Hello Nana
Grandma
Lois
I want to introduce myself
I graduated college today
celebrated another mother’s day
fell in love
learned to take the curve without brakes
sing your favorite songs
fry chicken
grow my hair to match yours
bake cinna buns
remember your funeral
suck less at math
drink peppermint tea since that’s all you ever gave me when I was sick
I am 22 and you didn’t get to know me
I am 22
and I still miss you
The world tumbles
like leaves falling to the ground
Trees sway
Hold onto me now before winter takes you away
our love, an evergreen
strong and ever lasting
can delay the dead forests of reality
and keep the hurt at bay.
for the beating of her heart to pound. like lioness’ paws on the ground. to gallop through the wind and sink in. to the promise of the day
Old and brittle fingers
jutting up
looking for life and youth
prickly yet sweet
…If you didn’t love me
I’d still love you
Still watch you cross the sands of eternal deserts just
to ponder your walk
Still play the sea’s waves so I can better feel the vibrations
in your voice when you talk
I’d pick up a fiddle and teach the devil
how to play the blues
…if you didn’t love me
Even if your salacious kiss lost its solace
I’d reach out for your warm embrace
And love you
…but why wouldn’t you love me?
Maybe on graduation day
I’ll sit there
with my last moments as a student
comforting the soul in my lap
Courage will kick up in my chest
and I’ll wave good-bye to this place,
The known.
I might baby step
Or barrel roll
Or nonchalantly tip my cap
to all you have made me
then stroll into the future’s night
With all the cares in the world
chalk up the deuces
and bid farewell
as I smile at my useless euphemisms
attempting not to cry
tears of apprehension
sadness
or joy
I’ve sipped joe with the Josies
and learned from the best
For all I am grateful
Now…onto face the rest.
Why would he do that to me
knowing I’m out on parole
Yeah the white boy
Stealing ice cream that I offered to buy
Idiot
I’m going to have to kill him in group tomorrow.
Forces of Zeus and Hera couldn’t stop this tragedy
She felt the stars
Exhilaration of fast cars
excitements of a plane crash, stereo blast
she hung her hair down
her drink up
always looking for her next cup
9 months with me must have caused withdraws
Now she lay passed out on the floor
The angry, the mad in me hadn’t even begun to subside
When the bottle hit her lips
The one I tried to hide
Here she’ll lay, still cold
and the day grows old
weary of staring at the figure on the tile
Gatorade made to fuel her adrenaline
has become her death regimen
as it stained the floor under her dead hands
her blood was thicker than water
thinner than her liquor
Will my will be strong enough to not consider following in her footsteps
My heart is racing, quick reps
I can’t stop the beating
my morals are eating my mind away
insanity
My mom was foolish, it will never happen to me
no hospitals hangovers headaches institutions
My life won’t be ruined by this dream
Retreat from the reality that surrounds me
My mom is dead and it haunts me
As Banquo is to Macbeth, she taunts me
Laying on the floor, sitting in his chair
He’s there, she’s there
Can’t you see can’t you see
it’s all on me it’s all on me
it’s my fault im wrong
I should turn and walk away from her addictive Gatorade
But it will take away the pain
Though it takes me to a place
strange aesthetic plane
I’m in a sliver between Earth and space, closer to her heaven
Did i commit a deadly seven?
Maybe two or three because I envy her gluttony towards the bottle
Every swallow I take from the first sip leaves me hollow
On the tile here i lie
my flower withered and died
The world looks so tall and i feel so small
from this angle on the floor
is this what she saw before her guilty spirit soared, convicted
I her soul’s witness
lived the life i testified against
criticized it, realize that
I’m the victim, victimized by her lies
Why didn’t she rise and get up at the very least
All I want is peace
The sound of her hitting the ground to cease.
You’re car wasn’t fast
it was slow
enough for me to flow
into the first flowers of spring, rushing past the window
We were cruising ships in the sun
driving in your car
no jackets just warmth & conversation
Down the avenue to anywhere me & you
navigating pitfalls, the roads in the holes in the road
We’re travelling
sometimes faster
spinning with every angry piston
SHHH Listen to the power purring in this engine
moving us along in your car
barreling towards the future
Feel like I could be somebody to love in here
watching the world passing
I surmise that my thighs have separation anxiety
When I stand they shake hands vigorously
when I walk they rub
with enough electricity to jump start a car battery
The intensity of long distance lovers wrapped in denim
the fabric is in between
so they undo every stitch
every strand is rubbed away clean
until they are reunited
I have gone through more pairs of pants than an NFL team
What should I do
separate them and walk with a gap, no, that would be mean
I’ve got thick milkshake fat bottomed thighs that love to touch
a plight
that most people don’t hear about much
They’d span oceans, tidal waves
valleys and caves to be closer
build camp and then start a fire
My curvy hips swish as they share a dry kiss
blissfully
unaware of my agony
I can’t even wear shorts without them embracing each other
slamming like cogs in a wheel made of rubber
My hips are wide enough to birth mountain diamonds and destroy skinny jeans
but
i would have it no other way
because they bend like cheek skin around smiling dimples
they spread like mozzarella on warm bread
Tongue twisting finger licking mango dippin lollipop thighs
good enough to eat
Indicative of 522 years of finely crafted frames mixed with thousands of my ancestors
queens, peasants, and Zulu warriors
The inspiration for the original coke bottle shape
back when my grandmother rocked the hip-huggers and a sophisticated gait
This one’s for every girl that’s had to jump up and down just to pull your pants up to the waist
with no room to waste
between those
apple round tire sized make men cry lovable
kissing thighs.
The Poetry Corner 