“A Piece Of Dust”, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @brianrrs37 on Twitter)

It was a bit jarring
He rang my bell
Buddy said of poems

“A piece of dust”
What roguery, treachery
To malign my pen
Malign my craft, with such blasphemy

“Dust? Buddy?” I ask myself
And answered forcefully
Though I am only 5 chapters
In

“And what exactly is your profession
Buddy? You carve cadavers, some
You try to cure, sure, but in the end

They get planted, or cremated
They are dust, as much as dust can be
Buddy. “

Yes Buddy, this conversation is imaginary
But you cannot accuse me of anything
It is a post hoc question, which will become dust.

But it will certainly live longer than you, Buddy.
(end)

I was literally reading Plath’s “The Bell Jar” and Plath’s character Buddy called poems “dust”. I didn’t quite get it at first, until Esther responded in her character’s own imaginary conversation, that a poem may be “dust” but it has certainly the capability to outlast a human. BHUUUUU BAMMMM! I love that metaphor! So I found myself replacing Esther in the conversation wanting to respond myself, basically agreeing with her in my own imaginary conversation with Buddy. No, not in love with him, I just simply love Plath’s metaphor here. The title of the poem is an ode to that line where he calls a poem “A piece of dust”. And Esther has an imaginary conversation with Buddy in response.

That is when my “bell” went off. Or light, hey, it’s a metaphor ok?