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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Tweets

You are as deep as
my dog's water bowl
I looked into your eyes
and saw eye
No more.

------------------------------------------------

Lunch today with Mom
I had the Cobb salad
She ate my soul
Left a mess and
no tip
What a bitch.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Words Count with MZ, Twitter Poetry

Monday, January 27, 2014

Those Boots

Nancy Sinatra wore them!

I saw them on the Sony and Cher Show
Coveted them
like any 9 year-old girl covets
horses and 10 year-old boys
My mother said no
Too expensive
Besides, I'd soon outgrow them anyway
But on a birthday shopping trip
to the city with Nana
(We rode the bus; Nana never learned to drive)
I saw them in the Thom McCann window
Nana let me try them on
The salesman zipped and laced them up
I wore them home
feeling like a star
White go-go boots.

Mod Barbies had them too!
submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, FB Friday, The Clothes Make the Woman

The Denim Jacket

The eponymous jacket
Can't explain
When I saw you
I was smitten
You wore that denim jacket
It was as much a part of you as
your right arm

Freshman year
That jacket was already
broken in and faded
but it brought out
the blue of your eyes
I loved how they sparkled

You were adamant
Either Led Zeppelin or The Who
I knew by the Union Jack on the left sleeve
just where you stood

A roll of peppermint Certs
always in your breast pocket
I tasted them
 mingled with beer
the first time you kissed me

The night you spent in my room
you left that jacket
hanging over my chair the next morning
You knew my boyfriend was coming to visit
and threw down the first bid
in a poker game I wasn't yet sure
I was ready to play

It didn't take long, though
before I began wearing your denim jacket
like a second skin
Singing Who songs
I think it's love. 



Thursday, January 23, 2014

Mr. Jones

At his door I rang the bell
then rang again so he could hear
I saw his form across the room
He cautiously walked near
He fumbled with the lock
and with a smile he let me in
I set his meal down on the counter,
asking how he'd been
Just like every week he said,
"Well, I'm still here, you know
But seems I get a bit more weak
and increasingly slow!"
He laughed and shook his head
and rubbed his hands through sparse, white hair
He started coughing, reached out
for support, leaned on a chair
And then I saw his eyes
and knew his sadness, grief, and pain
Through the milky film of cataracts
his tears fell unrestrained
He told me of the road trips
and adventures with his wife
She had died the year before
It seemed another life
A convertible of royal blue
was never long in park
They'd jump inside and drive for miles
to Vegas for a lark
"Nowadays I cannot see
to drive it down the street
so it sits right there in my garage-
idle, empty, neat
I apologize for my complaints
I know that youth can't last
But never did I think that I
would get so old so fast."

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Wed. With Peggy, It's In the Eyes

Monday, January 20, 2014

Storm Damage

image by Kelly DeLay
I saw the sky go scarlet in your eyes
but didn't expect the storm
You were the first one to make me
feel beautiful
Now, you won't speak
except for rumblings of thunder
You throw lightning bolts in my face
The passion of your anger
blinds and burns
Where is the calm, emerald ocean
that used to live in your eyes?
The warm waters where my soul
bathed with yours?
If I said I'm sorry,
would the storm cease?
If I begged forgiveness,
would you look at me again
like you once did
or
Will there always be storm damage?

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Girl Who Loves Winter Wakes

Snowy Dreams by Natalia Drepina
The Girl Who Loves Winter
sleeps through the summer months
Impenetrable
to the sun's assault
She dreams
of a white fox
If you look closely,
you might see her silvery whiskers
and her ivory coat,
soft as elder down
The Girl Who Loves Winter
begins to stir and stretch
She lifts her head
just as you are bringing your plants indoors
before the first frost
Lento heartbeat
quickens to restless accelerando
as she steps into the cold
The Girl Who Loves Winter
raises her head to the granite sky
Snowflakes fall on her eyelashes
like butterfly kisses
from a long lost love.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Birthdays in January

Friday, January 3, 2014

New Post on "Rants!"

Since I haven't posted much lately on my "Rants From the Hormonally Challenged" blog, I thought I'd let you all know that I finally have a new post up. Check it out HERE

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Resolutions

source
The second day of the New Year
opens its eyes
Broken resolutions lay
on the floor like a shattered champagne flute
Sweep them into the dustpan
and lay them to rest with the stale leftovers
You think they are forgotten
Yet they merely lay buried
with the second verse of "Auld Lang Syne"
and the tiny shard of glass
that pricks your foot
in the most tender spot
like a broken promise.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Kerry Says: Let's Make a Few Resolutions