Agony—a gone knee
Can’t bend—no way to mend
This isn’t about aging—maybe about raging
What stops the crazy rhyme-time?
Unplug the clock
Blind its ruby face
Tear your eyes out if you must
Choke on dust
There I go again, too easy
This lilting rhythm and sound
Trapped by the jazzy sing-song of
My ragged synapse
I didn’t make the world, you did
I wanted to fit in, then to be let out
Like a pair of pants that no longer suits
Okay, I’ll stop
But you see where I’m going and what I mean
All this noise in my head, your fault
You made the world in which I briefly twirled
SORRY!
Actually—no
I’ll go on making nonsense from the scantest sense
I rewrite the rules
Trade in the jewels you gave me or promised to
I get to speak in my own way, in my own way
You want to right me?
Bite me
“Womder woman” by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Anne Leigh Parrish
Award-winning writer Anne Leigh Parrish’s next novel, an open door, will be published in October 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Recent titles from Unsolicited Press are the moon won’t be dared, a poetry collection, October 2021, and a winter night, a novel, released in March 2021. She is the author of seven other books. She has recently ventured into the art of photography and lives in the South Sound Region of Washington State. Find her online at her website, Twitter, Facebook, Medium, Instagram, Linked In, and Goodreads.