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Kaelin Florence Poem
Clink, clink, clink,
She shakes her paper cup.
Please, please, please,
Won’t you fill it up?
Have you ever noticed the woman on Waverly Street?
With shoes too big, barely clinging to her little feet.
Holes in the soles, toes gnarled and cold.
Kisses to the wind and delicate words she speaks.
With a wave and a smile to all she greets.
Her ragged pink scarf, dangling from her neck.
Her knees a mismatched shape, bruised and upset.
Gives her a peculiar pep in her step.
Clink, clink, clink
The coins in her cup.
Have you ever thought to fill it up?
Beep, beep, beep
The sound of the machines.
There she lies in her hospital bed.
A checkered blue blanket tucks her in.
Beep, beep, beep
The sound of the machines.
A moment of silence.
No more clink.
No more beeping is heard.
Gone is the woman with the brown paper cup.
Who stood on Waverly Street, waiting for someone to fill it up.
Copyright © Kaelin Florence | Year Posted 2026
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Kaelin Florence Poem
Sunken ships, drowning sorrows.
I wonder about the stories the sea has swallowed.
With her wide, ravenous mouth,
How many sailors has she lapped up?
Her salty, gritted teeth chewing them whole.
Ones with dreams of treasure and mermaids below.
Fathers and mothers, journeying home…
Lost to the sea, never returned.
The comfort of their beds they'll miss.
Now they only know the belly of the beast, and her starved wet kiss.
Copyright © Kaelin Florence | Year Posted 2026
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Kaelin Florence Poem
I’m the fly in the corner.
Clinging to the space, looking from afar.
I know what you’re thinking.
I know what words buzz and zip through your head.
I am the vermin infiltrating your home,
Infecting everything my bristled legs claw onto.
Leaving traces,
little bits of treacherous treasure for your eyes to never find.
You run at me
With your long gangly arms–
So tall,
So above it all.
The impending darkness consumes me before I can even feel your touch.
Under the vastness of your looming shadow, I can’t help but feel small.
One swat at me and I'm splat all over the wall.
Copyright © Kaelin Florence | Year Posted 2026
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