Predator
A 13-foot boa constrictor
is poisoning my brain
Nocturnal emotion conflict-or
conflicting me insane
A suffocating sentence
this solitary repentance
There’s way too much to shed
yet it’s only in my head
A 13-foot boa constrictor
is poisoning my brain
Nocturnal emotion conflict-or
conflicting me insane
A suffocating sentence
this solitary repentance
There’s way too much to shed
yet it’s only in my head
What if the fence weren’t painted white
What if vows were broken
What if friendship didn’t exist
Our feelings went unspoken
What if we had never met
What if this postcard went unsent
In Arcata, there was the rain,
that persistent flow of rain
muddying the streets.
Walking to school,
cuffs of my pants soaked
despite the umbrella.
My car at the
F Street Garage,
top down and stuck,
the mechanics with their
long snarled beards and
warm, inviting smiles,
honest and
hardworking by
the Golden Harvest Cafe.
Old grown, homegrown,
grown-up hippies,
fixing cars and healing souls.
I miss those guys!
***
Originally written in 1999. Edited and posted January 2011 for Thursday Poets Rally Week 37 & One Shot Wednesday
Crack me,
I’m a nut,
a white and creamy
Macadamia nut,
incredible,
edible and
stuck in a rut
inside a hard-wall shell.
Break me out,
I’m suffocating,
down to the pit of
my oily gut.
If I could,
I would tear down the sky and
wrap the world inside
cradle the sun against my skin
to scorch this emptiness
from within
If I could grab time
around the neck,
I’d choke her nearly breathless
like a jealous sibling,
I’d push her head underwater
and hold her there indefinitely,
shake her silly and
punch her in the face.
Forgive me for wanting
to beat the clock.
It’s not that I’m a violent person,
I just can’t seem to get ahead
of the game.
Time probably wouldn’t even stop.
She’d just go on taunting:
“Tic Toc, Tic Toc, Tic Toc.”