"Linda is inspired by the life and works of Sylvia Plath and Dorothy Parker.She believes poetry should be both beautiful and brutal; it is the presenceof one that helps us to recognize the other."
Linda is no stranger to online publishing, and has had poems appear in, to extract directly from her submission email, "Paper Wasp (print), Fresh (printand online), Simply Haiku (online), Word Riot (online), Spiral Bridge(online) and the Processing Unit (online)." I'm certain she and all readers know by now that this site publishes, period, regardless of other sources, but sharing is caring and caring is sweet. Flowery, also, I suppose.
***
She wanted to wave goodbye
She looked back at Shelia
Shelia with the stringy hair
Crooked teeth
And mismatched clothes
She looked back at Shelia and remembered how
In the fourth grade Shelia’s cool hand
Felt comforting pressed upon her fevered forehead
And how Shelia missed the class field trip to the zoo
Along with her
Just so she wouldn’t feel alone.
She looked back at sophomore Shelia on the bus stop
And her stomach started to ache
She wanted to wave goodbye
But she didn’t
Because if she did the girls who were juniors
The girls with driver’s licenses
The girls that thought she was cool
Even though she was only a sophomore like Shelia
Wouldn’t understand
She hoped Shelia would.
She wondered if Shelia would wave
If it was she sitting in the bright yellow jeep
With the top down
And the radio blasting
And the boys staring
And she knew the answer
And that she made the wrong decision
In the instant the jeep turned the corner
And it was too late to wave anyway.
Just to say goodbye?
How can you miss someone you met only once?
How can you miss their smile?
Their laugh?
How quickly their laughter came,
When you said something that you hoped was funny,
Though it probably wasn’t.
Putting you at an ease you never felt before.
How can you miss their eyes?
The way their eyes looked at you,
Warm and welcoming with flashes of heat.
Like a summer thunderstorm not yet broke.
How can you miss the brush of their lips on your cheek?
No stronger than a whisper,
As unforgettable as your first kiss,
But just a kiss goodbye.
Power Plays
His eyes focus on her
Warm rays of sunlight
His focus wraps around her
A flannel blanket
Staving off the chill of isolation
His interest illuminates her
As a spotlight would
In front of a million adoring fans
Only they share the room
Yet to her
It is their red carpet
Each ordinary day
She glows
Feeling safe, secure, special
His kindness
An addiction
His eyes begin to wander
Their absence
Felt more strongly than their presence
She darts about
Trying in vain to catch a flash
Of his brilliant and familiar gaze
His seeming distraction
Lets icy breezes
Into their sanctuary
He needn’t be angry, or cruel
No need to raise a voice
Or hand
His malicious withdrawal of attention
Less a vicious slap
More a slow strangulation
As what she has come to need
Like oxygen
Is slowly taken away
Worse even than the total absence
Of his attention
Is the unrelenting fear of its loss
The cold hollow feeling
That settles in her chest
A wind tunnel of uncertainty
At her core
A self-fulfilling prophecy
Created by
The teasing plays at affection
Increasingly rare
But always hinting at what could be
And what could be taken away
On a whim
On his whim
Gasping for breath
She lashes out at him
His calm and quiet
A wall she is unable to shatter
Her angry words and gestures
Desperate attempts to reignite
The fire that lit her life
Placidly he states
She is angry, unreasonable and needy
But he knows
The power is not in what’s given
But in the taking away
Of what one has come to rely on
