Submitting this to d'Verse Poets where the prompt today (hosted by Mark Kerstetter) is to "imagine that person who is other than you, and think about how you might construct a dramatic monologue in poetry..." so here goes... in my "Other" character's voice...
The Other Throne read by Patricia Spreng
The Other Throne
My deah,
may ah remind you…
I was heah way befohr you were all thayt.
Sweet and chahming,
alahming I was…
ALAH-MING.
I have my stories.
Some you will neveh heah….
an I learn a thing or two, I did.
Ushully from my own damn mistakes,
tryin to fix things mah self.
But, you so busy thinkin you know it all,
and everybody gonna luhv you cause you talk so sweet.
Damn, stop that crap talkin’ sweet to me.
Look at me…
Go ahed. Really… look at me.
Cuz I was you,
and yous gon be me… someday
an ther ain’t no sweet talk eveh gon cover up that fac.
You kids like ta say “been theh, done that.”
Like no one else has eveh been theh or done that.
Oh, you been theh and done that allraht.
Big wallup whoopdee do.
So was I,
and my muthah befor me,
and her muthah befor her.
Open yo eyes girl.
Don’t you dare forget
I have lived through more of yo ‘that’
and been more of yo ‘there’
than you have eveh even thawd of yet.
Payshion, lust, greed, pain…
I have lived, ...no …
I have survahved through loving and losing
beyond what your tiny head
can even dream.
So don be talkin sweet to me.
Preten’in ahm some sweet lady I aint.
Just cause I’m old,
an sittin heah in this wheel chaya,
I aint’ sweet.
I mad as hell.
And I don wan be heah.
Do not come bouncin’ in heah
shakin me up with yo sweetness
tellin me when to eat,
or when to clap to those stupid songs you play.
Only one you makin feel bettah is you,
not me.
You cant heah the music in my head.
You cant see me dancing.
You leave me be.
I have my eyes close
cuz I wan to
and that’s where I be ...
in my dreams.
Cuz this heah is not my realitee.
Take your place girl
and do not wake me.
In my dreams,
this heah ain no wheel chaya…
its my throne.
Patricia Spreng
