Zipper on my lips
A contagion in my veins
paralyzed spirit
Mouths should come with zippers
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Excitement building in anticipation
last night when getting dressed
late for a date and in a hurry
yet hoping to look my best
but in a flurry had to scurry
not paying close attention
when doing up my tight blue jeans
tho' it bears not repeated mention
I now know what misery means
zipped the zip fastener sadly far too fast
and not wearing a jockstrap
caught my privates badly in the zipper
also known as a ***** flytrap
A snaking mouth sloughs two spines,
the rattle of small vertebrae
and delicate teeth.
A woman learns to ride them, feels
the trombone slide of a dragon’s tail.
A man lifts tugging fingers,
not wanting to fumble
as ill-illuminated aluminum rails
bite.
The zipper knits together lusts
or shuns and strips a thought away.
Body bags become bodily prayers.
It is a widening gash gleaming -
lip-gloss for unpainted desires.
Zippers may squeeze a tight throat,
or close an open face.
Buttons are collected or lost,
though once in a while rescued
from a box of other tangled trinkets.
Zigzag threads overlap
Zip zap tracker aligns
Zesty and shiny, too
Zings along the backside
Zany patterns excite
Zazzy razzle dazzle
Zenith night on the town.
A Pleaides Poem
10/5/2022
the zipper catches my dreams in agony again
I wake up
the cruel steel slicing my soft skin
i am awak next to this hairy finger
stabs me pulling against my secret
i cryout looking at the wood ppaneling
oops he says
its is an accident in the halway between dreams between rooms
between im and I
I don undrstand why I am not supposed to look at mine.
not to look at mom is a sin
to tell the truth is a skinned shin
I'm not old enough to ride the zipper
Im snickered once again
today im old enough, no mor potato sacks but I cannot play sax
I'm not lisa to day
who is lisay
comon she says
lets ride the zipper anyways
here we are again and today it is my skin.
or is it sin I wonder.
its ok to be a mermaid she says
its ok to get wet
Just like a zipper
The ship goes on Spring-colored sea
The wake are opening the sea
The Christmas Zipper
David J Walker
That tool kit you gave me
At two, Mom
was meant to be a toy
But made of real metal
How did I know
What to do with the saw
That I called a “Zipper”
Did I see Dad
Zipping through boards?
I only remember that your
Sewing machine cabinet was
Open and presented itself as
A Christmas morning opportunity
And after two short but damaging
Zips that ripped a straight line in
Drop leaf treadle cabinet table
someone brought in a 2x4
which I soon lost interest in
exchanging it for a
screwdriver in the kit
What could go wrong?
What did you expect a boy to do
At two
With a brand-new zipper in hand
On Christmas Morning
A man was thought to be Jack the Ripper
who cried I'm just a hard-working stripper
The bobbies said Show us the proof
When he flashed his tiny tool
he was cuffed before fixing his zipper
A broken zipper
Can happen any time
When it does-
It does happen
It is at the wrong time
Rushing to be outside
The zipper would break
On a winter jacket
Or a pair of jeans
A change in a zipper
Is what is needed
A winter jacket
That is different
When nothing else
to wear
Go to the dry cleaners
They send it out
When returned
The charge would be
a three digit
For a payment job done
it's a little
above the
middle of
her back
if it were
in front
it would be
between her
breasts
but going
back around
pinching the
clasp
slowly
pulling
it down
exposing
her perfect
smoothness
of brown skin
against the
yellow of her
full length gown
that slides off her
shoulders
to the ground
i massage the
tension from her
neck
A snaking mouth sloughs two spines;
the rattle of vertebrae.
A woman learns to ride them, feels
the trombone slide of a dragon’s tail.
A man lifts on tip-toe
not wanting to fumble.
They knit lusts to opening prayers,
cadavers to body bags,
close a gnash of gaping space -
block a cold throat
from an exposed face.
It's like a zipper
opened then closed
when foolish words express
the errors of a random guess.
It's like a button
a spew of words reveling
searching for the hole
in things we barely know.
It's the mouth speaking
and the exasperation expelled
without the input of the brain
when there is nothing to gain.
It's the lessons that we learn in youth
that every word be kind or else unsaid
to speak no lies, only honesty and truths ahead,
for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
for Julia Ward' Romani contest
8/29/19
A lady so much older than I
Deftly signalled a path from her thigh
Like a wrinkle in thyme
Something started to climb
Hmmph! I forgot to zip up my fly!
(my tribute to Limerickmeister Jack Ellison, smile engine extraordinaire)
I remember the time when I caught a
bit of my body parts where I oughtn't a
in much pain did I struggle
with my bits I did juggle
it really did make my eyes water!
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