Today I want to go for a ride
and visit Pam or Kate.
I want to drink lemonade
with real sugar.
I want stroll
and window-shop
while holding your hand,
as though life were simple.
I want to laugh and drive fast
and not think of consequences.
Just for today
I want to be happy.
55 words for Joy’s Verse Escape.
Once when I walked
through town.
People were busy living.
Streets were filled with cars,
sidewalks dotted with people.
Everyone was on the way
to somewhere else
Except for me.
I was just walking
and watching
Now, an occasional car
slips past,
sidewalks are empty.
The people are gone
except for me.
I’m just walking
and watching
This is for Hedgewitch’s Friday 55 at Verse Escape.
There is no
Officer Friendly
in George’s neighborhood.
And
violence,
non-violence,
neither has worked.
Gandhi would be dismayed.
How can MLK RIP
with his dream
still such a long way off?
WTF?
Does our hope
for justice
reside
in a video camera
that shows the horror of
ourselves
to ourselves
in a world on fire?
RIP Mr. Floyd
This is for Hedgewitch’s Friday 55 at Verse Escape.
Somehow my baby
turned thirty
last week
and her big brother
will be thirty-two
next month
Once I thought the
sleepless, pacing nights
would never end
as I carried one
then the other
trying to sing away
nightmares
and colic
But I closed my eyes
and dozed off
and somehow my baby
turned thirty
last week
This is for Hedgewitch’s FF55 Verse Escape
Sometimes I feel
as if my mother’s story
got lost
She was
an only child
and that singularity
is a two-sided beast
Of course it allowed her
the freedom
to tell her story
any way she liked
without contradiction
or interruption
But it also left her
with the burden
of carrying that story alone
This is for Hedgie, keeper of Galen’s Friday 55, at Verse Escape.
I hold the disk of the moon
under my tongue
and count to one hundred
I feel it dissolve
as the silvery coolness
slips down my throat
curls in my belly
I swallow the moon
then keep her wisdom
in my blood
under my skin
no one knows
but they can see
I am radiant
You might want to take a peek at Verse Escape.
These are times of unmaking
systems fall into disrepair
entropy has her way
birds fall from the skies
buds freeze, curled tight
their potential never sprung
socks and gloves
fall out with their mates
leave without saying goodbye
things fall apart
clocks stop
dishes break
the mirror shows
only empty spaces
and faces without hope
These 55 words are for Joy at Verse Escape, where she carries on the grand tradition of the G-man.
The inscrutable face
behind the mask
holds all
things in
all people out
No
tender
legal issues
to sort through
No
muss
no fuss
everything
in its proper place
No
man
behind
the curtain
pulling strings
Only
a reflection
of an empty room
an empty space
an empty life
an empty face
behind the mask
This is linked to Verse Escape, FF55 and the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads.
The image is an Elizabeth Arden advertising photo by Aldoph de Meyer, 1927, Fair Use>
I love you
but
you have
fallen
in with
the wrong crowd
They don’t care
about you
or your children
Hucksters
in shiny suits
lie and call it truth
With fast talk and small words
They steal your treasures
your reputation
your dignity
Orange is the new
black and blue
I weep for you
America
This is written for Verse Escape and for dVerse.
I know
people kill people.
I know laws cannot
always
be enforced.
I know there are
people with mental illness.
I know
this country has
a second amendment.
And I know money speaks.
But I also know
seventeen more souls
have been ripped
from their lives
seventeen more families
decimated
And I wonder
how many more?
I am sick that I have cause to write this. It is for Friday 55 at Verse Escape where Hedgewitch honors the late, great G-Man, by having us write exactly 55 words each Friday.
In Other Words 