Submissions by Kaatho
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
8th Aug 2015 12:34pm
8th Aug 2015 12:34pm
White knuckling it
Let me try to explain.
He showed me how he planned to do it. I didn't get help.
They found him, drained of blood, leaning against our favourite tree.
She jumped from the 8th storey, the pavement driving her legs into a brokenhearted chest.
They say it took her a week to die. I wouldn't know. I'd already left town.
His blistered heart hit him like a train, over and over. I breathed for him, for a while.
For a short while. Then I stopped. It had been our first and last kiss.
She tore at my chest, wanting me to save her. I said breathe,...
He showed me how he planned to do it. I didn't get help.
They found him, drained of blood, leaning against our favourite tree.
She jumped from the 8th storey, the pavement driving her legs into a brokenhearted chest.
They say it took her a week to die. I wouldn't know. I'd already left town.
His blistered heart hit him like a train, over and over. I breathed for him, for a while.
For a short while. Then I stopped. It had been our first and last kiss.
She tore at my chest, wanting me to save her. I said breathe,...
1405 reads
11 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
7th Jun 2015 9:30am
7th Jun 2015 9:30am
... because my work is my poetry
At my desk, as my workday closes,
I push away client files
and settle in to write a bit of verse.
"As the sun sets
over the blue and white balcony,
I crouch to jam paint-flecked cotton cloth
into the cracks around each straining door.
I never entirely successfully
shore up against winter, but then,
I have come to love the sound
of mittens rasping on my keyboard,
of wind howling under the door,
and the ancient oil heater
clicking as it fails, and cools ..."
Blah blah...
I push away client files
and settle in to write a bit of verse.
"As the sun sets
over the blue and white balcony,
I crouch to jam paint-flecked cotton cloth
into the cracks around each straining door.
I never entirely successfully
shore up against winter, but then,
I have come to love the sound
of mittens rasping on my keyboard,
of wind howling under the door,
and the ancient oil heater
clicking as it fails, and cools ..."
Blah blah...
1076 reads
14 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
2nd Jun 2015 3:12pm
2nd Jun 2015 3:12pm
Sleeping with the enemy
This merry addiction,
this morbid fascination
with a crime documentary before bed.
Who planned what,
who got away,
and who got knocked on the head.
Clumsy reconstructions,
no-shit-Sherlock deductions:
poison, gun, or axe to the ... Yes.
The stuff of nightmares, true;
but, my dear, thanks to you
I already sleep light, and sleep less.
___
There's been one punch too many,
and one death too few,
so I watch...
this morbid fascination
with a crime documentary before bed.
Who planned what,
who got away,
and who got knocked on the head.
Clumsy reconstructions,
no-shit-Sherlock deductions:
poison, gun, or axe to the ... Yes.
The stuff of nightmares, true;
but, my dear, thanks to you
I already sleep light, and sleep less.
___
There's been one punch too many,
and one death too few,
so I watch...
919 reads
4 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
10th Jan 2014 1:00am
10th Jan 2014 1:00am
Start the party without me
when I'm done punching my own face into the carpet
spilling memory of 'useless'
from this old life
worn from the whittlin'
of 'blah blah you used up fucking blah'
I might find the strength to say no
to your little party
no, I'm not the girl who laughed
leapt from planes
rode the wave
led a march
saved a life
loved you
taught any. one. any. thing.
that girl left
let's pretend I died
you can have your fond memories
without the guilt
that comes from no longer trying...
spilling memory of 'useless'
from this old life
worn from the whittlin'
of 'blah blah you used up fucking blah'
I might find the strength to say no
to your little party
no, I'm not the girl who laughed
leapt from planes
rode the wave
led a march
saved a life
loved you
taught any. one. any. thing.
that girl left
let's pretend I died
you can have your fond memories
without the guilt
that comes from no longer trying...
1298 reads
20 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
30th Nov 2013 1:47pm
30th Nov 2013 1:47pm
The grounds
in the hospital grounds we sit
on a bench by the river, before dawn
while her boy sleeps
she leans accidentally
softly on me
we don't say much
everybody whispers here
her little shoulders shake
she tries to explain death
"I feel it coming
it's a wall
there's nothing on the other side"
the birds walk en masse through the trees
and around us to the still-glass river
gliding silent to split mist from reed
rippling the water alive
and we see, as it begins to rain
that it is a new day
...
on a bench by the river, before dawn
while her boy sleeps
she leans accidentally
softly on me
we don't say much
everybody whispers here
her little shoulders shake
she tries to explain death
"I feel it coming
it's a wall
there's nothing on the other side"
the birds walk en masse through the trees
and around us to the still-glass river
gliding silent to split mist from reed
rippling the water alive
and we see, as it begins to rain
that it is a new day
...
1272 reads
14 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
24th Nov 2013 10:56pm
24th Nov 2013 10:56pm
You can't trust chickens
you can't trust chickens
anything that runs faster
and in a straighter line
with its head removed
just ain't right
which came first
the chicken or the egg?
yeah, it's just that kind of thing chickens use
to keep us confused
while they get up to no good
it ain't eggs they're hatching
it's plannnns
why did the chicken cross the road?
I'll tell you why
to distract us from the other chickens
-----
if it looks like a duck
walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck ...
anything that runs faster
and in a straighter line
with its head removed
just ain't right
which came first
the chicken or the egg?
yeah, it's just that kind of thing chickens use
to keep us confused
while they get up to no good
it ain't eggs they're hatching
it's plannnns
why did the chicken cross the road?
I'll tell you why
to distract us from the other chickens
-----
if it looks like a duck
walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck ...
1127 reads
16 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
15th May 2013 6:09am
15th May 2013 6:09am
Play it again
your jaw
your manly jagged jaw
so damned handsome
they said
watching your party trick
the trick called gentle
words like cheers
love
and baby
hand in the small of my back
easy with the proud smile
winks my way
and we're leaving
because you can't wait to get me
home
not because
you need to sort me out
last night
never happened
it's mixed in with the gravel
of your voice
part of the concrete
paving the way home
to words like bitch
you're pushing it
and don't...
your manly jagged jaw
so damned handsome
they said
watching your party trick
the trick called gentle
words like cheers
love
and baby
hand in the small of my back
easy with the proud smile
winks my way
and we're leaving
because you can't wait to get me
home
not because
you need to sort me out
last night
never happened
it's mixed in with the gravel
of your voice
part of the concrete
paving the way home
to words like bitch
you're pushing it
and don't...
1147 reads
11 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
1st Nov 2012 11:09pm
1st Nov 2012 11:09pm
raspberry life
brief as brief was, this life
I kinda liked it
a raspberry lick
of ice cream, back in '72
all of life was like that lick
brief, as I said
looked better than it tasted
that's raspberries for you
yeah
that's life
not sure I remember it that well
life, I mean
but I remember
since '72
greed in my eyes
disappointment on my tongue ...
I kinda liked it
a raspberry lick
of ice cream, back in '72
all of life was like that lick
brief, as I said
looked better than it tasted
that's raspberries for you
yeah
that's life
not sure I remember it that well
life, I mean
but I remember
since '72
greed in my eyes
disappointment on my tongue ...
1000 reads
11 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
10th Oct 2012 2:39am
10th Oct 2012 2:39am
Isobell's dolls
we rounded the corner laughing
and there she was
Isobell the youngest of us
rag dolls in a heap, playing
she'd renamed them all
one for each of the family
charming in its way
only, the one named after her
was having its stuffing beaten out
by the one she'd called mother
talking up a storm of abuse
didn't know much back then
just a kid myself
but knew enough to get the chills
backed up without a word
and yeah the one named after me ...
and there she was
Isobell the youngest of us
rag dolls in a heap, playing
she'd renamed them all
one for each of the family
charming in its way
only, the one named after her
was having its stuffing beaten out
by the one she'd called mother
talking up a storm of abuse
didn't know much back then
just a kid myself
but knew enough to get the chills
backed up without a word
and yeah the one named after me ...
929 reads
6 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
8th Oct 2012 2:15pm
8th Oct 2012 2:15pm
Don't ask
oh so casually
somewhere between 'hello'
and 'what do you do'
she asks about this empty womb
I don't know what to answer
tick tock
that I killed them
too greedy to share
this 'freedom'
that I lacked the courage
to see their faces looking back at me
disappointed
that I got so busy
counting pay packets
and left that packet
closed
that I was too poisonous to grow life
grew cancers instead
got the whole sorry mess ripped out
and grew no more
...
somewhere between 'hello'
and 'what do you do'
she asks about this empty womb
I don't know what to answer
tick tock
that I killed them
too greedy to share
this 'freedom'
that I lacked the courage
to see their faces looking back at me
disappointed
that I got so busy
counting pay packets
and left that packet
closed
that I was too poisonous to grow life
grew cancers instead
got the whole sorry mess ripped out
and grew no more
...
844 reads
6 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
8th Oct 2012 1:08pm
8th Oct 2012 1:08pm
In my purse
reworked this one ...]
I'm hiding something in my purse
let me explain
she was angling for it
her picking up a chair was the clue
wiry thing, she was
that look
the 'you fat cow I can take you' look
she should have been right
I should have run, cried
middle aged caring type
all anxiety, soft and fat
but I felt like an experiment
I felt hard
and 'cos fuck her
I'd been waiting for years
to see...
I'm hiding something in my purse
let me explain
she was angling for it
her picking up a chair was the clue
wiry thing, she was
that look
the 'you fat cow I can take you' look
she should have been right
I should have run, cried
middle aged caring type
all anxiety, soft and fat
but I felt like an experiment
I felt hard
and 'cos fuck her
I'd been waiting for years
to see...
785 reads
4 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
3rd Oct 2012 1:35pm
3rd Oct 2012 1:35pm
Keeping busy
tell me about the tennis lessons
describe the designer clothes
give me updates on your beautiful children
if the handsome betrothed will let you to the phone
you're so very busy
don't embarrass us both by asking
what I did today, yesterday, any day
I'm not up for saying "yes, I showered hon
but no, I've still not left the house"
I'm so very busy
I don't know who we are these days
you, under all that makeup, planting pansies
making plans for a holiday in Fiji
and remodeling the...
describe the designer clothes
give me updates on your beautiful children
if the handsome betrothed will let you to the phone
you're so very busy
don't embarrass us both by asking
what I did today, yesterday, any day
I'm not up for saying "yes, I showered hon
but no, I've still not left the house"
I'm so very busy
I don't know who we are these days
you, under all that makeup, planting pansies
making plans for a holiday in Fiji
and remodeling the...
1044 reads
8 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Kaatho
