free verse

Pool Party

As she’s being driven
To her friend’s house
For a pool party, she
Notices the homes where
The regular people live,
Home-made affairs of
Brick and mortar and
Metal doors opening
Onto streets teeming
With cars, people, and dust;
She wonders passingly
About how they
Can all live jammed into
Such cramped abodes.
Passing the shanties,
She has a fleeting sense
Of children growing up
Under corrugated tin roofs
With no running water.

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Beautiful Gift

She does what
She is told to,
Not what she
Thinks she should,
Ignoring the person
She really is:
A beautiful gift.

Out at Once

So it all comes out at once:
The things that were never said,
Feelings suppressed, ignored,
Stuffed down so deep down that
They emerge unrecognizable,
A gale of pain and anger,
Bewilderment, a pacing diatribe,
Trembling in place while
Continuing to move forward.

Unreconstructed

The reproaches came swiftly,
Hitting their mark as they
Always had, bruises invisible
On the outside.

You didn’t contact me,
I was so upset,
You wanted me to do everything,
I was put on the spot.

Eyes closed in resignation,
It would always be this way,
The dull insensitivity of
The unreconstructed.

Situation

Although she hadn’t expected it
To take up so much time,
It did, requiring her
To set aside things
Far more important.
She labored on,
Wondering how she might
Extricate herself from
This self-inflicted situation.

Consciously Create

Sure, it takes effort
To be kind: You have to
Be able to transcend
Your own immediate needs,
Put yourself in
Someone else’s shoes,
Value another person
Who isn’t you,
Let yourself be vulnerable
To the possibility that
They may not reciprocate,
Consciously create
A world where
Compassion is the norm.

Wrenched

His life is
An ugly grimace,
A tawdry horror
Of pain and anger
Under a fetid pile of
Repellent cockiness
And a heart
Wrenched from him
A long time ago.

It Will

It happens again,
And I’m not quite sure
What to do about it.

One thing I know is
That there’s absolutely
Nothing I can do about it.

I’ll sit here and wait,
Hoping that it doesn’t
Recur, though it will.

Splendid Whole

A small gesture
Feels so large
When one has been
Toiling away without
Perspective, the
Horizon being only
What is directly before
One’s eyes rather than
The splendid whole.