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To end up alone
in a tomb of a room
without cigarettes
or wine--
just a lightbulb
and a potbelly,
grayhaired,
and glad to have
the room.
...in the morning
they're out there
making money:
judges, carpenters,
plumbers, doctors,
newsboys, policemen,
barbers, carwashers,
dentists, florists,
waitresses, cooks,
cabdrivers...
and you turn over
to your left side
to get the sun
on your back
and out
of your eyes.
from "All's Normal Here" - 1985
Software job
80k salary
Potbelly
An apartment plot
with 20 years of loan
Yo yo sounds

Yea, you're a hero
Many a parent claim
Your hand in marriage
For their daughters

And for your parents?
You're a model child

Deviate from it?
Yes you are the parasite :D
This is how other professions are treated in most parts of India. Either you're an engineer in an MNC or a docky in a Multi-specialty hospital
Joe Cottonwood Apr 2015
Raccoon tapping on the windowpane
Fuzzy beggar, growing tame
Evenings longer, midnights colder
     My love and I
     Just a little bit older

Quarter moon above the trees
Wind blows softly, rustling leaves
Would you love me if I lost my hair?
     No, my dear
     And don't you dare

Dog curling up by the potbelly stove
Whiskers peek from the old mouse hole
Grandma's quilt has a brand new patch
     No more cookies
     Or I'll get fat

Rocking chair got a squeak again
Sniff the air, smells like rain
Horned owl hoots from out the wood
     I believe
     All life is good

Before I die I want to know
All the winds and why they blow
All the forests, every stream
     Why you smile, babe
     When you dream
- Jul 2021
The soft edges of femininity,
Round, *******, complements,
Heels, ***** of the feet, sockets,

Soft eyes, soft hearts, soft hands
Tinkering, thanking, crossing, legs.

Girlhood is enclosed in a silver box
With mute pastels and a heavy soundtrack of strings,

Strings which bifurcate, dissect, divulge,
Horrors, bells, instruments and lush melodies.

Girlhood smells of iron, hot animals, heaving,
Converging, pin ******, the sharp alacrity of Knowing.

Eyes are wet, armpits go black , round edges
Protrude into a potbelly, grow and stagnate,
expand and collapse.
Barton D Smock Jul 2012
a potbelly
scarecrow
itching
its backside

on a tree
in a wood

where aliens
grieve.
Joe Cottonwood Feb 2016
so naturally I would do anything
when she invited me to her room
bolted the door
sat on the bed with legs crossed, chin on fist
a studious frown
told me to strip
but don’t remove your eyeglasses
those ugly black frames so perfect, so typical
stand against the wall
no, sideways, in profile
yes, like that
Your **** is so big
like two pumpkins squashed together
odd on such a skinny guy
Is your **** always crooked
or just when it’s soft
You should paint it red, that would be cool
No, better paint stripes to emphasize the curve
Your little potbelly gives balance to the ***
but you should work out, develop your chest
Okay, put your clothes on
For this evaluation, no charge
but please, more basketball
less poetry and maybe someday
somebody will love you
Just reversing gender roles here. What if women evaluated men this way?
George Krokos Jun 2020
It'd be nice to have a *** belly stove
to sit up close to like a treasure trove
in those moments when you'd be alone
depending on no one else who's prone;
and sit there beside it in its afterglow
with nothing to think about or to know
for its warmth would give you strength
in cold days where you'll be at length
to immerse yourself in another world
that would open up before you unfurled
and where you'd be safe from any menace
lurking behind all the darkness or surface
of those places hidden in your child's mind
to wander about in with some friendly kind.
____
Written early in 2020 after thinking what would it be like to have a potbelly stove in the house?.....hmmm
Kaitie Nov 2012
The lady's large legs
shuddered, spreading
-becoming broader-
as tears treaded
descending down
corpulent cheeks and chins
(like a rill running from
narrow eyes undulating upward)

She laughed... Oh joy!
this wonderful woman
seated shaking on her small stool
hardly holding in
chortles of cheer
palms on her plump potbelly
erupting with euphoria
as her heavy heart hurt heaving
boiling blood battling
plaque packed into
every artery to
locate luscious lips that laughed loving life.
As performed in Louder Than a Bomb 2012

— The End —