To a friend, by Britta Benson

Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

Here’s my response to Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt. This week, the prompt word is ‘flippant’ with a word count of 74. You can read the full post here: https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2022/07/02/weekend-writing-prompt-266-flippant/

There’s a story to this piece. When I read the prompt word ‘flippant’, I immediately thought of an old school friend who flippantly suggested, that if the phone calls to my dad were difficult for me, then I could simply not call him. I was quite upset at the time and haven’t spoken to her since.

Then, today, thinking a little longer about the prompt word, I realized, that I gave a good friend flippant advice once too. Not intentionally. I underestimated her situation. I tried to pretend that things were okay, when they clearly weren’t.

I guess, my old school friend didn’t mean to upset me… Sometimes, we simply get it wrong. Badly.

I am learning. Here’s my poem.

To a friend

I had no idea how bad things were.

Thought you’d get out of whatever made you feel stuck, by sheer luck.

I gave flippant advice, halfhazard titbits of glossy magazine philosophy.

You were clearly clinical, neck craned, staring into dull moonlight, still falling.

Always.

How could I not see that you were getting smaller, distant?

Did we both want to hang on to a normal, long gone, for simple ease, when love required guts?