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 Nov 2013 shika
Elsbeth Poe
The boys were allergic
But before Dad came along
Mom had always been a cat whisperer

I saw her do it at a party once
Tongue rolling
Fingers twitching
From across the room
The little panther was entranced

Burn worthy witchcraft
I knew she had a way with birds
But this was something new
Something foreign and beautiful

Surprise surprise
It was a black kitty cat Halloween
Mom cut out ears to attach to my headband
Then drew dark brown eyeliner whiskers
With a triangle on the tip of my 6 year old nose
All in black
Part ninja
Part cat

We were off
Brother and sister
Pillowcases in hand
Noticing my lack of tail Mom called me back

She reached into the costume box and grabbed a long dark braid
With one swift tuck into the back of my pants
An instant flawless feline emerged ready to make her debut
And boy did I play the part

Prancing back from the hunt
There she was silhouetted in the doorway
Tongue rolling
Fingers twitching

******* on sweet tarts
I didn't stand a chance

A family of actors
"Mom, look what I found! Can we keep it?"
They each took turns petting the newest addition
And Dad let out a convincing sneeze

A life I could get used to
Tick Tock the cockatiel
Had better watch her back

E.Poe
*Oct 2012
 Nov 2013 shika
Traveler
GONE
 Nov 2013 shika
Traveler
I turned to face her, her eyes ruled my guts
I tried to embrace her, self-mutilated in her cuts
I wiped the wicked from her gloom
There pink elephants consumed her room
I pretended not to notice her self-destructive maze
So many precious moment I was locked away

I'm here if you need someone to bleed upon
That's all I really have to offer since I've been gone
Gone like your trust in love, gone like your heart
Gone like your need for a father but where would I start....
Traveler Tim
Re post forward
2013
 Nov 2013 shika
Inga Rún
I don't know
what to do
I only know
that
I hate waking up well rested.
Not having to slip
-out of my bed
-tip toe out of my room.
i hate not being late to class.
you are
so
grumpy,
in the morning.
but it's okay.
i like the way it makes me feel;
unwanted.
 Nov 2013 shika
Nat Lipstadt
In 2008,
I lay upon the floor,  
disabled,
pain hobbled,
my back
unable to properly space
the Lego discs
that keep a man
upright


king and absolute ruler,
was I
of the carpet.
in the little blue room
off the kitchen,
where solace
in loneliness,
was my little
heaven in hell.

It was my blue period,
When you decided to leave
And try to take everything
But hang around our apartment
to practice, practice
making misery your profession.

It was the same
little blue room,
years before
I ran to,
for a few hours rest
after tending to you,
nursing your cancer needs,
fetching, most fetching,
I fetched and fluffed,
shopped and tended,
and comforted,
after working all day.

Now three years on,
on the floor
of the same little blue room,
unable to move,
weakly, wounded,
brokebacked,
I was a soldier,
in a deep trench,
almost paralyzed,
caught tween desk and bed
called your name,
even though there was
nothing you could have done.

Role reversal,
years later,
roll reversal,
roll from the bed to the floor,
fallen, immobilized,
I rued
the morning light,
for men must work and
women must weep,
work and weep,
this morning,
I was responsible for both.

I called you name repeatedly,
in a peculiar voice, agreed,
the voice of wrack and ruination,
after hearing you slippers
shuffle a two step at 2 Am,
outside the little blue room,
oh for many a minute,
in the middle of the night,
calling, calling
perhaps, you would help
me to rise,
oh yes,
just to help me stand,
on my bent back,
my own legs

Somehow one finds a way,
is it not always that way?

Later, I asked.

Did you hear me call you name
in the middle of the night?

Oh yes.
But your voice sounded so weird,
I would not go in.

Years later, I asked again.

Just get over it,
you replied,
matter of factly.

Today, years later,
I ask again,
right now, right here,
I ask
but a different question.

Do you think I am over it now?

Oct 15th 2011
self-explanatory. "A cold and broken hallelujah."
 Oct 2013 shika
Aaron McDaniel
A cigarette filter dangles between the boney knuckles of my middle and index finger
Smoke rolls up my hand
My head falls to the back of the chair
I can smell the pollen drifting from the oak trees
They remember when dying for what you believed in was an easy decision

A cigarette filter hangs between my lips
Smoke rolls up my cheeks
Stinging my cornea
They have yet to see what it means to hold the hand of a brother you have never met
To watch his life become a folded flag

A cigarette filter lies in an ash tray
The smoke rolling into the atmosphere
The cherry red slowly fading
The filter has heard the worries of a soldier yet to serve his country

A pack of cigarettes lay on a bedside counter
Waiting to hear what more I have to say
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