Broken Hipster

He falls down a lot. But that’s cool. Just smokes a cigarette on the ground and mumbles something existential. He’s got a nickel- plated whiskey flask. But he can’t find it. Must be in the … Read more

Dream Solid

My alter ego is in prison. He acts out more than I. In his early days of crime, he’d wink as I stood by. But things got really out of hand. He thrived on doing … Read more

Torte Hogger

I saw you crossing lanes while on the whipped cream line. Such a bold infraction often brings a healthy fine. Later in the forest I spied you shooting mousse. Then I realized your problem: sugar … Read more

Overboard

My skeleton’s skin has taken me in; it’s told me lies, in front of my eyes. It’s shaped my days in a thousand ways. It’s helped me out, and without a doubt I wouldn’t be … Read more

The Conversationalist

Caruthers flustered others with his glib incessant gab. The worst abuse life could unloose would be to share a cab. He’d talk until your ears turned red. your anvil bled and eardrums missed a beat. … Read more

Splitsville

A miasma of misinformed mitochondria were swimming in a pool of DNA. Put on some suits, gadzooks, you’re risking hypothermia, said a neutron who was sitting far away. It is no use, this is abuse, … Read more

Taking The Fifth

We are in the middle of an electoral play. Romeo and Juliet have long since passed away. Hillary and little Marco fell before the sword. Lyin’ Ted and Lazy Jeb were just cast overboard. Now … Read more

Aging Bull

Here’s your receipt for all the whippings you took back in a former life, when you lived by the book. Yes, it is hard to relive pained memories. But harder yet is to walk on … Read more

The Decades Dance

I’m opening my birthday cards, most of ’em from smart asses. They got their points, my achin’ joints, I can’t see without glasses. I can’t outrun the bus no more. No, and I hardly walk. … Read more

Seventy

It would be a superb score in golf. And barely get me by in an exam. But as an age it makes me want to rolf. And that’s the age it seems today I am. … Read more

Tip Off Time

The cat loves to play with a Q-tip, a little baton he can flip and chew on. He’ll hold with his claw and just gnaw and gnaw. He’ll work on that thing ’til it looks … Read more

Mudflap Fixation

Burn rubber, landlubber! Lay strips of watered-down soul. No vengeful dirt will fly from our wide wheels. These dangling machinations sport cartoons or incantations, protect the high speed vision from a possible collision. Most trucks … Read more

Pocket Watchtower

Part time pyramids float in the moonlight, a sacrifice to geometric gods. I walk the wicker bridge but things don’t seem right. I dream of making it despite the odds. But everybody makes a calculation, … Read more

Crux Busters

In the bottom of the barrel, the cream of the crop languished, bruised, whipped and horribly folded, busted crowns and halos all about. The Crux Busters signature, plain as the glass on your face, a … Read more

My Deer

You are the cat’s pajamas. You are the dog’s bow tie, the extra L in llamas, the owl’s nighttime eye. You are the sow’s silk purse, the horse’s lucky shoe. You taught the bird to … Read more

A Neologistic Explosion

Consequences (n) the numbers given to prisoners. Logarithm (n) the sound of a deep sleeper snoring. Prehensile (adj) refers to a virgin rooster. Capstan (n) where one hangs his head ware. Culpability (n) the knowledge … Read more

Retirement Blues

I’m looking for some glue, but all the tubes are empty. In the kitchen, aerosol cans hiss and try to tempt me. I’ve stolen vodka from next door. I’ve smoked a pipe of stems. I … Read more

Broken Crown

Jack and Jill went out for supper at their favorite diner. Jill was wearing her best dress and couldn’t look much finer. Jack drank two large Bloody Marys along with his meal. But Jill abstained; … Read more

Run for the Border

Herein there is a wonderful honor, expressed in feedback, son. The hearing impaired will all be spared, and the rest will be undone. It’s a harvesting of silence, a blank slate of the ear. The … Read more