My Poem: Manqué: Gen

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Title: Manqué
Rating: Gen
Number of Lines: 8
Prompt: manqué

‘I still expect to see your name in print,
in letters bold along unbroken spine.’
Like a lottery ticket that been scratched
until the winning numbers are long gone
or a phoenix with lungs so full of ash
the laws of flight and rebirth surrender
my modern telegraph can’t STOP relay
the odd disgrace of a something manqué

Comments

[smallhobbit]

That's sad, but manque was never going to be easy.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I had to look the word up. It was new to me. But I have a friend, a former co-worker, text me that she keeps expecting to see my name on a book at the bookstore or airport, and I know it's a compliment but it's so far removed from where I am and what is possible for me after all the decisions I've made, it makes me feel very bad. There's absolutely no story inside me for commercial publication. Or poem either, for that matter.

[debriswoman]

A poignant response to a tricky prompt. And such a sad word.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! Yes, it was a sad word.