The Things I've Carried

Day 1: I followed the prompt on readwritepoem.org, which said to choose five songs at random (using shuffle) and use the titles in a poem. The five songs that came up were:

*Stop to Love—Luther Vandross

*In My Life—Les Miserables soundtrack

*Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters—Elton John

*Everybody is a Star—The Pointer Sisters

*These Arms of Mine—Otis Redding

This seemed like it would be easier than it was. Here's the poem:

The Things I've Carried

If you could see all

These arms of mine have held

You’d know I’m not a poor woman

Despite the holes in my life.

Bodies, yes, but emptiness too,

Have slept in my embrace,

I’ve danced with Mona Lisas and mad hatters

And carried my broken shoes home

Past off-duty cabs and empty newsstands

On this glittering isle

Where everybody is a star

That cannot find the sky.

I will follow the yellow brick road home now

Keep holding onto these dreams alone

Unless you make me stop

To love you.