Anticipation
Empty Suit
by Kelly Sharp
An empty suit needs no reason
To complicate or cry treason
All he needs is authority
Not logic, thought or clarity
And a very expensive suit
A CEO needs not a pen
To document or put a spin
On anything he chooses to
Because he owns a shiny shoe
And a very expensive suit
The only one who merits raise
But oh, for yes men he has praise
And aren't we all quite impressed
By his conflicted interest
And a very expensive suit
He notes numbers, graphs and charts then
Turns it over to his spokesmen
Who send it to high committee
Head of whom has shares aplenty
And a very expensive suit
They talk all things corporated
How they'll keep labor sedated
They hold but a business degree
Yet claim to know it all you see
And a very expensive suit
In the boardrooms on topmost floors
They close their ears and close the doors
Hear not outcry or frustration
Theirs is total insulation
And a very expensive suit
Is success your inclination?
Try not personification
If you wish to the ladder climb
Just get your self home office time
And a very expensive suit
Name Your Dead
by Kristie Kelso Rothstein
Name your dead
and own up to your grief
Your past always comes back to haunt you
otherwise.
Dia de los Muertos exists for a reason,
not to forget
and Americans despise
such pagan traditions.
We weep in black clothing for one day
and move on through our lives in a trance,
never accepting, never going backward
simply moving in the blur that is our new life
without
Without what? you ask. Without presence.
Without the ability to feel
without freedom.
The lives lost add up and our apathy grows
even nine eleven has left our minds
and our hearts grow less sensitive
as the suicide bombings continue.
If it's not happening to us, then whom?
When it does happen to us, why do we look away?
Why is death the miserable man in black cape,
the life below or above, but not here. It's not real.
It's not concrete.
Name your dead and bring them home.
Claim your grief and speak freely of it.
Own it, become it.
Freedom is in becoming and having the courage to mourn openly.
Arthur
Lucille
Mark
Andy
John
Evelyn
and Tom....the dead line up, the funerals lines I've crossed
add up in my mind. I was there with Frida, Sylvia, Anne and Virginia in my mind.
I thought of my own the day Ginsberg died and wished I didn't push them so far away.
In three short weeks the Day of the Dead will come
and give the opportunity to welcome back those lost.
be unafraid.
Name the dead and usher them in
Your past always comes back to haunt you
otherwise.
Anticipating Disaster
by Elizabeth Wawrzyniak
1.
The first night you came home late from work,
I was already in bed.
The next morning I woke before you
And put my hands in the pockets of your pants,
Telling myself that I was just
Getting them ready for the wash.
I found nothing,
And still I'm not sure if I was disappointed
Or relieved.
You, for at least one more day,
Would still be mine.
2.
Three summers ago,
Your doctor told you to cut back on
Everything you loved about my cooking.
Oh, the waste that summer,
As we threw out everything that tasted like food.
Sprouts, tofu, grains and bran;
Every mouthful regulated and recorded.
I confess now that I hid Oreos in the linen closet,
Poptarts in the garage,
And Ben & Jerry in the very back of the basement freezer.
You choked down vegetarian burgers
And carrot sticks and I,
Weaker,
Gave in.
3.
Once,
I thought I was pregnant
And didn't tell you.
We were too young,
Too new together,
Too much of everything
And nothing all at once.
I sat on the floor of the glass shower,
Crying silent tears,
Invisible in the falling water.
I did not touch you for days,
Sleeping at your side,
But separate.
Called for appointments,
Called the doctor,
Ironically,
When she fit me in as soon as possible,
A lifesaver.
Two days later,
When my period finally came,
Late
But there,
I cried again
For the life I never wanted.
4.
When we were starting to slip apart,
I still did your laundry for you.
When you complained of socks disappearing in the wash,
I clenched my hands tight in my pockets.
What you'll never know is that I was stealing them,
One half of each pair tucked away safely.
Soulmates, like socks, come in pairs.
I was protecting my half.
Upgrade
by dyvan
Her skin is smoother
pores and thighs tighter
she was you
another world ago
She is the new model
full of gracious smiles
and conciliatory gestures
for victors need not be bitter.
Her eyes are brighter
teeth whiter
breasts still fight gravity
such a delightful package.
Miss Plug N Play
can use all the gadgets
knows all the latest music
how much older the fool beside her appears.
Thinking he could find a better you
could backdate his own obsolescence
when his actions only reinforce the view
his time was another world ago.
Time Well Spent
I was waiting for spring
logy and damp with the weight of winter
a duvet of tamped down desire
stifling under snow
there wasn't any indication
that she would ever come
that there would ever be anything
but soggy snow remainders
and water dripping drop drop drop
I closed my eyes for just a moment, waiting
thinking, perhaps she's shy
she doesn't want to be watched
when she's changing into something
more comfortable
when I opened my eyes
she was already there, nearly
still putting on the final touches
and her jewelry bud by bud
I was waiting for spring
but as it turned out
she was waiting for me