It was Sister Francine
who treated us so mean.
She’d rap us on our knuckles
with the Father’s belt buckles
toiling to keep our sin-loving souls clean.
Categories:
circa, anger, angst, child abuse,
Form: Rhyme
His tie knotted tight at the collar
pinches the neck, he’d love to holler
Her corset pulled tighter than a drum
she’d like to scream, but can only hum
No sacrifice too great, who worships fashion
midnight hour aches and pains ~ faces ashen
Categories:
circa, fashion, pain, society,
Form: Couplet
City life, for kids, before the onslaught of helicopter parents and mandatory parental involvement in every aspect of growing up. We played baseball, no umpires, the bases pieces of cardboard, scratched in dirt, or chalked on the pavement. Four neighborhoods abutted each other. We, the children of the game, formed teams, formed an impromptu “league”. On one of these occasions when a game was “scheduled” team A came up short of the mandatory nine. Team B would allow one of its players to play for team A. The proof that this did not hurt team A’s chances of winning became evident the day Billie, (we’ll call her Billy to protect the legend), came to bat in the last inning and singled home the winning run for team A.
After the game Billie walked home with the rest of our team. She looked a bit sheepish and we did sort of give her the business. We all knew it didn’t matter which team you played for because the game demanded you play your best and hold your head high in both victory and defeat.
Categories:
circa, baseball, growing up,
Form: Prose
Too stoned to care
wild eyes and hair
My friend and I dare
to order four pizzas
Where are your friends
the manager inquired
Oh, they’ll be here in a bit
our tongues purebred liars
Well, we snarfed down the pizzas
though ‘our friends’ never showed
So, when we asked the proprietor
how much we owed…
He told us $200 bucks
‘coz it’s just your good luck
to meet up with a fellow sleaze
who understands your ‘munchies’
~ and has already contacted the fuzz
Categories:
circa, education, food, fun, humorous,
Form: Narrative
No mechanical diggers digging
Standard oblong shaped holes
The only effort needed being
To manipulate the controls.
We dug our graves by hand
And the sweat of our brow
A craft that seems outdated
And no longer any use now.
Each grave was dug to
An Individual coffin’s shape
With an allowance made for
The handles and the rope
No deviation of the sides by
Even the slightest little bit
Ensuring each grave allowed
An almost snug tailored fit.
Beating down the earth
To compact the ground
So there was little shrinkage
Of a grave’s earthen mound,
The relaying of the turf
The floral tributes laid
Mourners final thoughts
Carefully displayed
We took pride in our work
Felt each family should expect
Their deceased loved one to be
Sent off with honour and respect.
No, no mechanical diggers
Just a man’s strength and skill
And a gathering of the villagers
To show support and goodwill.
Categories:
circa, death, funeral, tribute,
Form: Rhyme
My Fair Lady
Winner of 2022
Glamorous Granny Contest
I know it's deemed in polite society
unacceptable to enquire or speculate
upon a ladies age
But you to me as other's look young
enough to be rather better suited to
be in a beauty pageant than entered
into this here most auspicious contest
But what more deserving winner could
this contest have anticipated
Than someone just like you possessing
brain's as well as beauty
Congratulations you are truly
wise beyond your year's
No cobwebs on you Spinderella
Categories:
circa, funny,
Form: Free verse
Imperceptibly disappointed he smiled, tipped his hat and walked on
Marie dreaded having to end the salesman’s eager speech with a negative reply
Buying life insurance for her children was anticipating tragedy
Money can’t be used to bargain with God and have my children returned to me
Marie’s eight month old daughter died a short time later
She worked so hard to save her baby, the only daughter she would ever know
Once again the salesman returned but this time to taunt and mock
You could have made some money but you didn’t buy insurance did you?
Her teeth chattering in anger and disbelief at such unwarranted spite Marie shrieked you get out of here
In the newspaper she read the salesman had hanged himself
Marie felt responsible and very sorry
His sacrifice didn’t bring Florence back
They both lost
By Suzanne Boyko
June 1, 2021
Categories:
circa, forgiveness, grandmother, strength, sympathy,
Form: Free verse
at a bus stop ~ a man lifts his mask for one last puff
Categories:
circa, mental illness,
Form: Monoku
CANCER circa 1967
It ate away at compassion
chewed ragged the edges of love
hard breath drawn through clenched teeth
fighting the whisper
denying the thought
“why can’t she just let go….and die?”
However long it was, was too long.
To watch hopelessly
mindlessly, angrily
as she lay in a drugged stupor
IV’s supplying sustenance
but no relief for her
or for us.
She did eventually let go….and die.
It brought no closure for us
only the angst of anger’s guilt
the emptiness of hope’s folly
and the sadness of wishing it so.
6/6/2021
Cancer Ivy Poetry Contest
Categories:
circa, cancer, children, death, mother,
Form: Free verse
When the world was small
my heroes were big
living on a 12’’ screen
the telephone operator knew me by name
when the party line was open and free
on Tuesdays it was the bread man
on Wednesdays came meat
Friday mornings the Fuller Brush man rang twice
Saturdays were baseball, bleacher seats for a buck
and on Sunday to church on my bike
when on Monday the Nun asked where the black eye was from
I smiled and said “ran into a door”
while all the while knowing this was the time of my life
—a time when the world was so small
(Conshohocken Pennsylvania: March, 2021)
Categories:
circa, nostalgia,
Form: Rhyme
Indelible Ink
Circa 1941 to 1943
A painful timely reminder
Lest we never forget
The inhumanity of man
Where you're only crime was to be born
Category A
Jewish male
Nazi death camp inmate
No A-15510
1 of the few
Not the many
Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors
Yad Veshem
Categories:
circa, slam,
Form: Free verse
Dust covered webs clinging to longevity
oily dirt floors aching to feel the sun
hanging pull string lights swing
eerie shadows a-dance on coal blackened wood
creaking boards arthritic lament
stone walls weeping in the dark
©10/10/2019
Goosebumps Poetry Contest
Categories:
circa, childhood, scary,
Form: Free verse
Who are you most afraid of
~ Obama, Osama, and your mama
Categories:
circa, fear, satire,
Form: Monoku
She's a free spirit
Frangipani in her hair
Headed to Woodstock
Date written and posted: 01/19/2019
Categories:
circa, anxiety, flower, girl, imagery,
Form: Senryu
Lord I've been trying to get myself together
I've made progress surely you see
So give me some time and some sunny weather
and don't let Skylab fall down on me
I didn't put it up there
I've never even been to that town
So when it falls, please give a call
don't let it pound me into the ground
Amen
Categories:
circa, prayer,
Form: Light Verse
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