Dad said Smile!
Hard to smile when feeling bad
But he’d insist
Smile!
It felt invasive
Hard to smile when feeling bad
But he’d insist
Smile!
It felt invasive
I wanted to be mad!
But hard to stay mad when forced to smile.
I don’t know if that was right
But I never forgot it
Did I.
But hard to stay mad when forced to smile.
I don’t know if that was right
But I never forgot it
Did I.
Today at dVerse, the pub where poets hang out, we were asked to write a Quadrille (a poem of exactly 44 words) which includes the word smile, in any of its forms. We need more smiles nowadays so I repeated it three times to make it stick. Now visit the poets pub for more smiles, from Nat King Cole to Tim McGraw to Charles Bukowski.
20 comments:
I hear you! Are coerced smiles really smiles? (Dennis Ryle)
Thanks Dennis!
Yvonne, it was the expectation to smile in forced photos back then. I look at my sad face trying to smile in some old pictures and wonder how nobody seemed to notice how unhappy I was. Nowadays, I much prefer to take candid pics of people, preferably while they are in action. I'm sorry you had to go through it.
Thanks for sharing that memory
🎇much love
I like that pondering question at the end, especially. Could go either way.
Your question at the end really raises a back-story - Jae
Nice one!
Had that in my own upbringing, probably like most of people. Infuriating!
Sometimes that forced smile works, sometimes it just makes it worse.... not easy to answer
Yes, irritating and infuriating. I don't know if it worked or not. Maybe only a temporary fix, but least a sigh and a pause, time to rethink a position.
Has anyone ever seen D. T. smile??? Just curious.
I know where you’re coming from, Yvonne. My dad would say smile and then pull a funny face, so I couldn’t help but smile.
Oo I really like the idea of wanting to be mad. Most of our anger really comes down to that. Why do we choose that instead of a smile? I don’t get it, even though I do it too! Lol.
Love your quadrille, many ways to interpret, to wonder, which makes it so intriguing.
I agree with others--not sure how to interpret this one, but that makes it more interesting!
And your question above--no, never a real smile from DT--and never a laugh.
Right....and no music, no art, no pets, no children playing under his desk
nothing worse than a sulky face - but hardly the best advice advice -like poking a grumpy bear
Sigh .. coerced smiles are the most difficult to manage.
Great poem, Yvonne!
Yvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Uncomfortable situation, I hate coercion like that, irrespective of by who or why.
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