Over at dVerse Poets’ Pub tonight (http://dversepoets.com/2012/08/04/poetics-history-herstory-time-machines/) the lovely Brian Miller has set the challenge to write something about history – any kind of history and from any angle… so here’s a poem about perspectives on past events…
What Happened
What happened?
What happened?
A change. A thought.
Best not acted on but…
A dare. A cruel lip. A wink.
Unkind words overheard.
A snub. A blink. A slip.
An embarrassment.
A crossed line.
At the wrong moment.
At the right time.
An uncomfortable silence.
Were you there?
Did you see?
What happened?
What happened?
And your story is
completely different
to mine.
Found objects may tell…
Personal archaeology
that time can’t rot.
A clichéd match struck
to confessional letters.
Punch delete on emails.
Answerphones to purge.
(“I’m sorry, so sorry, so sorry…
I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t…”)
Digital echoes don’t gather dust.
What happened?
What happened?
You write it down.
Use every available resource.
Propaganda and careful PR.
You vouchsafe via witnesses,
sought out, flattered and bought.
You politicise and preen them.
You write it all down.
We suck it all up.
Prove who you are.
What happened?
What happened?
You wrote history.
I know your truth.
And here’s song… It’s totally unrelated but was the first thing that popped into my head at the word “History”… And I love Dame Shirley.
Yes, whose story?. Whose voice? History is the record of the winner. Interesting theme you explore.
Thanks John. Yes, I agree, it’s about whoever has the power to create the accepted record of any situation… however big or small the original happening. Thanks for reading.
Well done Holly you certainly stepped up to the mark!
Thanks – dVerse is excellent. Such a brilliant variety of poets.
can anyone join in??
Sure – they have some general rules (which they put at the bottom of each post). I’ve put the link at the top of this page for the “History” one. It’s very inspiring!
Beautiful and true, I had to share it. I like your play on ambiguity (of stories and words):
“At the wrong moment.
At the right time”
Everyone has their own take on history; as soon as it touches them, you can never expect objectivity. But can you ever expect objectivity when it comes to events and human beings? I’d say hardly. That’s why everyone’s story is so interesting to discover… Thank you.
Thank you Aimee.
Yes, I agree: the stories of individuals are usually that much more interesting than what the text books tell us… Objectivity is virtually impossible.
Found objects may tell…
Personal archaeology
that time can’t rot….dang great line…and interesting too how you bring out how our perspectives are different…no two people seeing things the exact same way….even if it is right in front of us…also history changes perspective based on who is telling it even if they are not there….great piece…
Thank you very much Brian – it was your prompt got me thinking! And hey, I couldn’t be bothered to research any actual history… lol
Oh I do like this. A poem that kills with needles, not knives. Excellent!!
Happy you like this Seb – as I know you’re someone who appreciates the darker edges of things…
I really like this section:
“A dare. A cruel lip. A wink.
Unkind words overheard.
A snub. A blink. A slip.
An embarrassment.
A crossed line.
At the wrong moment.
At the right time.”
Love the short, punchy statements.
Hey, thanks very much. I don’t always write the poem in the order it eventually appears on the page, but in this case, this was the section that came to me first. And the rest grew from there. So it’s not quite the beginning I started at, but nearly…
I recently read that memory isn’t like a photograph retrieved, but is more like painting the photograph from memory… so whose story, what story, how do we know that what we remember is what really happened? I really enjoyed this. Great take on the prompt.
That’s a really interesting concept about the photo and the painting Serena – it makes a lot of sense. Thanks for reading.
I like your perspective on history…it depends on the writer and his words as it carries through the years ~
I also like the last two lines….history written is not always the truth ~
http://everydayamazin.blogspot.ca/2012/08/sunset.html
Thanks Grace.
This line just leaped out at me “Digital echoes don’t gather dust.” I love the ambiguity of voice in this poem
I do like a bit of ambiguity if I can get it in there. Thanks Marousia.
Wonderful take on the prompt. We all know those he said/she said stories. Well done. k.
It’s a theme as old as time itself I guess… which is what made it such a good prompt to work from. Thanks Karin.
ash, paper and digital,
a flower blooms in its season
we are small pieces of pattern too
Aren’t we just! Thanks Lucy.
A clever poem, you sure met the brief! Agree history as ‘perspectives on past’ and have seen history rewritten many times, especially personal history
Well done ~ good read.
… and I had to come back to say I absolutely adore the Dame Shirley Bassey / Propellerheads vid, now a favourite for me
Cool. She is certainly rather fabulous! I couldn’t resist putting that in here!
Glad you liked Polly – yes, I agree, it’s often he or she who shouts loudest who gets their voice remembered. Not wishing to go all religious, but I often think of that line, “O still small voice of calm…”
very cool…history is always seen through different glasses, mingling with our own experience and who we are…very well penned polly..
Thanks Claudia – much appreciated.
…and sorry…got distracted by polly’s comment above..didn’t mean to call you polly…smiles
No problem – it’s kind of a compliment as she’s lovely too!
An interesting take, Holly Anne. History is an interesting thing in the mere concept of it; we tend to believe what is written about it, without taking into account it was “his” story, meaning whoever wrote the account probably tweeked it to fit his agenda. Even textbooks are suspect, as they are written by men. The only history we can be sure of is what we actually saw and heard, but even then, the same incident seen through another’s eyes can be recalled quite differently than what you remember happening.
Excellent write!
Thanks Charles and you make excellent observations – true of many situations from a disagreement between neighbours to an international war. Some things never seem to change.
Very good! I’m going to check them out. Thanks
for posting the link
You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy.
Excellent – thought of some old British General from the empire days torching a town or slaghtering the locals. And we were taught that the world loved us! And the Mail and Telegraph (and that twonk tory MP) can’t accept any different. You have extreme talent!
Wow – thanks very much. I wonder, are you referring to Boris…?
Yes and that fool who derided the opening ceremony. Boris is using the Claudius way to get to power. Everyone thinks you are a buffoon, not a threat and before we know it…..Scary
Scary indeed…
Fabulous poem, you’re speaking ‘my language’ here, that history is written by the winners, how propaganda is another word for ‘lie’ and that the history we know and ‘love’ and accept is, mostly lies. There is history of the academics who write for politicians and the true history of the people, and by people I mean people of the world, not a single country. Great stuff.
Hey, thank you very much – your language is one that appeals to me.
a really nice beat to the lines!
esp liked,
“Personal archaeology
that time can’t rot”
and the flip in :
“At the wrong moment.
At the right time.”
really seemed to capture the two sides of a view for me
nice, thanks hollyanne
Well thank you – really pleased you liked it.
I really like the approach you took to the prompt.
Yay! Thank you!
There is their truth, my truth and THE truth, which is not often discovered. I love your take on PR and fiction writing!
Thanks Viv – glad you enjoyed.
very nice poem, Holly. I liked the read.
Ciao, Francina
Aw, thanks Francina.