Poem: Untitled Conversation

by William Amir

(photo by Umberto)

Untitled Conversation

I stand up on stage,

My exterior shatters.

And it shatters, it shatters, it shatters.

It is left obliterated,

My mind like a gulping goldfish.

And it gulps, it gulps, it gulps.

I cannot speak,

My eyes flutter round the room.

And they flutter, they flutter, they flutter.

I smile,

My soul panicking.

And it panics, it panics, it panics.

For some context, I was with my best friend in Guildford a year ago and he introduced me to some of his friends from his university; one of these friends, a girl called Skye, was with her boyfriend in a Tesco express. As we went to introduce ourselves to each other, we both found we could not speak. According to my friend, it was as if he had just seen a 'glitch' in reality as normally both of us are very charismatic and outgoing people. But for an entire attempted 30 second introduction neither of us could say anything to each other and we continuously stuttered. The conversation just didn't work and didn't mesh at all; it was bizarre. I've never had this happen to me before, and never since. Skye and I are decent friends now, and we both agree that it was absurd.