February 2025
Bio Note: I am a walker, bird watcher, cat lover, dreamer, diarist, lover of myths, lifelong feminist, pro-peace advocate, observer of the endearing and annoying quirks of human nature and the saving grace of the natural world. My most recent book is Outwalking the Shadow (Redhawk Publications 2023) and my most recent play is Seeing Light. I'm happy to be part of the Verse Virtual community.
In the Dream You Love Everyone
The plump and flushed,
the prim and frail, the feather boa-ed
and ponytailed, the hipster,
mobster, braggart, moll,
the mystic in her slinky gown,
the joker with his jangling crown,
the bully and the sheikh.
It's your favorite night to party,
before a new year breaks.
The dissembler swirls her scarlet skirt,
the promised holds an empty cup.
Someone's reading Tarot cards,
someone's smoking weed,
someone's in the kitchen with Beauty,
whose slip is showing, whose lipstick
is smeared. She is dying to kick off her heels.
You love the wild dancing, spilled
drinks, all that yakkety-yak.
I watch the scene from a cool
distance, noticing you gathered here
everyone except me, the real me, the one
who has lost her footing, who is
wrung out and all wrong, whose number
is up, whose prince has fled,
the one who turned away from the action,
from your idea of the truth, the one
who wishes she could care less.
Jackie
After quitting her job or being let go,
after two stints in rehab, after her divorce,
after not answering my calls for a year,
Jackie out of the blue asked me to lunch,
where she drank two martinis, said,
I'm not an alcoholic I decided, where
she told me the many things wrong with me,
cursed out the waiter and left without paying.
How long ago was this? I don't know where
she lives now, how it is for her, or what
I might have done. Does she still get migraines,
still have that sweet orange cat named Marigold?
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It's important. -JL