Submitted by Michael Mayhew on September 29, 2013
this lady
on her bike
standing on the pedals
no helmet,
ciggy dangling
from
her lips,
not looking
where
she's going
swings
into my
lane
my brain says
"Idiot! Do you
want to die today?!"
my heart says
"Daredevil!
I salute thee!"
Submitted by Michael Mayhew on September 29, 2013
the goal is simple
pump your legs
lean back
against the chains
up and out
with velocity enough
to loop the top
and wrap the chains
or
failing that
jump
at the top
of the arc
and fly
toward
the sandbox
try not to break
anything
the goal is half magic
swing backwards
and forwards
in time
with this girl you've
you've been playing
at grownups with
giddy together
in this moonlit park
that smells of
cut grass
the sweet dull, ache
of devouring
each other
again and again
this back and forth
on seats too small
for supercharged
bodies, describing
parabolas of pheromones
the goal is to
let go of goals
to simply be
and fly
and laugh
side by side with
this child
to leave your
old man bones
back on earth
and revel with her
at the joy of
all things aerial
higher, higher
and higher still
the ground ten
thousand feet
below
try not to
break anything
Submitted by Michael Mayhew on September 19, 2013
one dried-up thought fluttertumbles from the idea tree,
one small girl stompkicks the refuse, kicking clichés into color
Submitted by Michael Mayhew on May 9, 2013
Talking to my child's therapist
I am overtaken by a sudden discomfort
An urgent need to pop down the hall
For a quick pee
Or is it rather the discomfort
That the conversation is
Somehow cutting
too close to the bone
And if I excuse myself, will
She see it as me ducking out
Of a difficult topic?
(these therapists analyze
everydamnthing)
Should I plead the large
mug of green tea I've
been sipping from?
And why do I care if she makes
assumptions about me?
What does it matter?
Freud said that sometimes a
cigar is just a cigar
Can a pee be just a pee?
And thus occupied, I left the room
just as effectively as if I
actually had
Submitted by Michael Mayhew on April 16, 2013
Joseph Conrad had it half right
the horror is that we
grow used to
the horror
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