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 Jul 2019 Smith
William A Poppen
With emotions
Protruding like spikes
On the ball of a flail

Her presence
Consumes the room

Even her voice sounds
Rough, pitted by
Adrenaline surging
Through her veins

Her mood
Is more than stern
As if bitterness
Rests around
Her heart
And all calm
Is hidden somewhere
Within her shadow
* Merriam-Webster word for the day, May 28, 2019
 Jul 2019 Smith
William A Poppen
Dear indecorous,
Used only from time to time
The word for our day

You are exacting
Better than unbecoming
******, or ill-bred

Ungentlemanly
Incorrect, inappropriate
Unseemly, or indecent
*An adjective used to describe the behavior of our POTUS of USA
 Jun 2018 Smith
Loewen S Graves
She taught me
how to whistle,
folded a blade of
grass between
her teeth and
scared frogs half to death
in the woods
behind her house,
that chord struck
deep in the crater
she punched through
my heart

Her sandy skin
burned in the memories
of boys, who watched her
run across a field
with hair swinging
like a beacon, those
candied lips quick to laugh
at a passing joke,
they thought that
she belonged to them

But those lavender evenings
of junior high summers,
bikes and scooters lying
like faithful pets against
the hot pavement, chalky
hands with nails painted
resting against her
scabby knees, those knees
were my altars, I prayed there
more than I prayed in any church,

She was an anthem
unclaimed, she was
an American soccer girl
****** into a taste and color world
where she could be worshipped
by boys with football scars
and veins coated thick
with peanut butter & jelly,
she fell so hard that summer
cupped into the hands of
one after another, after I fell asleep

on the leopard carpet
of her bedroom,
I could hear her
whispering, and the
magma in my throat
filled to bursting,
the fireflies I'd cradled
in the bones carved
from her wrist --
I knew I'd never hold them
when the sun rose,
they escaped far too soon

This mosquito-stung life,
we wore our bites like
champions,
brought them home
to our mothers
until they would fade,
facing the plastic leaves
of autumn, I wanted to
stay locked
in her cage.
For the girl who taught me that love means sticking up for each other, love never lets you down.
 Feb 2018 Smith
William A Poppen
Each morning
the boundaries recede
Skies are still blue
Wisps of wind still stir
High noon marks an end
and a beginning
Must someone star
in a slow motion film
as a carp stirring
in the remnant floodwater
of a receding river
Trapped, alone, hopelessness,
Inspired by a line in Victoria's poem
Habitual tendencies
 Feb 2018 Smith
William A Poppen
Odd standing alone
Before becoming
One of them

Their gathering looks
Warm from the outside
Will I become singed
When leaning into the
Friction they generate
Trying to hide
From each other

Being with them feels
Like I might
Shed some armor
And give up
That loneliness
Of staying outside looking in

Each one is hard to hate
Closeup,
How long must I wait
To be noticed
How shall I  
safeguard myself
Without degrading another
Lean in, stay curious
 Feb 2014 Smith
Sarah Greene
Take me to the mountains,
where the trees sing hymns and the sun lays low.
Take me to your favorite hiding place,
where the monsters are.
I want to go everywhere.
I want to see it all.
I want to walk the world surrounding us.
I want to walk the world inside of you.
I want to walk the world.
Take me to the mountains.
 Feb 2014 Smith
Sarah Greene
I still feel you in my bones,
like someone engraved your existence into them.
If you ever feel like you're losing yourself,
it's because you're disappearing into my skeleton.
You're fading into me.
But, it isn't filling me out.
It's actually causing me to fade away, too.
I'm in ruins.
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