Discounted Poetry

You thought you made a friend And suddenly your world Sufficient, Adequate. Your friend is gone, And all is threadbare, Pockmarked, Barren. The stranger with the narrow underwater eyes Abundant Grins, A secret words are rags To clothe, Beginning. - 7/7/26

I know you hold the hours Carefully. I'm not enough For them, But even misers Drop a penny For a piece of candy Now and then. - 7/6/26

"I need a lover. Humans cannot tickle well themselves, And my arms don't reach The itchy parts across my back. My conversation proves impoverished With only my own husky voice." I ask about romance and love. She smiles at me gently, Suddenly aware of how naïve I am. - 6/29/26

America was passing by, A ball cap covering thin hair And ugly dull tattoos About his arms. The son was jacked And only ate the freshest bucks. He cooked with fire, Not like the weakling women he despised Except when he demanded fucking. But o, mother could have been My botox baby, Her blonde sorority cascades Unfurling down her sculpted back, Her chest enhanced beyond all movement, Eyes like gothic paintings Following everybody everywhere. Ain't no doubt, God bless the USA. - 6/26/26

She pulls back his promise He would make their daughter's dance recital And the way he's always late with the support And wraps a rubber band around. She throws his joke about her weight Into the back Beside the car seat. She quickly covers every crease Of evidence Of every affair he thought he hid And finishes with lipstick Bold enough to cover everything. She's never ready for the day But yet again She always is. - 6/25/26

You fling the starfish Oceanward, Not knowing story, Ending, Wish, Conclusion In the air As long as gnarled arms Pinwheel to waves. Your face is water tides. You hide behind your liquid beauty, Leaving only blurs in space, My chest above the ground A second, Glory and agony.  - 6/24/26