.................................
Happenings
.................................

As we sleep
The graffiti bears leave their dens
Their shoulders cool as waves
Ready to roam the lawns
Hungry for discarded crayons
Careful to avoid wet cement

There will be rain tonight

Tonight the neighbourhood will tremble
As the worms wage war
With the weevils
Cracking the sidewalks
Spilling minty blood
Ravaging roots
Hiding in the garden hoses
Imitating string
Stomachs full of soil
Choking on small stones
Too full for victory

In the basement
The missing socks meet
And exchange stories of escape
Lamenting for those they left behind
Comparing scars
Singing songs of shoe brothers
Toasting to the benevolent radiators
Crying lint

In the sewers
The June bugs mend their huts
With popsicle sticks and twigs
The June bug king
In his tin can castle
Feasts on the eyes of aphids
While lady bug footmen
Gently shine his shell

And in our beds
We itch
As thirsty mites
Leap from our lashes
Into silent pools of tears

 
.................................
504
.................................

His teeth ached brightly

She sat down with her red hair
He was drawn to the woman
Eyes cloudy as spit
Skin dull as paste and crying
She was crying
Her shoulders rolled
Heavy as bruises
Weathered finger-twigs woven like
An abandoned nest between her knees
        No one noticed her but him
She was charmingly macabre
        With the incalculable allure of a gruesome death
He swallowed
His teeth all ice and chalk
His throat tight and much too wet
        He imagined licking her crooked mouth and
Her mash potato skin
He wanted to push her breasts
And smell her breath
        He imagined the sour odour of coffee and
No name marmalade and
A one room apartment with
An anxious radiator
He inhaled deep to calm himself
        As she rose with her red hair
And left
A jealous molar clenched its fist

.................................
Michael Ripley
.................................

 
Copyright © Michael Ripley
July 1997

...four poems in this room by Jenniffer L. Lesh...
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