Love is a Patchwork of Everyone
if it's true
that we ought love
everyone then,
each of us should
comprise an odd 8 billion
quilted pieces, growing,
though our flesh appears
relatively smooth, even if
contiguous to each other
mentally fragmented a bit
in calico and seersucker
...but love is a-proportional
and we've 330 billion cells
replaced daily
in which it's hidden
we love some more
we love some less
we toss some out
every seven days
some we try to keep
as memories like bones
for years...
we want to say,
beating the chest, gently
Love is immaterial, forever
just depends on the material
09.30.2024
"You are a patchwork of everyone you've ever loved" challenge @AJAY9979
Boogie Woman
was big as a house
with a head of State
and church to boot
with popular caboose
there was something
in the tresses louselike
plaid a dress kept up
in kerchief and bow
the union of the mess
with apron tongue tied in
matron might spanning
east and western blocks
of hood and suburb too
ah the stale breath of
cake crust and wedlock
in the nuts and bolts
of Frankenstein and
his whole world, fear
that beautiful bride,
till death do them part
instilling terror in the
the heart of mankind
09.22.2024
Frankenstein's Spouse challenge @AJAY9979
Eh
On my death bed I decided that were it possible I would fulfill that most ardent human wish, of finding myself face to face with God.
"Is that your last request?" Archangel Michael said ephemerally. I nodded, as Gabriel put quill to paper and made it celestially binding by spitting one final time into the inkpot and making the sign of Eternity on the folded exterior of the illusion.
Five minutes is what had been allotted to me, apparently on the basis of the limits of my good behavior. Or bad, not sure which carried more clout out here on the peripheries of consciousness...
Having passed the threshold of oblivion, I fought for that fraction of an hour to claim some aspects of self. Molecule by molecule I tried to recollect, keeping the pieces of myself together, always as if having to reach a bit farther as I was, so to speak, losing my marbles.
Soon, a similar presence reflected before me. In pieces.
"Yes?"
I could hardly pause in my work, for lack of diligence would mean complete dissipation. Yet I realized the being was as if mirroring myself, also gathering some semblage of self.
We were pulling against each other, dammit.
"Hey!" I cried out. "That was my eye!"
"Sorry."
"How am I supposed to see God?!" irritated, fighting with the odds.
"Just trying to keep it together, buddy... just keeping it all together," Grabbing my other eye. "You know how it is."
09.21.2024
Boss Battle challenge @AJAY9979
We saw
we do not see
we take
chains and blades
we cut away
look and
squint
at what floats
and say,
Oh, we
shouldn't have
but we have
haven't we
we cut away
chunks and
from this distance
we see what it is
what it was
a part of ourselves
gone missing
09.18.2024
"We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are" challenge @Mariah
In the Microscope
We looked closely...
having struck dynamo
an excitement scientific
among all the laboratorian
Aha...finally! a spirit
stuck...
in slide!!
an authentic sampling
cross section, aye
between glass
its parts wriggling
and jiggling
we see turning around
as little space allows
for what seem
like hands
face, feet!
a nose it has
elbows and
it kneels
it kneels!
deaf and mute
and we are also
in the microscope
gapping...
dumbstruck
09.17.2024
Grey area challenge @AJAY9979
Turbulence
ambulant
perturb
that follows
in the moment
and aftermath
the mind takes off
like a straight
jacket
or halter
on a siren
the more it thinks
the tighter it seems
the more it takes
to fall through
the sieve
and then
at every station
tests of dynamics
change of pressure
and flow
ears pop
listening
for a pulse
at the wrist
watch
09.15.2024
Turbulence challenge @Last
Lucky thirteen
Lucky thirteen
except when it's Friday, I mean
day on the calendar I hadn't seen
put my shoes on the table at the canteen
wph! stepped on our black cat Bean
went to pinch salt from the tureen
to throw over the shoulder unseen
and broke the mirror in slip slide careen
what a day it had beeeeeeeeeeeeen!
(still recovering...)
09.14.2024
Friday the 13th, 20204 Poem @CKMunsell
Refill
dropped
the keys
to the Largo
at the high bar
had to refuel
and the waitstaff
had a nice smile
clicking the notepad
with French manicure
checking her feet,
matching Pedi, too
anything special?
in appropriate drawl
as false lashes drew
attention to the list
on the wall
stuck to my metal
swiveling chair
and shook, no
that's not me
something plain?
well then
she added
off the wall
we, still, have
that pink
lemonade
09.13.2024