24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Somewhere in her later teens
Halloween came unexpectedly
Unprepared and scared of being the only person
Out of costume
She strapped on black corset
Had best friend cinch it
Tight
Tighter
There
Black fur coat
Leather leggings
Cat ear headband
Skinny stray cat wandering up streets
Trick or treating
Heart beating from candy or cocaine
Always slick and strutting
Looking for a home
Needs more sweetness than chocolates
Less doors being closed
Squizzle finkle pop sqirzle
Squish squad
Straining to shuffle into view
With one eye it peeks
From beneath a sheet of gold
So fine
It could have been spun
by intergalactic gold worms
With no fear it appeared
on the way to school
It took an extra thick lens and
a super small girl to notice the reflection
Suizzle squire finkle fankle bong
Spurrt splat
The gold had sparked interest
And together they sat
beneath the veil
Hidden from white socks
and little feet
unobserved
They spoke of Pythagoras
and how bats like to drink mountain dew
at weekends
just like they do.
You lived inside our mother, first.
That changed everything, I’d thought
but once you were here
once your laugh was real
The birthmark on your hand
your soft forehead on my shoulder
The intoxicating smell of your hair,
You changed us
Everything we did was just somehow better.
Sleep rests the brain
Also arrests the brain
Stops reasonable thought
When reasonable thought
Is most needed
Vampires do not exist
That friend is not dead
We are NOT going back to the service industry
No one gave us a million dollars (more’s the pity)
And you are not suffocating
You are not suffocating
You are not suffocating
YOU ARE NOT SUFFOCATING
But you wake up screaming
Anyway
The reasonable thought machine turns on
You were not suffocating
It just felt like dying
There is no silence
Try it in the morning
Listen to no traffic
Voices unspoken
Cars and trucks parked
Dogs still slumbering
Humans wanting five minutes
Do you hear nothing
Up by your ears there is
Sound coming from somewhere
Inside your head perhaps
Or from morning empty spaces
Layers of sound begin
To create the noisy day
Until deep in darkness
The world sighs with a hush
Sitting down in our house can be—
Risky.
Kikuyu my mini pet triceratops likes nesting on—
Cushions.
You see, Kikuyu has superpowers, she is—
Invisible.
She is also magical and whoever she touches—
Shrinks.
She makes you small enough you can ride her to—
Everywhere.
She can take you anywhere because she can read—
minds.
All you have to do is think of a place and pow you’ve—
arrived.
If you are my friend I will ask Kukuyu to give you an—
imagination too.
E-very one needs to be uplifted right
N-ow more than ever. Offer up a smile,
C-all someone up to tell them you love them.
O-nly love can erase the hate that lies
U-pon us. God created us all equal so no form of
R-acism should exist. We have to learn to
A-ppreciate our differences and learn to
G-ravitate towards peace. Unity! Raising together!
E-QUALITY! We all have a rights! We all belong!
STAY ENCOURAGED, A CHANGE IS GONNA COME!
Milky
you noticed there’s no animals either
or very few i think they were also
taken out by the Pulse
Stella looks out the window
as if seeing for the first time
more than anything i wanted
a big dog white as snow
something ludicrously cute
don’t ask me why
we moved round a lot
so pets weren’t possible
but i had a book of dog breeds|
wanted something big white fluffy
like an American Eskimo dog
Samoyed Great Pyrenees
something like that
something a bit exotic
for a boy who’s life
was whitebread bland
the best thing about
Milky’s imaginariness
was no dog poo to pick up
no need to brush her
no hair everywhere
no need to take her for walks
just unlimited love & cuddles
whenever my 10 year old self needed it
it was almost perfect
if it weren’t so sad
Fear
and pain
always drain
mind and will.
Action difficult
to start
when afraid.