warning label (spoken word)

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

this box
you try to fit me inside
is too narrow
for my borders
& I will not be folded
like a secret
under your bed
a stained & shameful thing
with all the magazines
& my shape
is too round for square holes
& too square for round ones
you can’t hammer me
into position/submission–
in other words
I will not be pegged

& yes, I’m what you would call
high-maintenance–
the inconvenient lover
whose logic
confounds you all night
but in the morning
finally naked
leaves you late for work
& impossibly tangled in sheets–
I will make you forget
we disagreed
in the first place
my darling
& so sweetly
you will misplace
your dialectic
between my breasts
an argument
I will always win

but remember
this woman
comes with a warning label
& you just
got it read
to you

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , , , , , | 46 Comments

Apocalypse poem #9–5 minutes on the timer

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

you can get
an HIV test now
with results
20 minutes later

but that’s
plenty of time
for that man
with dark green eyes
to remember
who he has been with
how many times
with & without risk
since his last negative

if guilt & fear
are viruses
he’s infected

& terrified
of the results
he leaves

with 5 minutes left
on the timer

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Inspiring Each Other

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

Hi poetry pals!

Well, today, something interesting happened.  Bruce wrote a poem, which inspired me, which in turn inspired Audra at UnfetteredBS, which inspired Franzad to write a lovely poem.  Talk about a wonderful chain reaction!  This led Bruce and Franzad to try out an “Inspiring Each Other” prompt, where one person starts with a poem, and we see where it branches out from there.  So…let me know if you are interested in joining the fun!

 

For an example, check this out:

As If…

Posted in New Free Verse | 14 Comments

legally blind

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

There is no right or wrong
in this visioning, only sight
from eyes that were born flawed,
unfit to serve, though these lips
know the kiss of fire
& lit, sing

here there is just
my seeing
filtered & corrected

to acceptable degrees,
skimming the peripheral dance
of dust motes set spinning
by spirit whispers
& flickered suggestions
of missed light–
like unread notes
looped lightly in the margins
of a borrowed book

How much is missed
by sight that rings the moon nightly
& bends starlight

or is it simply
a new way of seeing
birthed in these eyes?

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , , , , , | 35 Comments

I am

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

I am drunk on sky
sipping too deep the twilight
& swimming an ocean
not of water and salt
but bliss

to drown now would be
to meet a heaven
I already know

***All Bruce’s fault

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , | 26 Comments

Want to see specific poetry posts/sites on freshly pressed?

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

Tweet them here!  I know I am going to!

@freshly_pressed

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments

apocalypse poem #8: Mine & yours

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

I am tired
of apocalypse

& just want to
hold us tight

until it’s not my mine
or your yours

anymore

but just another
sort of ending

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments