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Andrea Gibson, performing in Longmont, CO.
About Button:
Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.
In croatia In 2006 Alinka and drazen broke up Having no idea what to do with the Relics from the four years of their love They created the museum of broken Relationships for years now they've been Collecting items from the brokenhearted All over the world each day treasures Arrive at the museum's door a small Bottle of a lover's tears the last Checkbook with both partners names a Shiny watch with the pin pulled out the Second he said i love you for the first Time In the museum of broken relationships There was a toaster beside it a note When i moved across the country i took The toaster that'll show you how you're Gonna toast anything now in another Display there was a cell phone written Beside it the words he gave me his own Cell phone so i couldn't call him Anymore there was a letter t from a Keyboard from a couple whose online Passion died after their first real life Encounter the keyboard taken apart in a Commitment to never again trust a Computer key to open one's heart In the museum of broken relationships You can find a letter from a 13 year old Boy to his first love in sarajevo Written before leaving to escape the war You can find an air sickness bag from a
Couple whose relationship did not Survive the turbulence of long distance You can find an axe Used to chop up the furniture of a Partner who had an affair giving new Traumatic meaning to the phrase Splitting up there was a jar of love Incense with a note that says it simply Doesn't work there was a display case With a pair of paper mache breasts Gifted by a woman whose husband insisted She wear them during sex they were Bigger than mine she said they turned Him on and i laughed And in the museum of broken Relationships in croatia there were Three juggling balls sewn by hand by my Hands from material cut from my socks You say though i am certain it was my Underwear either way the juggling balls Were made from what i wore underneath What everyone could see and sewn with Precision the way my grandma taught me Before dying of a broken heart and Leaving me a thimble collection so i Could be someone strong enough to keep Things from falling apart the first time I saw you I fell apart i had no idea who you were You walked into a studio i was in and Walked out minutes later i was a puddle In the parking lot my friend's hand on My back asking me what was wrong I couldn't explain it it was 2003. i had
No woo-woo in me back then i didn't Believe in reincarnation i just knew i Loved you once And would again Months later still not knowing who you Were i saw you on tv reporting the Invasion of a rock then the occupation Of palestine a blood fire in the sky Above you and you not flinching Or i thought you weren't flinching until We started sharing a bed and i could see The war behind your eyelids how you tore The covers off every morning like a kid Unwrapping a gift like the dawn of a Single day was everything you'd ever put On your christmas list i'd still be Sleeping when you'd leave for circus Practice Circus practice where you'd walk the Tightrope twirl on trapeze bars then Come home and pull me into the front Yard to teach me how to toss juggling Balls into a still blushing sky when i Think about why we broke up while you Flew all the way to croatia to let go of The juggling balls i made you i know it Was because i was a terrible juggler I couldn't figure out how to hold Something and set it free at the same Time so i dropped the ball convinced Myself i was up in the air about you and Really i was up in the air about me It's what we do we turn our bodies into Museums of broken relationships blame
The checkbook the affair the bottled up Tears blame the toast going stale the Day after the wedding we rip the letter Off the keyboard instead of control Command escape delete say it was the Turbulence of long distance instead of The baggage unclaimed but at the Carousel of clarity Otherwise known As 15 years of therapy i see I wasn't running from the war back then I was running from the peace the love i Did not believe i was worth and because That lie held so much grief i don't know That i ever got over you as much as i Got under the engine of myself to fix The machine of my love which now Runs okay But still runs way too much If you know what i mean And i know you know what i mean Because this was not the first lifetime We said goodbye Without wanting to say goodbye Was it You
