Friday

Poetry

Two things happened to me I never thought was possible. One is that I wrote some poetry last night. The second is that I am actually going to share it.

This is my "Smile" collection:



Down around the corner, just outside the carnival lined streets…

Under the lighted sky, sits…

One with a wilted, second hand dress and long, blackened eyelashes…

The carnival crowd, dressed in smiles, holding cotton candy…
doesn’t recognize her.

It rained. Others left. She, with a dress and long blackened eyelash sits…

In the front row - with a smile.







The bike was built for three. Three seats. Three pedals.

In the front seat, with his feet moving… round, and, slowly… round again…

Is a man riding uphill.

The top of the hill seemed so far when he started.

Now he sits, out of breath, with a smile looking…

…downhill.







The tarp covered a hundred people…

Except for one.

She liked rain. She liked the feeling of being on the outside.

“Come in. We have room.”

With a smile, she says…

“No thanks.”








It was the differences she hated.

Why were others different from me?

I am beautiful, but they take difference to me.

Why don’t they see me… my beauty?
“Freak!”

That’s what I’m saying. Why does that boy say that?

“He doesn’t smile the way you do. He’s jealous.”

She thanked her friend by giving him a high five with her left hand.

Her other arm and legs stopped functioning after the accident.







It was the smile that gave him away.

He tried to hide it, but it always came out.

The good looking girl across the room saw his smile and…

Turned away.

The next girl around might like his smile, but…

Maybe not. Oh well.







Halloween.

The mask was picked out several months before.

You can’t be passive aggressive in the fall before the Christmas season.

Ghost, Goblin, Superman, or his favorite comic book villain…

The Joker.

I want to avoid the crowds. I’m not one for the crowds.

In his mirror he’s had since forth grade, the man smiles in a way…

Only the Joker could admire.








Falling down never crossed her mind.

Spelling is spelling.

Rehearse. I must rehearse.

I know the words. I know the words. I know the words.

There are rules. I know the rules.

Grammar. I “am” grammar. I see things in my mind.

Letters become pronouns. Pronouns become…

Stop that! Syllable by syllable.

Listen to yourself. You know this.

What will I wear? Will it distract me from spelling?

My mother groomed me to be special - what I should wear.

I am special. Exceptional, festive, out of the ordinary, primary, peculiar, first…

“You’ll be late. Get your butt out there. Don’t make me look stupid.”

That’s my mom. She smiled when I won my first prize.








Line dancing was really great when my grandfather joined me.

With Grandma’s 100th birthday, he wasn’t able to come this time.

Too bad for him… it was two for Tuesdays.

Grandpa loved two for Tuesdays. He would often dance his best on these nights.

“Two dances in one was a bargain.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but I understood his smile when he said it.

I’m sure Grandpa likes Grandma but…

I know he likes my smile more than hers.








He talked about marriage the day after meeting my mother.

It was the smile and the warm greeting she gave him, I think.

In a way I think he missed it - my smile.

My best friend warned me of this.

“Don’t let him meet your mother. She has a smile bigger than mars.”

My friend’s astrological inclinations aside, I think she was right…

He liked what I could not give him.








She pardoned herself from her company that evening.

She had to smile. She had to smile.

“I’m sick of those that don’t smile.” She says.

He didn’t smoke, but he was caught outside of the employee entrance on his way to work…
listening to some happy person talking about something between each inhale and exhale.

“I’m sorry, but I really want to see a smile.” She says.

“I smile”, says the man on his way to work.

“You hide it well.”

“I only share it to those that really need it.”









She tried to sleep off her smile from the night before. She couldn’t.

You can’t blame her, it was a long day of smiling. It started in the morning.

The tenth smile in an hour, her new child gave her, was only the beginning.

It continued when her life partner brought home a dozen chocolate cupcakes and….

A new attitude.

She wanted her more than she ever thought was possible.

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