Submissions by javalini
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
DIMINISHED
he would go hungry
before he let us want
that's what i saw
and what i took for truth
and what my soul yearned to follow --
not blind
nor brutish
nor toxic
but righteous,
his love proved in a thousand ways
and none of them meant
to diminish
but to cherish
and work, work, work
and fix
and do
and hold (too) tight
and hold the door
and take the bullet
and tolerate
and try
so fuckin' hard
to carry the load
without letting on about
the goddamned weary strain of it ...
before he let us want
that's what i saw
and what i took for truth
and what my soul yearned to follow --
not blind
nor brutish
nor toxic
but righteous,
his love proved in a thousand ways
and none of them meant
to diminish
but to cherish
and work, work, work
and fix
and do
and hold (too) tight
and hold the door
and take the bullet
and tolerate
and try
so fuckin' hard
to carry the load
without letting on about
the goddamned weary strain of it ...
#LifeStruggles
#masculinity
284 reads
0 Comments
ANATHEMA
your silence
confirmed
my wickedness --
my light
shone cold and black
as sin
and how i begged
and wished
and wanted
and how you never heard
a word i said --
just turned
your kindly head
and looked to save
more worthy souls
and how long
i knelt there
wanting
and how hard
i tried to conjure
the mighty god of love
that he might
slay my demons
and send me
on my way,
blessed
and emanating the bright warm
joy of salvation
and how quiet
that...
confirmed
my wickedness --
my light
shone cold and black
as sin
and how i begged
and wished
and wanted
and how you never heard
a word i said --
just turned
your kindly head
and looked to save
more worthy souls
and how long
i knelt there
wanting
and how hard
i tried to conjure
the mighty god of love
that he might
slay my demons
and send me
on my way,
blessed
and emanating the bright warm
joy of salvation
and how quiet
that...
#religion
#God
#morality
500 reads
8 Comments
THE HOLY STREAM
don't disdain
the TV, mama
distraction is
a gift from the gods,
holy as any
because
the truth could kill us
or make us wish it could
the TV, mama
distraction is
a gift from the gods,
holy as any
because
the truth could kill us
or make us wish it could
#LifeStruggles
248 reads
7 Comments
HICKEY
Emagene don't care nothing 'bout you," he said.
"I got a hickey on my neck says differnt," I told him.
"Ain't."
I pulled my collar down so that his eyes might fall upon the deep purple bruise Emagene had put there not two hours prior.
I could see the hurt in his eyes and felt a little sorry for him.
"Coulda been anybody sucked that hickey," he said. "Knowin' you, coulda been a man."
"Ain't no man lest Emagene is one. That gal hung on me like a tick."
And that's when he swung. He was going for that famous first punch...
"I got a hickey on my neck says differnt," I told him.
"Ain't."
I pulled my collar down so that his eyes might fall upon the deep purple bruise Emagene had put there not two hours prior.
I could see the hurt in his eyes and felt a little sorry for him.
"Coulda been anybody sucked that hickey," he said. "Knowin' you, coulda been a man."
"Ain't no man lest Emagene is one. That gal hung on me like a tick."
And that's when he swung. He was going for that famous first punch...
#vampires
488 reads
2 Comments
MONSTER
i am only pieces
in the shape of a man.
he and she
painter and poet
villain and priest --
a lunatic mind
placed in the skull
of a new kind of man,
his body laid out
in secret
his dead flesh
stitched
and wired,
his soul
an icy pocket
tucked behind the ribs --
the reason they shiver
under my cloudy gaze
i am the desolate
the lonely
cast out
making his clumsy way
under god's radar
neither forsaken nor forgotten
but begotten of
saw and needle
and fiery shock ...
in the shape of a man.
he and she
painter and poet
villain and priest --
a lunatic mind
placed in the skull
of a new kind of man,
his body laid out
in secret
his dead flesh
stitched
and wired,
his soul
an icy pocket
tucked behind the ribs --
the reason they shiver
under my cloudy gaze
i am the desolate
the lonely
cast out
making his clumsy way
under god's radar
neither forsaken nor forgotten
but begotten of
saw and needle
and fiery shock ...
#dark
#despair
347 reads
6 Comments
428 reads
8 Comments
HERITAGE
windows boarded
and roofs caved in
this town
choked on itself decades ago,
resistance a thorn in its musty craw,
that southern sheen of kindness
hiding a cancer hot and roiling under its pale skin,
its history dark, bloody, and proud
and goddamn if i couldn't feel its sickness
rising through the concrete
and smell it at every turn,
us proud southern boys
still waving our stupid flags
our poor ol' fathers' fathers
shackled by the same strange hubris
willing to die for a planter's cause
thus...
and roofs caved in
this town
choked on itself decades ago,
resistance a thorn in its musty craw,
that southern sheen of kindness
hiding a cancer hot and roiling under its pale skin,
its history dark, bloody, and proud
and goddamn if i couldn't feel its sickness
rising through the concrete
and smell it at every turn,
us proud southern boys
still waving our stupid flags
our poor ol' fathers' fathers
shackled by the same strange hubris
willing to die for a planter's cause
thus...
#culture
#morality
#tradition
421 reads
10 Comments
TEN ACRES
He still worked hard, mending things about the place, though you wouldn't know it to look around.
He remembered the big garden.
Chickens in the back yard.
Taking pigs to market.
He liked to stroll along the banks of the cow pond and doze sometimes in the heat of the day under the big sycamore on the far side of the pasture where Jessie couldn't see from the house.
At night he slid between worn cotton sheets to lay next to his wife.
He seldom woke her, but thought she was somehow aware of him.
It was, he felt, where he...
He remembered the big garden.
Chickens in the back yard.
Taking pigs to market.
He liked to stroll along the banks of the cow pond and doze sometimes in the heat of the day under the big sycamore on the far side of the pasture where Jessie couldn't see from the house.
At night he slid between worn cotton sheets to lay next to his wife.
He seldom woke her, but thought she was somehow aware of him.
It was, he felt, where he...
#love
#ghosts
409 reads
14 Comments
PAIN (the back, biting)
you nest thick as lice in my old bones
to fly at night when i'm alone
and nestle cold and cuddle deep
and sweat the sheets and steal my sleep
and raise me up with bony nudge
to limp the hall and pray and trudge
'til in wee hour i've had my fill
and i relent and take the pill
and lay me down to close my eyes
one restless wink before sunrise
to fly at night when i'm alone
and nestle cold and cuddle deep
and sweat the sheets and steal my sleep
and raise me up with bony nudge
to limp the hall and pray and trudge
'til in wee hour i've had my fill
and i relent and take the pill
and lay me down to close my eyes
one restless wink before sunrise
#LifeStruggles
451 reads
10 Comments
LOVE IS A BOTTLE
the flat hum
of nothing
he promised --
days strung
together
bottle to bottle
'til ain't nobody
going to hire the girl
but christ knows
she's got to have
some pleasure, too
him gone,
goddamn loser
and fuckin' kids
want
want
want
and need this
and that
so keep the tipple hid
and nip it
warm and sweet
as baby's kisses,
the day's edge
smooth
as brown glass
of nothing
he promised --
days strung
together
bottle to bottle
'til ain't nobody
going to hire the girl
but christ knows
she's got to have
some pleasure, too
him gone,
goddamn loser
and fuckin' kids
want
want
want
and need this
and that
so keep the tipple hid
and nip it
warm and sweet
as baby's kisses,
the day's edge
smooth
as brown glass
#mother
#addiction
335 reads
10 Comments
DESERT
this is where
sand is water
and fish is bird
and i, you
and you, me
and the ends
of this cord meet
exactly where
we stand
and in the circle
dunes are waves
that break on a shore
that seemed endless
but ended here
and how we rode so hard
and all the horses
were one horse
with no name
and all the faces
one face
and all the places
one place
and the earth was rich
and unspoiled, timeless
beneath all
that crumbles
in time
sand is water
and fish is bird
and i, you
and you, me
and the ends
of this cord meet
exactly where
we stand
and in the circle
dunes are waves
that break on a shore
that seemed endless
but ended here
and how we rode so hard
and all the horses
were one horse
with no name
and all the faces
one face
and all the places
one place
and the earth was rich
and unspoiled, timeless
beneath all
that crumbles
in time
#death
#LifeStruggles
#LifeCycle
264 reads
4 Comments
AGE
ain't nothing left
but paint the shed
cut trees
in the thicket
out front
let some light in
julliet says
she's writing a novel
and i admit
i'm jealous
of her youth
but only for a minute
i think about all the stories
the poems
the sculpture
the efforts
and know
that somehow
this was meant to be --
me
old
pushing the mower
fixing the door
and the toilet
and the faucet,
still leaking
taking care
of business ...
but paint the shed
cut trees
in the thicket
out front
let some light in
julliet says
she's writing a novel
and i admit
i'm jealous
of her youth
but only for a minute
i think about all the stories
the poems
the sculpture
the efforts
and know
that somehow
this was meant to be --
me
old
pushing the mower
fixing the door
and the toilet
and the faucet,
still leaking
taking care
of business ...
#peace
#confessional
#aging
309 reads
9 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by javalini