vaudeville

she puts on her smile
like pancake makeup
thick and obscuring
she memorized her lines
has self-deprecating jokes
at the ready
no vaudeville veteran
is more prepared than she
to face the hecklers
with a wink and a nod
and a silent curse
the stage set
the spotlight on
she enters the party alone
no longer a double-act
and begins

moot

I labored
under a presumption
that is true
a plausible premise
but built not
by me alone

bricks of
"I would never"
"we should next time"
"someday we can"
"one day we will"
were baked
and laid
and mortared
not by me

but the structure
rendered moot
abandoned now
like a half finished highway/
a bridge to nowhere/
a rainy day castle
made of lego
once the sun's come out -

yet desolately resolute
I break it down
to use each
segment, slab & stone
and build a shelter
of mine own

testimonial

like a late night infomercial testimonial

full of promise 

there was nothing it couldn't do

nowhere it couldn't go

it was (like everything in an infomercial) the stuff of legend

sold with sizzle and song

but buyer beware

there is no magic in the "magic" blender

no wisdom in your "smart" mop

nothing eggs-traordinary about your cooker

shipping will cost dearly

take forever 

and when it finally comes around 

the box may as well be empty

prevaricate

the biggest lie
we tell ourselves
is that the lies
we tell ourselves
hurt no one
but ourselves
when truthfully
we prevaricate
perilously
for we have
so oft repeated
our own
mendacious myths
that now they are
our truth
and so become
the world's truth
seen warped and wavy
through our lens
foggy with the
cataracts of self-doubt
and self-hate
and, rarer, self-love
our light
reflected in a funhouse mirror
and myopically focused
pinpointed through a prism
that refracts
a distracting rainbow
of revisionism
so that we
and the world
miss the larger picture
that would show
the dissonance
of our distortions
and wreck the
solid certainty
we repeat
I & I & I

sycophant

they are left 

or left feeling

like sycophants.

afraid to say no 

for if they say no

they know you will go,

exiled dissenters

or

servile asskissers. 

And I wonder, 

how are you 

served by either?

draconian

recess rebels
they reject
the tiny tyranny
of a draconian dictator
arms akimbo
they do not do
what Simon says
they will not
duck and dodge
or tether balls
today they do not
skip or swing
instead
supinely sprawled
they hold hands
and whisper
and paint dragons
on the sky

grog

after two small drinks
the curtain fell and
like drunken pirates
casks deep in grog
we stumbled through the
cool autumn streets
in a terrifying yet halcyon haze
thanking all the world
we had each other
and the wherewithall
to leave
clutching each other
and curious
easy prey
but for each other
blessed are the idiots
the naive, bumbling fools
that we were
(and perhaps still are)
safe in each other
with each other
for each other