Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Matthew J. Hall- Three Poems


earth angel

I must have been ten years old
and she must have been seven

she pressed her back up against my chest
and I wrapped my arms around her
and sung the song 'earth angel'
and I could taste her in every intonation
she tasted like all the secrets we would carry on our backs
she tasted like carnival stories
she tasted me and kissed me back

then her father appeared out of nowhere
in a leather jacket, slick black hair and 1950's fury
what the hell's goin' on here then? he said

the next day Joanne told me
my dad said we're too young to be boyfriend and girlfriend
but we can still be friends

and that was okay
we'd had our moment  



the village slut

there was this girl who stopped in my home town for a while
I think her name was Laura but I don't really recall

she had nobody of worth around her and inherited a worthless mindset
you would never describe her as pretty
she had seen too much ugliness for that

the boys in the park took it in turns
but they didn't really know how to hurt

they simply couldn't compete with Laura's daddy and his friends
I guess those boys are men now
with daughters of their own

and sons too, who are taking their turn
with girls like Laura in the park



blood bath

Hope lights a last cigarette
sighs into the steam and cries from the depths of her bruised womb
she sets her glass of red on the porcelain ledge
and slits her wrists
with a clear and sharp shard of glass
she cuts longways and bleeds into the steam and hot water
she can't come to terms
with all we have done to her
the images are stuck to backs of her eyelids 
the wine doesn't work anymore and codeine gives her headaches
and the amitriptyline dream-twitches have claimed the waking hours
those big and silent tears from deep-grief-sobbing have long subsided
her cigarette drops into the bath as her lips part for four last words
I am so sorry  



Bio: Matthew J. Hall has been published in various lit mags, both online and in print. He regularly highlights his own creative endeavors aswell as the writing of those he admires on his blog, www.screamingwithbrevity.com 

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