homogenous is
being consistently good,
even when it hurts.
Dead Birds
Monday, June 25, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Chai Tea
my best friend asked me out to coffee
and I decided to try the Chai tea
it was supposed to taste like pumpkin spice
and make me warm and happy inside
as much as I like to try something different
this didn’t settle well with me
to take this vulnerable moment to tell me something
so horrible instead
oh yes, tea to soften me up
to make me comfortable and secure as the
truth comes out like black, burnt poison
into my cup. I have to sit politely and hold it
because we’re in public and its not proper to
lunge across the table and strangle or stab
your lunch partner to death on a Saturday afternoon
so I swallow the news, and set down my drink
vowing never again to enjoy Chai tea
vowing never again to enjoy best friends that
construct a trap with coffee houses
my husband asked me out to coffee
and I decided to take it black
it was supposed to taste like bitter grounds
and it was at least as gritty as advertised
Halloween 1976
colonial brick streets
pave the way
to the wanderings
of the sugar zombies
pillaging every home for blocks
with the whitest sharpened hungry teeth
empty gum wrappers
fill the porches
pillow cases hunt
like empty pints in berry season
screen doors open through the darkness
Mrs. Blubaugh gives out nickels
hand-stitched hats
and hidden mittens
bats are flying
leaves are falling
Jamie Porter egged the alley
haunted hayrides in the square
go to grandma's
after looting
count the candy
dance about
have a special popcorn ball
twice the size of both your fists
The Dickensons
set the timer for thirty minutes
in the back of a frozen Chevrolet
rotate round Ohio hills
to Don and Betty’s Thanksgiving dinner
we knew we’d get to play pool if
we waited for the adults to finish
and after food and football
all the cousins could slip out for an
underaged smoke disguised as
wandering around in the woods
this is where girls could be honest
away from the parents and brothers
and find friendship and comfort
a few simple times each year
while everyone else was on the couch
snoring in a heap of cherry cobbler and mashed potatoes
my favorite part was hearing my father call
"GooBLEgoBBleGObblEgobblE" to bring us in
and then we’d get a plate or two to take home
which never really happened, as thirty minutes
is plenty of time to eat a hot plate of stuffing
Teacups
pale to the bone
pale eggshells walking
to select you
my teacup
frail and frozen to be the chosen one
delicate blue suits
flowered corsage upon my wrist
scrolling silver patterns
gold rims shining
and handles ornate and plain
sitting along the wall
like a junior high dance
waiting
to be my lucky date for today's tea
orange and black and green
to drink and think
and be at peace
which one of you will I take with me?
pale to select the cup
that warms my hand and leads the dance
and finds a beautiful romance in
sipping mint and steeping leaves
gold watch clicking
silver sideburns peek
at how long it takes to be the chosen one
wanting for you to be everything
in this moment of honey and grace
it isn’t right that I expect so much
Dickhead
there is a saddened kind of shame
a name that’s cruel and thus demeans,
elementary obscene
a child can not reach deep enough
it started when I read outside
my third grade level reading group
and followed to my brownie troop
then fearful fighting, flight to home
and in defense I’d use my gift
to make up names and write mean songs
I’d teach the boys to sing along
and charge their chocolate milk money
with my moustache a poor disguise
with puffy, rubbing, teary eyes
I made myself apologize
though only choking squeaks were heard
Nicoleslaw Dickhead was my name
a name that’s cruel and thus demeans,
slimy side-dish shit for brains
a child can not reach deep enough
3:15
running home to catch
the last fifteen minutes of
after school cartoons,
so passionate in my belief
they were my happiness.
so quick to throw down
books and coats and mittens
to freeze in front of
the TV,
controlled by pliers and aluminum,
standing on a cardboard box
sitting in the hallway.
laying in my beanbag chair
to vegetate- I sit
slack-jawed in front of
trusted friends.
I silently cheered
for the brainy side-kick
who I knew was
most like me.
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