 |
| Phoebe Jonchuck died Thursday when she was tossed from the Dick Misener Bridge in St. Petersburg. At her memorial service Wednesday in Tampa, those who knew her spoke of a girl with an infectious smile who learned to love going to school and told friends she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up. There was scant mention of John Jonchuck, 25, her father, who remains jailed, accused of dropping the little girl to her death. --Dan Sullivan, Tampa Bay Times, January 14, 2015 |
Long hair and the voice of a hummingbird
Long hair and the voice of a hummingbird
I want a ticket to anywhere
I want a ticket to anywhere
Hummingbirds want a stronger voice, and I
long for anywhere, my ticket in my hair
Oh daddy dear you know you’re still number one
Oh daddy dear you know you’re still number one
This is just a fairytale happening in a supermarket
This is just a fairytale happening in a supermarket
Dear daddy: you’re a number in a supermarket
just as this is happening. Oh, one fairytale stills.
Because he’s all I ever knew of love
Because he’s all I ever knew of love
He only loves those things because he loves to see them break
He only loves those things because he loves to see them break
I break because he’s all he ever knew of love, because
those things he sees love, love only him too.
Oh daddy, I love you because you were
my ticket to anywhere, because all you ever knew of love
was long hair, stillness, and numbers in a supermarket. You said:
These things just happen, dear
I want the voice of a hummingbird, a fairytale one,
who only loves to see me unbroken.
Author's note: Lyrics borrowed from the following artists and songs, in order: “Can You Hear Me?” by Missy Elliott featuring TLC; “Fast Car,” by Tracey Chapman; “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper; “Fairytale in a Supermarket” by The Raincoats; “Criminal” by Fiona Apple; “Doll Parts” by Hole.
Marybeth Rua-Larsen is a lover of form in poetry. Just about any form. Her chapbook Nothing In-Between was released from Barefoot Muse Press last year.