Poem for Week 8 February 20th, 2017

Poem Mimicking “Couples” by: Mark Halliday from the Article “Fear of Narrative and the Skittery Poem of Our Moment” by: Tony Hoagland with Language from Andrea Gibson’s Poem “Things That Don’t Suck”

Valentine’s Day

All the fresh dandelions line the front yard’s gate. 

He’s devoted and she’s lonely.

The hummingbirds gave birth to babies

last week, and they’ll be chirping all morning.

Her grandmother makes them vegan

chocolate chip cookies every chance

she gets and besides,

both their kids are sleeping over

at friends’ houses tonight-

Sally makes macaroni necklaces in kindergarten,

and Jake finally got his tap dance

routine down

at The Chicago Park District

after those two years playing the

tambourine.

They plan a movie night alone,

and it will go well, he buys her

mint meltaways for Valentine’s Day,

but really he will eat three-quarters of them himself,

and tonight she is supposed to work the

night shift at the hospital (AKA the downtown carnival-

it goes down in the DM).

She’s completely empathetic with her

boss’s wishes

and what between her VD scrubs and

the snowflakes stuck on the window shield,

and the freckles on the five-year-old chemo patient’s

cheeks, she is happy.

He can really afford to go all

out on roses and a silk p.j. set.

Or he’s the all-time-expert on these

types of things and she just isn’t,

and they collect antiques like

unicycles and record players.

Plus, she cooks an amazing shrimp

alfredo for the night

and he runs three on the treadmill

to find his breath before dinner,

and at midnight they’ll be off

to dreamland; or sandmanland. 

The photographs by the bedside

are of them in high school,

she looks at them before

she closes her eyes.  He slips

deep into subconsciousness every once

in a while, the rest of the time he sleeps

he is in REM, and he

slips his toes under the blankets,

and they both snore.  That’s

symmetry. 

They’ll be happy together again

in the morning, staying

in love, and at the same

time, staying alive. 

Sincere Love Lyric Poem Like Larry Levis’ Poem “Winter Stars” with Language from the Previous Poem (“Valentine’s Day”)

The first time I met you it was

not because I felt lonely but because

I was devoted to getting my three-pointer right.

I had just come from the basketball

court, and I decided to run the treadmill,

not knowing how to work it (unlike how I did my

antique record player/strategy for meeting guys).

It being the second night of summer

the sound of cicadas chirping infiltrated

the workout room.  You said you

were a twenty-three-year-old kindergarten

teacher who was hooked on kids,

and Nilla wafers and Hi-C at snack time. 

I was empathetic to your strategy,

your wish not to ask for my number

until the very moment before we went our

separate ways, over the cement strewn

with hopscotch patterns infused through pink and purple sidewalk chalk.

Your cheeks turned to roses before you

boldly kissed me under

the new moon; both of our eyes

were open in awkwardness, like a line

of perfect symmetry could be

drawn between us.  The simple

instructions you gave me as to how to set

treadmill number three to quick start stuck

with me, and I replayed the night

over and over again in my head.

Before curling into my blankets, and

slipping into unconsciousness, I spotted

a bright star outside of my window and

thought of you, wished it was you, and then

the night left me.