After two years of waiting for my husband to cash in on that $25 iTunes gift card I bought him, I finally just told him he should let me spend it, and he agreed. So I’ve been downloading some tunes.
I’ve downloaded a variety of music, but my major motivation at the time was Adam Lambert…
I had never sat in a recliner
going down the interstate at seventy.
That was Walt’s style;
comfort and freedom
in the roaming wheels of his
weekend warrior.
The place reeked sickly sweet
of Half-and-Half tobacco.
That was the week he taught us
how to make roll-your-owns.
I don’t use filters, ’cause there’s more to smoke.
When I remember Walter,
I see him leaning under the awning,
one leg propped on the step,
a cigarette lounging in his angular hand.
He filled my head with so many stories
I saw faces in the curls of smoke.
Copyright (C) 2009 ThePontificators.com
“Slander”
Turn your back to me
that I may lash you and dice you
for my song and dance are like honey
but my bite is like a bear trap
when I sink my teeth in
you will never escape
the world shall know my innocence
the world shall speak of your cowardice
when I vandalize you with my
vicious, spiteful tongue
when all is said and done,
have I not won?
Copyright (C) 2009 TP High School Poetry Club
When I first met Mr. Zeller, I was in Reese’s basement. He was giving us premarital counseling. Telling us what behaviors were appropriate, what were morally questionable, giving his reason-to-believes. The guy kinda bugged me, but he seemed okay. And I was a good listener, which made him smile ’til he was squinting.
We decided to live in Oregon after the wedding, but I was a good listener. Mr. Zeller wanted to share his opinions, his reason-to-believes.
We settled on Idaho.
Idaho kinda bugged me, but it was okay. The only thing I disliked about it was the fact that the Zellers lived there. And my family didn’t—that part bugged me too. But I refused to be unhappy. That was one thing Mr. Zeller couldn’t talk me out of, as hard as he tried.
Things became strange.
Mr. Zeller didn’t like it that I wanted to study the Bible with Reese, and not with him or his wife. He didn’t like the way I spent time with Reese’s family. He didn’t like Reese’s long hair. He had reason-to-believes.
I misplaced my listening skills one day. Zeller bugged me. His reason-to-believes bugged me. His wife bugged me. I was bugged.
Walter came for a visit, and we were all so glad to see him. But not Zeller. He had a few reason-to-believes regarding Walter. His wife did too. The Zellers bugged me.
We rode in Walter’s motorhome anyway. Screw Zeller and his reason-to-believes.
Lucy,
coarse, black honey goat,
you sprinkle bleating laughter,
playful Brighteye.
Some say your name is short for Lucifer.
They don't know you like I do, precious Lu!
Ever eager to share your meadows with me.
You were misjudged
when accused of feasting
on Uncle Arthur's car.
Copyright (C) 2009 The Pontificators.com
Wasn't I intense?
A giant, open-ended balloon;
I flapped a futile course.
Now all the wind
has been sucked out of me,
with no force left in these
deflated bones
to shy away from
your fanatical notions.
Copyright (C) 2009 ThePontificators.com
In reading this rant, it helps to have
experienced Idaho's peak summer temperatures
with no AC... But I'm sure we can all use
our imaginations.
HOT
My husband was supposed
to fix the swamp cooler last weekend,
but he didn't get around to it.
It's so damn hot today;
my skin is glistening like precious.
I wonder if Cleopatra glistened,
her thick black eyeliner bleeding
into the crevices of her face,
sweat itching under that heavy gold collar...
Even with enough gold collars to buy
one hundred fifty-seven thousand flunkies
to fan ripples in your linen robe,
you'd still be glistening,
dripping from the creases of your royal bod,
wishing someone would hurry up
and invent an air conditioner.
Man, necessity is a mother.
Copyright (C) 2009 ThePontificators.com
I was born a Day Gecko.
Diminutive green scales gleamed, wet-like in the morning.
A flavorsome, buttery sunlight
melted through the awning of my jungle estate,
dribbling down banana leaves to nutrify me.
I grew robust and adventurous;
meandering, munching on invertebrates,
rolling my tongue down conical blossoms
to liberate sweet nectar.
Gecko life was good.
After some elapsing of days,
I observed my reflection in a bath
where dew had splashed together
in the cup of a stone.
Growths!
Gnarly bumps were bursting up,
spilling out of my shoulders!
I could feel my skeleton unrolling,
coiling like snakes inside a stretched bag.
My bones spread skin
over two fresh sprouts;
gangly limbs that oozed haggard fingers.
They draped themselves with leathery membranes,
then pruned,
folding flaps and sags until it was taut webbing--
until in my reflection
I saw a pair of wings!
At dusk, when shock began to peel itself away,
I found I had pitched myself up to the highest branch
of the tallest tree in Madagascar.
I flagged like so much runny yolk,
watching recumbant clouds coast buoyantly past,
summoning me.
Copyright (C) 2009 ThePontificators.com
An extraordinary thing happened to me twelve years ago, and it changed my life. I don’t mean this in any sort of fundamental way. My path took no particular twist to the left that would have otherwise been to the right if the event had not occurred, and I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything in particular. But my life did change that day. By “changed” I think I mean that it became more complicated.
At the time, I was working a new job at a restaurant. I didn’t particularly like this job, for a few reasons. The main reason was the fact that I was not the only “Pondificator” there. It wasn’t that I disliked working with my relatives. It had more to do with the fact that I was constantly being compared and contrasted with said relatives. And since I was the new kid (being a youngest and all), and had never done restaurant work before, I felt deeply criticized and looked down upon by the person in charge (who, thankfully, was no relation of mine—in fact, I’m convinced she was from Omicron Persei 8, and was married to a certain ruler there named Lur…). There were some other events that transpired to make said person dislike me to an even greater degree, but those events were neither life changing, nor pertinent to this story, so I will leave them out.
