"undented" poems
You sure like to
Take things slow.
Lead-mouthed kisses,
Long meals,
Leisurely dates.
You're taking my sweet time
Getting here.
I'll forgive you when you do.
I don't know if you'll understand
What's going into all my waiting.
All the solitary nights-
My undented mattress.
My cold hands
Hanging at my sides.
My eyes-- seeking.
The promise of you on my shoulders.
I am pinning parts of you
Onto any girl around
Worth pining over.
Or any girl around
Long enough
For me to
Get a glimpse of you through.
A coveting kaleidoscope.
I worry about time.
About giving the good
Bits of myself
To other girls-
Mistaking them for you.
What if I do,
And don't get them back?
What if I meet you empty-handed?
I know,
I'm a silly 17
Year-old.
And you are
25. Or 43. Or 80.
But hey,
I like older ladies.
Please love me, 17 year-old sweet-talker.
Pick yourself up,
Out of your bed-
Undented.
Wear warm gloves.
Kiss cute girls
(Or guys.)
Wander around.
I'll be waiting for you.
Dec 19, 2016
Dec 19, 2016 at 2:56 PM UTC
I’d never mark my stamp on you
even if I thought I could
and with lessons drawn
from father’s “tool and die, ”
I know I’ll never try.
That stamping press Dad used
left only negative impressions,
crushed in carbide steel,
to mark the owner’s brand.
No, I’ll have none of that
I need your free undented souls
To sing both “I” and “we”
in mystic synchronicity:
drawing life from the speckled pages.
But like my father at his lathe,
I’ll ply my studied craft
and bid you do the same with yours
so that you and I
can find our truths among the spots
and, with mysterious synchronicity,
breathe radiant, illimitable life
into the freckled, speckled pages.
June, 2009
Mar 18, 2014
Mar 18, 2014 at 11:50 PM UTC
Rooster has to crow in the morning
Cat has to prowl around at night.
I see a petty dictator ruining lives
I grab my pencil ready to fight.
We’re not in the dark ages anymore.
Nor are we still in the Old West.
We don’t slap on a pistol and go out
And put a bunch of lead into the pest.
So, I write down the words that I feel.
I call a snake-oil salesman what he is.
I carefully explain what a crook looks like
And show off the difference from a Wiz.
They may claim they’re an eagle today
If that is the delusion they are in.
But I will be quick to dispel such a lie
By pointing out the wattles on their chin.
Pigeons spread their droppings all over.
Dog likes to dig around in the dirt.
I have to point out the creeps in the world
Then take appropriate joy when they’re hurt.
My hope is the people that are fooled will see
They don’t have to sit and eat the lies.
They can stand up and ***** in the face
Of those who are criminals in disguise.
Tell any scoundrels exactly what they are
And let them know you are not fooled.
Don’t let them walk away feeling proud.
Make sure they’re appropriately schooled.
Knock any martinet off their pedestal.
Tell them you think they are a clown.
Don’t leave their ego in undented shape.
Then go on and kick them when they’re down.
Nov 13, 2016
Nov 13, 2016 at 2:22 PM UTC
My bones lay in bed,
thigh bones resting against
ribs, fingers touching your
side, cold, pillow undented
by your head.
Insomnia plagues my bones
in your absence;
they cannot sleep without
your bones to lay upon,
the need for you is too deeply
ingrained.
Mar 24, 2016
Mar 24, 2016 at 3:48 AM UTC
I have good days, stretches of them even,
And stand at the top of my world.
But then a fleeting thought passes
And tips me off the ledge
Into the swallowing abyss
And I berate myself
For thinking I could conquer it.
I keep expecting a magic cure--
One that heals the scars
That never felt their wounds.
I keep thinking one day I will be normal.
And I die a little more when normal stretches
That much further away.
I'm staring up the walls of this abyss
As I tumble down to a depth I've never known.
I close my eyes in surrender,
But my soul, in the midst of its despair, revolts.
I challenge the force of gravity as I fall
With one simple thought:
What is normal?
Gleaming, undented shining armor?
Pristine closets with no skeletons?
A person who is whole and unbroken?
I will never be unbroken again.
The stories I've chosen not to share hide the skeletons that broke me.
I will never be whole as I once was.
The scars that line my arm bear testament to that fact.
And that...
That is normal,
For every human has their own
Definition of normal.
The fall suspends and I'm in the Fifth Dimension.
And suddenly I know I'm in control.
I'm in control because whoever I am is normal.
I open my eyes and I'm back on the top of my world.
May 19, 2016
May 19, 2016 at 8:55 PM UTC
I'm a sucker for brown eyes
But then again I always just loved
The thought of waking up to look into grave dirt
And not be buried securely under it for once
I'm also a sucker for blue eyes
Because I'll never be able to drown in them
Like I've just ever so slightly drowned in the sea
I mean it was just a little bit
Part of me thought it would be fun
I like Canada dry
So much so that I think
It may have actually taken over my body
Absorbed all of my blood
And now my heart
Which has unironically and uncoincidentally
Turned into a perfectly undented Canada dry can
My smile will blind you
Whenever I choose to do so
When a guy tells me I should smile more
I honestly only smile because
When his eyes fall upon it
They will shriek
Sprout arms
And shut his eyelids
But little did they know that it would be too late
Because they've already shriveled up
Turning to a fine layer of dust inside of their respected sockets
So yes I'll smile for you
I'm a siren walking
Who also just happens to be an opera singer
Just so I can replace the glasses that I shatter with your ear drums
I'm a lovely rose in the garden
The better replacement
Of snow whites poisoned apple
Admire my glimmering
Harmless beautiful petals
You don't notice that you're getting light headed
But that's alright
Because I get your last breath
That belongs to me as you inhale
My sickly sweet fumes
Heavier than the humidity in the air
As I sit
Sipping my peppermint tea
Reading your life
Like I read the pages of my book
Because I'm all about blue seas
And brown rays of sunshine
And did I mention?
I'm a sucker for a smug smile
Jul 6, 2018
Jul 6, 2018 at 7:47 AM UTC