Chuffed (For Kat Boyd)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-03-31T13_38_02-07_00

Taught me a new word

Showed me the sun

By opening her heart

Listening to “The Fool On The Hill”

Bobbie Gentry never sounded better

You train me with your eyes and lips

I’m not a dragon or a broken paperclip

The window was open so I climbed inside

Katie’s dreams welcomed me like Nixon in China

Showed me the way with empowered gestures of bravery

Her Cowardly Lion and my Toto hung out in Technicolor

Once upon a time I partied with drag queens in the Tenderloin

I don’t write poetry that’s why most poets ignore me like the plague

The words cut into the page like a samurai sword or electric toothbrush

She took my hand and calmed my fears with her feminine wiles

Taught me about God

Undressed in the moonlight and rose like a new sun

She eclipsed my night terrors by making love to me with aggression and the rhythm and blues method

Charles Cicirella

3/31/19

Braving The Elements

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-03-27T12_54_31-07_00

Braving The Elements

(For Elaine and Mikal)

It’s cold outside and I don’t feel like going inside and getting my coat

Everywhere I look there are memories of her and it haunts me like a memorable refrain

This is life and this is death and it’s a cycle I refuse to capitulate to

A boxer who was trained to stay in their own lane even and especially when the rain would not cease from pouring down

Steinbeck had it right, take your dog and travel the country questioning this "new America"

I lost my mother in 2017 and I still have not properly grieved for a woman who instilled in me both grit and the humility to know when I must kneel and pray

It’s cold inside and I don’t feel much like going outside and feeling the sun

Everywhere I look are memories of her and I feel both her kiss and her indelible touch

Storybooks only tell a smidgen of the tale and when loss rolls in like rolling thunder all we can do is shelter in place and believe in something bigger than ourselves

Charles Cicirella

3/27/19

Standing At Attention (For Julia Haw)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-03-24T12_38_04-07_00

I apologize

Didn’t mean to come across as aggressive

Brain hurts from all this radio silence

She stood next to me if you know what I mean

It was like a cyclone had hit my troubled heart

What she did with her paintbrushes would make anyone blush

Stands at attention

Like a soldier awaiting orders

Like a stone cold fox making dinner plans

When Julia beats her drum everything changes for the better

The music in her head is filled with endless color and bright lights

The blank canvas looks to her as both a savior and a savant

Loosen the screws in my neck

Even the Bride of Frankenstein needs to let down her hair every now and then

Horror movies are our bread and butter when our culture shorts out and civility has gone the way of big ass dinosaurs

I apologize

For calling you out for what I believed were bad manners

Please understand I’ve always been hyper sensitive and that goes triple now that I have shingles

She languished like a daylily that couldn’t quite make up its mind

All flowers will have their day in the sun no matter the weather report

Creativity never hurts because you cannot do it wrong

Charles Cicirella

3/23/19

Slab of Tofu

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-03-05T09_38_08-08_00

The ice tastes like water and the water tastes like shit

Smoking so much pot even the munchies have called in sick

I plan my nights around nausea and reruns of The Good Wife

I’m tired of texting people and hearing only the sound of crickets

Don’t mention pizza and then not show up, that’s just plain cruel

Reaching out to friends only to get repeatedly stabbed in the back is what makes Johnny a serial disbeliever

These days the brass ring is covered in axle grease and promissory notes

Sometimes I get so tired of the broken state of affairs I play hide and seek with my invisible self and go the way of nightshade and DoorDash

Forget the promises you made to me and try and remember the promises you made to yourself

Eating Alka-Seltzer® ReliefChews like they’re going out of style because my stomach has something to say and I’ve become hard of hearing

I told Pipi if she didn’t start ignoring me I’d pull her braids and give her a swift kick in her pantaloons

The reason everything feels wonky is because we have a weak President who refuses to listen to anyone, but his authoritative demons

The water from the tap is obnoxious and lacks depth, but buying bottled water has never made any sense to me

Let’s stop pretending we’re not heading toward a Mad Max world where up is down and the Jewish people better watch their backs

I plan my days around chronic masturbation and reruns of Lost in Space

Charles Cicirella

3/3/19