on a poetry kick with these. This is a poem I wrote in August of 2001, posted on my personal diary site:

BUT...

It can surprise me sometimes.
The paint looks so good--
smooth, not checkered, not bubbled, not chipped.
But
the head of the screwdriver rips along
where siding and window trim meet,
and suddenly,
strips of color curl away
and other colors reveal themselves.
Sunshine yellow and stormy grey and robin's egg blue.
I wonder if each color suited the mood of the painter
when they were brushed on.

You surprised me, too.
Under all the endearments,
the "I love you"'s, the kisses,
just where your words and your eyes come together,
a strip of my heart peeled away and curled up on itself.
It was only a word, just one word to jolt and astonish:
But.

These boards I'm scraping were never primed,
never prepared.
I wasn't either,
but
I will be next time.