A missing front tooth
Nightlight glowing soft
Height marks on the wall
Training wheels old news
Car keys in the drawer
Butterfly kiss
Mama bear hug
A runny nose
Love for my son
Brushing teeth
Bedtime tales
Shutting doors
Baked bread
Beer breath
Tears
They don’t care,
if your monthly car, mortgage, utility bills,
credit card payments, a loan you’re paying back
your father inlaw has always been on time,
or if.
You didn’t see the no parking or stop sign.
Can’t afford a cap on your cracked front tooth,
so it doesn’t have to be extracted, or that.
You’re sending your child to a private school,
cause of a hearing problem born with.
They don’t care.
You're driving an eighteen-year-old car, or that.
It just about turned over this morning, or the toilet
backed up, you water heater’s has a slow leak, and
is gonna need to be replaced soon, before it bursts
and floods the basement.
They don’t care.
That person riding the same bus as you each morning,
working next to you ten years on the job,
sitting in the dentist’s waiting their turn to be tortured.
The policeman that pulled you over.
The bank that holds your montages.
The utility company that, thanks you each month,
on your bill, for being a prompt paying customer.
The purser at your child’s school.
They don’t care, they just don’t care!
These bastards styling as men’s movers
From their short trips expect universe;
Traveler to pay for bag in booth
Or get ready to lose his front tooth…
I’m the sorely aggrieved passenger
Usefully turned God’s messenger.
You don’t passenger try to clean through;
Your cheap hapless lies make out as true,
Voices sounding like owners might die,
If they should be asked a probing “why?”
Now, I see a business of necks squeezed,
Until moisture drops, no pressure eased…
A once-good driver turns a dummy
From grabbed money bulging his tummy;
Sure-to-invite tears obesity
That shortens dear life without pity…
“Traveler not the same as his load,”
Say Nigerian drivers on the road…”
Man leaves phone booth too quickly, and then?
Knocks his front tooth out with his gold fountain pen.
4/28/2021
No, no, no!! It’s half past ten!
So what happened to my alarm then?
A power cut!! That’s just my luck.
And now the toilet door is stuck!!
Brushing my teeth I hear a crack,
Oh no it's my front tooth cap,
I’m smiling with a toothless grin!
And the dentist cannot fit me in!’
The warning light tells me one thing,
My petrol tank has nothing in!
And the station’s twenty miles away,
To get there I can only pray.
The cyclist on the inner lane,
Shakes his fist, it’s all in vain,
For I’m driving like a man possessed,
A flash - a speeding fine no less!
A message appears on my phone
It’s the missus, she needs a lift home
I have to assume that’s what she text
As I seem to have misplaced my reading specs!
Now my cell phone battery is low!
And the signal has no bars on show!
And each and every traffic light
Is showing red, as if to spite.
Oh no!! What is that up ahead?
Traffic cones all white and red!
The diversion is twenty miles,
But I soldier on - I’m in denial.
The flat tyre is the final straw,
I’ve no petrol and what’s more
I know it's a pointless task to fight
When your day doesn’t start out right!
Becoming a teenager,
Parents place wager
That by sweet sixteen,
You will have been
Kissed and experienced
Puppy love
While stars twinkle above!
Turning twenty one,
The greatest feeling
Under the sun,
Graduating from University,
Told you are very pretty,
The spark of falling in
Love instantly,
Hearing wedding bells distantly,
Then, Getting married,
Being picked up and carried,
Over threshold of new home,
Labour pains, a big groan,
Birth of a beautiful baby,
Husband murmurs, my
Brave lady!
Child’s first day at school,
Front tooth missing,
So cute and cool,
Children grow up, graduate,
They date,
Get married, cycle in action
Get married, third generation
The joy of a grandchild
The day he or she recognised you,
And smiled,
Happy moments captured
As they all happened,
And locked in parts,
And segments of everyone’s hearts!
Was in a wheel chair but boy could she spin
Me up in the air with mischievous grin?
Front tooth missing so much better to whiz
At points of elation blew me a kiss??
Lush lips adorned with a contagious smile?
Worries suspended I flew for a while?
Her hands and my bounce a beautiful match
She clapped before each valuable catch
Were one in advent and when letting go?
Please just another titillating throw?
Final adventure before you retire
Make me stay up there I'm such a live wire??
Grandma has passed now looks on from above?
Be happy up there I'm sending you love??
05th July 2019?
Torn party dress
Grass stained knees
Dirt under nails
A bruise on her shin
Missing a front tooth grinning
"I traded my doll for a skateboard"
Smiling mum sighs "the beginning"
10/28/18
A Poem Of Reaction Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Julia Ward
a scant mere
seconds to late, when with a crash, which near
concussion smacked noggin
hard against blocky chunk hove ice
informing gap toothed email
(actually, that incident
me quite traumatized),
i.e. unpreparedly tasting solid rock hard material -
with ugly reflection that didst stare
from a looking glass re: mirror,
which aye avoided at all possible costs where
to cast and fit mouth
with a provisional crown entailed maybe a year.
necessitating cupped gloved hands
to punctuate every muffled word
to be but barely heard
akin to talking with mouth full of custard
above the quiet riotous mirth
analogous to twittering bird
winning sympathy from parents,
who did level best to tend distraught son
who ushered playback of events
with less disastrous rerun
praying for a high lee angel
to grant reverse outcome brought none
gut wrenching grief
immediately terminated former fun
damage irreversible
and perfect smile of pearly white
forever broke
NOT the least itty bitty funny, comical,
nor countenanced devastation done.
Like I Always Say
Like I Always Say
About heaven no telling
Who you run into.
What I like about
Haiku is it always is
So nice short and sweet.
If George Washington
Told the truth did he really
Have a false front tooth.
Was cat and mouse game
Which one of them should we blame?
Both from God they came.
Judge and jury was
Were required and because
Had case of the blahs.
So just how extreme?
Would you be in a sweet dream
With peaches and cream.
When you reach the end
What was it you did intend
To Soup poem should send.
Of course.
Jim Horn, Philosopher
and Also Soothsayer
The first time I saw you
Two Novembers ago
My heart filled with pure and utter love
To the point where it nearly burst
The way your glassy green eyes sparkled
The way your messy hair never really sat right on your head
The way your left front tooth stuck out
Was nearly too much for me
But today I saw you
Two Marches later
And my heart filled with pure and utter hatred
To the point where it nearly exploded
The way your eyes look like the dull shade of brown I've vomitted so much because of you
The way you cut off your beautiful fair locks
The way your crooked teeth stick out whenever you speak
Funny how
All your imperfections were once too beautiful for me to bare
And now,
I see nothing but hideousness
Opposed to an Oblivion
In Brunswick County, there lived a Bolivian
Who was opposed to having another oblivion
When both he and gorgeous wife here came
To find abundant amount of fortune and fame.
Their realtor who happened to be a loan shark
Tempted them with trying to live in a trailer park
And being there were only two mouths to feed
A tortuous trailer would be all that they need.
When like sheep they would creep off to sleep
Into debt, they never, ever had to go deep
And my husband who has been an old fart
Had dream about Wal-Mart and a shopping cart.
Both back wheels of cart had started to bang
In front was a fool with front tooth looking like a fang
Even though with much musical talent was gifted
He went to a smaller store and there shop-lifted.
Some of the neighbors
Complain about the house across from me
It stands apart
From the neat lawns
Wide driveways
And picket fences.
Some say
The people who live there
Inherited the house from their parents
Years and years ago
When the area was marshland
And it was common to see
Hunters and fishermen.
A winding street
Wide enough for two cars to pass
Serves as a boundary between us.
The house once had a broken window
A gaping hole
That gave the house a reckless character
Like the missing front tooth
Of a mischievous young boy
Now it’s been covered by wood
Nearby, inexpensive white plastic chairs
Thin, stained and unused
Line the side of their house
Inviting phantom guests
To sit down.
In the upstairs bedroom
A curtain drawn as blinds hangs
Brightly colored
Defiant in the face of poverty
Inside a girl hides a diary from her parents
And dreams of the day when she is grown up
Young lovers kiss in the darkness
A hungry baby’s whimper is heard in the night
A radio
Left out on the front stoop
Plays a familiar song
To an empty street.
The people living in that house
Are proud
Keeping what they have
Admiring their courage
I ask myself
Who am I to complain?
If you were at the grocery store
Waiting in line
and the person ahead of you
was bored with waiting
so turned back to talk with you
and flashed you a grin...
and was missing a front tooth or two...
would you respond to her in the same way
you'd respond to a woman who packed a full set of
mighty bright
mighty tight
mighty expensive chompers?
Alone
I watch
The house across from me
The people who live there
Keep to themselves
A shallow creek
No wider than a man’s gait
Water no deeper than two feet
Runs as a boundary between us.
The house once had a broken window
A gaping hole
That gave the house a reckless character
Like the missing front tooth
Of a mischievous young boy
Now it’s been covered by wood
Nearby, inexpensive white plastic chairs
Thin, stained and unused
Line the side of their house
Inviting phantom guests
To sit down.
In the upstairs bedroom
A curtain drawn as blinds hangs
Brightly colored
Defiant in the face of poverty
Inside a girl hides a diary from her parents
And dreams of the day when she is grown up
Young lovers kiss in the darkness
A hungry baby’s whimper is heard in the night
A radio
Left out on the front stoop
Plays a familiar song
To an empty street.
The people living next to me
Are proud
Keeping what they have
Admiring their courage
I ask myself
Who am I to complain?
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