Mermaid

She is a lovely sun,
red hair cascading down
in jubilant rays,
a flash and ripple
of rainbow gathered
across her thighs.

She sings to me
and I croak replies,
stunned she has arisen
to bless
such a sad sailor
as I.

Heidi Gets a Handel

A child of vigilance
and hatred,
at least toward spinach,
she searched the fridge’s
sixteen plastic containers
for last night’s leftovers.

Multitudinous possible punishments
considered, deemed of no account,
the garbage disposal
sang the Alleluia Chorus.

—–
@gavroche challenged me to write a poem using three particular words. See if you can guess which ones.  My opinion of the poem has improved a bit since others said they like it.  Thanks.

—-
Please check out other poems written for the dVerse open link night!

1936

for Joe M. (1926-2003)

.
Walking up the dirt road from home
Joe saw a man in shirt sleeves
wearing a brown, felt fedora
cocked at a rakish angle.
Neither spoke. Joe knew
of the stranger, knew the man
and his family rented the house
at the mile corner.

Joe kept his eye on the man,
tall, slim, blue-eyed like him,
like the man he would become,
until they passed,
then stared ahead.

The first time,
the last time
he saw his father.

Customer Service

As spoken by “Dave”

Though you have sufficient funds
on your card for the items
you attempted to purchase
they are insufficient at this time.
You should have two dollars more
ventricular virgin crap shoot the amount
suburban anaconda
of the items juju bean
clearly rastafarian
mancala hezbollah harley sun.

Have a good day Mr. Quinn.

—-

P.S. I am not upset with customer service people from other countries but with companies that do not make sure to hire people who are understandable.

Begotten, Not Made

The day to change
everything unfolded slow
as a flower, color
already established
because he was inside:
black.

His day was a flower,
but the leaving
was through a door of silk
from a windowless cell.

After waiting
his allotted time,
he rose on wings
and met the world,
programmed
to sting
and sting
and sting.

Hazard

She pulverized cooked turnips
and folded them in
with the mashed potatoes,
as if we wouldn’t notice
the flavor of Satan
settling on our tongues,
sulphur along with the mild
buttery goodness
of the unassuming spud.

I don’t recall
who won
the test of wills,
I just remember
us surviving
what God
provided.

Entwined

Romance is not
the stoic hero
wading into
another’s life
to engage
in major reconstruction.
It is two trees
grafting themselves
into one.

–
An Example

Dogging

Earth rolls
to rub us off.
We crawl over her skin
and burrow, then raise
crusty lesions.
Tentacles spread
between the sores.
We name these all with pride,
Paris and Beijing,
the Pan American Highway
and Autobahn:
mange on a stray dog
we think we own
because we ride her.
—

For the dVerse Open Link Night

Snow

Stars fall crisp and dry
between houses,
in alleyways,
fill green dumpsters
with the vastness of heaven.

I walk upon a multitude
of small suns,
reach down to touch their flames.
My fingers sting.
The white-hot stars bleed water.

Batteries Included

My thoughts are coded
messages to tomorrow.
I wear tin foil underwear
to get better reception
but she still said no.
The wind marches on
despite resistance
in some quarters.
All quarters are named George.
Mount Vernon. How often?
Does it hurt
to get your face
stamped on a coin?
Questions rarely work in a poem.
Only answers get anywhere.
I filled my gas tank with answers
but I’m still here.
The tires are round
but only work
downhill.
I would sled
but there’s no snow,
not even on TV anymore.
Stars hide
in the light of the city
and the cover of clouds
but blaze from billboards
and movie marquees.
There’s a jagged edge
to even the smoothest blade.
You can find it with fingertips.
My doctor suggests lithium.
I’ve eaten three batteries,
getting a charge
I’d not expected.