I suppose you can probably see
I am oodles of noodles
At the caviar party
There are no subtle flavors
(Yet nothing fishy)
But I am proud to be
Thrift store cheap
Pretentiouslessly
I could behave all pomp and classy
But a trailer park is where I’d rather be
Than some fancy
Hollywood party
That kind of scene
Is not for me
One doesn’t need to be upper classy
To possesss lots of quality

Shall I write you poetry?
What is it you need to see
That would make you want to know me?

I wonder about the smell of your skin
If I could, I would breathe it in
Whether ***** and sweaty
Or fresh and clean
I bet the scent would be supreme
I wonder about the curve of your hand
And how it would feel in mine
In my imagination
The fit would be sublime
I wonder about the aura of your presence
What color I would feel
I imagine it as a sparkly rainbow
Exotic and surreal
I wonder about how you sleep
On your stomach, side, or back
I wonder if I’ll ever know
Or if it’s this knowledge I will always lack

I want to tell you that you are off
But that doesn’t mean you’re not wonderful
You are a lovely
Unbalanced person
I prefer to call myself a ******
But unbalanced is just as apt
I suppose that’s my way of telling you
All of the best people are weirdos
Your differences and quirks
Somehow it really works
Keep that in your mind
When haters are unkind

Quokka
Poor Quokka
So misunderstood
The grumpiest beast in the
Entire world

My grandkids are playing with an
Adjustable bendy track
On which to run their cars
And this has quickly escalated into the
Race track wars
Of course
It is true
All the pieces look exactly the same
But
There is a particularly special piece
The little one thinks she has claimed
And now, out of the fifty other racetrack
Pieces
That could do the job
Her older brother
NEEDS that one
Particular piece
Apparently
For no other reason than
To **** with me

Sunny days
Much loved
Rain
No less important
Under appreciated
We hide from rain
And it still comes to bless us
Despite our rejection
I love you too
Rain

Some child of mine
Or one of their children
Has left a cup of dirt
With a sprout 🌱
Now, I am the keeper of the sprout
Which needs a bigger cup
It’s looking unhealthy
Bigger cup acquired
Lots of attention
I dapple water to simulate rain
And even bring it to sit outside in the air and the sun
The sprout is happy
It got left with me

I can’t blame him for avoiding a potential train wreck
Or staying far out of it’s way
Uninvolvement completely
Why cross rattling tracks
When you weren’t even going that way?

Battered body
Stomach scars
Dry skin patches
Rogue hairs
Funky toenail
Callus feet
Yet
If I snuggle up to you
It’s a real treat.

I aim to connect you
Either with understanding my point of view
Or introducing you to something entirely new
I want to help you identify
With something you might not have recognized
I want you to know you don’t have to apologize
I want to share my insides
Splayed between the moon and tides
In the most comfortable yoga pose
Any guru imagined could be
Each poem is a snapshot of me
And as much as I give to it
I can’t control what you will see
Most likely it will be me
Not as beautiful as I wish I could be
But that’s always true of reality

It was over
Their relationship hit the skids
Long before they got out of it
He was the one who finally vocalized
Tensely, concerned for her pride
He took the blame
And pretended to be in lots of pain
Crying and saying how sorry he was
But they have to admit they’re not in love
And so
On it goes
A couple of days
And then she shows
On his job sites
Front yard middle of the nights
Friends’ houses
Friends’ mommas’ houses
Bar he occasionally goes
If he was somewhere
She was likely to show
And he pretended she wasn’t there
While she sat in some corner chair
Seemingly extremely interested in the menu
Or a poor patron , to serve as her tool
Who just wanted an excuse to move his stool
And after a few months of this
He finally called and said “cut the ****”
But all she heard was the phone ring
And his voice on the other end
And now she’s telling everybody
“Can you believe he is still calling me!?”
And now he’s back at square one
Because she won’t accept he’s really done

It’s only me
Feeling this chemistry
With he
Tie that binds to itself
Wishes and dreams
Too many liberties
With how I perceive it to be
I know it is imaginary
But it seems so real to me

Maybe it was me noticing you
That made you lose yourself
But I give myself too much credit
And self-eye roll
Blush included
You’re not lost
You’re having a bad day
And I’m making it all about me
Who cares why
You’re losing yourself
Today
Tomorrow
You could find anew
It’s just one day
But I sorely miss
The really you

I am like the letter Z
Jazzy to say
Zing. Dazzle, and zesty
Fun to have on the tongue
Occasionally
But it’s easy
To get too much of me
Which obviously
You see

The space between
The reasonable
And my insecurity
It seems pretty obvious
He is avoiding me
But maybe it’s normal
To get so busy
To not find a few minutes
Within almost a week
To see what I’m up to
Or even peek
But maybe it’s my insecurity
Baggage carried around by me
I feel it’s not too much to expect
Lack of neglect
But hey, no harm, no foul
Good for him
He must have a life that is busy and full
Or more likely has another girl
And it’s kind of my own fault innit?
He never said he didn’t
He said a lot of things
But maybe not to me
I might have imagined it all
Because I wanted it to be

It comes easy to me
This poetry
It flows
And goes
It’s own way
I’m not writing
I’m presenting what’s already there
The poem wants to be
And I’m it’s convenient vessel
And I do my bestel
Not to make it a messel
And so what if that means
Misspelling a word
Or even creating one, too
You’ll note poetry will come easy to you
Too
If you ignore all the rules

Bonafide nutcases
Explaining their thoughts
Maybe confusion
Maybe clarity
Depending upon
What one receives

This is my gift
Suckle on my supple lines
Make my hair stand on end
Get my goosebumps
All a rile
On my form
Let me dine on your attention
While it’s warm
It is my gift to you
But I get something from it too

He left me better than I was found
Lots of treasures
I will always carry
I hope he can say the same about me
Reciprocity

It is my job to like myself
I am not gonna sell out
And be the typa person
I cannot like.
Things that are only my own business
But this is only how I feel about me
Whether you like you
Is your business, too

It’s not really love
I can’t call it that anymore
It’s adulation, or even worship
Probably maybe
Unhealthy
It should be
It doesn’t seem to have that effect on
Me
But maybe that’s something I don’t want to see

Walking away
Ain’t a hard feeling in play
At least in me
Maybe I called you out too familiarly
Truth being
If I was you
I wouldn’t like me
I behaved aggressively
Assuming an almost intimacy
It wouldn’t a worked if it was done to me

She wrote a thousand poems of
Admiration
Never naming names
Each man she knew
Thought he was the muse
Her inspiration light
Unlikely as it was
There’s a chance that he was right

We all have stars in our eyes
Invisible to some
And often most
But stars are there
In every one
Not really reflective
But probably the most I can see
Through someone’s eyes
Is another version of me

We got something, we both know it
We don’t talk too much about it
Ain’t no real big secret all the same
Somehow we get around it
Listen; it don’t really matter to me, baby
You believe what you want to believe
You see, you don’t have to live like a refugee
Baby, we ain’t the first
I’m sure a lot of other lovers been burned
Right now this seems real to you
But it’s one of those things
You got to feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped
*******, taken away, and held for ransom
Honey, it don’t really matter to me
Everybody’s had to fight to be free
You don’t have to live like a refugee

Not sure what could have been
If I had only seen it then

Just when I was starting to get bored
Here you come
Spark and fire
And juices
Too
Fire and liquid
The breadth of you
Breathing Art from
Deflated old tires
It’s not a job
Yet it’s required
The homage of the re-inspired
I know you know it’s for you

I’m the least favorite child of a man
Who isn’t a good father
To the favorite

Break my heart
Play me
Tear me apart
Twist me into spiral art
Better than the numbness
No passion
Icy cold against my will
Bring the flames
Relight the thrill

Do we care about the people we hate
More than we care for those
We love?
We seem to pay them more
Attention
Particularly when we can find a
Group
To hate with
And commence the circle ****
Of insults
That get increasingly crass
Or the stories
Increasingly daft
Before you know it
The one you hate
Is eating babies.
Or pretending to have them
And you don’t know
What your loved one
Ate for breakfast

At some point
I must accept
Against my will
That he finds me
Resistible

Absence is a non-violent
Rejection that is
Extremely painful
Torture endured
Often by people who never say “ouch”
Admission that one’s absence is painful
Feels like breaking off a piece of
My inner self
And saying “hold this, please.”
Too much pressure to put on anybody
To let them know how much they effect me
So I anxiously await their return
Silently
Pretending I’m ok
With them going away

You’re in an imaginary war
Against non-existent threats
Nobody is caring enough to make
You’ve created opposition
To your position
An excuse for your loneliness
The excuse becomes the cause
And habit  
So give the excuses a rest

I’ll use my words to cut you down
Behind your back
When you’re not around
I’ll give you anonymity
Which is more than you have
Done for me
My burns last longer
Though

Is he even paying attention to me?
He’s paying some attention to me!
He’s paying a lot of attention to me
I am so happy
He’s paying a lot of attention to me
He’s paying some attention to me!
Is he even paying attention to me?

I think you think
You're being romantic
Poem after poem about her each day
Detailing your complete misery
Since your love as gone away
No more poems about nature
Or society
You don't write about work
Or time that you're free
All you do is wish that girl will see
And come running back to you
Gleefully
But your obsessive prosing about
How much you care
Makes me think this girl is living in
Fear

It wasn’t aimed at me
I had nothing to do with it, really
But also, I did
Because I saw myself
In your casual insult
Aimed at someone else.
I’m sure I’ve done this before
To someone who needed more
Understanding
Turn about is fair play
And I forgive  
And it is forgotten
Who is this about, anyway?

Keep to the right
You know the way
Lonely night
Long day
When right is sometimes
The solitary way

I’m gonna walk around like I own the place
He’s hanging on every word
In my state of mind
It don’t seem so absurd
And so what if I want to believe?
It isn’t hurting anybody
Except maybe me
We shall see

Take me through
Your ritual
Til I am glazed in sweat
You ask me if I’ve had enough
I say,
“No sir, not yet.”

People want to know why the chicken crossed the road
I don’t care why
I’d rather congratulate chickens for being so GREAT
At road crossing
I’ve seen dogs and cats and skunks and raccoons and deer and possum
Foxes too
All laying dead on roads
Obviously hit by cars
Yet nobody questions their motives
For crossing that road
On the other hand
I have never seen even one dead chicken
Laying in the road
And still
Everyone wants to know

I’m runnin’ this wagon off the road
Horses need to rest
Ya know
Been galloping full speed
As long as they could
And it didn’t do any good
The desert vast
I’m full of thirst
And off this endless road to nowhere
Can’t be any worse

Listen mister, misses
Finishing each thing you do
With
"LIKE A BOSS"
Says nothing about you
Except that you're a braggidy poo
Let someone else
Do that for you

They say life is a highway
It is not
Life is a rotary
With only one exit
Lucky I live in Massachusetts
We got rotaries everywhere
Here
I’m hoping that makes me better prepared

I go by your profile
Every once in a while
See the play
You want to portray
It's always so "you"
Everything that you do
Rehearsed in every way
One time you cried for our cameras
And you couldn't produce a whole tear
And I felt, at that moment
Watching you
That you were empty, my dear
I wish that I could fill you up
Bring back your emotions again
I'm not sure where they went
But it might take more than a friend
I suppose you would say you're happy
And things are good enough
But just cuz you got it better than most
Doesn't mean things don't get rough

This is your virtual
Mind massage
I can tell you need to put down your heavy
Thoughts
I am at your temples
Gentle circles
And then directing the vibes up and out
My palm across your forehead
An eraser on a blackboard
Thoughts out the top
Relaxed
Breathing
Steady and full
Your neck
So tight at first
Takes a little work
Feel my fingers gentle coaxing
Spine align
And knot forgot
Shoulders
Released of their load
Kneading out the memories
Of what you’ve been carrying
Blades and middles
Lowers and hips
Rubbed and oiled
Kissed with my lips
I hear you moan
I cannot stop
I’m taking you through bliss
I can tell you’ve never been
In it quite like this

Yes
They will
They’re gonna laugh
They’re gonna talk behind your back
Sometimes truth, mostly skewed
Sometimes you’ll be the center news
Not usually
For things
You wanted anyone else to see
When the one in the story
Is “me.”
Mistakes, they’ll talk for eternity
Success is celebrated for a week

You're the spider always building your web
The day of the big rain
The athlete who can't distinguish
Between discomfort and pain
The pizza delivery guy
Whose car is the only thing
He can afford to buy
You self-sabotage so endlessly
That we can't help but think
You do it purposefully

You care too much
It drains your spirit
It's hardening your touch
And aging your soul
I know the polar bears can't eat
But starving yourself won't help
Before you can save the world
You must take care of yourself