An Original Thought
“Have you ever had a wholly original thought?”
the professor asked
(not cruelly nor sarcastically, merely for information).
And I had to stop a moment
and wonder if I really had.
Raised religious,
so many words, sentiments,
(buzzphrases, actually)
were programmed into me
little square holes of doctrine
like punches in old-style Hollerith cards,
ready to be regurgitated on command.
So many songs sung,
they weren’t mine,
but it’s as if my love for them made them mine.
So many books read,
so many loved,
that sweet golden phrases
fitted into my brain
like morphine into opiate receptors,
until I, poor hapless addict,
could no longer believe they were not a part of me.
I would quote, and only half-realize I was quoting,
and felt a fraud
to people who thought I was witty.
So, after all, I was quite prepared
to answer “no” to my professor’s question.
But, wait!-hold on a minute-
Does this count?
Becky Sirrine is no kind of published poet. She has been a Legislative Assistant at the Arizona Legislature for the past twelve years. She recently found her poetic voice again, after a long hiatus, and has been utterly unable to shut it up. She is a divorced mother of five, who lives in Mesa, Arizona, with two of her adult children, two of her four grandchildren, and her much loved and pampered three pet tarantulas. See more of Becky’s work here.
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