Systemic Strain, Not Personal Fault
"The walk for help- " I walked miles with
Nothing but courage in my pockets, hoping
The doors ahead still cared ".
" A bank shut its doors on my survival, and
The pavement became my only witness". After
A bank shut its doors on my tomorrow ".
"Need pressed against my ribs while someone
Behind a counter constrained against my dignity ."
I stepped into a room built for mercy, but the air was
Heavy with judgements, eyes measuring my worth
Like I owed them proof of why hunger had followed me in.
They keep telling you
"Hold it together "
Like you ain't already patching cracks
In a world built crooked
You juggle bills,
Appointments,
System that glitch like busted streetlights,
And they still ask
Why you walk like the weight got hands
Around your larynx.
But listen-
This ain't your flaw
This is pressure cooked in premises
You never stepped in,
Policies you never voted for, rules penned
By people who never had to stretch a dollar
Til it yelped.
You ain't the problem.
You're the evidence.
When I first brought Cosmo home from the pound
he and Sassy played all day running around
But Cosmo started biting her on the neck
so for play Sassy gave Cosmo the reject
Cosmo determine to have his way
would hunt Sassy and try to force play
He still bit her made her cry
Sassy bite him back was my reply
But Sassy was submissive and wouldn't try
Cosmo is spoiled and won't be deny
This morning again I heard Sassy being chased
Cosmo had bit her she yelped running to her hiding place
Hear Cosmo growling than suddenly a scream
Cosmo wailing high pitch to the extreme
I called for him and he came limping to my room
all gravel in hunch back yelping and whining resume
I try to comfort him and saw no blood
he was shaken but not broken gave him a hug
Sassy was looking so innocence and amused
for Cosmo big ego she had abused
Sassy must have bit the big boy back
maybe now he will go easy on the attack
Nothing broken but his pride
Big Boy Cosmo would indeed survive
after I comfort him and calmed him down
he and Sassy together sleeping I found
Sassy lift her head up with a smile on her face
Cosmo my big giant puppy had been put in his place.
Black widow, thy fabled mark.
Through a knothole seen.
Moonlight, light path after dark.
Glitch the gangrel green.
Flickering flame, wax candle's gleam.
How to extinguish?
Air. Snuff out. Cut off the stream.
Cover up the dish.
Hellfire, bloom. O woodland, burn.
Ghost, hide in the leaves.
Pain, approval, taciturn.
He who loves, soon grieves.
Life, red ruins. Fain, fast fade.
Silent is the shade.
O for those who were played, glade?
Blighted, bound, bombed, bade.
Will-o-the-wisp, deep the bog.
Follow where it goes?
Light, thy beauty. Slick the slog.
Carrion for the crows.
Tiger in the tall grass?
He's waiting for a meal.
O young suitor, lass? Best pass.
Never shall ye heal.
Vicious viper, poison pit.
Well, we should have quit.
Firefly, how to keep lit? Flit.
Otherwise get bit.
Slit throat, O anodyne? Helped?
Seemed like he had died.
Holluschickie, how you yelped.
Children, woe betide...
I just saw the most dangerous thing I had ever seen.
Want to guess what it was I asked my cat, Moonbeam.
A giant with feet the size of a museum or a store?
Think bigger my friend, think wilder and more.
Moonbeam is no slacker, she fired off ideas left and right.
A gremlin, a goblin, a panther, a tiger slinking around in the night?
Give up? I asked her, hoping she would.
But this cat can guess for days, as only a tabby could.
No! She yelped at me, patting down my tummy.
Don’t be ridiculous! You know you’re not funny!
She guessed devils, the undead, the Stay Puff Marshmallow man.
No one can guess like this pussy can.
I finally yelled it out, for I have no attention span.
A kitty with a cannon, he’s mowing down people all over the land.
Oh, that’s my cousin, Zeke, I’ll tell him to spare you, she said.
Now I would be sure to keep her happy and aptly fed.
Baby angel Lee was having a turn on the bells
It’s my turn now! Yelped baby cousin Nells.
But Lee was having fun, and she loved hearing the ring.
Hearing him whine was not an important thing.
In an over-populated town
This is how it all went down
There was not enough food for all to eat
So, people dined on human meat
Unless they were rich and had some money
Then they could eat their oats with honey
"Soylent Green"- yelped Heston's voice
But they had to eat it, they had no choice
I suppose one day this could prove true
You could eat me, or...
I could eat you
.No one has ever died in my family, Ted said
his wife’s cheeks turned a teensy bit red
Ask Jodi, he said, referring to his wife
Jodi was deceased, his once-upon-a-time life
The next thing Ted did was throw the TV
It broke the window! He yelped out with glee
His wife Nancy was never the same after this.
Alzheimer’s had claimed her husband and her bliss.
wizards and witches whistled in the trees
owls and bats were hidden in their places
Halloween night, there was a gentle breeze
frisky cats were hunting for mouse traces
Dracula was shaking Frankenstein’s toe
A coffin lid creaked open from next door
Get up! He yelped. It is past time to go!
large mummy headed toward the crypt’s front door
werewolf in the distant was howling strong
monster mash was beginning in a few
soothsayer in the forest rang a gong
lots of white ghosts; I counted twenty-two
we danced around the masked children of course
I went as the back of a sturdy horse
Oh, aren’t they adorable, my near-sighted grandma said.
I turned and looked; these moppets looked rather dead.
I kept this to myself, but felt their creepy evil stares
As we turned to walk up our apartment stairs
That night I felt those dolls and puppets calling me
I looked out the window and what did I see?
The ringleader was pointing straight at my heart
I felt they were going to pull me apart
My heartbeat was fast, palpitations quick and hard
Calm down! I yelped to my inner poet and bard.
But I felt threatened, as if evil were coming for me.
I heard maniacal laughter from at least two or three.
Day of the Dead Dancers appeared in Tijuana at nine
They are right on time! The crowd yelped. Right on time and fine!
Their dance was macabre, ghoulish, garish, difficult to track.
They stayed until daylight the next morning, then they went back.
I met my clone on a Tuesday night
She yelped, “Your hair gave me such a fright!”
I replied, “Your wrinkles are a blight.”
Her teeth are more coffee yellow than white.
I doubted she was very bright.
We did not get along, and this is all right.
Her body was rotund, not any way slight.
Meeting her was not out of sight.
I wish I’d had a better Tuesday night.
great green grizzly gorilla came by to sit on my knee.
I was horrified and yelped “why did he pick me?”
He’s cute, said my husband. Be still, or you’ll make him blue.
Okay, I agreed, but I am turning him over to you.
a lively, little lamb bounded in to sit on my lap.
gorilla and husband were laughing. One said you’re such a sap.
I was thinking lamb chops for supper as I stroked her soft wool.
She read my mind, and dashed away, meadow was her goal.
Next entered a fluffy bear with big black beautiful eyes.
That he fit through our teeny dog door was an enormous surprise.
The gorilla leaped off my husband and dove through that door.
Three fluffy potential pets, but only one to show you, Lenore.
I was stunned at my cousin’s new mural on her living room wall
I want one! I yelped, can he come by in the fall?
He’s totally booked up, his popularity is big.
I should warn you, he eats a lot, he is kind of a pig.
I hear he is a sloppy painter, my husband chimed in.
He does not want strangers in our house, he has a chinny-chin-chin.
I booked him in October, assuring him we would tire up the dog.
He came on the fifth, and he truly ate like a hog.
But our new mural was lovely, more beautiful than my cousins.
How many have you painted? He squealed, dozens and dozens.
My husband huffed and puffed, irritated at how much he ate.
He was messy and dirty, but my new mural was great!
Gladys, an old lady, forgot she was ninety-two
Her body cannot do what it could at fifty-two
She climbed the farmer’s fence and dropped down six feet
Broke her hip, elbow and neck, said her son, Old Pete
In the hospital waiting for surgery
Ninety-two! She yelped. Surely that cannot be!
Old Pete stomped off angry, and left her with me.
I get his goat good sometimes, she told me with glee.
He caught the car and shook it violently
But it did not shake
It dropped out of his mouth
Taking one of his favorite teeth with it
He yelped a bit and looked at me.
I told you not to catch it, I told him
He is like my children
Everything is his way or the highway, a stubborn dog.
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