Alizabeth McDermott

Poem: RE:

Poem: 4:05 to 5:04

Poem: Memory 

Slam Poem: Yukon's Cherry Coke Phobia Experiment 

Slam Poem: 13 Steps to Successfully Kidnap Someone 

Group Poem: Melting Into Beauty 

Screenplay: The Junebugs' Night Out 

RE: 

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. 

I imagine your last two days to be 

That one instagram story about a concert you saw, 

Or your latest facebook post of gardening on a Sunday afternoon, 

Or perhaps even the photo you attached to your reply last week 

Depicting your grandson’s sixth birthday, 

With his youthful optimistic eyes

And joyful grin covered in cake. 

Through this one image you’ve chosen 

I can almost smell the fruit punch, 

Feel the cheerfulness in every corner of the room,

And hear his relentless laughter

That can only suggest he does not know of the unrest that exists in this place

And that can only suggest he has never seen the hate 

You portray to those, whose lives you cannot relate to

Does he know the words you use

When your back is turned to him? 

I do not understand how you allow him to look up to someone 

Who looks down on others. 

But he still smiles when he looks at you, 

And he still smiles for your camera.

I hope this found you well

Or maybe you found it to be rather distasteful,

But the future may not be the thoughts on a glowing white page

Unless we begin to recognize the struggles of those masked by an icon,

The struggles you refuse to admit grow from your own hate,

And release our dispositions of our differences. 

I hope this found you well

Or else we’ll just have to try again next week.

4:05 TO 5:04 

How long does it take to change 

Himself 

A person

A life

How long does it take to heal

My soul

This trust 

A bullet wound 

How long does it take to end

Maybe never

A lifetime

59 minutes 

How am I to know if the bullet 

Was for him

Or me

MEMORY

I wanted to love the memory, 

But you left me with nothing 

But scars half healed and 

Reopened with every

Hope half built by these counterfeit

Memories I made without you to 

Repair a mind you splintered

And remold a dream you split.