HEARTBREAK IN FADED JEANS

dVerse Poets Pub

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

I like it when a poem mentions a real place
like Omaha or Charleston as that immediately
tells me there won't be any faeries or elves in it
and so it's safe to continue and I like it when
a poem mentions a real thing like let's say a lonely
bus stop and I like it when a poem mentions real 
people like old lovers or new lovers and some
way that all these things come together like at a bus
stop in Omaha where a woman stands waiting for
what could be an old lover on a bus that doesn't
come and not how it makes the woman feel because 
we don't exactly know but how it makes the poet 
feel as he observes her from the gas station 
across the way and there's a chill in the evening air
and after a while he walks on over to inquire as 
to whether he can be of some assistance 
she is a dark haired woman who reminds him
of an old lover and she says where you headed
mister and he says Charleston and she smiles
and says oh that would be pretty far out of
my way as I live about five miles down the road
and he wants to say something but there's this little
voice telling him she's heartbreak in faded jeans
and he says well have a good evening then m'am
and when he pulls out of the station never to return
again he glances in his mirror and sees that she has
stepped off the curb and is thumbing for a ride and
in a New York moment (a pregnant one at that) he says
fuck it and turns the car around and you will write your 
own ending same as we all do in real life and that there's
the kind of poem I like now mister yes I surely do

OTHERWISE

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads--d'Verse Poets Pub

Don't stop
what you're doing
don't cancel 
the ballgame
don't shut 
the whole damn city down
don't say none of it's
important
in light of...
it's all important
it's your LIFE
sure it sounds bizarre
but now you see 
we've got to factor it in
as crazy as 
it would have seemed 
in that Leave It To Beaver world
we're no longer immune 
and we've got to factor it in
as others 
speaking other tongues
have done
as a fact 
Jack
that' all
it's the fact
Jack
and sure it sounds 
preposterous
when you still 
haven't  grasped 
that on this plane
we're all insane
always have been
it's just that we 
factored it in
goes on everyday
on a smaller scale
but you think that's okay
long as it stays
in THAT part of town
cuz you've factored it in
and gone about your business
so now's the time
to go about our business
the business of living
it's called
and just get on with it
singin'
shoutin'
heads held high
just get on with it

play the game

otherwise they've won