if it quirks..

then, I have done my job

Tag: poetry

Terrible 2

she wanted to be good

she always wanted to be good

but she was sloppy

she would paint the walls with black Sharpie ink

stains that grandma couldn’t remove

she took the clay and smeared it into the carpet

mom never let them play with play-doh again

she hid in the kitchen cupboard stealing candy

gobbling gobs of it

she lied about the sweets even when mama could see right through her

she bit her sister and fought like a cat

screaming, spitting, hissing

but she wanted to be good

she ate the sand from the sandbox

even when mama said don’t

she saw herself in the mirror and cried

what a mess

what a waste

how can i be like big sister? she’s always so

obedient

so elegant

so calm

so dutiful

such a worthy child

everything she wasn’t

wild

brazen, clumsy, mischievous, conniving, cunning

liar, liar pants on fire

she was used to mama’s screams of rage

time outs, spankings, scowls, sighs of exasperation

but why was she so backward

she would ask herself

she would ask God to change her

she didn’t know who she would be

years later

Mama said,

“I don’t know how you turned out so well;

you were my wild child;

but you are so wonderful.”

Cringe #4

Washing dishes in ice cold, stagnant water.

The bubbles are all deflated.

Cringe #3

Finding a cockroach in your hair dryer.

How long has that been there?

And are there pieces of cockroach in your hair now?

Orange is the color of love 2

Orange days don’t exist, but for a moment in our brisk time. A moment, seconds, minutes, eons, weeks; nobody knows and nobody counts; we’re too enraptured when it happens. You know what they are – not when skies are burning red with flames against them. They happen when skies are burning orange, yellow, red, peach, rose, sherbet, blue, purple, coral – as the sun sinks like an anchor into wherever the sun goes to bed. Must be a nice place. That’s an orange day, vibrant yet subdued, and it is an eternity.

And we look upon it like an everlasting candied Crush in hand, slurping it down, engulfing the taste buds, washing over the throat, engorging the lining of our stomach and intestines with true fizzing and bubbles that pop back up over the tongue and through the teeth.

Yes, orange is the color of love. Can’t you remember eating spaghetti-os shamelessly smearing the yellow-orange canned goodness all over your chin? That was good stuff – simple – but g.o.o.d. And there was nothing complicated or overdone about it.

Don’t you remember watching a goldfish swim and wondering if it really is all that bad to have a memory that lasts upwards of 30 seconds max? What wouldn’t we give to forget some things. Be blissful; I guess a goldfish’s life is a constant orange day.

What I wouldn’t give for that eternal moment of “orange days” when I wish for better days, but everything is actually fine. And I am side-by-side with the one who makes my insides curl and calm at the same time. Yes, cocooned like a ball of orange fur on a windowsill with sweet citrus blossoming in the air.

Orange is the color of love –

alive,

congruent,

complimentary,

vibrant,

real,

giving,

warm,

truthful,

unabashed,

unashamed,

undaunted,

wary,

divine,

daring,

outermost,

innermost,

close,

large,

small,

biting,

bitter,

burning,

dreadful,

eternal,

graceful,

grateful.

๐Ÿงก