all of a sudden passion suddenly

[vampiredust]

Slipped under the table

Found poem

Putting his full name
into Google came up
with no matches. He
and his parents slipped

between the gaps
of censuses, directories;
instruments used
to record the passing

of bone and flesh
from one generation
to another. They are lost
in centuries, as if they
had never been.

 

[vampiredust]

Trochee Fetishism

We seared quotes
from Baudelaire, Shakespeare
and Dickinson onto our backs,
slurping a consomme

of spondee, trochee
and dactyl to make
each word give us their kick.
Those nights we prayed

for novels to head south
for the winter, refunding
the coins placed on the dead
poets' mouths and eyelids
by our fathers.

 

[vampiredust]

Toilets

Boys in the primary school
toilets used to flick their penises
at each other like chestnuts
in a game of conkers.
Hiding in an empty cubicle
made me feel safe at breaktime,
where I could study
where the bruises might appear
around my groin at night,
scratching an X in the skin to mark
those spots of innocence,
the seepage of blood a distraction
for the angel that came through
my room.

 

[annaswirls]

I got a coupon in the mail

so it's spend 35 get 7 back and I take both boys
no
I forgot
I take all three boys
one not needing shoes is not a necessary part of this story
but something makes the details important
forgetting that this could be fiction
I could say spend 37and get 5 back if I thought the syllables mattered but they dont

what matters is my 9 year old steps on the metal foot measuring device
(yes, that it it's official name ,I looked it up hoping it would have a proper title
like stethoscope or protractor no, it is a metal foot measuring device
but what is important about this foot measuring device is that it does
not
fit
his
foot.

she tells me
she needs to get the men's foot measuring device, which she calls "one"
and we look at the selection

this cannot be
my son cannot be in a man shoe
he cannot tie his laces
they do not make man shoes with velcro
unless you are convalescent
so here we are stuck in the world of able bodied men
Shoes for sports he cannot play shoes for work he cannot do
no no, there is some kind of mistake
my baby cannot be in a man shoe

we practice
I hold up a piece of gum
and say
"Is this a chicken?"
he answers
YES
and I pause

what is this?
GUM
he answers.

okay. It is gum.
Is it a chicken?

YES.

No, it is gum

Is this a pretzel?

YES NO it is gum.


No no no
he cannot be in a man shoe
carefully kicked from the special olympics
I remind him to use his fork

How did this happen?

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Re: I got a coupon in the mail

Bravo. I love this one, Anna.

 

[WickedEve]

I hate poems about poems but I wrote one anyway.



My apologies
to the blooms; no poems
for sunsets -- just gaze out your window.
Good brush is green, color of a sprig
of fresh mint, drowning
in my mojito,

but you won't find my hairbrush
other side of your blinds. There are no poems for sky,
none for the tides.
Touch the ground with both feet,
tilt your head. Hello sky.
Walk toward the sea.

I write dried branches,
red grass
corner of my room. Poems simmer
in kettles
and walk in my boots. No poetry
left in stars. My verse is weary
of God.

 

[vampiredust]

Ornithology

The Scottish girl on the bus
stared at the teenager
with Down's Syndrome
as if he was a Toucan
or some other exotic bird;

the guide book of her brain,
more used to ordinary
birds, making her face contort
and squawk loudly;
the rest of us turning away

in annoyance, fed up
of someone with dulled
plumage trying to act
like a Peacock.

 

[WickedEve]

computer blue crash
Hugo cell
snapping turtle

and he came to me afterwards

after the stoned angels

later

past and beyond breathing pipes for the dead
driven deep down
down deep to the dead

Hugo, Hugo
he plucked a switch --
sprung up from the corpsy earth --
to lubricate a fuck
punish his snapping turtle
with so appealing graveyard switch

 

[annaswirls]

the sink
clogged with potato peels
milk soaking through cotton shirt
the note that came home in his backpack
the note that didn't.

two spaces between us
I set an imaginary therapist in the rocking chair
no,
he would be more comfortable on the coffee table,
form a triangle

he asks us about communication

moustache twitch
no, I really don't bother anymore

sleep greens my vision
there at my point

my husbvands fingers tap the table
I ask
what are you doing?

embarassed
calculating probability

ten minutes past dinner
35 miles North
juice boxes slide in the bottom of paper bags
providing the perfect foundation for baby oranges
chocolate pudding
rice cakes
peanut butter and jelly
spoon
napkin

the drier stops

 

[annaswirls]

cable tv

fashion designer and side kick model
strip young Mom's closet of all capris
and tee shirts

he has a list
10 items for a woman's closet
essential white shirt
give me a break

no I will not scold my toddler
for hugging me with spaghetti stained
fingers tear and snot marks when only
Mommy can hold it together make it better no
Mr. Gunn

No. I will not wear a white dress
to walk my black dog.


wake up 2 am with baby
feed baby
3 am fall asleep with him still attached
4 am wake up with older son who repeats
play computer play computer
go snuggle mommy
5 am
thunder storm
dog goes crazy
wakes baby
husband snores
feed baby
pump breasts because doctor said so
wash bottles
clean spit up from floor
(it is not the only clean spot on the floor)
change wet clothes
change baby
6 am make breakfast
pack lunch
make breakfast again
pack a lunch again
wipe counter
give kisses
7 am lie down and try to get another hour of sleep (3 a night is not enough)
They told me, rest is important
Take care of yourself.
Take care of your children's mother

8:30 baby wakes up
change baby
nurse baby while watching Tim Gunn throw away the mother's capris and tee shirts
because they are so unattractive
clean up spit up off floor
wipe spit up off shirt
don't change it this time, you can survive a wet slimy tee shirt
until, well, until when?
where is your classic trouser now?
your cashmere sweater?

9:30 am baby happy, on play mat, this will last 5-10 maybe 15 minutes
pump breasts because the doctor said to
wash bottles
pee really quickly while baby cries
hungry forgot to make my own breakfast when when?
when when would I have done it?

10:30 give baby expressed milk
The make up girl on the tv says it is important
take time for yourself
how can you not find 15 minutes to apply makeup?
Fuck you make up girl.
Come to my house.
change diaper
get baby dressed
wash bottles and breast pump while he kicks
under the mobile

Rachel Ray told me
home cooked meals do not have to take long to prepare
and she is right
I cook a bowl of raisin bran crunch soaked in organic milk
because I eat it so fast it steams
while baby cries
Rock baby
sing to baby
sweet sweet baby sleep.....

Sit down
Breathe.
Write poem just to say Fuck You Tim, Stacey, Clinton
Kiss my fat, capris clad ass

but do it quick because I have two hours to do 5 hours of work

oh I forgot, they say sleep while the baby sleeps
fuck you

 

[WickedEve]

cable tv

fashion designer and side kick model
strip young Mom's closet of all capris
and tee shirts

he has a list
10 items for a woman's closet
essential white shirt
give me a break

no I will not scold my toddler
for hugging me with spaghetti stained
fingers tear and snot marks when only
Mommy can hold it together make it better no
Mr. Gunn

No. I will not wear a white dress
to walk my black dog.


wake up 2 am with baby
feed baby
3 am fall asleep with him still attached
4 am wake up with older son who repeats
play computer play computer
go snuggle mommy
5 am
thunder storm
dog goes crazy
wakes baby
husband snores
feed baby
pump breasts because doctor said so
wash bottles
clean spit up from floor
(it is not the only clean spot on the floor)
change wet clothes
change baby
6 am make breakfast
pack lunch
make breakfast again
pack a lunch again
wipe counter
give kisses
7 am lie down and try to get another hour of sleep (3 a night is not enough)
They told me, rest is important
Take care of yourself.
Take care of your children's mother

8:30 baby wakes up
change baby
nurse baby while watching Tim Gunn throw away the mother's capris and tee shirts
because they are so unattractive
clean up spit up off floor
wipe spit up off shirt
don't change it this time, you can survive a wet slimy tee shirt
until, well, until when?
where is your classic trouser now?
your cashmere sweater?

9:30 am baby happy, on play mat, this will last 5-10 maybe 15 minutes
pump breasts because the doctor said to
wash bottles
pee really quickly while baby cries
hungry forgot to make my own breakfast when when?
when when would I have done it?

10:30 give baby expressed milk
The make up girl on the tv says it is important
take time for yourself
how can you not find 15 minutes to apply makeup?
Fuck you make up girl.
Come to my house.
change diaper
get baby dressed
wash bottles and breast pump while he kicks
under the mobile

Rachel Ray told me
home cooked meals do not have to take long to prepare
and she is right
I cook a bowl of raisin bran crunch soaked in organic milk
because I eat it so fast it steams
while baby cries
Rock baby
sing to baby
sweet sweet baby sleep.....

Sit down
Breathe.
Write poem just to say Fuck You Tim, Stacey, Clinton
Kiss my fat, capris clad ass

but do it quick because I have two hours to do 5 hours of work

oh I forgot, they say sleep while the baby sleeps
fuck you

Oh, lordy... I'm lovingly stroking the area where (I'm guessing) my tied tubes are. Sorry.

 

[vampiredust]

Zero

Photographs shed their weight
when I left her, each pixel turning
to binary, their open mouths
gawping at the moon of my face
orbiting an undiscovered world.

 

[tungtied2u]

Have I arrived too late to taste the wine
I know, I tarried for a time
sometimes fear delayed me
still other times I felt to shy
to place the burden of myself upon you
to tell you that I'd really like to try

I never was given proper guidance
on how I should react
at times like this, to look away,
to look at you, what to say
a blush, a hush, a tilted head
with eyes closed as I ready for your kiss

Now finally the years have passed,
I've buried social more's
before it's too late in the day
to have a chance for happiness
with someone who can make me smile
while I still hve aliitle while

 

[vampiredust]

Poem

No poems today
my fingers say. No poems
for you to weep over,
for you to discuss, for you
to pass onto your neighbours.
No poems no poems no poems.
I have hung the last of my words
on a clothesline tied to each ear,
the dripping ink flows through
my eyes like black tears. They form
pictures when they fall. One
is of a bird, another a house.
The picture of you, O Mother,
has become rough around the edges;
the same way you liked to treat me.

 

[vampiredust]

My Face No Longer Feels The Same

Peeling moons makes you
angry, not weep like onions
do. Grandmother used
to harvest rage in her sweating
palms when each ball of rock
was stripped bare, exposing
the core of light. Lately
I've noticed you doing the same.
But, Mother, we've not bought
any moons for days.

 

[WickedEve]

My Face No Longer Feels The Same

Peeling moons makes you
angry, not weep like onions
do. Grandmother used
to harvest rage in her sweating
palms when each ball of rock
was stripped bare, exposing
the core of light. Lately
I've noticed you doing the same.
But, Mother, we've not bought
any moons for days.

What's with this poetry binge? Stop it. It's giving me poetry-writing anxiety. I need to write more!
Oh, well. All your poems are very good.

 

[Syndra Lynn]

when we were falling in love
i woke to fantasies of your hands
on my skin

dancing to a rhythm
we both embodied,
lived, treasured

just a touch
drew lightning storms
of pleasure screaming
to the surface of my flesh

and that was just a prelude
to the thunder you released
rolling wild across my womb

sex was magic
offering mysterious territory
we were ravenous to explore

we devoured every feast
our desires lay bare
every sweat soaked inch of skin
exposed to fantasy and moonlight

we discovered pleasures never dreamt
before we knew the taste
of us

these days I wake
wrapped in your arms,
hands on my skin
breath on my neck

we take our waking slow
lingering in muted light
clinging to the heat of sleep

just a touch
wakes my flesh
I find your desire and smile

you draw my pleasure to you
wrap your hunger in me
explore my depths slowly
with complete knowing

we devour each other
every inch
of sunlight-quilted skin

until we are
dancing to a rhythm
we both embody
live, treasure

and the thunder rolls
and rolls and rolls
wild across my womb

as we rediscover pleasures
we have known
since time began

 

[champagne1982]

N-Oooh Living here

I stumble through in bovine complacency
to recycle plates and tea cups back to dust
move on move on you paisley patterned
pretties and leave me stand here. Blust-
er and mettle all flamed out because ducks
do quack and hens cluck as if we all must
listen to the cack-cough-any goat can bleat
I agree, we all fuck ewe but never rams just
because I'd rather stick it in than feel like a sheep.

 

[vampiredust]

Laura

She was from Birmingham.
She thought the word xenophobe
was the name of a fancy cocktail.
She believed in the British Empire
and treated family members like
colonies, quashing rebellions
by screaming and throwing teapots.
She never noticed me until dementia
tore apart her world and I started
putting it back together again,
keeping the parts that glistened for myself.
She once said I would never amount to much.

 

[vampiredust]

Periphery

The post office and convenience
store on the hill are like bacon
curing in salt, the lack of customers
helping to preserve month old
boxes of Kellogg's cornflakes
and tins of Cadbury's Quality Street.
They mothball, a pair of Blue Peter
time capsules suffering from premature
ageing. Only the tiny library defies fate,
each book forming a phalanx
of Baudelaire, Dickens and Heaney.
The nodding Jesus on a taxi speeding
on the motorway smiles with its victory,
and the trees on the edge of the forest
four miles away move closer; eager
to know its strategy.

 

[vampiredust]

Glistens

The man gave dirty looks
to the single mothers
cooing at their babies
outside Barnes train station

as if they were made
of copper or some cheap
metal, not seeing the glint
of gold and silver flashing

from a scratch on their necks.
And his own body, peeling
like some low budget special
effect, ready to be laughed at.

 

[WickedEve]

We were giants,
crescent-high, our waning heads
stuck in the far side --
craters of slumber. Solitary REMing
in our beds, dreaming of near side
lunar maria -- dark mare
to dark mare.

Love is a goliath stone
and we were felled --
down into each other,
beneath the moon.

-----

I don't think I care much for this,
except love is a goliath stone,
which I'll use in a future poem.

 

[annaswirls]

does someone come into their rooms
each morning, pin on the flag,
gracefully lower the cross over the snowpeaked
son of man

do war forgiven fingers trace golden braids
on the band leader's navy jacket
counting the cost of threads of pomp
as the headlines scroll below their
holy march

Israeli-Palestinian fighting kills 21
Bomb explodes at mosque in Iran
Unmanned U.S. drone fired two Hellfire missiles at militants attacking Iraqi soldiers in a Shiite militia stronghold in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, killing four of the gunmen.

 

[vampiredust]

Bruise

You grew up amongst the Yorkshire moors,
forecasting your future in sheep
entrails glistening like motor oil.
You never experienced council estates,
the way they wound around your body
like an unwanted muscle feeding
on the animosity lighting up particles
floating in the stairwells.
You grew up amongst the green,
never seeing the industrial coloured bruise
we all keep in places away from others;
acknowledging its existence
with a twist of the palm and the fanning
of figures sharp like a knife.

 

[WickedEve]

Your suite image,
I captured,
released on a dying man.

"He is but an ounce of cocaine
and the sweet, red gaudiness is Vegas?"

His diseased heart,
malignant blood,
allowed him to speak like a bitter child --
with butterfly mouth,
wingless.

He called me beauty.
And you?
Unworthy.

My better-than attitude
is a beetle,
now crushed, and butterflies
go to the grave; we go on,
neither criminal nor sweet --
loving somewhere in the middle.