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

Vincy

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-05-15T19_35_31-07_00

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

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

Written while listening to The Walker Brothers (For Kat and Jerry)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2019-05-02T20_41_51-07_00

matchstick lights lips ablaze

static electricity our friend until it’s not

some people rot in hell, other people rot in heaven

laid back, fearing nothing

fights break out even before the barbecue runs out

I never slighted you; I just forgot to continue to pay attention

we could stop pretending and cross the borderline into a new country

harps blown through the blood of strained fruit and illegitimate seventh sons

football players pay the price for loving the gridiron by losing consciousness

femme fatale girl next door mailroom maelstrom milk maid

these words are our words and we share them like blind super heroes

dreams of villages burning plague my anguished Passover cries for freedom

Charles Cicirella

5/2/19