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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Chocolate bars full of nougat and peanuts,
Sour gummies that get stuck in teeth,
Chalky fruit-flavored tablets,
Things coated in colorful candy shells,
With metallic wrappers I constantly hear crinkle,
Covering an entire square foot of countertop.
The smell of coffee brewing at late hours,
Messes of creamer and sugar left unclean,
Mini donuts and cookies to dip in,
A constant sweet tooth that is never satisfied.
Better than cans and glass bottles overflowing the trash.
Better than the yeasty smell stuck in the air.
Sticky spills in the refrigerator,
Stains on carpet,
Broken lamps and vases,
Falling down the stairs,
The loss of someone still living.
Better than a drink before dropping off the kids at school.
Better than sleeping during the day.
Acting like this is normal.
Growing to an age where you start to notice the signs,
Constant crying and wondering why,
Never inviting friends over, they might notice,
Pouring things down the drain that I’m not supposed to touch,
Empty promises of quitting.
Maybe if I was a better daughter.
Staying up on school nights making sure she gets to bed safe,
Remembering to lock doors for her,
Taking care of her child only four years younger than I,
Losing hope.
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Liquor license for my rubbing alcohol
Fumes and vapors have me squinting like a mole
Open my window, let the wind blow through
A bunch of spiders came and crawled right to me
Shouting and stomping like a maniac
I squashed them all, covered in goo
of black
Looked through myself, right at the mirror
Who should really be the fearer?
Do good people kill spiders?
Mop up the viscera left on the floor
Some rubbing alcohol make the stink no more
I left it there for over a week
The time has come to be a clean freak
Lock the door, sit on the floor, and breathe in
Sterilize my mind and sanitize my skin
Guilt is a feeling, shames a disorder
But chemicals, they are my warder
Do bad people realize it?
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Knick-knacks, bottle caps, pop tabs, and acid
The reflux of my mind of many memories redacted
Connections don't elucidate the fuzzy things that happen
Only emphasize the vacuity of brains fried and flattened
I wouldn't deign to age another decade with this habit
But self-control's a feeble virtue in youthful years uncounted
Demote me to a lesser life where everything is vapid
My rancor for the world only grows as time elapses
I press on indulgently into the sugared gasses
The romance of it influence next generations addicts
For boys discover empathy and girls affirm their status
They haughtily plod to the tracks as the sully train passes
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Carve into the birch trees, pollen breeze my air to breathe.
One more cough and one more sneeze until it’s over.
Tissue paper mottled with blood and yellow-green mucus, tearing and dissolving from tears.
There is always salt in my mouth these days.
Veiny leaves in the fervent winds remind me that I am an animal, and my skin gets filthier with each mawkish phrase that erupts from a faraway throat, but it feels like mine.
Beautiful and pathetic soliloquy fills up the air.
I am the only one.
I am the only one.
With the grasses' pedagogy and the flowers' instruction, I stand up and walk to the water.
Its chill cries out for help, my pollutant and contaminant is all but too much to be cleaned by a simple stream.
“I am sorry,” I say. “I am sorry Mother.”
I should have been listening this entire time.
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Mister Wister and his woeful eyes
Only thinks about his own demise
Purple blood under waxy skin
Can’t you see he’s wearing thin?
Mister Wister doesn’t cry
Only looks beyond the sky
In his brain where things are caught
Scanned over, pulled real taut
Mister Wister mustn’t move
His bones might crack, skin will prune
There was a time when he would dance
Maybe again he’ll get the chance
Once he came upon a wishing well
Coins bountiful, water swell
But in his pocket was nothing there
All that he could do was stare
Many meals once in his belly
Why must he feel so empty?
Sorrow of a fleeting dream
His misery bound by wire seam
What happened to all of his time?
Did he throw it away, leave it behind?
Only when the Sun might glow
Will he find he’ll never know
Take him as your lesson learned
That life is lived, it isn’t earned
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
My amorphous amour
Resting far from my shore
Like a big lophophore
Planted on the seafloor
Though you're oh so far away
In the breeze, I feel you sway
Flowers blooming every day
My thoughts are where you'll stay
How I miss my lover's touch
Slept in blankets in a bunch
Grains of sand slip from my clutch
Guess I’ll eat my tears for lunch
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2024
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Daddy pulls out my straight teeth
Keeps them in a jar for me
Knocks it over when I'm bad
He tells me that I "must be mad"'
I pick them up off of the floor
Cracked in half and looking sore
It must be a pathetic sight
He looks at me and his face goes white
Shards of glass buried in my knees
And a head of hair ridden with fleas
He locks me in this vapid room
Says I fill him with "such gloom"
Cardboard windows and socked feet
My ears tune-in to a ringing beat
I cannot even see my hands
This gloom-filled room I cannot stand
I get now, why I’m bound to this
What about me would anyone miss?
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2023
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
My strung-out limbs grow like plants
Head in the clouds, toes with the ants
Branches sprout, leaves strewn about,
Now I’m walkin’ ‘round with an utter lack of pants
My eyes swirl like big lollipops
Cogs and wheels, they just won’t stop
Sugar melts, candy belts
Now I’m full of air like a cold can of pop
My propeller spins on my funny hat
I float away, to never come back
Heavy body, I fall out of the sky
Now I’m on the ground and I just want to cry
My skinned knees bleed through my jeans
Drawing eyes, I only displease
I stumble not walk, I struggle to talk
Now I’m nothing more than a can of dead fleas
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2024
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
Like sun dancing through treetops
And springtime drops of rain
Like a heart's relentless beating
Or a child's growing pain
Like an early winter's snowfall
Or soft blankets at night
Like hot coffee in the morning
Or an old lamp's gentle light
I see you in every moment
In every scene of life
In every constellation
And every moonlit night
I see you in my dreams
And every waking hour
And when you're not around
I see you in every flower
Your love brings me to tears
It moves me like an ocean
Your touch and gentle words
Have caused my heart to open
If the stars fall from the sky
And I forget how to rhyme
I know that, without asking,
You would kiss me one last time
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2025
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Alex Van De Linder Poem
The light from behind my eyelids
A warm rusty ochre
Your yellow-stained fingers
You always were a smoker
My first moment on Earth
I must hold my breath
For the air is too sterile
To guide me to my death
Asphyxiation provides elation
When grey matter burns black
They left me at the station
The only way I know is back
The sun fell away
Now I look into the mud
With my newfound lungs
I smell the iron in the blood
They called it a rare case
My choice to be blind
I said, “My spirit guides me
To what I need to find.”
The twilight now shines through me
With bright specks glittering
“Connect the dots, then you’ll see.”
In my mind's eye, I traced.
A luminescent pattern emerged
The first sight of my life
With it, my soul surged
Death become me, let me fly.
Copyright © Alex Van De Linder | Year Posted 2026
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