It all started with a bet
Inside a launderette
Over a cigarette
With a brunette
I hadn’t yet met
Her name was Marie-Antoinette
As she said it she did a pirouette
And wow what a silhouette
Coquette she wore an amulet
Feared nothing short of a bayonet
Forgot the laundry it was still wet
I got hungry and craved an omelet
Asked M-A to join me in my Corvette
Drove to the closest luncheonette
Ordered baguette and anisette
We talked right until the sun set
She showed me a statuette
She dreamt of a trip to Tibet
So we jumped on a jumbo jet
Me her and the rest of the jetset
Across the aisle was the oddest duet
He played the clarinet she the castanet
While Marie-Antoinette rhymed the alphabet
Dancing and waving with a serviette
Try and imagine this strange vignette
Marie-Antoinette Marie-Antoinette
Forever in her debt
Not so easy to forget
I only have one regret
I left Marie-Antoinette back in Tibet
Submitted on November 14, 2022 for contest 2022 POETRY MARATHON MILE 20 sponsored by MARK TONEY
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Originally posted on February 17, 2018
carried away on the last rays
of autumn sun in a moon-shaped pool
carried away like cosmic driftwood
she's having a pocket honeymoon
because
there's a coat of scarlet velvet
somewhere in her Estonian hair
having a picnic in a coffin
that's her own gallery of famine
please
let's visit our favourite sunken ships
born within the flood in a launderette
born at the edge of a melting ledge
she's a sick sycamore
down by the deli shop
she's a dark tunnel
in a raindrop
she's a blitz tempest
in a kindergarten
she's a jailed bouquet
her flowers of tartan
she's a coquette
a Russian roulette
my marionette
called Rosette
Love in Cycles
He entered past this wooden door
In a launderette without his wife
To view all patrons feminine
To have a chat perchance to score
To his surprise no one was here
He kneeled and placed hs dirty clothes
In a washer that he always used
Turned it on and took his seat
He saw her when he was on RINSE
She walked in tall and willowy
The launderette emitted heat
A basket full upon her head
He gazed with awe and then he said
Why not use your hands instead
I ward off demons with my hands
And I see demons in your eyes
She said to me with a sultry laugh
I looked up as she dwarfed my size
She placed the basket on the floor
He walked to her and grabbed her waist
His hormones raging with such haste
He heard the cycle go to SPIN
And DELICATE she held his cheeks
His hands were more like PERMANENT PRESS
The tempo of the washer hummed
Their foreplay reached a screeching halt
Pause
He woke up in his usual chair
He looked and saw no one was here
Any Poem Written in March
Sponsored by Laura Loo
April 9, 2017
Written March 25, 2017
I hate you mum
You are so mean
Why do I need to keep so clean?
I don’t need to wash
Can’t you see
I don’t have time
I’m on the Wii
I hate you mum
Not sausages for tea
Mashed potato and baked beans
I want cake I want chocolate
Jelly and cream
You really are horrid
So old and so mean
I hate you mum
Why did you forget
To take my old jeans
To the launderette?
I was busy at school
You were only at work
Why didn’t you do it
You know how to hurt
I hate you mum
I’m not going to bed
You really are starting
To do in my head
Always telling me what to do
Homework and housework
They’re jobs for you.
I’m sorry mum
I’ve cut my knee
Please can we have
Sausages for tea?
Can I show you my book?
Will you teach me to cook?
Can I have a hug?
I love you mum