With burnt plastic you exhale
Soft hair and skin and small weight on dirty mattress
A paper weight pressing down
I split the wire and I stored the glass bottle in the cabinet beneath the sink.
Where I thought of kissing you.
In the room I put my fingers in your mouth,
Where she heard everything to the other wall,
Where we held each other.
With burnt plastic I exhale
And with a school-issued laptop.
From showering in clothes
From swimming in clothes
To a clinging
In the mouth and on the skin
I didn't bring a toothbrush
Will the floor welcome me
Where there is nowhere to put my weight?
"I can get through anything.
Through any night,"
I tell myself
And it is true.
When my heart felt like
A hopping cricket or
A feather falling or
A tire rolling or
A record skipping or
A ball being squeezed tightly by a fist,
It kept working and pumping blood.
When I feel it run in my neck
Or when I saw it open on my hip,
When I see it in the toilet too
It runs.
Unlike when I run
It is controlled.
Pump bump beating.
When my feet strike the ground I am not sure what they will do next.
Like I may fall upwards with a quick flip.
No, there are rules.
The grumpy wind cries through bottle glass and bone,
Grain silos whine like widows at the gate,
Each sunrise shows up but exits the dongas alone.
The main street sighs,its colors ages out of date,
A dronkie in overall insults the deserted mine,
His guffaws crack,deranged,underneath the weight.
The spaza still sells nyaope and wine
And phantoms line where concertinas used to play,
Their sounds of tiekie draai to hosannas of turpentine
Youngsters pursue tyres that stagger,then spin away,
Grime hides their glee,fields no longer yield,
Old topies sit like statues at close of day.
You comprehend-beyond the rot,
The shattered shield,
A determined ditty reverberates tenderly through pain
The grime of shoes can bring someone a prize,
along with hands that serve orphans and poor.
Examined dust, that walked the narrow way,
disregarding themselves, loved to their core.
But, selfish feet are caked, forevermore,
having poured drinks until the break of day,
can’t make it to one’s bed, sleeping on floor.
The grime of shoes gathers offals and flies.
Grime under the table cloth
Beneath the fluorescent lights and sterile walls,
Lurks an undercurrent of unspoken strife.
The daggers are kept hidden, the words unsaid,
But the tension is palpable,
A throbbing wound.
For all the forced cordiality,
the animosity seethes underneath.
©?Chitra Arun
BOYS
Moving, ever still,
Or so it seems, until
You find him
Thinking,
On top a fence,
Up in a tree,
Or grassy hill.
Dirt and grime,
It seems, until a time
You find him
Washing,
Slick down hair,
Brushing teeth,
For dollar or dime.
Strong and rough,
You’ve had enough,
Then you find him
Helping,
Carrying a bag,
Tender nurse,
When times are tough.
Copyright, Kathryn Search
Sinking into the soil of his egocentric ocean
Snarled and sniveled the cephalopod mollusk
Since to be worthy of his charming prey
Sensation beaming from his passion blasting
Suspending her from being aware of drowning
Stunning to sight her lapse into squandering
Sloshing in intense sadness and deceitfulness
Written: April: 03, 2022
My grimy grill,
Is really quite,
Summer’s delight,
And if used right,
Is very much a thrill.
It’s not just meat,
That’s off the hook,
For if you look,
You’ll see I cook,
My veggies over heat.
The greasy grates,
They hold the food,
That will conclude,
With gratitude,
Once I put onto plates.
The fires burn,
On down below,
And cooking slow,
My grilling row,
As I do often turn.
The grease had grown,
Up over time.
And made the climb,
To turn to grime,
From what the grates have shown.
And when I’m done,
I step aside.
And feel inside,
A source of pride,
I find second to none.
with much grit and grime
he had committed a crime
from store did steal a dime
with much grit and grime
he had committed a crime
from store did steal a dime
L-ethal
E-pidemic
A-pplies
S-ilent
A-ttack
L-etting
G-rime
A-nd
D-irt
O-perate
Topic: Birthday of Lea B. Salgado (June 20)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
J-eopardy of grime applies
O-nerous outbreak to tongues;
Z-one of threat targets the mouths,
E-ntering into the
L-ungs.
R-isk or jeopardy of grime
E-mploys the dreaded dirt;
C-hoose to be vigilant,
C-hoose to be more
A-lert.
C-ontain and combat the link,
A-ll the way, all the time;
D-efeat the destructive danger
A-nd jeopardy of
G-rime.
Topic: Anniversary of Jozel & Recca Cadag (June 18)
E-nhanced
L-ockdown
M-agnificently
A-bates
R-ugged
G-rime
A-nd
R-abid
D-irt
U-ntil
Q-uarantine
U-pends
E-pidemic
Topic: Birthday of Elmar Garduque (June 16)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
J-eopardy
H-orribly
E-mploys
N-oxious
M-orbidity
A-s
N-eatness
E-ffectively
B-eats
O-nerous
G-rime
Topic: Birthday of Jhen Mañebog (June 16)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
A-larming
L-ink
E-mploys
S-ilent
S-pread's
A-trocity
A-s
L-ethal
G-rime
A-pplies
B-acteria's
R-abid
E-eriness
Topic: Birthday of Alessa Algabre (June 12)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
D-irt
O-f
R-abid
E-pidemic
S-ilently
L-ets
A-trocious
R-isk
O-f
G-rime
A-ttack
Topic: Birthday of Dores Laroga (June 12)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
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