You were gazing at me as I looked in your direction
You, caught in daydream's reflection
Both of us wondering if we've made a connection
As you stand with your friends by your locker
As both of us are caught up in this moment
Both wondering if the other one knows it
Both wondering if the other will show it
Having our love listed on the docket
You writing our names on your notebook
In a heart our names, in your mind nuptials took
Me stealing your heart like some kind of crook
As you lean back on your book nook
I saunter over, parting your friends
I fumble for words, my heart beats intense
I manage to muster these words in defense
"You've captivated my heart with just a look!"
They never saw me—not really.
Only the outline I traced in the halls,
A whisper of denim and shy glances,
A ghost who smiled too politely.
They passed notes like grenades,
Laughed too loudly
When the silence was breaking me.
I wore their words like a second skin—
Tight, blistering,
But invisible to them.
You asked if I was okay once—
But your eyes flicked away
Before the truth had a chance to crawl out.
Still,
That was kind,
Compared to the others
Who carved their stories into my name
Without ever asking for mine.
I screamed,
But only inside,
Where echoes get lost
In the ribcage's corners.
And when I disappeared,
They asked,
“Why didn’t she say something?”
As if silence isn’t something we’re taught
By the ones who pretend
They’re listening.
When you throw things into a storage shed
You are spending money on rent every month
Sometimes for years
Finally, you decide to look the stuff over
None of this was anything you should have kept or paid rent on
At one time we had three storage lockers in three states
It took me three weeks to clean them out
What I decided to keep fit into a small purse
Outfitting himself for wrestling
he sneared at the smiling gentlmen in the locker roomI wanna see how I could not be perfect
see ya'll guy think everything is easy and getting up early
and doing the thing makes you
qualified to be champion.
Snarls the Old man against the the Pretty Guys
Women love em: and the Ladies wanna
get wiff em.
You son's of es: I worked my ass off getting butts in the seats
I wrestled in a horse stable when we couldn't fill the areanas.
We wrestled at an old abandoned mine
when we couldn't get the fans interested.
then when the crwds picked up
you Sissy es come along and take the spotlight from under us.
I heard you say the Dusk Stalwart was
grion Old and stiff around the collar.
I heard you man: I heard it all.
He's got his gear tonight man,
he's here tonight man
Ah hell I feel like I can face anything!
You guys are gonna learn
what it really takes to be
a self promoting Man!"
I'm gonna go outta my way
and Learn you Pukeass es!"
"Let's reveal the sky to the masses!"
"Maybe with enough voice ya'll will sing my name to
seranade my new Missus!"
I'm willing to worship
Any girl that calls me a name other than disgusting
The world is progressive
But it has not moved forward
I turn to face the linoleum, saying,
"Oh the ceiling is looking mighty fine today"
And then they squeal
"Ew, she's looking at me!"
Report me to the principal if you dare
I dare you to be outed
And still have to show up to class every day
I leave the locker room
Gym shorts and ugly gray t-shirt
Covering up the undeserved shame I feel
I'm just focused on trying to make the volleyball team
I'm not worried about how high you're hiking up your shorts
It doesn't make you look cool
Oh, and Josh, I talked to him
He doesn't like you
I hope your Christian parents
Can see how you dress when they aren't there to check in the morning
Putting on mascara that's full of vulgarity
And misleading phrases
Your pretty polished faces made middle school living torture
I should have stayed in the closet
Instead of coming out for you
My office is a meat locker.
We could hang a hog in here for a week.
It would not become rancid or even warm.
My office is a meat locker.
I am dressed in long underwear
And four sweaters in eighty-eight-degree weather
My office is a meat locker.
The custodian is my best friend now.
She comes in here to cool off.
As The Note-Taking Girl scribbles
And absentmindedly quibbles
Her fingers are animated wriggles
Churning out eccentric squiggles:
Letters of Ever Clumsy Angles,
One like a creeper that tangles,
As many like threads in singles,
Wherefore her teacher openly wrangles
And after explosion stiffly dangles
Before her the option of A Street Hawker
Bearing a case with or without a locker
And around patrolling with jingles
Or she be whipped and a nearby ear tingles!
But that wasn’t The Rescue from a writing
That keeps a teacher’s eyes biting!
The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,
the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
the face in the photograph
no longer dissolving under scrutiny,
becoming a keepsake,
the useless mower
lying forgotten
in weeds,
rings and crosses and
all the paraphernalia
the soul no longer needs.
Keywords/Tags: life, death, death of a friend, grave, memory, memories, memorial, mourning, funeral, shape, mourning, eulogy, bolt, steel, locker, penance, wake, keepsake, keepsakes, memento, mementos, rings, crosses, paraphernalia
The Locker
by Michael R. Burch
All the dull hollow clamor has died
and what was contained,
removed,
reproved
adulation or sentiment,
left with the pungent darkness
as remembered as the sudden light.
Originally published by The Raintown Review
how long
is a foot locker
and what
do they keep in it?
foot lockers
foot solders
foot long hotdogs
footballs
what is the obsession
are they politically correct
or are they just a foot fetishes
at the foot of my bed
how do for a laugage that speaks
to coupling
and reproduction
that isn't lewd and mean spirted?
Wprds that are aimed and directed
to create an atmoshere of being
together
in a spirt of love and togetherness.
this Patsor asked members
of his church, and churches within his county,
to create new words, with new meanings, to define love, and appreciation and fondness , words that indicate wanting and needing, in an expression of love.
he also wanted words that spoke to the hussy in the locker room. she might hear words that she wishes she hadn't heard!
Immature boys
having a bully good time
Plenty wet towel fun ...
doing nude, verbal denigrating
It was just harmless locker room talk,
the unconcerned adults all said
Nothing to worry about,
the pampering voices cooed
Giving patronizing pats on the head
to those annoying,
ponytail ginger freckles in school
Insecure men
love having women
squirm under their thumbs,
office hours pinned
Mature females
moving nervously around
the water cooler
Hearing the misogynist sound
of gurgling testosterone
Bad boys engaging in locker room talk
on marble floors,
behind hallowed corporate doors
Simon Said boys,
taking their lemming lead
from male titans of industry
speaking lewdly —
About your mother, or my sister
Perhaps
our neighbor’s daughter,
undoubtedly
Locker room reprehensible speech
is carnal nasty linguistic imagery
Filthy locker room talk ...
lecherous verbal walk in the caveman dark
Misogynist tongues
gaslighting the feminine degradation spark
Broken circle of life,
bad boys learning how to abuse virgin girls
Abominable human sacrifice
being orally performed all around the world
In psychology they say if you have a locker combination come the next year,
You don’t remember the combination,
Failure and success is it more mental then a exercises that proof facts,
When I was in high school not knowingly three ivy league schools,
Wrote me and later was accept to one but I had change of heart for education,
And in between high school I had two IQ test,
I was told even though I did not think I was smart people cold tell it by the way I,
Interact,
One day I got a unexpected call it was from the Navy,
And all I remember of the confession was “hope I get well soon”,
Well in school I prediction my ten year plan but I could not choice,
Marriage or serve my country still can’t figure it out at this point,
My mom and people in my community told me the third is rare this days,
Looking at statistics I define the odds,
But for some come from Index of 8 they expect more,
And going back to locker combination I never remember it,
But for some rare reason in middle school I wrote my name in the locker,
I guess for some I had a lot to prove,
To prove them wrong.
Odyssey of The Mind
A Mind is a Storage Locker
Written: by Tom Wright
3/6/2016
Staring from some nook in every mind,
Exists mental images and thoughts of grandness,
And others that probe for meaning,
That God has favored only you to see.
Some gather dust in contentedness,
While others hunger to be loosed;
Once common they exist as public domain,
And are not matters for retrieval.
Today,
Life is not as good as yesterday;
But far better than what it’s apt to be tomorrow.
Tom
Locker,
Filled with my books and papers and secrets
I can't remember my combination
47 right 27 left and then what?
Am I locked out or are you locked in?
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