Kitty Kat (For Katheryn and Van)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-06-14T13_03_43-07_00
 

She hears my poetry when hardly anyone pays attention

She makes the impossible possible with her miracle curves and groovy serpentine exchanges

She’s not a snake, but when Katheryn cracks her whip, rodents, rabbits, birds, insects, amphibians (frogs or toads), eggs, other reptiles, fish, earthworms, or slugs all hide beneath their beds, quaking in fear

Kat accepts me for who I am and doesn’t ask me who that is

She celebrates my soul by sharing hers and it always leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy, like I’ve just come out of the dryer and forgot to put in a dryer sheet

Her life is top secret and everything is on a need to know basis, but I know she has opened up to me in ways no one else has ever experienced

She’s radical like an alarm clock with no tolling bell because who wants to be a buzzkill and what’s the point of ruining someone else’s unwaking state of sleepfulness?

If it was up to me we could ingest whatever we wanted into our bodies because if you’re stupid enough to knowingly ingest poison then maybe even a set of guardrails won’t save you from your very own death wish

One day I hope to chance upon Kat on some backstreet where we can finally put down our television-screen-defenses and share the silence

Charles Cicirella

6/14/20

Leprechaun Séance (For Kat)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-06-13T23_45_40-07_00

“Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin”

I’m no slouch, but Leonard will always have me beat

He’s the host with the most and when it comes to Prophets of the Heart there is no one better to turn to or turn away from.

Let’s start from the beginning or even better let’s start at where you’re most comfortable and end up somewhere in the middle of some other kind of bliss

I know your heart is off limits and I’ve always respected that about you because you’re more than a character in a book and to me you mean more than even the designated sun

I’m tired and I’m fed up with people who write me off simply because I don’t contribute to society like they’re used to or comfortable with

Go ahead and hold up my soul by attempting to get between me and my passions and I swear I’ll move both Heaven and Earth to prove to you just how wrong the status quo is

Of course we need bean counters, but without the mad, irascible artists how do you think the blueprint of our humanity ever breaks through the stratosphere

I want to dip you in butterscotch and rainbow sprinkles and methodically graze until the cows start to whisper and the farmers’ trade in their tractors for Bimmers

I’m sorry you’re not feeling well and I wish I had known sooner

I would have written you a poem for every day you were under the weather if I didn’t believe that would have driven you crazy

“Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love”

Charles Cicirella

6/14/20

I had my first colonoscopy today.

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-06-13T13_34_13-07_00

The doctor had on a pink mask

I told him I liked it

He said my last name was cool then he said it real slow and c-o-o-l like

Talked about fast food with the nurses

We all agreed Five Guys was quite good; one nurse mentioned that they used fresh potatoes

No one had tried the Popeyes chicken sandwich yet, I couldn’t say enough good things about it and want one right now

I, of course, was convinced something was wrong and was already planning my services

The turnout was sparse, but a couple of key players did show up.

I threw everyone a loop and instead of playing something by Bob Dylan, I played Nina Simone’s “Who Am I?” instead

Charles Cicirella

6/13/20

Called the Freeze

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-06-12T21_31_58-07_00

Trust busting

Gut rupturing

Make America get down on one knee.

An embarrassment of riches

A country that should be ashamed of itself

We must find the snake handler in contempt before another neo-liberal disguises themselves as the newest vanilla sheep and tosses us only spare change after being elected the king or queen of the dilettantes.

There’s no worry of perfect being the enemy of the good when there’s no true coalition among these lapdog assassins  

Black men, women and children are being murdered in the streets by the racist police and all we keep doing is the same talk until we’re blue in the face and have forgiven ourselves for being so fucking passive aggressive

Violence isn’t the answer; neither is defunding the police, but reforming the way we speak to one another must start now.

Contrition has gone up in smoke right before our eyes

We light the match every time we say a prayer for another senseless death instead of actually doing something about it

I don’t believe we’ll find the off switch to our ignorance and indifference anytime soon and to believe any different is the definition of insanity, until we rewire how we think and feel.

Charles Cicirella

6/11/20

Poolside Enlightenment (For Evie, Holly, Joe and Bob)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-06-06T17_05_22-07_00

Anal glands expressed

Bocce balls thrown

Bowls smoked

I got my physical exercise

Plus practiced social distancing

Good friends, good times

Thought I knew where Culver’s was

Ended up instead at this dynamite Greek place

They had tiropita on the menu and our waitress had small breasts so I was as happy as a clam

Charles Cicirella

6/6/20