Surrender, Binge, Purge

I ate too much Pecan Praline ice cream tonight, spooning it from the deep, white bowl and into my mouth, sucking the sweet vanilla creaminess down until the sugar-coated pecans were left, then slowly munching them into powder that dissolved over my tongue, the intensity lingering like late afternoon love making. Now I feel bloated and slightly sick, a distended belly, which I’ve disdained in others, beneath my accusatory palms. Here I am, no better than any other slob who stuffs their face in the heat of uncontrollable despair, now looking at the toilet from the corner of my eye. Continue reading Surrender, Binge, Purge

Poets I Love, Part 1

I have two groups for poetry on my Google Reader. One is for poets I read that I’ve met on the net through poetry prompt sites like Three Word Wednesday, Read Write Poem and dVerse Poet’s Pub. The other is for poets I’ve found through online literary magazines or poets whose books I’ve bought. Today I’m going to talk about poets I’ve met online, share my thoughts and link to their websites. Several years ago when I started this blog it was an online poet’s community that gave me the courage to share my own words in a more proactive … Continue reading Poets I Love, Part 1

Conversation, Laughter, Whispers

I want to hear your music, to feel it wrap around my body sliding into my pores, dancing around my veins, penetrating my marrow, infiltrating my blood, becoming the stuff of my life. Your voice blocks out all other noise and becomes the molecules that gives life to my rhythm, my thoughts, my reason (or lack of). You. You are more than life itself, you are the atoms that make it Continue reading Conversation, Laughter, Whispers

803 Monroe

I needed to call you but I’d forgotten your number, the one I always thought was burned into my memory — for hours I anxiously thumbed through white and yellow pages, forgetting then remembering your name. Between the pages I could see your dining room, the floor tile cracked like a spider’s web, the old fridge where all your kids stood before the open door to feel the frigid air on desperately hot days while upstairs pretty ladies on a calendar lounged without a drop of sweat to mar their fleshy perfection. Continue reading 803 Monroe

My Brain Is Like An AK-47

It spits out memories like bullet rounds at unexpected times, short bursts of power that leave me momentarily maimed & gasping & completely unprepared for the fallout. It takes me back to a dark, dank closet with a locked door, to a room bathed in twilight and ice that still feels like my fault, to a dusty country road where I turned back when I might have escaped. My brain is like an AK-47 but isn’t that what makes us human? Taking a bullet to the gut now & then, absorbing the pain but not allowing it to kill us. Continue reading My Brain Is Like An AK-47

Details

I’ve almost forgotten how the crisp autumn air felt when you pushed your fingers in my hair, the flat yellow eye of the sun glaring through the windshield, the musky scent of your perfectly pressed trousers, the high shine on your black shoes. I’ve almost forgotten the rhythmic squeak of rusty springs at the shifting of weight, the sharp intake of breath, the sudden lapse of movement. I’ve almost forgotten you. Continue reading Details