Submissions by Mrd
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I am very uncomfortable describing myself as a "poet." A "wanna-be poet," yes, but I have a deeply ingrained imposter syndrome which has great power. So bear with me. Speak truth to my powerless but do so with compassion, if you don't mind.
sugar cookie temptation
she is fixing mac and cheese
when a package of sugar cookies
winks lasciviously at me.
just one, the voice whispers,
will be okay
and as my hand sneaks forth
my dead mother's voice comes roiling in.
you'll spoil your--and wags her finger
as my hand becomes a turtle's head
snapping back into its shell.
at what point is someone really gone
if such power lingers on, transmitted from
mother to child who...
when a package of sugar cookies
winks lasciviously at me.
just one, the voice whispers,
will be okay
and as my hand sneaks forth
my dead mother's voice comes roiling in.
you'll spoil your--and wags her finger
as my hand becomes a turtle's head
snapping back into its shell.
at what point is someone really gone
if such power lingers on, transmitted from
mother to child who...
#mother
#memories
80 reads
4 Comments
Now She Tells Me
Now she tells me
for the however manyeth time that
yes, she still loves me but
in a different way.
I kept hearing that but
translated it as
yes, she still loves me but
there are issues which can
and probably will be
worked out.
Silly boy.
The latest issue being
the guy twenty-some years younger
who just got out of jail ...
for the however manyeth time that
yes, she still loves me but
in a different way.
I kept hearing that but
translated it as
yes, she still loves me but
there are issues which can
and probably will be
worked out.
Silly boy.
The latest issue being
the guy twenty-some years younger
who just got out of jail ...
#sadness
#rejection
#heartbroken
#confusion
#emptiness
46 reads
4 Comments
Jocasta in Heels and Hose
#anger
#anxiety
#despair
#emptiness
#bittersweet
76 reads
8 Comments
At the Eye Doctor: the Receptionist
The receptionist was nice,
meth-thin, a woman, who just stepped
out of a Dorothea Lange photograph
and took the first job
that would take her
who spoke loudly and slowly
as though speaking to
a not-so-bright child
with a serious hearing-impairment
and called me darling this
and honey that
and could I verify my birth date
for her which sounded very much
like “pretty please”
and I said, yes, I could do that
and told her I was a libra,
you know, the scales,
and I think it was a Tuesday
but it...
meth-thin, a woman, who just stepped
out of a Dorothea Lange photograph
and took the first job
that would take her
who spoke loudly and slowly
as though speaking to
a not-so-bright child
with a serious hearing-impairment
and called me darling this
and honey that
and could I verify my birth date
for her which sounded very much
like “pretty please”
and I said, yes, I could do that
and told her I was a libra,
you know, the scales,
and I think it was a Tuesday
but it...
#aging
241 reads
13 Comments
Two Trees Down
The two trees at the very
end of my walk where I turn around
have fallen from last week’s vicious wind
the wind we feared might rip off
my darling’s brand-new roof but instead
slammed these two to the
sodden earth, the yet living lying
beside the long dead partner
branches intertwined as though
the living unable to let go
of the dead in one long last
grasping embrace.
How many straight-line winds
they must have weathered together
how many seasons of leaves budding,
seedlings loosed upon summer...
end of my walk where I turn around
have fallen from last week’s vicious wind
the wind we feared might rip off
my darling’s brand-new roof but instead
slammed these two to the
sodden earth, the yet living lying
beside the long dead partner
branches intertwined as though
the living unable to let go
of the dead in one long last
grasping embrace.
How many straight-line winds
they must have weathered together
how many seasons of leaves budding,
seedlings loosed upon summer...
#love
192 reads
17 Comments
Line-Dancing At the Cashier
I used to find it irritating
when an old person ahead
of me in the checkout line
waited until every last item
was rung up before
remembering checkbook and pen.
How it took them
forever to fill the damn thing out
before carefully folding
and tearing it out
along the serrated line
so very, very carefully.
Any old time, grandma.
Or the old men who
did the same...
when an old person ahead
of me in the checkout line
waited until every last item
was rung up before
remembering checkbook and pen.
How it took them
forever to fill the damn thing out
before carefully folding
and tearing it out
along the serrated line
so very, very carefully.
Any old time, grandma.
Or the old men who
did the same...
#LifeCycle
#aging
84 reads
4 Comments
Tipsy
She is drunk tonight
or, more accurately, tipsy,
tipsy enough that the drink
has loosed the latches
of her tongue
and speaks in a manner
I’ve not heard in years
As though she has rummaged
through our shared memories
and added them up
good times in one column,
the rare disagreements in the other
and came to a conclusion
which somehow surprises her:
"You're a good man, Mr D.
A really, really good man."
Last year I drank a couple of beers
with a friend of mine ...
or, more accurately, tipsy,
tipsy enough that the drink
has loosed the latches
of her tongue
and speaks in a manner
I’ve not heard in years
As though she has rummaged
through our shared memories
and added them up
good times in one column,
the rare disagreements in the other
and came to a conclusion
which somehow surprises her:
"You're a good man, Mr D.
A really, really good man."
Last year I drank a couple of beers
with a friend of mine ...
#relationships
200 reads
13 Comments
The Second Coming of George Santos
The first time he ran
He was too humble by half.
He could have boasted
Of his GED and certificates
Of participation
But didn’t for obvious reasons.
Just a humble kid
From the wrong side of the truth tracks.
The story he must have fantasized
As he licked his wounded psyche
After that first attempt
Was bizarre but nothing compared
To Jim Jordan’s blind eye
Re the sexual assaults in the showers,
MTG’s Jew-ish space lasers,
Gosar’s assault on AOC,
Boebert’s hubby with his
Wanna-see-my-dick....
He was too humble by half.
He could have boasted
Of his GED and certificates
Of participation
But didn’t for obvious reasons.
Just a humble kid
From the wrong side of the truth tracks.
The story he must have fantasized
As he licked his wounded psyche
After that first attempt
Was bizarre but nothing compared
To Jim Jordan’s blind eye
Re the sexual assaults in the showers,
MTG’s Jew-ish space lasers,
Gosar’s assault on AOC,
Boebert’s hubby with his
Wanna-see-my-dick....
#lies
#betrayal
#parody
#satirical
#deception
212 reads
6 Comments
I Told You Not To Come Tonight
Because my ass was dragging
And the sleep deprivation
Was starting to get to me
And went to bed at one a.m.
I know, early for your old man,
With the bed toasty and welcoming
But I was hungry and couldn’t sleep
So got up, ate some hash browns
And sat there with the electric heater
Blowing hot air caresses
Which were comforting to me
But nothing like your touch
So I would just like to say
That I wish you had come over ...
And the sleep deprivation
Was starting to get to me
And went to bed at one a.m.
I know, early for your old man,
With the bed toasty and welcoming
But I was hungry and couldn’t sleep
So got up, ate some hash browns
And sat there with the electric heater
Blowing hot air caresses
Which were comforting to me
But nothing like your touch
So I would just like to say
That I wish you had come over ...
#love
#girlfriend
#lover
290 reads
6 Comments
Dystopia With Variations on Dys
I have laid my cheek
Against the word:
Dys-to-pi-a. Slid it between
The labia of my lips,
Rolled it about my tongue,
Felt how it lies against
The papillae
As smooth and perfect
As poke berry poison
Swimming through the mind.
Or distant, which is to say,
Something as far away
As your love now, once
So close to me
Thrown like a bridal bouquet
Of wilted flowers
In casual disarray,
Something as smooth as
A gizzard stone, ...
Against the word:
Dys-to-pi-a. Slid it between
The labia of my lips,
Rolled it about my tongue,
Felt how it lies against
The papillae
As smooth and perfect
As poke berry poison
Swimming through the mind.
Or distant, which is to say,
Something as far away
As your love now, once
So close to me
Thrown like a bridal bouquet
Of wilted flowers
In casual disarray,
Something as smooth as
A gizzard stone, ...
#love
#girlfriend
#ILoveYou
195 reads
3 Comments
After the Movies
Las Animas, Colorado 1950’s
six years old walking out
of the rialto movie theater
with the assault of day so bright
eye-squinting like the guy in the white hat
walking like the good guy in high noon
arms swinging like little parentheses
over the nonexistent sixguns
straight from imaginary props
walking down the ordinary sidewalk
suddenly a magical path
where anything could happen
but not scared
ready for anything ...
six years old walking out
of the rialto movie theater
with the assault of day so bright
eye-squinting like the guy in the white hat
walking like the good guy in high noon
arms swinging like little parentheses
over the nonexistent sixguns
straight from imaginary props
walking down the ordinary sidewalk
suddenly a magical path
where anything could happen
but not scared
ready for anything ...
#childhood
191 reads
12 Comments
Idi/Bera
So many wondrous projections
Give rise to risible trainwreckshuns
What if she’s a he
An Idi Amin slash Yogi Berra connection?
Did not the Vikings plunder
Rape and pillage
And cut all asunder?
Strike each village with
Thoric hammered thunder?
I understand the urge to jump Rorscharch
The runes, condemn the beastie hordes
As for me I’ll put away the bloody swords
And paint her/him with comic words.
Imagine the brutal comic roast ...
Give rise to risible trainwreckshuns
What if she’s a he
An Idi Amin slash Yogi Berra connection?
Did not the Vikings plunder
Rape and pillage
And cut all asunder?
Strike each village with
Thoric hammered thunder?
I understand the urge to jump Rorscharch
The runes, condemn the beastie hordes
As for me I’ll put away the bloody swords
And paint her/him with comic words.
Imagine the brutal comic roast ...
#parody
#satirical
#funny
119 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Submissions by Mrd