Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Melanie Browne- Three Poems


This Highway is a Sinking Ship

it is a melted statue
of Saddam Hussein,
which bubbles under
our feet,
it is hot fellow traveler
it will give you a burn
from which you will
never recover
this highway is a sinking ship,
& the road is giving me a rash
I fell asleep near a chevron
and a man tucked forty dollars
into my flip flops
but the money flew away,
my backpack is unraveling
I leave bits of string
here and there,
my friend Plato asks me why I
press the elevator button
more than once,
I don't trust the mechanics
of things I tell him,
I need to hold
the lever in my hand and
push the button to know
that I'm still alive,
us mermaids are
thirsty for a Mai-Tai,
we sunbathe in the
strangest places
This highway is a sinking ship,
the water is rising,
batten down
the hatches,
it's 50 miles
till supper



My Disney Sidekick is a Shot of Bourbon

it's not cute or furry,
and would be impossible
to market unless you
glued some googly eyes on it,
when I get in
trouble my Disney
Sidekick isn't there
to boost my spirits
or give me a pep talk
it cant run a long distance
or fly to another kingdom,
I drink it down,
and it just sits there,
sweating,
useless



I wasn't born on the Fourth of July

We are watching Ron Kovic
scream about a giant
rat, I salt the burgers
and boil the corn,
we buy a white trash
pool at wal mart
and toss in some
chlorine tablets,
hubby grills
the meat,
I sip my margarita,
"honey! I yell,
this is the scene
where the cab driver
dumps them in
the desert in Mexico!"
"just a minute hon,"
he yells back,
the pool
is almost filled,
the dog goes for
a swim but gets hair
in the water and then
runs into the house
I grill my hubby about
the fireworks he intends to
buy and feed the kids
some ice cream,
Let's watch natural born
killers later! I suggest,
he nods and closes his
eyes, I jump back in
our white trash pool
and pretend its the riviera

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