His Bouquet

Human Bodies Artwork by Cecelia Webber

 Girl, he saw you in the sun

looking fresh and sweet

Upturned the earth right where you stood

Plucked you off your feet

He fed you lies like water

and he was the air you breathed

Didn’t treat you like he oughtta

Cut you off below the knees

He swore that you were pretty

so you thought it was okay

Girl, it's such a pity

You’re a bloom in his bouquet

You’re addicted to his gentleness

You love it when he’s rough

The sky is bluer when you kiss

You just can’t get enough

But you can’t see you’re dying

There is less of you each day

Better heed what I’m implying

You’re a bloom in his bouquet

Now you’re bound to his deceptions

Too late for seeds of doubt

You pay for self-deception

Your bright petals are plucked out

You cannot stem the withering

Your color fades away

It’s past time for considering

You’re a bloom in his bouquet.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Friday Music Prompt with Marian, Dessa "Alibi"

Human Bodies Artwork by Cecelia Webber

Too Young

Little girls lost

Stumbling in the middle school maze

Dazed

Braces and bras

Awkward and powerful

Stuck between Barbies and birth control pills

Summer lemonade stands and summer lovers

Looking for suburban supermen

to fly us away

take us anywhere but where we were

Magic men
to perform an alchemy
transform us

We found instead snot nosed boys
with dirty fingernails
men with wandering hands
and dirty minds

The music promised

lipstick and leather

adrenaline fueled dreams

We knew the words like

our own heartbeats

Sang them like a prayer

a supplication

Waiting for a divine god, goddess

to answer as we waited
for our confidence to grow

with our breasts
We watched the wild ones
studied them with awe and envy
and a little fear
Denim and leather
Mullets and swagger
We didn't know if we wanted to
be them
or be their girlfriends
Barracudas or
butterflies
but we ached to be free.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Friday Music Prompt, Rock Hard (Suzi Quatro tribute w/ a bit of Heart)

Up In Smoke

tobacco barn in Calvert County, MD (source)

My daddy was a farmer

in the Old Line state

We never had much coming up

but food was on our plates

When he died, I got the land

I work it to this day

but my son, he has to leave

'cause farming just don't pay

I swear to the Lord above

I'm a peaceful man

but when they curse my family name

I've got to take a stand

It ain't my fault

if what I farm

has brought your family grief

It's part of Southern heritage

I grow tobacco leaf

Now I make an honest living

and I think it's pretty sad

The schools are teachin' children

that what I do is bad

They're tearing down tobacco barns

My family's goin' broke

My way of life is goin' to Hell

Tradition up in smoke.

traditional Southern MD tobacco barn (source)

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Dirt Farmer (Marian's Music Prompt-Tribute to Levon Helm)

Love Song

When I met you, boy
You were so young and sweet
Didn't give a damn
'bout the life I planned out neat
Said drop the pilot
I'll fly your plane
Took me so high
thought I'd never touch ground again.

Love or lack of oxygen
Maybe they're the same
Followed your course
and I took your name
We were flyin' high
then the nosedive came
looked for you to hold my hand
but you were jumpin' out the plane.

Baby, it could have been better
but it could have been worse
We got the chance
to write another verse
The landing hit you hard
Now it's plain to see
You want love and affection, boy
no one's better than me.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Music With Marian, Love and Affection

with inspiration and a couple of lines stolen from Joan Armatrading's "Drop the Pilot"
"It Could Have Been Better"
and "Love and Affection"

Scrap

She was a scrap of a girl

an afterthought

a crumb

the kid you always forgot

when naming all the kids in your class

I think her name was Cathy

or maybe Cindy

She probably had a story

I wonder if anyone knew it

submitted for Friday Music Prompt, Strawberry Blonde, at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads