a neat freak is compulsive
excessive and obsessed
their day revolves around cleaning
a neat freak has a one-track mind
and will not budge their focus
their one true friend is bleach
a neat freak disinfects all day
intolerant to imperfection
time and effort never a problem
a neat freak will not rest
till every thing's in order
and every surface shines
let's not mince words
a neat freak is maniacal
and a neat freak i am not
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
What's a single mom, overworked witch to do?
School potlucks won't suck up fat vats of witch brew
Green goop soup disinfects science projects
Magic wand deflects coupon blonde's rejects
Soccer field congealed, frogs in fish tanks
Your warlock son mocks the jocks with dark pranks
Your daughter barters love potions, your cat's a Clydesdale
Your cauldron is maudlin; no time for witchy cocktails
There's hearses to disperse, fortunes to curse
Restless pests - even witches need a nurse!
You've cobwebs to thread, graves to rake
Sugar greedy goblins to scare straight
No spells to swell your apothecary
Your broomstick's picked other places to be...
10/28/19
For 'Itch, Witch, Glitch or Twitch' contest
Sponsor: Nina Parmenter
Placed 7th
Think Of These One-Liners
By Franklin Price
1/9/2015
Think of the battle of the sexes
The hill country of central Texas
The witch's curse and all her hexes
The foaming soap that disinfects us
The Dentist's needle that injects us
I didn't know depression
until she told me her name,
carving forever scratches
along my limbs like
little love notes on the bark
of a tree.
She stole my rings
and left me hollow.
I had only ever met anxiety
in passing, until one day
he handed me power and told me
to hurt someone else with it.
Inexperienced
with an uncontrollable
quivering in my fingers
he whispered, "to survive,
you must learn quickly."
as I shoved the bevel of a needle
into a strangers arm.
So, if a therapist
could talk away my scars
like iodine disinfects,
guide the ships
through the storm of my mind
like a lighthouse
Instead of pills,
if a therapist could
give me the strength
of dragons,
I might just
take my chances.