Res ipsa loquitur

I wonder how many more times
she’ll let you get away with this –

let you do this to her.

How many more before the
rage spits out of my pores
and blows a hole in your
pretext and alleged prudence?

Don’t look at me like that
and don’t just sit there –

say something.

Fucking say something.

© 2009 Marcy Stoeckel

Her Stories

Her magnitude intimidates

she’s too quick,
too complicated,
and too aggressive

as if her anger and sorrow were baseless.

The other one buys his stories

she’s too quick
to wish for leaders
and conditioned to submit

as if incapable of leading herself.

We all facilitate his equations

Mary is to passive
what passive is to good
and what whore is to strength

is what is so threatening.

© 2009 Marcy Stoeckel

Ode to a Bad Penny

And then, as if on cue,
you turn up with rancor and cruelty

interrupting my version of reality

leaving the speck of hope you conjured
to become a shoulder shrug

and a “bugger off” on the tip of my tongue.


© 2008 Marcy Stoeckel

The Weight of Salt

Tarrying about
with yet another
blow-up doll with a
pulse – adding to your
collection of the
barely sentient –
you stumble and fail

because you know that
there is never a
burden so light as
an empty one.

Sell them anything,
everything they want
to feel – providing
they keep their weight to
themselves – you barter

because you know that
there is never a
burden so light as
an empty one.

Flattered by the thought
and repentant – I
walk away before
tasting the salt of
your charming damage

because I know that
there is never a
man so simple as
a broken one.

© 2008 Marcy Stoeckel

"Mama, can you make a fort?"

Strange the threads of letters, posted
in fragile hope of weaving durable blankets,
and if perchance shared – like the tinkly laughter
of children under a supper table.

A stitch is dropped, the weft twisted,
and yardage runs short the lengths required
of a fort fit for the giggles – and the solemn craft
of lonely spinning begins again.


© 2008 Marcy Stoeckel

Scrubbing Toilets

An ergonomic chair
and time to read next year’s
budget, she bitches about
cutbacks while
She Works Hard for the Money
is piped in from some
easy-listening loop
of unknown origin.

I imagine the bathrooms here
are clean, too.

© 2009 Marcy Stoeckel

By a Thread and a Prayer

Driving and thinking
about buttered Pop Tarts,
Italian glass and promises and
why you hang on to these things –
as if you needed tokens to
remember to feel bad.

Regurgitated patterns of
reaching out, reaching back
and retractions, and Dear God,
let us never forget the stuff
we keep, and the moments
and people we squander.

Holed up in a murky room,
inhaling poisons of air and
mind as you ponder the genes
and atmosphere of your person,
and just where the threshold
might be – the very limit of
pains one can accrue and
still manage to breathe.

© 2008 Marcy Stoeckel

Boiled Down

She said that everything gets
reduced to what one is
willing
and able to accept. I
didn’t want to
believe
this so it appears
she was ever so right.

People always seem to get
reduced to what we are
willing
and able to believe. I
simply cannot
accept
this as it smacks of
a willful delusion.

These verses are too structured,
my feelings in garrotte.
Willing
my mind to heed my soul, I
am inclined to
believe
he employs excuse …
and is
unable to
accept
me.

© 2008 Marcy Stoeckel

Affection and Gratitude Indeed

Sincere thanks to Patrice for sending this award. While I’m no stranger to blogging, I have only recently taken up residence in this particular neighborhood. I’m not yet convinced this new blog lives up to this award, but perhaps in time. My choices are as follows:

The Truth About Lies – Wickedly smart and playful and open and interested. That’s right; I said interested. In a great many things. In my world, this is a prerequisite for being thought of as interesting. There's much more to read there but by way of example, I found Taking a thought for a walk particularly satisfying.

Outside the Asylum – A pirate. Sort of. Travel logs and excellent photography abound.

SHAKE: The Poetry of Bryan Borland – Observant and wistful and hopeful and fearless and I like that. Just to name a couple of favorites: Teenage Boys and Strings.

Ramblings of a Medicated Lady - Smart and sad and angry and honest and I like that, too. Try Patio Gas Can and Milk on for size.

Finally: Spectrum Hope – Smart and determined and devoted and witty. Like so many human endeavors, blogging can be so ... so ... tribal. The writers’ tribes, the painters’ tribes, the political tribes, the support-group tribes, etc. To our endlessly categorizing brains, this blog may seem as though it belongs strictly and neatly tucked among the members of the latter tribe. True, you may not be able to relate to all of the words expressed by a mother engaged in an heroic battle against Autism. You may also never need a recipe for GFCFSF pancakes, nor fully understand how vital it is to learn how to add protein to potato chips. However, this woman is not only one of my very favorite people in the world, she’s also a talented writer. Whether she's laughing or crying, I think she's worth the read.

The Dardos Award is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

The rules:
1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog. [Note: Don't forget to copy and paste the award jpeg itself to include on your own blog!]
2) Pass the award to another five blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

Thank you again, Patrice.