Choosing curtains on Sunday
is not my luxury
My curtains carry
marbled discoloration
as if they too survived
a separate war
Choosing curtains,
couches and bathroom tiles
is another life
It was my Grandmother’s
It is my mother’s
I do not plan cruises
or buy original art
(unless it is mine,
assembled originally
from The Dollar Tree)
I made a haunted house tonight
from the scrapings of my attic
full of what will be displayed
for comfort’s sake
again and again
My life is a plastic bat
glued to a plastic leaf
glued to a piece of wood
I left the ghosts
safely in the attic
next to a box of trains
of my great uncle’s
who had Alzheimer’s
in the end
No one assembles them now
All the skeletons
are still waving at me
The Skeletons rap in the dark,
Droppin' jokes with a spark and a bark.
They roast my whole squad,
"Tried to dress thunder up as finesse".
Skeletons guardin' secrets like they
Trademark.
They rattle stories nobody tells,
The ones tucked immeasurable where
Silence resides, old grudges, old lies,
Tears nobody cries-
They keep it all locked in their Skeletons.
" Your family hid strife they say,
"And tried to sweep chatter away".
But Skeletons don't dismiss from the mind
They replay every debt-
Whisperin' what folks won't disclose.
They clown down the memory lane to soften
The blow, but every gag still lets truth show.
Cause secrets don't fade, they just hide in
The darkness until the Skeletons decide to let
Go, and everyone of them hits like a door you
Finally open. And everyone of them knows
What the family won't say outloud.
each dawn, in the kingdom of skeletons,
bones knock together—
shins clatter,
ribs get a quick shine
as the kings rise with the sun.
the velvet robes
they've discarded moons ago.
their old souls
rest quietly in wooden beds.
no itching skin, no hair to comb
or run fingers through,
the steady clack of hollow heels
echo with each step.
the Duchess
gleefully spins around
all teeth and bone, barefoot.
they raise empty cups
and celebrate
breath that’s long gone,
dining on nothing but
the glow of moonlight.
you have to chuckle, right?
the afterlife has its own peculiar perks;
beauty be damned,
no one dresses to impress
since when do dead folks care about hair?
in this rattling land, joy endures.
the only thing broken?
funny bones, and truthfully,
no one cares to doctor them.
Welcome my sweet
Skeletons
Let me embrace you, all my decay, you hold safely
So I can smile with you.
You exist because of me
So you love me
And I release you
To dance with me
As we always do
Imagine if they looked through our window
Saw the dark stains of guilt and shame
But yet you lighten my loneliness
You Skeletons I've made
I have to keep you now
My comfort in the dark
Your smiles lift me
White teeth and understanding
My friends
Stay here, with me
I need your haunting
Stay.
We all have skeletons, rattling bones,
Hidden in closets, behind locked tones.
Don’t sit and act like you’re pure, divine,
Your shadows whisper, just like mine.
A love once lost, a lie once told,
A friendship broken, a heart gone cold.
The debt unpaid, the midnight tears,
The silent battles, the buried fears.
Regrets of words we never spoke,
Promises shattered, trust we broke.
The secret crush, the stolen glance,
The guilty thought, the missed chance.
We hide addictions, shame, desire,
The envy burning, the quiet fire.
We mask mistakes with holy airs,
But closets creak — they all hold theirs.
So don’t pretend you’re stainless, whole,
We all have cracks inside the soul.
Skeletons dance, they never rest,
And truth beats loud within the chest.
Skeletons Poetry Contest.
Sponsor by Seth Pina
All our grandparents were deceased;
As were also both our mom and dad.
I don't know why I wanted to know,
nor what I would do if there were
coverups or secrecies in our family.
Is there any SKELETONS in our family closet?
That was the question to my oldest sister.
At first, she did not understand the question.
Immoralities, misbehaviors, unthinkable things?
Unsavory, mean spirited, and things unspoken?
Family secrets hidden from most everyone?
Dark deeds done behind closed doors?
It has been 28 years since I asked the question.
I have not seen or heard anything to the contrary.
My sister was genuine, and I knew she would be true.
I could feel the sincerity in her voice when she said,
I know of no SKELETONS in our family.
a quiet fairytale
Why so quiet he asked most sincerely,
I don’t want to rattle the skeletons in the closet said she,
the noise of rattling bones stirs up dust bunnies
and the mites of secrets lost in debris
at the bottom of old trunks and older tapestry bags~
You can tell me anything he declared earnestly,
old mites and dust bunnies have never scared me,
and though my own secrets are most mundane
they’ll hold hands with your skeletons and muffle those bones
so we can live life forever quietly, comfortably.
in front of the haunted house were two brazen skeletons rare
One was holding a cell phone high up in the October air
They were grinning like two idiots who take selfies all the time
Where did they get that phone? I asked my cousin Mime.
Mime was not sure, but she thought it was hilarious and fun.
She asked to be in their selfie, and they let her join them in one.
Send it to me, she told them, but refused to give her number out.
You are really something, I told her. As they proceeded to pout.
Skeleton family knew they would have two feasts that week.
On Halloween they feasted on lamb chops covered with leek.
On Day of the Dead, they consumed turkey with gravy in a giant taco.
Their festivals lasted for a week, ending down in warm, happy Mexico.
Today they are dining on frog legs, which they think are divine.
Everyone is sipping on fruit flies, and enjoying pumpkin vine wine.
Even the children have a little taste of the liquor, I guess.
Every plate is licked clean, so there is absolutely no mess.
My arm drags along the floor.
Seemed harmless as a curled up skeleton finger.
Shrugged so much that I felt loopy.
She has some sort of way to play with cobwebs.
Spiraling and laughing.
She likes the creases of bone.
Creases, whirling, and shoulders hurting, dragging.
I have a lot of enemies prodding me.
Seemed harmless as a bone in my foot.
This one decided to follow my footprints made of candy syrup.
Was so tempting that she climbed in between my shoulder blades like nothing.
The protruding feeling rambles on.
I have enemies, sometimes, I try to…
Other times, it’s just me and a skeleton, and me too.
And those bones?
They seemed more cracked yesterday.
Urban skeletons
murmur a final adieu
encased in tomb light
of forgotten aisles
reverberating chimeless
and frozen
in crooked rigor.
Halls thunder
to the taunt
of desecration
as muralled history
detonates.
Echoed voices that seep
Through the cracks in the drywall
Of the room which I hide in.
Bones clatter in the closet,
The softest shadows show those faces,
Those girls,
Those girls who I loved who could care less for me,
And that faceless face I erased that held me against
The tile of that bathroom.
Haunting me, taunting me,
Whispering, lingering,
Always there
In the back of my mind.
Impossible to find relief, I decide.
Words that aren’t mine,
The violence inside that
Shows itself outside, now,
And my hurt hurts the first people to love me.
Bury myself in the closet,
With all the things I keep deep.
kreel n krurl
bone twisting brake
skeletons dancing
beturn o bewake
beslide n beclunky
on graveyardy mound
skelebones skelefunky
over graveyardy ground
Forgive me as I compose this remorseful apology
An admission of my egotistical individuality
Realization of how I've accustomed to being a Ticking time bomb impulsively leaking noxious fumes
Unintentionally forcing you to inhale and endure my venomous pollution;
But Innocence I had plead with evidence justifying unforseen indescribable affinity
Unintentionally passionately
To what i defined a Fragile creation of a human being
Skeletons in my closet that threaten to break out,
And I know when I see them I'll be too scared to shout.
Memories so painful I keep them locked away,
And when they show their teeth I can't help but be afraid.
A darkness so deep I try to steer clear,
But when I step in oh the voices I hear.
Voices so loud they drown themselves out,
And I know once I listen I'll be too gone to shout.
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