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Joanna Bloody

by  keithcaddy

Posted: Sunday, May 19, 2024
Word Count: 300
Summary: it is about the piano that we had when I was a child. It was a very dominant piece of equipment, that nobody really managed to play well. This poem explores and expresses the frustration of not being able to master a musical instrument when so many people do.




Joanna Bloody

Sits in the corner with the broadest smile.
When nothing's funny, which unsettles, while
You dominate without a word, except those tattoed on your skin,
Go on - speak - say something, let the conversation begin.
But you never speak, just demand attention
And amuse yourself with condescension.
A black widow spider, you lured us to your web
and sucked out our spirit until all self-belief was dead.
and all the books upon your head that you never wrote and never read
are filled with beauty never said.

Mother tried to make you feel
A part of us; a family, real.
But she was clumsy, deliberate, slow,
your secrets weren't for her to know.
But she persevered and, on a bed,
she slept beside you 'til she was dead.
And when they took her from the room
All we could smell was your perfume.
you kept a grin through all that pain
And treated us with quiet disdain.

I blame myself for never quite
Overcoming your exacting spite.
I never made the effort to
Become intimate enough with you.
It was too demanding, too much work,
To try and tame your vicious smirk.
So I left you there to squat and sulk -
A vicious bitch; a pompous hulk.
And when we looked at you, you'd freeze
And leave us searching for the keys.

Joanna Bloody - you've got a nerve
To challenge the fate that you deserve.
With your Victorian values and two-tone smile,
And candle holders, hinged and vile.
And the worm that quietly infested your bones
Has robbed you of your arrogant tone.
They dragged you from the room one day,
And took you somewhere far away.
I'm glad they did what they had to do,
and beat the life clean out of you.