A little while ago, I did one of my #whatthehaiku videos about Donna Hayward. It turned into quite a long poem comprising seven different haiku poems. I felt like I wanted to develop it a little bit and turn it into something else. I first thought about doing another sonnet to go with the ones I did for Laura, Agent Cooper and BOB. Things went in a different direction, however, and I ended up with this instead. It’s just free verse but constructed with rhyming couplets all the way through. The tone ended up a bit more flippant than I was aiming for but I’m quite happy with the end result. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
A Ditty for Donna
This is the story of Laura’s best friend
A woman in trouble who was fine in the end
She’s a lesson to all of us in the right attitude
And how we shouldn’t play around with our dead best friend’s dude
A bright girl, she’s guaranteed straight A’s
Advantage means she can choose future ways
A rich, full life all laid out for her until
Her friend becomes a monster’s chosen kill
That friend gone but not cold in the ground
Our Miss Hayward goes wayward, playing around
With her lost one’s lover, all brooding and untamed
Who may soon for the corpse’s appearance be blamed
Under cover of duty, she searches for answers
With blind loyalty and all the smarts that are hers
She rants at a grave and pursues a physician
Indulging her new boyfriend’s prowess as musician
That boy will desert her when things go south
After secrets are plucked from an agoraphobe’s mouth
When their confederate cousin is brutally slain
He’ll ride off and leave her alone and in pain
He’ll need her ere long to help him disentangle
Himself from scandal in which he’s left to dangle
A femme fatale has him grasped in her claws
Before Donna sweeps in and his freedom restores
Burning rubber, he leaves her once more
For a journey South to bask on a Mexican shore
No, no happy ending for Donna and James
Her dead best friend’s squeeze can’t stop playing games
No more bright future awaits Will’s eldest daughter
Just questions of parentage in the wake of that slaughter
She begins to suspect that she’s really a Horne
Such doubt as there is about how she was born.
So off to New York City she escapes to reboot
Where she becomes queen of the top photoshoot
Cut off from the old home town she abhors
Her fresh-faced beauty opens so many doors
The talk of the town, her name in every column
But no happiness for her, it’s all so solemn
Men come and go and assist in her climb
But with a fast life like this, it’s just a matter of time
Dependency stemming from all that past pain
Lands her in rehab again and again
Lastly with her mother’s untimely demise
A near-broken Donna emerges with clear eyes
Losing her wealth, she retreats from the limelight
And begins the process of making things right
Until at last, she seeks out her father: the ever-loving Will
And trains as a nurse; she’s there with him still.
This is the story of Laura’s best friend
A woman in trouble who was fine in the end
She’s a lesson to all of us in the right attitude
And how we shouldn’t play around with our dead best friend’s dude
Thanks for reading. Check out my other Twin peaks poetry here:
Palindrome for Dark Woods – a poem
The Battle of the Bob Bubble – a poem
Cinquains for Lucy, Audrey, Candie and others
Also, subscribe to #whatthehaiku on YouTube to see more of my video poetry, like my 100th special here.
Thanks for reading
Richard
Photos courtesy of Bobby Stephenson et al via Unsplash
The Ardenna Crossing 
14 thoughts on “A Ditty for Donna”