007 Challenge

[AmericanTrash]

Hope is Resistance

Firecrackers. Hundreds of firecrackers. At first.
Three weeks ago.
Last night even more firecrackers.
I hear them from my bedroom cutting up a dress
for masks because this is coronavirus in NYC
near the peak we are told but we keep climbing

I cannot watch more than an hour of news each day.

Firecrackers the next day. More this time. But
this time I am close because
run out of toilet paper venturing and see
two men I know are Chinese, having seen them
at the local thrift store donating clothing

but today setting off firecrackers which
traditionally warded off evil in Chinese legend.

Who could not love them? Who could not love this city
making what noise it can against the sirens?

 

[Tzara]

Firecrackers. Hundreds of firecrackers. At first.

You are rocking things here, AT. I know these are drafts for you, but as the kids might acronym their approval, OMG.

This last one is, I think, especially good.

Stay well.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Thank you, Tzara, for your comment and for your teaching.

 

[todski28]

You are rocking things here, AT. I know these are drafts for you, but as the kids might acronym their approval, OMG.

This last one is, I think, especially good.

Stay well.

This is the truth, it may be a rough draft but I can't see much in the way of improvement, though I couldn't edit a poem to save my life

 

[AmericanTrash]

This is the truth, it may be a rough draft but I can't see much in the way of improvement, though I couldn't edit a poem to save my life

If your life ever needs to be saved by a copy editor, I'm up for that.

 

[AmericanTrash]

segments

there are ten segments
of mandarin I had bought to share

wet and sour with bright the sort of sour
drawing forth the wet of the eyes to the mouth

the cat who died would have come to politely
wait for a sniff because she had improbable faith

more than I ever had that what I had we could share
and she was right

she died coughing
unable to breathe as I curled next to her sick with covid-19

there are ten segments but too many for a heart
and too few to feed these loves

many many loves that make a life
from the lives one love sustains

 

[AmericanTrash]

The Bridge to Kansas

Cousin whose birthday is in November
cousin who will probably vote again
Trump cousin oh cousin defiant
red hair still tumbling
against your face we had been silent
for three years. Quiet as the moon
poised to speak but on pause.

Yesterday cousin whose birthday is in November
answered to my brother you didn't miss
Pizza Hut which drew from me a deep
laugh because my brother, years ago
was so eager for pizza that he actually
accidentally ran his car into the iconic
windows of the outlet. One woman sued
because she looked so fast that she claimed
whiplash. This has become lore
for a family starved of stories
we can politely tell.

Wichita Kansas, the story goes,
is where two brothers started Pizza Hut
on the Wichita State campus. One might
justifiably suspect that the tiny building
perhaps a repurposed outhouse
bricks in place of the original.

The cousin oh cousin still resents
Barack Obama for making her get insurance
out of pocket because Pizza Hut wouldn't
pony up for her and her three kids even after
years of assistant managering.

Cousin oh cousin I am no better driver
even than my brother was then but that fine laugh
remembering the utter destruction of the glass,
years of drive through jokes, remembering
our shared story

pieced us together a few miles
across broken glass
between here and Kansas.

 

[AmericanTrash]

fits in one hand

of course it was mid-sentence
buzz
buzz
apologies leaving students to read
a new page to themselves in google
classroom so I could buzz back
buzz in
what I thought was grubhub early
but instead it was fedex

offering me the box for which
I signed.

no more than eight inches square
then I looked at the sender's address

the crematorium.

I sat her on top of the trunk
until I could open it.

back to students and reading and questions
assignments I put it off

the cat who still lives marked the box with his cheek

I bit back the flood before it could wail
not quite to blood but to a pale mark

then I peeled back the tape and lifted out
a tapered cherrywood box

her little name embossed on the little lid

it fit in one hand but heavier than she was
when she also fit in one hand.

so small and so heavy.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Jack in Chat

Rebellion sends its warning
regardless of nation. Regardless
complaint and regardless the age of its rebels.

Misunderstanding the job, unaware that I was to be
a Pinkerton, I engaged in chat with the students
who were not called upon by the teacher friend.
Friend. Teacher. Uncalled. I engaged particularly

Jack who bragged and emoticoned and threatened
IM OUTA HERE IF I DON'T GET CALLED NEXT

or I GOT WORK TO DO
or I CAN DO 40 PUSHUPS

replying "You are doing them now while typing? That's
AMAZING!"

Another adult typed "no more chatting NOW."
Jack complained "YOUr NOT A TEACHER."
The Para-professional wrote "I AM A TEACHER."

He said O IDK K and I wanted to type back when
I AM LEAVING

I said nothing. No one else typed. Then
Jack typed "WHEN THIS IS OVER IM LEAVING"

 

[AmericanTrash]

Sirens

Constant the weee wah wee wah in traffic.
What could be traffic.

Better is the sound of my lover answering
three rings this time. Between us so many
rings. Exchanged rings. Given rings.
Unanswered rings. Constant

rings between New York and Colorado,
my second home. Glorious Consuela answers
confessing obsessing on economics this day
or political theories applied to education the next.

My siren I am wrecked on the bed
yours or mine because we have shared both.
Each night you call. Each night
I answer.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Guest Custom

In this tent traditional
guest custom applies.

Honeywine offered.
A cushion. Fresh

water for the hands and feet.
Both hands offered

in greeting, empty of weapons.
Guest custom demands

treatment like fondly regarded
family. My sister

my brother. This wine is yours.
This cushion yours.

This water this towel yours.
You are welcome.

 

[JCSTREET]

there are ten segments
of mandarin I had bought to share

wet and sour with bright the sort of sour
drawing forth the wet of the eyes to the mouth

the cat who died would have come to politely
wait for a sniff because she had improbable faith

more than I ever had that what I had we could share
and she was right

she died coughing
unable to breathe as I curled next to her sick with covid-19

there are ten segments but too many for a heart
and too few to feed these loves

many many loves that make a life
from the lives one love sustains

Yeats would have an "oh fuck" look on his face reading this . . .

the cat who died would have come to politely
wait for a sniff because she had improbable faith

 

[AmericanTrash]

Yeats would have an "oh fuck" look on his face reading this . . .

the cat who died would have come to politely
wait for a sniff because she had improbable faith

Is that a good thing?

Incidentally, two cats besides the tiger were found to have had covid 19. I am absolutely sure that's what Mitzi died of. I had the same symptoms she had. She was just much older at 20 which is like a bajillion in cat years. At least I could be with her when she died. She slept at my feet for 20 years.

I am now trying to picture Yeats with an "oh fuck" look on his face.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Superheroism

Superheroism is the new monarchy
virus that selects on the basis, mostly,
of heredity

Maybe it's the blood
maybe it's God
maybe it's radioactivity
maybe it's just being born
in the right place right time with the right
genitals.

Everybody longs for rescue.
Even as I write this, I love The City We Became
and read every Marvel comic I could lay hands on.

I write this with sincerity that I know will be mocked
but still I believe that each one of us has superpowers.

Each person can choose to be kind. Each person can choose
to defend rather than betray, to give over get to
listen over talk to be
just be with someone struggling.

Maybe it is just the idea of superhero as accident or birth
that troubles.

Maybe it is the (easily mockable but nonetheless true)
troubling, festering, foundering grasp after truth

maybe we are all superheroes. Maybe I just need to
try.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Lobby

Special Interests really means not much because
what is special? What interests?

Confession: I am interested in the future. Human
and non-human children. What could be more special?

Do we agree? The future is of interest? Children of interest?

So then why
in most states of the USA have laws been passed prohibiting
community nonprofit internet?

Sometimes special just means monied
and interest means interest in money.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Believe

Fact or fiction? ABC NBC CNN Washington Post New York Times
Guardian Huffingtonpost MSNBC Vanity Forbes Time Magazine:

Pulitzer prizes aside, how can anyone sane
believe that Alex Jones or Fox News

knows more? It's upside-down land
here in the U.S.A. that falsely claims to be

America.

 

[AmericanTrash]

Why I write so many at one time

sinking like the iron teardrop
is fine

is preferred
because I do not want to crowd

out other voices or other threads
so I write write write write write

and hopefully write write
in some compact manner

footprinting smaller while still
aiming for 7 in 7 however that works

so better to be fast than greedy
but in me so many so many so many

so many words burning

 

[Piscator]

Special Interests really means not much because
what is special? What interests?

Confession: I am interested in the future. Human
and non-human children. What could be more special?

Do we agree? The future is of interest? Children of interest?

So then why
in most states of the USA have laws been passed prohibiting
community nonprofit internet?

Sometimes special just means monied
and interest means interest in money.

Love this series.

On this one, one might add something like

money generates interest
interest is money
money is good
especially
interest

(unless you're the Fed in which case you keep interest low so banks and Boeing and ............., .........., .........can profit)

cheers and sorry for my shape fixation

 

[Piscator]

My Long Lost Blond

When I was young, my hair was blond
and my Mom even kept some locks
saved from a buzzcut when Dad came
home from overseas. They are long gone
now but I still have a pair of bronzed baby
shoes, which were popular at the time,
especially for firstborn males.

My hair stayed light, through childhood
and adolescence but darkened in my
twenties and I was often called upon
to First Foot the residence of that
year’s New Years Eve celebrations
and well into my cups, I would
pontificate on the potential
evolutionary significance of
being cute and blond when young
but dark and fierce as an adult
at least for males.

These days my hair is going grey
I think they call it salt and pepper
but I still have hair and I’m still here

______________________________________________

I can't commit to 30 but will give 7 a try again

 

[Piscator]

Lepidopteran Life Cycle

Egg to
caterpillar
which eats a lot of leaves
cocoons then emerges as but-
terfly

 

[Piscator]

http://forum.literotica.com/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=92279002

 

[Piscator]

Spider love

There’s something morbidly fascinating about
the mating habit of spiders and mantitids
how after the male’s deposited his load
the female eats him - protein for the
next generation.

Now why are you looking at me like that
after I’ve deposited my load and
you’ve yet to cum?

 

[Piscator]

Pole Reversal

Positive and negative
used to be simple like
when you jumped your car
Red (positive) to Red
Black (negative) to Black
and if you did it the wrong
your car blew up.

With corvid-19 it’s not so clear
if you’ve been exposed and test
positive that’s bad, but if you
recover and test negative, that’s
good but your antibodies test
positive well that’s certainly
not negative but we don’t know
enough about immunity to be
positive it’s positive.

 

[Piscator]

Quarantine

I cannot wait for forty days
For this life is all too fleeting
And forty nights without your gaze

Might well stop my heart from beating
So sent me off to hermitage
Where no one will hear my bleating

Yet such must be our heritage
When death from plague lies in the air
Life’s price in an uncertain age

Believers may find peace in prayer
Yet for me their words ring hollow
And so alone, I face death’s stare

But cannot cross though lights are low
For it's your flame I must follow

"The word "quarantine" originates from quarantena, the Venetian language form, meaning "forty days". This is due to the 40-day isolation of ships and people practised as a measure of disease prevention related to the plague." Wikipedia

 

[Piscator]

Digging the Daveyard

According to Wikipedia, David is the second most popular name in the United States, with around 1 in 28 males bearing this given name. The Dave wave peaked in popularity in the 1950’s and 60’s. As a male with that name and of that generation I can recall a French class of 12 where 4 of us were David and even today 2 of my French class bear this name. This was partially resolved by designating one of us as David, another as Dav-iid a, the third as Dave and I forget what we called the fourth who was frequently absent anyway. But we could never remember who was which. And of course there is the classic Cheech and Chong “Dave’s not here” routine

I feel the use of the diminutive Dave instead of David seems to have some class distinction. My partner’s upper-class English cousin is definitely a David not a Dave, just as his brother is Andrew not Andy. I feel the distinction is less pronounced on this side of the pond but in a casual Google search, I was unable to substantiate a difference on either side of the pond. My mother, born and raised in Illinois, always calls me David so there may be a generational aspect to it too. But I’m pretty sure neither David not Dave want to be referred to as Davey, especially if they’re in the Navy.

Regardless, in the year of the plague, a lot more Davids and Daves will be popping up in a cemetery near you. I just hope I’m not among them.