freshly smoke- grilled Texas pork
mixed with honeyed pulp
mouth tasting tender ribs, meat
as cherry sauce drips--
weekend's festive treat
to die for
OHHH!
There is a garden between my ribs,
A hidden place the world can't see.
It blooms in silence, softly lives,
A patch of green inside of me.
I never chose the seeds it sowed,
They came from storms I couldn’t flee.
Each broken word, each heavy load,
Took root beneath my shattered sea.
It grew through cracks, it pierced my bones,
With petals made of ache and flame.
A tangled web of buried tones,
Of whispered grief without a name.
It learned to rise through ash and dust,
To find the sun through darkest skies.
It taught me how to hope and trust
When every other voice told lies.
There in the hollow of my chest,
A thousand wildflowers remain.
They blossom still though never pressed,
They bloom through heartbreak, loss, and rain.
The garden holds my quiet wars,
The scars I wear, the dreams I keep.
It weaves my sorrow into stars,
And cradles me when I can't sleep.
So let me carry what it gives,
The thorns, the roots, the bloom, the sting.
For in the garden that still lives,
I am the soil. I am the spring.
To the body I wish I could see
Why oh why can't you be me
I wish the work I do in the morning
Would show instead of the cautious warning
That nothing I do will stay
And that layer of fat will remain anyway
Clinging relentlessly to my belly and hips
Oh how I wish you could see my ribs
He put his ribs on the grill
Trying to show off his cooking skill
But the flames were too high
Twas trying to reach the sky
But smoky knocked his grill down the hill
I met ANGIE in a bar where grief drank quiet,
where HONKY TONK WOMEN spilled perfume and regret.
She moved like WILD HORSES with nowhere left to run—
said, “I’m safer UNDER MY THUMB than out in the open.”
She kissed like a dare and left like smoke.
On RUBY TUESDAY, she vanished into rain,
murmuring, “YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT,”
and I didn’t even try to stop her.
She used to laugh when we lost at TUMBLIN DICE,
but the last time she smiled, she was already gone.
I tried to PAINT IT BLACK, but some songs keep bleeding.
The Rolling Stones still hum behind my ribs.
Every track she touched skips now—
her chorus etched in static.
She didn’t take her coat,
just the part of me that knew how to stay warm.
My voice
broke
on the edge
of breath.
We stripped
the bark
from our ribs
like trees
to find
no center.
Blood
is a language
we forgot
in churches.
I held
your absence
like a flame
burning
under my tongue,
while skin
remembers
the names
we
never
spoke.
I was becoming
not better
just
closer
to the fracture
before
the old name.
And you
fell into me
like a glyph
not carved.
We did not rise
we undressed.
Rarely, perhaps never
relying on written
recipes, I would much
rather smoke baby back
ribs rubbed red with spice, then
rising early, go and
row to make extra room.
Ribs
My right and left detestable ribs aren’t
recognised as
meeting required standards as
stated by
Miss Certify.
Noah commissioned a wee dove as his ocean scout.
It ventured out three times seeking sprigs of life.
On the third try, it brought back hope to all mankind.
I would have chosen an albatross for the task.
It's more suited for gliding over open ocean.
With its keen, salty eyes and great wingspan.
It could have done the deed in half the time.
Perhaps the dove was more efficient and intelligent.
Maybe the albatross lacked focus and discipline.
Been tempted by the sirens of fog and froth.
Did it feel disrespected for not being commissioned?
Chronically depressed, deep in the ribs of Noah's Genesis ship.
I know I should not care
About the skinny ribs of a pear
But when you are eating one
And your tooth gets hurt, it is no fun.
I thought they did not have bones I said.
Who told you that? Asked my neighbor Red.
I had some before, and there was nothing hard inside.
Maybe they took the ribs out, suggested Mr. McBride.
When is it okay to swim out of here?
Solo fish laps in a loch
Wide eyes turn back in fear
My pool was safe, I knew each rock
Grab the edge, a wall once held
Tiny tank I kept so well
Tide does turn to lift me up
Dive into a deep vast sea,
Run a race of lung drum pump
Your glue gaze is a hook, with glee
Gate open lets life raft bob away
I’ve swum in your fast new sway
Out into salt and mess, wind howl
Sail taut to tilt us, roll wild rage
Yin Yang curl can’t part us now
Ship long hour, flip over next page
A song to sing with zany note
Zeal to feel wave beat on boat
Slow zone I made sure to keep
Sits in the past, eats acid
Jump for love, a huge bold leap
Care can wash a soul once arid
Take it to grow, aqua lush
Lone fins come to find twin rush
1st October 2023
Written for Contest:
Love Poem Four Letters
Sponsor: Darla Seely
Here I come in peace
And at your service
Sent to back you up
To fill a vacuum in your life
To supply your world
With the same kinds
And of similar features.
I am to care, love and be selfless
My heart literally comprises
Of precious minerals
And unique behavioural patterns
Priceless, delicate and rare
Yet, I am no exception
To my kinds of services
I welcome comforting treats
To grow, develop and flourish
To be loved, protected and cared for
I was designed to unite
And fix broken parts completely
My emotions, feelings, perception
And sense of entitlement
Weighs more of me
But that is just me
Help me live my life on yours
Slap Ya Mamma all over
And soak 'em in beer
Next morning smell the mesquite
Sizzle-juce and fat
Impregnate the air
Love smok'n
Mmmmmmmm!
Honey smoked ribs on the grill
Come and eat your fill
Roasted corn, drips with butter
Taste buds aflutter
Peach pie on the sill
Ice cold beers
Cheers!
June 3, 2022
What's Cooking on the Grill This Summer Contest
Sponsored by M. L. Kiser
broil two racks of pork ribs
cook well done
about 2 hours at 350.
remove ribs add
2 quarts of tomato paste
3 cups of shredded cabbage
5 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 teaspoon of white vinegar
1/4 cup of garlic (crushed)
1/2 cup of onion ( chopped)
1/4 cup of shredded carrot
5 tablespoons of celery seeds
2 cups of red bell peppers (diced)
1/4 cup of dried thyme
6 cups of rice( cooked)
4 tablespoons of ginger powder
1/4 c crown sugar& 1/4 c honey
4 Tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoon of cayenne
1/2 cup of masala
3 cups of pork broth
add ribs back to the pan, cover with foil.
cook rice in oven until the tomato paste is well
blended with ingredients.
about thirty five minutes.
serve rice and ribs.
Mocosippa
3 cups of apple juice
4 cups grape juice
5 cups of spiced rum
1/2 cup honey
5 cups of raspberry ginger ale
1 cup of lemon
taste and calibrate to your liking.
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