2 am eyes open wide,
thinking about my life.
Silence envelopes my mind,
just me and the night sky for a while.
I wander near your angel face,
but you're sound asleep and I'm in the nights embrace.
Sometimes I wish that this would change,
but it's just me & the night for the rest of my days.

something is there about the inside of a soft shell turtle,
how the knife slides carefully close to the bladder,has to be precise
or the smell ruins the appetite,
where it may turn your stomach more
to see the heart beating after the head has been buried
or the hard shelled eggs, just like the grocery store,
or the eggs looking like caviar, yellow bunches of fertility
strewn around  with intestines and livers,
and  let one with the head still on
get loose, is a race , and I didn't blame
him for taking a chunk of my finger,
or scaring my tough neighbor,
or hiding under the house for days,
until we caught him innocently munching on the
lure of lettuce and worms we planted.

your words
are written like ribbons,
tied in a bow
laced with scarlet and garnered in stone
you place your gold-plated locket on the table
to leave your writing for another day
now you go outside to outshine the sun
despite your scars and tears and all the things that you've done
you make the moon jealous, and every star too
god, i wish i was beautiful like you

breathe me in
my bittersweet taste
encompasses your tongue
the memory
of me
lingers
on your tastebuds
crave me again
crave me always

breathe me out
exhale
as I pleasure myself
I arch my back
inside the curls
of your white smoke clouds
enchanting you
to have more of me
begging you
to play with me again

I am the best
you'll ever have
I'll send waves
of *******
throughout your being
more than anyone else
without me
the *** will always be a bore
I am your delight
the tighter my hold on you
the more you need it

I'll never leave you
my body is yours
you couldn't get away
even
if you wanted to

(20 minute poetry)

I could do without
making this journey today
do without working and
just stay away
do without misery
do without gloom
just stay at home
make do with a book in my room.

I've got 20 minutes to decide
do I stay in this cattle truck
or get the *******
and take the
next
ride back?

The thought drowns in depression
there's a lesson here,
a question
I fear needs an answer.

I suppose Friday is always like this
the end of a hard week

the long and the short of it is

do I make this journey or not?

And there's this **** stood behind me who stinks
jeez
I don't want to whisper
B O
I want to scream out

underarm deodorant

this is what life is about.

But it's fine
I'm getting down with it
putting the ***** in and
shovelling ****.

It'll be okay
I'll **** a few brain cells
****** more dreams
bleed out some more life
stifle my screams,

It'll be fine.

Her name is Justine and she
just turned thirty a day go;

'You're over the
hill,' her friends say;

'When are you gonna
settle down?' her parents ask

'Single and
damaged'

is what she translates

She walks to the
pharmacy two, or so
blocks down from her apartment;

Buys a pack of cigarettes,
Yellow American Spirits,
and as she begins to walk toward
the door to leave, she realizes
she forgot to buy a lighter

She turns around and notices
the man behind the counter
has been staring at her ***;

He looks up, as though
he were checking the time
of an imaginary clock posted
on the ceiling;

and then he coughs,
or fakes a cough,
and ask how he is able to help her;

'I forgot
to buy a lighter'
she says

'These are the
only ones we have'
he says
pointing to
a collection
of white Bic lighters
displayed on the counter;

'Nothing else?' she asks,
'I'm superstitious
and I'm definitely not
buying a white one'

'Only ones we have'
he says with a slight
southern undertone
of indifference

'Oh what the hell'
she says, grabbing the lighter
and slamming
it on the counter
'You only live once,
right?'

The man behind the counter
shrugs, 'sure' he says
his glasses sinking
into the sockets of his eyes;
and she notices beads of tears
underneath the ***** of skin,
or is it sweat?

He rings up the lighter
and hands it back to her

She takes it, but not without
keeping an eye on him
till she reaches the exit;

Then she gives him the finger,
peels the package of her pack
of cigarettes and lights one up
for the road

May 13, 2016
1:00 a.m.
"Grasping for straws, again!" It's amazing to me, that when we start aproaching  my age, how we start reflecting on events that, at the time of their occurence, were not important. Case in point:
Lubbock, Texas, September, 1953, if memory serves. During that time local television stations, at noon, always had a 15 minute newscast, followed by another 15 minutes of "public service programing, featuring upcoming events in the surrounding communities. This time of year, it was always the "South Plains Fair."
My brother, Bill, and I belonged to a volunteer service group that was scheduled to appear on such a program aptly titled "Hospitality Time." Also scheduled was a country western band that was to perform at the fair. I can't recall the name other than they were associated with a circuit called "The Louisiana Hayride",  similar to the "Grand 'ol Opry", both very popular on the radio, you do remember 'radio', don't you?"
Prior to the telecast, we got into a conversation with one of the musicians, who 'plunked' on his guitar while waiting for their call.He turned out to be the lead singer. Not being a country music fan, I  didn't pay much attention to them, after all, it was "just for the Fair." After they finished and were leaving, he turned to my brother and me, and said, "nice to meet you." It wasn't until a couple of years later, when I realized that we had met, and talked with, Elvis Presley.
copyright: richard riddle: 05-13-2016