Marionette soup comes in a midnight bowl
Filled to the brim with mushroom tumbling
Under the golden moon dolls cut their strings
Nutcrackers on crash diets sink saltines
Welcomed to float inside awhile
But not included in the price of dining
Russian dolls introduced to soup dive in
One after another dropped into darkness
Each one becomes smaller and smaller
Within themselves only they know why
Perhaps pretty painted faces need flavor
To appreciate the human race
There is no soup for you!
Forget about spoons at this hour
Two dainty fingers made of wood
Hold the bowl sides in balance for taste
Preparing to slurp what is inside
But marionettes are dignified. They don’t slurp
Discerning humans understand this part
It is an art
They have come to eat you and your soul
Assuming you have one worth consumption
Categories:
saltines, appreciation, food,
Form: Free verse
I will entice him with my meatloaf topping
Which means a meatloaf underneath naturally.
Next to it will be nestled my other signature dish
Scalloped corn with onions, saltines, and mashed potatoes.
He will be knocked out of his chair by this woman’s comfort food.
Especially after he tastes my warm homemade bread with real butter.
No one can resist my hot triple chocolate brownies under vanilla ice cream.
He will be malleable now, agreeable to any ideas or opinions I have.
Categories:
saltines, food,
Form: Free verse
I met a mouse on his way to heaven.
He was pulling a red wagon full of saltine crackers.
Are those stolen? I asked him.
Zap! A hook came up, grabbed him, and threw him into Hell.
I felt guilty when I took a bite of one of the saltines,
And realized how stale it was.
Categories:
saltines, 3rd grade, 4th grade,
Form: Light Verse
On March Seventeen on St. Paddy's Day
Finbar and Connor drank close to the bay
they ate green saltines
and caught wild sardines
but without any jacks, they couldn't stay
they whized and staggered up dingle harbour
sat at the marina, and ate hot spicy chowder
they whistled and sang
while their stomachs? oh dang !
out to the jack, they pushed it out farther
Finbar and Connor off to Dingle, County Kerry
to join the big parade of pompous dignitaries
light and airy feeling Holy
tooting out just like a Dooley
the day just fell away like wind in the prairies.
Feb. 26, 2021
Categories:
saltines, humorous,
Form: Limerick
chemo waiting room
patients eat saltines
from a candy dish
Published in Bottle Rockets #42 2020
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
Posted on October 25, 2018
Categories:
saltines, cancer, food, sick, stress,
Form: Senryu
Tree-finger enchantments
Shimmer pedantic staccato;
Violinist plucked
Long-tails, blue in snow,
Bewitched no longer, frolic.
Embrace Poseidon.
Whisper labyrinths cool to the wake.
East, I see an oblong ship pirouette
Charging from Olympus…on fire,
Shadowy Everests migrate west;
Crisped saltines crumbled by guilt
Whose silent peaks rejoice:
How beautiful the clouds swim in sunrise sky.
2/15/2017
Categories:
saltines, good morning, hope,
Form: Free verse
I REALLY DON’T CARE IF THE SUN IS A STAR AND HE DOES
I want grape juice and sex all the time.
All he can think about is spray painting.
He looks at me like I am the strange girl
down the street who eats saltines and ketchup.
I step right on somebody’s chewed gum walking with him.
Our fingers laced like we are tourist scum in matching cowboy boots.
I look at him like he never wears the same underwear two days in a row.
He knows I lied to his family when they asked me if I liked toasted cheese and Budweiser.
Then again when I told his drunk father I would never sleep with him on a spaceship.
He looks at me like I am a joke about women’s
tennis, or a blackboard with a spit wad stuck on it.
He lied to my mother when he said he’s never had sex with a mannequin.
Then again when he said he never shot me with a tranquilizer gun.
I look at him like he might get me pregnant.
He looks at me like he’s arranging a celebration for the sun.
Categories:
saltines, bereavement, boyfriend, break up,
Form: Carpe Diem
It ain't the pork, it ain't the beans
It ain't the mustard on saltines
It ain't the redneck social scenes
I love about the south
It ain't the ice cold sweet southern tea
It ain't the way that we say please
It ain't the way we lemon squeeze
I love about the south
It ain't the perfect slice of pecan pie
It ain't the wink in the bullfrog's eyes
It ain't the fireflies that light the night
I love about the south
It ain't the way we say yes ma'am
When you visit Alabam
It ain't the attitude of yes we can
I love about the south
It ain't the way that we say ya'll
With the syrupy sweet southern draw
No it ain't none of that at all
I love about the south
It's the crisp clear starry nights
Through the shifting shadows of the loblolly pine
As I stand here with your hand in mine
I love about the south
Just the fact that you are here
And that I can hold you near
As I hear you call me dear
I love about the south
I actually love everything about the South.....
Categories:
saltines, humor, love,
Form: Free verse
A stomach virus laid me out,
My husband down as well
And then we were surprised to hear
Somebody ring the bell.
Two bags delivered to our door
With Gatorade and soup,
Saltines and even Alka-Seltzer,
Quite a sickbed group.
Our son arranged to save the day
With Amazon – the Prime –
To help recuperation
And give fodder for my rhyme!
Categories:
saltines, sick, son,
Form: Rhyme
Almost everyone who came back from Korean War
plays Piano now.
All around that lounge were cognac glasses
being used for tip jars.
The customers were either runaways-fugitives or
here for a cheap getaway.
Red could play Piano for days hooked on
saltines and codeine.
After the evenings set Red new it was back to the sidewalk
laying next to a warm cup of coffee and the memory of being told how good
he was.
He was startled by voices that begged him to play more songs
"c'mon Red give us a song
that old favorite,the song
that makes us forget".
Categories:
saltines, imaginationred,
Form: Free verse