Michael Duong

Oct 2014

Raj Arumugam

so I brought my writer wife
(prominently pregnant)
to the hospital
and on her bed, she screamed:
"weren't" "hasn't" "couldn't" "shan't"
"aint" "hadn't" "you're" "isn't"
"aren't" "didn't" "wasn't"
"who's?" "what's?" "he's" "she's"

The doctors were confounded
and they turned to me and they said:
"What the hell is she doing?"

And I replied with double speed
and a violent sense of urgency:
*"Don't you know?
She's having contractions -
she's a writer"

Oct 2014

The Messiah Complex

You & I

You & I,
are a lullaby

We're the deafening *silence
just after the crash
we are moments of happiness
that never last

We're a riddle
that has no answer
we are both the cure
and the cancer

We've read this book
a thousand times, and in our hearts
we both know this fairytale
can never have a happy ending

I wish it did.....

Oct 2014

LittleFreeBird

A Poet Is

A piece of you
Reflecting back
The bitter words in your mouth
Too raw to speak
A poet is
Someone in pain
And someone in love
Someone who looks at the world
Through a kaleidoscope
Who takes a magnifying glass to each
And every
Word you say
And lets them imprint on their heart
A poet is
A star gazer
A dreamer
A chaser of
The improbable
But hopes anyway
A poet is
Tissue paper skin
A heart of glass
And a soul of titanium

A poet is
A sharp tongue
And a gentle kiss
She is a sob
He is a sigh
A poet is
The sun at midnight
Bright and
Burning
Hot
Alive
But cloaked in a darkness
They cannot shake
The brightest day
And the darkest night
A poet is
The human experience
A paradox
An oxymoron
So complicatedly
Simple

A poet is
A lover
Who refuses
To stop wearing their heart on their sleeve
No matter how much it bleeds
But rolls them up
So you can’t see
The blood stains

A poet
Is Poetry

Michael Duong Oct 2014

Fast minds and slow hands

I once met a girl
who became the reason why I was smiling everyday
but I was young
I was stupid and I stuffed it up
but honestly she was so amazing
borderline perfection
but I swear I fell for her
and I fell for her hard
she had me telling strangers how great she was
she was the kind of girl you write songs and poems for
the kind of girl you'll drop everything for
she was the one who changed me
leaving a mark I would never forget
a void I can never fill
and now I just feel so ****
empty

She was the girl who made me write my first poem, She was the girl who left me breathless with a pounding heart and racing mind.

#love #heartbreak #sad #heart #pain #empty #hurt

Sep 2014

Bruised Orange

To birth a star

My son runs, wrapping arms around
my nebulous waist.

"l love you, Mom!" He squeezes tighter,
as if letting go would be his black hole.

"I love you, too, " I squeeze back, absent mindedly. (Where is the cream? I need coffee.)

"I love you more!" he breathes, without pause.
He gazes into my eyes,
searching my planets.

"Oh no, that can't be true," I retort.
I forget the coffee, his eyes are starlight.

"I love you to infinity!" he exclaims,
staring harder.

He wants to sail the Milky Way with me.

"Me too," I reply, and remember oxygen tanks.

I'm speaking in light years, and I hope the sound waves will catch up to him.

His face cracks into a million years of forever, before he lets go,
dancing across the universe of our livingroom,
his solar system intact.

At least for now.