"waterslides" poems
Walking through the avenues,
Blue skyscrapers smirk at her thin wax legs
Shown behind her too-short skirt
And thighs marked with soot and bruises
She pays for gas with two quarters, a few dimes and a penny,
Seeing the reproach left in the eyes of the gas station pawn
Watching her come, day in, day out
Clinging to different men each time
Her car sputters clouds of grime,
Taking her to places of cheap glamour and one-night stands
And she takes it,
Thinking it will just help her in weaving her web
And as she lays in bed
With another Tom or Bill at her side
She begins to wonder
Where she went wrong
Somewhere between the waterslides and that one night in the hallway
But she lays there, she lays there,
Not dreaming of a better life,
Not wishing it could all be changed,
Not wishing to go back to what was before.
She just tries to get swept into the covers,
To live a life between the sweat stains and the wrinkles.
Because maybe, maybe that’s all there is
For the avenue girl in this lifetime.
Apr 12, 2011
Apr 12, 2011 at 8:06 PM UTC
Water swoosh and water swish,
Take me away in your liquid bliss,
Let me fall and fall away,
Down to the bottom of the way,
Lead me through your twists and turns,
While I tumultuously scream, "Absurd!"
Let your adrenaline match with mine,
Overpower me with your speed divine!
Mar 30, 2013
Mar 30, 2013 at 3:28 AM UTC
I took swimming lessons as a child
I thought I was preparing myself
for little pools and waterslides
but as I grew up,
I realized I was actually bracing myself
for the ocean in my lungs
the downpour on my heart
the streams in my eyes
The waves of adulthood
hit me so unexpectedly
that they knock me off shore
into the water
where I slowly lose myself
I sink and sink
so deep that I forget how to move my arms
my legs are tied down by its cold touch
I'm drowning
And as the water begins to devour my lungs,
I take one last breathe in defeat
and keep my eyes locked
on the faint light in the sky
Feb 5, 2017
Feb 5, 2017 at 12:28 AM UTC
you, me
sunscreen lines
hot concrete
public pool
wasps clinging to hazy poles supporting scratched-up waterslides
that made us scream:
both the slides
and the wasps
but we always laughed it off
in the end.
when we sit down the sunset will follow.
i hope we do it all over again, tomorrow...
pretzel cup cheese-induced teenage chlorine dreams
the summer i turned fifteen
i thought you
i thought we
were everything
Jun 19, 2025
Jun 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM UTC