David
Hughes
Bipolar
I see her from the
corner of my eye
scrubbing a pot that would be better left to soak
but her back is turned
and I don’t know anything is happening
until I receive no answer to my question.
I stop mid sentence and turn
to see her lips moving
as though she’s whispering secrets to herself.
My words are turning to ice in my throat
as I say “Don’t go Jeckel. Don’t go.”
I watch the soft lips which dripped honey
become as thin and cruel as a vipers.
“No Jeckel; don’t go! I need you here with me.”
The last sparkle dies and her eyes
are as flat as a shark’s.
“Come back Jeckel.” I whisper, “Come
back.”
Hope
If hope should
come to me today
I’d write a poem to wrap around
her body
I’d write with a quill
pen
in indelible ink upon her
skin
starting at the areola of her
right breast
And proceeding across her
belly
her hip and ending
somewhere
on her left
thigh.
Then I’d kiss every
word
and all the spaces in
between
and it would be my
opus.
I’d take a photo of her dressed
in poetry
and hang it on a wall
somewhere
dedicating it to hope for all
lost souls.
The Big Race
Sunday
Linda said she’d
had enough of working fifty
hours a week to pay the bills and
he
never
won a race with
that god damn car.
Spending all his time with it in
the ga-rage.
Said she didn’t know if he was
jacking it up
or jacking it off but for all she
cared he could fuck it.
He had a different version
though; said he
caught her “foolin’ around” and
kicked her out.
“The bitch didn’t know how good
she had it.”
Now she’s out in the bars
“whoring it up.”
but he don’t have time to worry
bout that
and still be ready for the track
this weekend.
She was always whining about
paying the bills
and him working on his
car
but she’ll be seeing things in a
different light.
“She’ll come crawling back.”
You’ll see, but
he’s going to make her beg a
while before
he lets her in, after he wins the
big race Sunday.
David Arnold Hughes
is a retired Firefighter from Kansas City. He calls
himself a Coffee House Poet and is often found reading
his poems in coffee shops, bars or book stores around
Kansas City or other areas. He has performed twice at the
Plaza Literary Festival and his work has been published
in several journals including Thorny Locust, I-70 Review,
Yellow Mustard, Unquiet Desperation and The Downgo Sun.
David has published two small books of poetry; Fire
Eaters and Stained Glass Women -- Blue Chair Press, 2005
and The Sound Time Makes -- iUniverse,
2008.
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