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Happy Birthday To Me

by Gilly Wigley

I can't quit you
you're like a candle that won't blow out
one of those trick candles people place atop cakes
the kind with the cringe-worthy rendition of Happy Birthday screaming from the base
each time sung slower
more out of tune
more pathetic
as if taunting me with my incompetence
yet each time the flame relights
brighter than before
fool me once, shame on you
fool me twice, shame on me
I can't quit you
I can't blow you out
I can't stick you in the freezer to smother that 8-bit taunting
nor drown you in the sink to snuff the flame
the only solution to this problem of mine
is that you change
or you let me go
But change is not in your vocabulary
so why would I expect you to change now?
yet you can't seem to quit me either
you can't seem to let me go
you set me on the back burner to simmer
in case your dinner plans fall thru
only to leave me there for days on end
because heaven forbid your dinner plans might still fall thru
I can't quit you
I can't blow you out
I can't get you to admit that our friendship will never work
to admit that we're better off apart
that our priorities will never line up
I can't quit you
I can't blow you out
so instead I will take this trick candle
the one with the cringe-worthy rendition of Happy Birthday screaming from the base
and toss it in a dumpster with all your things
all the memories of our time
and let you burn yourself out
burn yourself to ashes
as I walk away
never to look back

01/27/2014

Posted on 01/27/2014
Copyright © 2024 Gilly Wigley

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 01/27/14 at 08:29 PM

Brilliant writing. Reads like a very bad dream. Excellent use of repetition to enforce the message. Friendships come and go, and like love, if they're meant to endure...survive, overcome and evolve, providing one party isn't parasitic to the other.

Posted by Joe Cramer on 01/28/14 at 05:06 PM

... excellent.....

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