Oh Red Chair, how you inspire

[hiebster]

So tonight I was at the Red Chair Affair, a charity thingy for local Orlando arts and stuff. I wrote a few poems for the ol' Poetry Vending Machine with Todd and Naomi. I didn't get as many poems as I would have liked, but it worked. Here's my favorite. And even if the customer didn't seem to like it, well, fuck her, it was free, and I really dig it. Do enjoy.

--

Shoulder

She cried a lot
I mean, this was a girl who cried when coupons expired
who sheds a tear at shampoo commercials
    when she sees how happy vanilla-strawberry scents make the actress
not to mention when shampoo actually got in her eyes
She bit her lip when the light turned yellow
the feel of teeth on flesh enough to keep the tears away

But she was never weak
the fibers in her back knit tight fists that stood to confrontation
an arch from her eyebrows would make a shark reconsider its menu
money never divided her from her friends

But she was alone
Constantly.
Even when she had a boyfriend he never had her
the way you take a breath and have to give it back
and wait for the next one with a blue face
and panic kicking your stomach

And so she cried a lot
maybe because she was alone
and maybe because she was suffocating
    with her mouth open,
    beckoning the next breath
    and nothing coming in
    nothing at all
But it seems more likely
and perhaps a bit more simple
that she cried so that
she could try out every shoulder
until she found one that fit