The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Sat 2/23/2008)

[RetroLounge]

Look Twice before Crossing

There's never any blood when you call it road kill.
The words are styptic with a built-in laugh track
every bit as fake as the one on I Love Lucy.
When you call it road kill, it's only a furry patch
of asphalt, stone deaf to any bone or flesh broken
or ripped, stone deaf to any sound the creature made.
The accent is on road not kill, so your voice grinds
death into the earth, and you slip by with a steel-belted
hum that numbs your urge to stop and check for signs of life.
When you know what words can do, take them on the road.
Call your failing marriage road kill, your best friend's betrayal
road kill, your tearless grief at Mother's funeral road kill.
There's nothing words can't keep from you, no emptiness
around you words can't flesh out, nothing words can't clean
up when things spill out that other words can't contain.

John Pleimann

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John Pleimann earned his Master of Fine Arts in English from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has taught full time at Jefferson College since 1995. Before his teaching career, he was director of communications for Missouri’s largest homebuilder. His poems have appeared in numerous journals such as The Evansville Review, The Connecticut Review, The Antioch Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Atlanta Review. His academic specialties are American Literature and Creative Writing.

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[lizziegrace]

1. wow...

:hug:

[RetroLounge]

2. Yeah...

Call your failing marriage road kill, your best friend's betrayal
road kill, your tearless grief at Mother's funeral road kill.


:cry:

RL

[RetroLounge]

3. kicking

:kick:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Retro...

Oh, this one is so damn painful...

Ouch...

But it makes you stop and think about how words work...

Very beautiful in their exquisite pain...

Thank you...

:hug:

[RetroLounge]

5. You're welcome

:hug:

RL