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September 19, 2019

“Repetition.” {Spoken Word Video} ~ Phil Kaye

My mother taught me this trick.

If you repeat something over and over again it loses its meaning.

For example,

Homework, homework, homework, homework, homework, homework, homework, homework

See, nothing.

Our lives, she said. Are the same way.

If you watch the sunset too often it just becomes 6 p.m.

If you make the same mistake over and over, you’ll stop calling it a mistake.

If you just wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up

One day you’ll forget why.

Nothing is forever, she said.

My parents left each other when I was seven years old.

Before their last argument, they sent me off to the neighbor’s house,

Like some astronaut jettisoned from the shuttle

When I came back there was no gravity in our home, beds floating.

I imagined it as an accident, that when I left

They whispered to each other “I love you” so many times over

that they forgot what it meant.

~

Watch the full video below. 

~

Check out Phil’s books here

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Phil Kaye  |  Contribution: 120

author: Phil Kaye

Image: Button Poetry/YouTube

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