that's mrs. mediocrity to you

you’ve unfolded me
again

come to stare at crease and corner
dog-eared rhyme
lackadaisical time

i prefer the darkness
of your pocket
heart bent and burnished

where i learn all your secrets
by the pattern of
rest race pound melt skip

and you beat me
with your silence

drowning out everything
but the crinkle velvet sound
of worn words rubbing up
against lint and line

torn tattered loyalty
habit defined

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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.

i have rosa parks on one eye
and an apple in the other

and that’s not even counting how many
flags it took to paste my mouth shut,
a whole row of forever sealed with love

to keep me quiet because letters
are filled with absence and whispers
and the check is always in the mail

but even grand central station
can’t keep up with a butterfly
that hovers just this side of blue

and your two cents
well, it will cost a whole lot more
to be heard nowadays

in this world of press on policies
and plastic outrage refusing to fit into
one ounce or seven at quarter past eleven

and the gavel of discretion
bangs down hard on my temple,
this ruin of time so fragile

but not at all hazardous
or containing anything liquid
restricted or red tape perishable

just a kaleidoscope of flowers
for corner decoration and
one way philatelistic passage

when all you have to do
is write

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night

snow crunches and gives me away
as i stalk the howl of this january moon
a barefoot shivering gypsy
in a white gown meant for summer
snapping in the pearlesque breeze

the seasons have forgotten
how to be themselves

your forest is home
to a bird i cannot name

but i am not afraid
to stand here in the dark

not afraid to burrow under trees
and tunnel through silvery shadow

i already have my own scars
glinting white in the light
of fullness

when my back is turned
you trace them with your cold
clay shiver fingers
while i hold my breath
and play spectral

i know how much
you need
this map

.

..

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night