tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80414852589816074462024-03-07T20:07:19.583-08:00Rejected PoemsMy goal is to submit a poem a week for publication. If and when they come back rejected, I will post them here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041485258981607446.post-18112266247634868252009-03-09T09:13:00.000-07:002009-03-09T09:16:01.204-07:00Rejection #2: From Poetry Magazine<span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Cockroach Poem</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I broke down and cried</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Because a South American cockroach</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Crawled under the door.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I didn't cry at once;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">First, I gasped; then stomped, scooped, and flushed</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It (or him?) down our shiny nouveau toilet</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">To the corroded pipe beneath.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Then I started crying</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Because he (or it?) was the chink</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In my Anglo-Saxon armor of superiority. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Before he came in, I was content;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Sitting in my clean and modern</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Asian-inspired home (the Japanese don't have bugs- do they?)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Watching football (with an "oo" not a "u")</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">On television and drinking imported beer. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But with him, muddy-brown and robotic,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Sneaking in under my door,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Came a flood of doubt and insecurity formerly held in check</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">By a partition solidly built of avoidance.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Spiders don't do this.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We admire spiders, wise and hardworking, </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">They inspire pigs and kings of Scotland.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Spiders accomplish things- intricate webs-</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And they bite people, so we treat them with respect.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">They have eight legs, not six-</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I suppose that is what makes all the difference.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But the South American cockroach</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Is sneaky and passive-agressive,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Invading my home with realities. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The crack in my nest-egg,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The poverty sitting on the sidewalk</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Outside my front door.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">United States-ians are filled with hope and change these days, </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But the market is faltering,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Liars are crawling out from under rocks,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And some say the world will end in 2012. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Except for him. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">He will still be here, of course. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Inspiring doubt in the next generation </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Of those who think they have control.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041485258981607446.post-16026431538803413262009-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:002009-02-20T12:59:28.727-08:00Rejected by the New Yorker<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';">Poem for an Anniversary</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><br /><br /><br />Marriage is marriage.<br />So solid you can see it.<br />It's the picture on the mantel.<br />The matching china.<br />The Mr. and Mrs. SameName<br />On the back of an envelope.<br />We have rules for fighting<br />(Like the magazines say we should),<br />And rules for making time<br />For each other (more advice),<br />And talk through the troubles,<br />And stay together.<br />And Love each other.<br />No. Matter. What.<br /><br />Then<br /><br />Marriage is not marriage....<br />It's passion-turned-roommates<br />turned-CTO and CFO of SameName Inc,<br />turned-friends-then-lovers<br />and allthewayaroundagainitneverstopsonone-<br />i t ' s a l l e m p t y s p a c e b e t w e e n .<br />quarks and anti-matrimony,<br />try to pin it down<br />what is the one thing that holds<br />it all together?<br /><br />Then<br /><br />Marriage is Marriage<br /><br />It's both the china<br />And the empty space between.<br />Away and home at the same time,<br />Separate and together.<br />It's all an act of<br />Improvised truth.<br />We are Mr. and Mrs.<br />Not because it should be so,<br />But because we make it so.<br />We could have been anyone,<br />But we ended up being each other.<br />And so.<br />Years, days, hours, moments,<br />Come to this.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0