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Abandonment and other poems.

Updated: Apr 28, 2022

by Kaley Long


Abandonment

I remember being excited For your escape, Yet you never visit me anymore.

I remember loving

Your sweet, warm embrace,

Yet you never hold me anymore.

I remember when we were together,

Yet you sent someone else

To my bed.

Someone who is cold

And cruel.

Someone who takes this comforting

Bed

And plagues it with nightmares of

The world ending.

The government led to its collapse.

Doubts and fears about the future.

Where I am.

Where I long to be.

What lies beyond this piece

Of paper called a degree.

Til my brain is consumed.

Someone I cannot escape

Though I desperately long

For you.

I remember, my Dear Sleep,

How alive I felt with you,

Yet you never told me

That alive is not how I can any longer

Be with you.

I cannot remember

The last time we met, for

You always send Insomnia;


Obituary

I see her from the fog Laurie Why must you lie Laurie

As you write my pleasant obituary

More about the springs

Than to do with me

You merely sit and cry

Laurie

Tell our neighbors the truth

That hurts

As did my blackened lungs

That spewed the poison

I took in

Into my weary body

Laurie

Like all the car exhausts

Into our atmosphere

Tell them this

Laurie

That while doing Tai Chi

That Sunday morning

I was gripped by

A ferocious hand

And I was choking

Laurie

Couldn't breathe

The shriveled raisins

That became my lungs

Collapsed on me

And death came

Laurie

To set me free

Not from the beauty and shimmering

Of the pleasant spring

But the fear

Of the inevitable

The end

Of Lou Reed.


Charter

Redbone muses in my ear I am advised to stay woke In the dead of this night The neon lights pulse

Millions of vibrant blues

Illuminate in collaboration

With the green bathroom sign

It is safe to enter

And how embarrassing would it be

To walk in on someone else

While they urinate

Their weights worth

And bladder finally may alleviate

In small quarters of this bus bathroom

Would we laugh

Would I flee

It’s a similar thing really

As I stay woke yet pray to the god

That I do not know

For anything but

And think up these ridiculous possibilities

To cover the excruciating exhaustion

That plagues my jaded soul

The dark circles of

Pale blue doe eyes

The ghastly sheen

Of much too pale freckled skin

Is it unusual to feel

Like a pained victim in this flesh

Then resent the very being who

Wishes for that sympathy

Perhaps

For that is the reality

Of the charter bus

Insomniac;

Landscape

The green shield of the earth Anchors life in its place Strong yet delicate

Alive yet easily erased

Strong it still grows

Despite all hardships

Beauty in its imperfections

Some may fake its luster

Spray paint it green

Others may be appalled

Mow it until it’s bald

And revealed dirty

Imperfect

And full of vermin underneath

To me

These blades harbor and inspire

This body

Though not green

Pale with

Stretch marks

And ever sweaty palms

Is just as stubborn as the lawn

It grows

I grow

Grow

Until the eventual blade comes

And cuts us back

To modest size.


Utility Road

Roosters, hens, chicks, fighting cocks. Back scratches, short dances, breakfast for two. For us. You, always outside. Feeding, inventing,

Breaking the waterline.

While I prepare supper. Waiting for you, my Dear,

And watching Days of Our Lives.

These were the days of our lives.

Simple and sweet. Now, as I glance over

Lovingly, no, longingly

From my rocking chair to your empty recliner

The ache spreads throughout my body,

And it is not the arthritis this time.

It’s that there are no

Roosters, hens, chicks, fighting cocks.

Back scratches, short dances, or breakfast for two.

Just me.


Bio:

Kaley Long is an English major at Lincoln Memorial University, and she is also a part of Lincoln Memorial's women's volleyball team. She is from Rocky Face, Georgia and receives much of the inspiration for her work from her hometown and family.

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