Bad Poetry, Good Poetry

Today, I wrote poetry.⠀

Sloppy poetry. Crappy poetry.⠀

All mush and no literary sense.⠀

After writing it, I leaned over the balcony rail and shouted out that I had written bad poetry. ⠀

Cute guy next door had his headphones on, his head bobbing to heavy metal or hard rock, I wouldn't know. He never cared.⠀

Opposite door orthodox aunty ⠀

muttered profanities under her breathe, ⠀

as she tried to scan my tank top ⠀

and torn jeans with her roving eyes. ⠀

She never cared.⠀

Third floor little girl rode ⠀

on her Hello Kitty bicycle, ⠀

waving to her girl friends enthusiastically. ⠀

She, they, never cared.⠀

Mum, dad and brother came running ⠀

to the balcony, thinking that I had fallen off. Looking at my Moleskine notebook ⠀

and my spidery penmanship, they sniggered and asked me to join for dinner ⠀

without wasting my time in writing crap. ⠀

They, obviously, never ever cared.⠀

I finally realized that not a single soul cared about something that could find a place⠀

in literary magazines, though it was bad. ⠀

That which could lead to my fame or infamy, ⠀

I wouldn't know. ⠀

I skipped the dreaded dinner consisting of bland pancakes with spiced vegetable filling. ⠀

I was so full of words that my ⠀

hunger pangs went unnoticed.⠀

Later, I sat down again to write ⠀

some real poetry. Or so I thought.⠀

Nicking all the cottage cheese cubes ⠀

from yesterday's leftover sandwich, ⠀

I scribbled something literary on a fresh sheet, chewing on the cubes ⠀

to make my mind churn words.⠀

After writing, I leaned over the balcony rail ⠀

and shouted out that I had ⠀

written good poetry.⠀

Alas! The entire apartment complex ⠀

had gone to sleep. Silence. ⠀

Shattered only by my unasked bawl. ⠀

Yes, they never cared about poetry, ⠀

be it bad or good.⠀

But something glinted, ⠀

illuminating my forlorn cheeks. ⠀

I looked up and saw the moon. ⠀

I think she smiled.⠀

I popped a champagne, took a few swigs ⠀

and read out both my sappy ⠀

and sterling poetry to my lone listener.⠀

She always cared. 🌙⠀