Vocabularily Adventurous

from the mixed-up files of E. G. Morgan

All the Questions

On LiveJournal, there is a community called 4poetry. The goal is to express an idea in four lines or less. I'm an addict--I do four lines almost every day.

May. 10th, 2009

You hit me in waves--

every laugh is a San Fran quake.

But if you're the Richter scale,

seems like I'm the Midwest.

 

 

May. 8th, 2009

My mid-life crises are many:

What to do, how, with whom, and why.

Maybe I'm just dramatic,

Or will I only live to forty?

 

 

Apr. 12th, 2009

Crisis. I break down and cry,

"Zut alors, qui suis-je?"

How embarrassing--

I didn't even know I spoke French.

 

 

Apr. 9th, 2009

He asked me to edit his essay,

So I made marks and slashes until it said

"Will one marry this writer?"

And handed it back.

 

 

Mar. 29th, 2009

You've made much of getting

lost in a moment, of being

swept away, swept up, of finding thrills.

Steady. Breathe.

 

 

Mar. 12th, 2009

Tell me, I begged,

But she painted over the space behind her eyes

With doubt, cold and silver,

And her lips turned blue.

 

 

Feb. 9th, 2009

Blood-shod feet and blood-shot eyes

Men left deaf and dumb

A lark into the trenches flies

But none know that he's come

 

 

Feb. 6th, 2009

so much depends

upon

that damn Mending

Wall

 

 

Feb. 4th, 2009

You, Kevin and the kids should come this fall.

My wife sends them a kiss,

And I send one as well—to you.

With love,

 

 

Feb. 2nd, 2009

A big imposing room like all the others

With heavenward ceiling and dwarfing desk

But when they beamed and shook her hand

She was twice as grand

 

 

Feb. 2nd, 2009

I won't write a limerick--won't,

or can't? Rhyming is beyond me, and a sonnet? God forbid.

But blank verse I can give you, full of, well,

nothing. Which, of course, is not what you mean to me.

 

 

Jan. 31st, 2009

She could still smell him on her hair

when she stepped under the driving stream,

and no amount of Herbal lather

could remove his Essence.

 

 

Jan. 28th, 2009

I will say this:

It was definitely

something

at first sight.

 

 

Jan. 19th, 2009

It's a postponement—

A raincheck, not an escape.

Poetry is followed by homework.

Always.

 

 

Jan. 19th, 2009

Finally I invested in

waterproof mascara and pocket-sized tissues

just for those every-other-days

when you're an Idiot



Jan. 18th, 2009

My radio starts beeping

and chirping, confused,

anticipating the call that

wasn't from you.

 

 

 

Dec. 30th, 2008

Jimmy is drowning as others look on.
His neighbors all stand still and stare.
Jimmy cries "Help me" 'til everyone's gone,
And soon even Jimmy's not there.


Dec. 18th, 2008

The girl who never learned

The first time she tasted it,
She spit it out, disgusted.
She tried it again and nearly retched.
Maybe a third time.

 

 

Nov. 19th, 2008

My simpleness and my naïveté

Are not my biggest flaws, as you had said:

Instead it's my sad tendency to say

Exactly what was going through my head.

 

 

Nov. 19th, 2008

My hands are folded safely in my lap.

God forbid I should

touch you

or something.

 

 

Nov. 15th, 2008

I'll keep talking

about nothing, everything,

so maybe when I fall silent at last

you'll look up and see.

 

 

Oct. 12th, 2008

I'm fine,

even if I'm lying,

and no one's ever died from

...this.

 

 

Oct. 11th, 2008

Wallpaper peeling, stains on the ceiling

No longer feeling, heartbreak not healing

How did we end up in here, all penned up

Prayers I will send up: so much to mend up

 

 

Oct. 8th, 2008

Everything

you say you'll give

Nothing

I can do

 

 

Jul. 21st, 2008

pretty how town

"with up so floating many bells down"

Makes me feel a little green

Cry,

Why can't I be e.

 

 

Jul. 16th, 2008

Foam shapes and popsicle sticks married with

Far two much glue, displayed

Proudly on the fridge until rudely

transferred to the bureau come August

 

 

Jul. 8th, 2008

You're like some wild beast

From the Discovery channel.

All of the research in the world

Couldn't have prepared me for this.

 

 

Feb. 24th, 2008

Maybe when the snow thaws

My car and I

Will stop playing hide and seek

In the driveway


Feb. 23rd, 2008

My wallet contains

The twelve cents left

After last night's dinner

And your wedding ring.

 

 

Feb. 21st, 2008

Would you stand up for me

And go where I asked

If I told you I wanted

A better view of the guy behind you?

 

 

Oct. 9th, 2007

This dance it will no further go

Because he puckered his lips

And she couldn't breathe from laughter

(She shall come to)

 

 

Oct. 9th, 2007

Multiple Choice

(Obscene)/(Too short)

Embraces--I swear,

I (jump away)/(untangle myself) first just so I won't

Get stuck (like that)/(on you)

 

 

Oct. 9th, 2007

Only Child, Wishful Thinking

Ever look up

and see the plaques that

shout your brother's success aren't

straight?

 

 

Oct. 7th, 2007

Pulling up weeds

As an excuse to plant myself in the sun

In the dirt like a flower

Wondering if that life would be easier

 

 

Oct. 1st, 2007

Heartbreak

Sounds like my eyelash curler

Hitting the tile

Why get made-up?

 

 

Oct. 1st, 2007

The Amazing Traveling Cream Cheese

Died today

The result of an unamused substitute

Who just couldn't understand

 

 

Apr. 19th, 2007

Kiss me with hands open

Under the sky, on a park bench

Or eating pasta like cartoon mutts

Until the thirty-first of June