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Holly Salvatore Feb 2013
Old books
Yellowing in the lamplight
Pages rustling
Then resting
Quietly
And I went upstairs
To bed
Holly Salvatore Feb 2013
I fell in love again
it's still left
unsaid, but I know
because my credit
card bills are lingering
in lingerie sales and
I'm trying not to get too much
black
and I'm trying not to
think too far back and
I've been having these dreams
where I tell James to
*******
and I've been having these dreams
where the horses don't
dress like horses
the horses dress like
elephants
they own the streets
of Paris, of Indonesia, of Calcutta
and the all the Asian mothers
make a fuss
about feeding me
everything they've got
one says she can tell
brides should not be skinny
they should be happy
in their own skin
and I tell her
"no"
but she insists, she can tell
I'm empty-
bellied
so she fills me full of rice
and strange pickled vegetables
spice
like a summer morning
when all the lilies come to life
and outside I hear
horses screeching by
painted up, bejeweled and
shiny
crying horse-tears under their
elephant-suits
and I'm in no mood
to talk to the missionary
seated beside me
preaching at this foreign country
so I tell him I can see God
I tell him I can BE God
There's something divine
in just being alive
And then our plane lands
flat in St. Louis
and the dream ends
.
I'm awake
and starting to feel alive again
and maybe I'll tell him
how I feel loved
again
This one needs a lot of editing. It'll get there I think.
Holly Salvatore Feb 2013
Had her legs insured for
movies, her career,
a million dollars
worth
calves and thighs
Kneecaps that just won't quit
and those tights
with the seams in the back
Oh.
My.
Gawd.
Betty Grable
Driving me insane sometimes
I lay awake at night
mentally budgeting future
paychecks
online shopping for those
lacy tights
I want to get my legs insured
Holly Salvatore Feb 2013
I haven't written in
a while now, I've been too
busy with cooking

and I feel like a
housewife, but no husband, no
kids, no house to wife

in
Holly Salvatore Feb 2013
I can feel spring
coming and my new
notebook has
flowers on it
and today my line
breaks are not like
I remember
that almost fall end of
summer night sitting by the
fountain on the steps
feeling like a college
kid again
thinking this is how it
ends this is
how it begins
and this is
the chin and the
shin bones scraping
together and these
are the eyes and those
the ears and
sprained ankles that I'll
have for
the rest of my
life and I'm fine
remembering old lips
that night and
that's all it is: memories
and I'm fine
I'm all right
things are just
different and I tried
French toast the other day and
it's all right, he's all
right, I'll be
fine
Spring is coming and there's
flowers on my notebook and
then blooming outside
soon I can smell the
honeysuckle and the
spring turning to
summer nights
and I'm all right, in the mornings
He's all right
I'll probably be
fine
Holly Salvatore Dec 2012
Molasses is
The most red
The most gold
The most vibrant
Least cold
Fall of my life
And it’s a new ****
Maybe he wears a trucker hat
Or maybe he wears bibs
Maybe he’ll be some dark horse
New candidate
I don’t know yet
He could be one of these
Over mountain men
Filtering through the woods
Appearing in the hills
Ghosts of Hatfields past
Fur on their faces
Instead of skin
Strong and sturdy
Growing up from the ground
Like the cane we’re cutting
Down
And it ain’t about money
Out here in God’s country
We’re just willing and
Able
Enjoying the rich soil
And machetes
Carving calluses
While the sugar’s pressing
Staining, straining
Green and sweet
Skimming, boiling, browning
Finally draining
Into glistening mason jars
The day is going dark
Sail away ladies
Sail away
And say darling say
Playing banjo
In a moonshine-induced
Hallucination
Till all the bread is gone
The molasses gets carted off
And now it’s full dark
The spooks come out
All the wicked witches
Spitting hairballs
At their victims
That thing making noise
Moving in the bushes
Might be Matt Kinneman
Tells me I’m a good woman
I’m a human wall
And my pigtails make good handholds
When someone needs to reach his knife
The mountains grow
Apart at night
And the hollers pull us in
Molasses tastes like being
Home again
For Lou
Holly Salvatore Nov 2012
That frat boy’s
Bill Nye
Bowtie
Has got me thinking
Do kids these days
Even know who Bill Nye is?
Or **** Van ****?
Or Andy Griffith?
Some of my heroes from way back when
Is Eli Wallach
Ever going to ride his horse
Steal corn from Mexican villages again?
Do kids these days even know food comes from the earth
Not from a can?
I can’t imagine growing up
Inside
Except to watch Bill Nye
The science guy
And play Oregon trail
Home alone
On Friday nights
I miss Doc Watson and Tony Curtis too.
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