“Spoiled Promises in the Fridge”
When nobody wrote.
“Give me a Sasquatch.”
My drool evades the bar,
a fiery drool
serpentine patterns.
I ask a disease to dance,
but she disappears in the jukebox.
My juicebox takes hold, full,
and delivers me to another planet
before my crime is discovered.
Let me borrow yours anymore,
my sister of the diving dolphins
calls to me anymore on rose bones
to pretend you have no one
to be someone new in an old town
we’re so sorry to inform you
forgiveness in shallow graves
turn around come alive,
to the stitching of guns
wash whistle wolf restraint
cough up the cuff links, spark your pants
the man from powder blue lives in your house
took over your old life now
spent the night coloring a new rash
the color of wounded starfish
however much I love you
while cutting holes through the dishes
the color of cornfield rain
mistletoes the color of buttercups
tumbling through the barley with you
the horse neighs, the collector calls:
you wore his ruby red slippers
to the masquerade ball
and all you did was dance
with a fortune teller’s crystal balls.
Haven’t you any pity?
Here’s a regret to call you late at night:
you: a half-chain of rattlesnake belt
rotten you purr, rototiller
to live scarecrow
the car that drove itself
down the wrong highway.
nicholauspatnaude 