Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Nothing more

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-05-28T22_55_26-07_00

Sometimes I like to suck on the bowl and pretend it’s a hard cock.
The pot gets me high enough to rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
I know who you are, but I don’t play Chess or any longer care for Bergman films.

All the poets I know are pussies, except for Jason who brings the house down with his fire sale orisons praying to no one, but a porcelain God.
My inner child and your inner child went out for a pack of smokes and neither one of them returned to the scene of the crime.
Sometimes I like to joust with my imaginary friend and pretend he or she gives a shit.

Things are bottoming out and I’m not sure what to do next.
Panic only seems to exasperate an already stressed situation.
Her voice pierces my stoned ineptitude and I hit myself because I’m a rageaholic who is tired of giving directions and still ending up lost.

Sometimes I like to rub real hard on the lamp until a genie pops out.
Will Smith is no Robin Williams and I’m offended that they even went there.
Let’s change channels and watch instead the open expanse shoveling clean coal into our frozen dinosaur hearts.

Charles Cicirella
5/24/19

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Leslie Betty

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-05-18T19_45_27-07_00

Smoked Marlboros
So did I for about five minutes
Her breasts small just like I prefer them

She was a bad ass
My fixation on the Lizard King drew her to me
Had a Radio Shack cassette player I’d play The Doors on before school

When my car cracked up of course she found another chauffeur
His name was Andy and he was cool and fucked her like I knew she desired
This poetry may break your heart, but keep in mind the notes we passed to one another during study hall in Dante’s Inferno

Trying to find my way through the wallflowers and Gideon Bible weeds
During the OJ trial got lost in Ocala National Forest and am so thankful it spit me back out
Time passed slowly in her mom’s kitchen because it was only a few blocks from the dysfunctional debris I had recently crawled out from

Dating Leslie Betty was like sipping a cool refreshing beverage in the middle of a vast desert of Holly Golightly saints and John Grisham evil lawyers
Leslie afforded me the strength to step back and wallow in the self-pity of another burst super nova
I wish we would have made love in the cramped quarters of her room where even she could no longer hide from her teenage queen drama

Charles Cicirella
5/17/19

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Vincy


I want to write a poem about my grandpa Vincy
And about when he would make coffee in the morning
It was there that I learned how important a routine is

I was very lucky because I had Jewish grandparents on my mother’s side and Sicilian-Italian grandparents on my father’s side
So I had the best of both worlds and it most definitely helped me to become a more interesting and well-rounded person

I’d stay with Vincy and Sophie after my parents had split up and my father was rediscovering a single life
At first like any child I thought it was a punishment until I started to really get to know these two people and how remarkable they were and how much they had to offer
Every night they’d watch Highway to Heaven or if there was a baseball game on they’d both pick a team and my grandmother sitting in her chair next to the kitchen and my grandfather in his comfy recliner would root for their favorite team

I want to write a poem about my grandpa Vincy and his obsession with red paint
It was amazing because if he ever found himself with any red paint left over he’d find something to cover it with and it always ended up making perfect sense, at least to him
I’ll also never forget the garage and all the many license plates he had hanging all over the walls

Of course there was a candy dish on the kitchen counter tucked next to the coffee maker
It was actually cookware for the oven and had plenty of room for the Brach's Candy my grandfather would buy at the store
That was the first time I had a Brach’s Neapolitan Coconut Sundae and am sad to discover they were discontinued in 2012

My grandparents showed me what love is and perhaps even more importantly what it feels like to be protected and cared for
They never made you feel like you were putting them out and were always ready to have you join them for cold cuts with Uncle Anthony who was a mailman and would stop for lunch during his route
Everyone talks about the importance of family and yet I wonder how many of us actually stop and think about how fortunate we are to have a family to catch us when we falter

Charles Cicirella
5/15/19

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Light Shone Through (For Kat)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-05-12T09_37_21-07_00

Kat catapults
Olympic desire
Valhalla take-out

We played Clue
We adlibbed
We lost our minds on shared stillness

Poets plant word flowers
Protesters throw Molotov cocktails
Politicians keep their gunpowder dry

Civil Disobedience
Jedi mind trick
Bacon cheese omelet

Kat sticks to the roof of my mouth
Calming me is no longer advisable
Pretending takes us deeper into the cave

Charles Cicirella
5/11/19