Serena Malcolm

Let’s play a different type of game:
I’ll pretend that you’re not home late,
If you pretend that you’re ashamed,

I’ll ignore your pathetic state,
If you wipe all that lipstick off
your shirt and make your tie look straight,

I will ignore the telling wafts
of the perfume that’s on your skin
and the alcohol when you cough,

If you don’t act like the victim,
Like hurting me is hurting you,
Like it’s done and she means nothing,

I’ll forget she’s someone that I knew,
I’ll forget that this time makes three,
I’ll pretend I hadn’t a clue,

If you’ll just stop your whiny pleas
If, like a man, you’ll own the blame,
If you’ll just go ahead and leave,
Because I’m tired of that game.

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a terzanelle. I’ll let you read about it here. It certainly was a challenge but I enjoyed it.

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******UPDATE!!!******

Looks like my mind was elsewhere today and I didn’t read the full prompt. Thankfully it was pointed out by a fellow poet and the reworked poem is below. I prefer the original, but this one is a true terzanelle. What do you think?

If you pretend that you’re ashamed,
I’ll pretend that you’re not home late,
Because I’m tired of this game,

I’ll ignore your pathetic state,
If you wipe all that lipstick off,
I’ll pretend that you’re not home late,

I will ignore the telling wafts
Like there’s no perfume on your skin,
If you wipe that lipstick off,

If you don’t act like the victim,
Like hurting me is hurting you,
Like there’s no perfume on your skin,

I’ll forget she’s someone that I knew,
I will not stop you when you leave,
Like hurting me is hurting you,

If you just stop your whiny pleas
If, like a man, you own the blame,
I will not stop you when you leave,
Because I’m tired of this game.