Assisted Living

A cloistered chess set, an empty wheelchair,
a music box that could not sing.
Monotony was a popular resident here.
An unfamiliar face intruded, though, and
robbed the usual house scenery.
I stopped the thief in her tracks, but
she retaliated with overcast eyes that grabbed
me silently, as if I had slipped into a well.

“You’re beautiful,”
said her eyes, hungry for a smile.

There was nowhere else to look:
A shelf of dusty magazines, a cupboard of puzzles,
A belching piano that purged its last solid hymn—
untouched and emaciated.

The other house residents went on
existing, like workers drifting at the assembly line.

“No, you are,”
I retorted smugly, cautious of my compromise.

Then I heard them snickering behind my back:
A laughing clock that ticked seconds in miles,
a forgotten photograph wailing, yellow like jaundice patients,
a calendar of events that made promises like a salesman,
bargaining for the happiness of fools
who could not tell today from two-and-a-half decades ago.

“You’re beautiful,”
said the eyes once more, twice more, thrice more,
as the residency collapsed into a madhouse:
giggles from the radio made in the ‘50s,
squeals of droll ecstasy from the children’s books,
mischievous shrills from the stuffed animals.

*in the works*

One:

"Hey Green Shirt,"
(followed by rhythmic counting,
adrenaline,
exasperation,
excitement)

(or maybe a spin off of the 911)


Two:

Streak, pour, spread
(three words repeated--
which, and why)

(choose words that sound out a word?)


Three:

Not quite;
brainstorming.

Poetry is words

How do I want my man?
Like a poem--
Save the big ideas never
scintillating into motion,
like a treadle does work in the
sweatshops: a lever pulsated by the
coaxing of her exhausted feet.

Poetry is words:
Big, strong, audacious,
conniving, taciturn,
simple
meek
loquacious, incandescent
Or customized to your preference:
Hyperbolic prate like a Shakespearean,
Modest and transcendental Frost,
Whimsical and innovative Dickinson.

I will peruse his intentions
with tact; I'll undress his synonyms
and unzip the plucky metaphors he wears
pretentiously on his sleeve. His naked themes
will indicate the worth of the seams, like the Dow.

Eyes can savor the sound of it;
But I delve deep with Encyclopedia
relationships (beyond lazily-construed
purl stitches of rhyme and lime)
that whet my appetite for the
Creative, Spunky, Erratic, Calico-tongued muse.

poetry is WORDS.

bedlamite - lunatic
yoke -
yardage -
scintillating - vivacious
shrill - high-pitched noise; marked by great intensity; betraying some strong emotion or attitude in an exaggerated amount, as antagonism or defensiveness
incandescent - intensely bright; brilliant, masterly
tartan - 1. a woolen or worsted cloth woven with stripes of different colors and widths crossing at right angles, worn chiefly by the Scottish Highlanders, each clan having its own distinctive plaid.
2. a design of such a plaid known by the name of the clan wearing it.
3. any plaid.
bobbin - spool
treadle - lever worked by action of foot to put machine into motion

cor⋅nice
   /ˈkɔrnɪs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kawr-nis] Show IPA noun, verb, -niced, -nic⋅ing.
–noun
1. Architecture.
a. any prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting feature surmounting a wall or other construction, or dividing it horizontally for compositional purposes.
b. the uppermost member of a classical entablature, consisting of a bed molding, a corona, and a cymatium, with rows of dentils, modillions, etc., often placed between the bed molding and the corona.
2. any of various other ornamental horizontal moldings or bands, as for concealing hooks or rods from which curtains are hung or for supporting picture hooks.
3. a mass of snow, ice, etc., projecting over a mountain ridge.

par⋅ox⋅ysm
   /ˈpærəkˌsɪzəm/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [par-uhk-siz-uhm] Show IPA
–noun
1. any sudden, violent outburst; a fit of violent action or emotion: paroxysms of rage.
2. Pathology. a severe attack or a sudden increase in intensity of a disease, usually recurring periodically.

wring⋅er
   /ˈrɪŋər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ring-er] Show IPA
–noun
1. a person or thing that wrings.
2. an apparatus or machine for squeezing liquid out of anything wet, as two rollers through which an article of wet clothing may be squeezed.
3. a painful, difficult, or tiring experience; ordeal (usually prec. by through the): His child's illness really put him through the wringer.

man⋅gle
1   /ˈmæŋgəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [mang-guhl] Show IPA
–verb (used with object), -gled, -gling.
1. to injure severely, disfigure, or mutilate by cutting, slashing, or crushing: The coat sleeve was mangled in the gears of the machine.
2. to spoil; ruin; mar badly: to mangle a text by careless typesetting.

Fairytale

She writhed in patent distress—
an unlucky damsel that
the fairytales omitted.

Helplessly tied
to a tree somewhere,
The contours of her body were as
naked as a Roman sculpture:

she was tethered in a
tight dress of blanched silk;
a kimono
locked in a princess’ corset.

Only her bejeweled face
witnessed it all
with those beaming ruby eyes.
Spirals of yarn,
tantalizing rope it would seem,
floundered across the air and mocked
her only means of escape.

Until, quietly,
like a steady ship strolling back to shore,
like a feline frozen at watch for a meal,
like a maelstrom imbibing a glass of Ocean,
arrived her dimwitted lover-to-be;
her gleaming cavalier
riding a mustang black as a burrow,
though he bore a red handkerchief round his fat neck.

They exchanged gazes,
as tainted lovers would,
in unearthly paradox;
The terror in her eyes screamed, “Save me,”
while the tranquility in his teethy grin whispered,
“Relax.”

She clamped her eyes shut.
A kiss of promise divulged into a
long, pretentious laugh,
licked by an impatient tongue.

Devouring fangs seized her eyes first,
and undressed her royal garments to make it easier;
the gluttonous and thirsting,
blood-licking, gut-sucking
eight-legged prince
digged for her body
like somebody digging for crab meat from its shell
while having lunch at The Boiling Crab.

more beautiful words

I love words.

***

ou⋅tré

  /uˈtreɪ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [oo-trey] –adjective passing the bounds of what is usual or considered proper; unconventional; bizarre.

discomfiture - [the elegant way to say] frustrating feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness

dessicate - to dry; dehydrate

denouement
–noun

1.	the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.

2.	the place in the plot at which this occurs.

3.	the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.

aberration

1.	the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.

2.	the act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type.

3.	deviation from truth or moral rectitude.

4.	mental irregularity or disorder, esp. of a minor or temporary nature; lapse from a sound mental state.

5.	Astronomy. apparent displacement of a heavenly body, owing to the motion of the earth in its orbit.

6.	Optics. any disturbance of the rays of a pencil of light such that they can no longer be brought to a sharp focus or form a clear image.

7.	Photography. a defect in a camera lens or lens system, due to flaws in design, material, or construction, that can distort the image.

prate

–verb (used without object)

1.	to talk excessively and pointlessly; babble: They prated on until I was ready to scream.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to utter in empty or foolish talk: to prate absurdities with the greatest seriousness.

–noun

3.	act of prating.

4.	empty or foolish talk.

cavalier

–noun

1.	a horseman, esp. a mounted soldier; knight.

2.	one having the spirit or bearing of a knight; a courtly gentleman; gallant.

3.	a man escorting a woman or acting as her partner in dancing.

4.	(initial capital letter) an adherent of Charles I of England in his contest with Parliament.

–adjective

5.	haughty, disdainful, or supercilious: an arrogant and cavalier attitude toward others.

6.	offhand or unceremonious: The very dignified officials were confused by his cavalier manner.

7.	(initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Cavaliers.

8.	(initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Cavalier poets or their work.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to play the cavalier.

10.	to be haughty or domineering.

Judas' Wager

The stylish keeper expected my arrival.
He wore a white top hat, suit, and gloves,
and welcomed me with an amused grin—
(was it some sort of droll courtesy, then?)—
as I tiptoed through a transparent crystalline looking glass.

Two rumpled sheets flew open,
by my flipper hand,
And manifested an old burlesque club;
a veritable circus
enveloped in a forest of sound.

On a squat chunk of wood,
two fat white women undressed like heathens,
tossing their costumes on the ground like
heaps of rags
before a large group of smiling sheep.

Doughnuts were strewn across a long, gold table—
some chewed and spat on,
most licked by a naked woman
wearing wings of mystery,
yet no halo.

A big neon sign flickered in white and blue
behind the stage:
“HAVE”
(two letters were too dim to see)
while two lit slabs lay disgruntled on a shelf somewhere,
seemingly peevish at the victor
of Tic-Tac-Toe.

I looked at him, the keeper, and he at me,
along with his wild mouth of teeth and
never-before-seen, shining jewelry.
And My God—
the keeper made it all clear.

It was patently ironic:
nothing in the air was smelled
(my nose crinkled with regret),
nothing was felt or heard or tasted;
(my finger drenched in chilly retrospect);
yet, I witnessed it all with my windowed face,

and I thought to myself,
“God, get me out of this place,”
but I merely dreamt, and dreamt again
until somebody decided to turn up the jukebox.

---

Made this for my beginning poetry writing class. We had to write a poem based on random phrases that we selected from a passage of a random story. The words I chose:

smiling sheep, lit slabs, heaps of rags, fat white woman, rumpled sheet, droll courtesy, amused grin, stylish keepers, shining jewelry, light-echoing wake, blank and tingling, magic show, white-gloved assistant, forest of sound, doughnut, leash, naked woman, big neon sign, sqaut chunk, veritable circus, jukebox, patently ironic.

Mermaid

I find myself delving deeper and deeper into this:

like digging through the ocean from a sight above the precipice
with a dolphin shovel made by mer-maid hands.

First I'll uncover a layer of salt,
then crystal,
then diamonds,
then something holy and profound;
something that can only be reached at abysmal decades--
something that can only survive treacherous temperatures and wanton hope
(only thermophiles would venture to such heights).

Then, the shovel will shrink
in comparison to the ocean floor.
And when I believe that I've hit the bottom of the maelstrom,
and that I've found myself within the core of the Earth,
the whirlpool will kidnap me somewhere--
a place predestined or predetermined,
chosen perhaps by the fate of humanity
or by "His loving hand".

I will carousel back, I imagine;
It will flounder down nicely with me,
and we will be sitting at the precipice together instead,
eating peanut butter and gluten-free bread,
tossing our leftovers at the loquacious seagulls,
never looking down.