My husband's poetry

Category: fear

  • Room 511

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    by

    cfblack
    in , , , ,

    I didn’t walk yesterday, ordered out for wings, didn’t cook or lift weights, went to bed before 9, told myself it was just a nap. 4 am, I woke from a dream I had been sent to Room 511 to prepare a patient for electro shock therapy. I untied her gown, strapped her tight to…

  • Rainy day

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    by

    cfblack
    in , , , , ,

    Rain in yard, coffee on porch, Friend on phone Says hello, how are you? We talk of family, of health, Of vaccines, Grandiose post-COVID plans Last leaves launch in air In seven days Write fears on paper Consign in Solstice fire Happy Hanukkah Merry Christmas, and Kwanza, too 12-14-20

  • Buttered limbs

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    by

    cfblack
    in ,

    Today, I go into the wilderness, no armor or weapons. Face monsters and wild beasts. I will not resist their hunger their gnashing and tearing their ravenous devouring. Should I shower first, butter my limbs, flavor skin with spices, sprinkle oregano in my hair? Today, I go into the wilderness, look for me in scat…

  • Thumbtacks

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    by

    cfblack
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    Election Day, trying to avoid the news trying to think of anything but this election On a friend’s page, I see a picture of a pinup girl, wonder what she was like when she wasn’t a fantasy I feel guilty for looking, but I look anyway, tell myself that the person she was that day…

  • Not if, but when

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    by

    cfblack
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    too intent on not dying we do not live death examine etchings on walls of passage gouges and scratches on exit door frame stop, carve your initials with X’s and O’s turn the handle and pass through 9-22-20

  • Ricky

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    by

    cfblack
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    Ricky moved into a new house built on an old grass landing strip of Shambaugh Airport Three years older than everyone in 4th grade he’d chase me home from school One day, I ran into our house home early, Dad made me go back out and fight Ricky put me in a headlock I bit…

  • advice for November 4th

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    by

    cfblack
    in , ,

    Mercy is greater than justice Or we will all perish 9-2-20

  • a nickel a scoop

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    by

    cfblack
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    Hot summer on sidewalk a lost dime no one saw you pick it up Snuck bike from garage two miles to Frozen Custard a nickel a scoop You lean forward lick fast so it doesn’t drip on shirt and give you away 8-22-20

  • Kissing country girls

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    by

    cfblack
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    She said, “You have to leave!” I asked, “Why?” She replied, “No one comes out this far in the country” I smiled and said, “I do.” She said, “That dust cloud on the horizon is Daddy’s truck.” I got in my car and left 8-10-20

  • an anniversary meditation

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    by

    cfblack
    in , , , ,

    dust motes shimmer through trees on sunbeams I sip coffee and read Hibakusha stories trees shake from an earthquake in the mountains I haven’t heard damage reports, but it will be mild _____ on the anniversary of Nagasaki I reflect 70,000 vaporized in a rush for peace children, mothers, fathers a Shinto shrine and Catholic…