Name: If I Died Today
Duration: P00H01M34S
Description: A poem about making it home to your family because you love them.

If I Died Today

from Loudmouth: Page and Pub Poems by Michael Botur

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

$1 NZD or more
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

A poem about making it home to your family because you love them.

lyrics

If I Died Today

If I was blown off my bike today
Into an oncoming Mack truck
And became a smear of gravel and grey and dust
I’d sit with God at the pub
And ask him to rewind. Back, bro, back, replay
I’d travel at 60 kays
Snail-slow, but know I was heading
To play the hugging game with my baby at the door
Lift him up where the light is
And accept everything he does as is.

I’d tell everyone that I loved them
I’d admit I respect critics and cynics who tax and vex
I’d shrink to a slug hugging the motorway
Inching an entire 80 years
To worm up to your door
I’d begin my journey at birth
and make it home before you died
And be with you for a nanosec
Wouldn’t waste time critiquing dirty dishes’ grease
I’d admire a single increment
One micron of your skin.
drink your caramel irises in

I could move so slow I’d get there at the end of the world
And see you just before we disintegrate into space.
That having said, I’m dead
if I stay out here
and you need me to change a nappy, put the kettle on
So I nudge the throttle up to a thousand kays
And gobble up the Southern Motorway.
What I do is squeeze more of you into my day.

credits

from Loudmouth: Page and Pub Poems, released March 7, 2021
Loudmouth: Page and Pub Poems 2005-2020
By Michael Botur

license

about

Michael Botur Whangarei, New Zealand

Michael Botur is a New Zealand poet and fiction writer of European heritage. He is author of ten books and has won a bunch of bigshot writing awards.
'Loudmouth: Page and Pub Poems' collects 15 years of spoken word verse from one of NZ's most dynamic young poets. Perfect for anyone who loves the personal mixed w the political, a little bit of hip hop and plenty of attitude.
www.nzshortstories.com ... more