Thursday, November 29, 2012

Personal Evolution


This morning I could actually feel
My DNA unravel.
It exposed myself to me.
It explained my genetic code.
The tablet of my destinies
Recombined with environment.

It sounds ethereal,
But, in fact, it’s an intensely painful process.
Personal evolution happens
As the double helix explodes.

-jenn long

Eternal Life


Per written request,
I asked to be cloned.
I placed my hopes
In world without end,
And foresaw no way
To live forever.
I wanted the double portion,
And Elijah’s mantle.

Request ignored.
I wasn’t important
Enough to make the cut,
Sifted like a lamb
At the county stock show—
Common pedigree,
Underfed,
And improperly handled.

-jenn long

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Frozen Roses


The roses are frozen.
They are beautiful,
As long as you keep them
In the freezer.
But when you take them out, my friend,
They will wilt and die again—
The second death,
And no one will care this time.

-jenn long

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Sparklers and Paper Plates


If you’re gonna have a love affair,
You might as well go and make it a good one.
Why hustle for just a half an ass?
You can have that any old day!
Don’t bring out the good china!
That means work and dishes to wash!
Live dangerous!
To hell with the candles!
Put sparklers on the table,
Right up next to the paper plates!

Find someone who’ll grab you with both hands!
And kiss you like they mean it!
Someone who’ll stoop down to your level
And squeeze you in between!

-jenn long

Hermes' Take


His language of love was kleptomania,
And thus he stole my heart away.
He charmed me with a childish eyebrow—
The spark in his eye
Like a philosopher's stone.
He robbed my Peter
To pay my Paul,
Yet, he turned all my lead into gold.
I woke with a piece of my better self missing.
I woke, and even my dreams were gone.
"But what was left
Was better for his kissing,"
I thought, as I watched him take the dawn
And ride off, into the broad light of day.

-jenn long

High Maintenance


Oh I'm terrible high maintenance!
Hard to Please!
Been called “insatiable!”
Labeled a “tease.”
I just wanna feel something,
Like a heart-a-flutter.
And all it would’ve taken
Was … some Applebutter,

-jenn long

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Grover Cleveland Alexander


They named him after a president,
But he was born to pitch.
He fought his way to championship,
And won a world series for his trouble,
In spite of prejudice against
The players,
Epilepsy,
And the war.

They made a movie about the man.
The actor who played him, played him well,
Then went on to become a governor,
And then, himself, a president.

Funny sometimes how life layers in,
And all the things we do, and go through.
I used to play a doctor on tv,
And now, I’m going to medical school.

-jenn long

Nana's Blankets


When you are a Nana,
And a very good one,
You shouldn’t get too attached
To your stuff,
Because you never really know
When someone is going to find
One of your blankets
Irresistibly soft,
And have a dire need
To take it home with them,
And wrap up in it
Everyday.

So when you are a Nana,
Be a very good one,
And have lots of old blankets—
Plenty to spare.
‘Cause if you have lots of grandkids,
Someday, you might just find
Yourself without any covers
In your whole house.

-jenn long

Friday, November 23, 2012

Triple Love Dare


The Love Goddess
Weeps.
Her heart breaks
For the creeps,
The geeks, the nerds,
The spoiled little brats,
Whom normal women
Reject and slap.
“Come,” she says,
“Lay your head in my lap,
And let me stroke your hair,
Until you are full
And firm and strong,
And have the moxy
To move along,
And find yourself lovable,
And not just a pet,
And find yourself able,
To play hard to get,
And ace the triple love dare.”

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Common Wealth, Common Health



When we invest our hours
In longing for ones who can’t return
The love we send,
We delude ourselves.
We want the thing we cannot have,
Because we cannot handle
Having the thing we can,
And dealing with it
In truth.
But if we would desire to heal
And admit,
That what we need
Is a safety,
To lose the world
And gain our souls,
And get our vision back,
Then, the pull of strength from within
Would cause multitudes of do-able miracles
To come and orbit us, instead,
And we could, at will,
And out of great storehouses,
Choose the wealth
Of ancient treasures,
And newly minted coins.

-jenn long

Disregardings


He disregarded the warning label—
The one about the chest pains, and the nitrates.
He said he wanted the four hour erection,
And hoped he was one of the few.
He said he would never call his doctor
If something wonderful like that were to happen.
He said he had my number on speed dial
For just such an emergency.

-jenn long

Velvet Pants


I am missing a pair of pants, today.
They were velvet.
I don’t know what has happened to them.
I recall they developed some inopportune holes
In some, shall we say, modest places,
And not just the ones at the bottom,
Where the feet are supposed to dangle out.
But, I thought of them today,
And wished that the styles would cycle back through,
And once again,
Velvet pants could be purchased
At your local pants-ery.

But let this be a lesson to us,
We who are comfortable
And out of style.
Let us not wear our welcomes thin
In areas delicate.
Let us not say
We would cut one off,
When we don’t know
Where one’s getting it.
Or we might find ourselves
In a bag of rags
Headed for salvation army.

-jenn long

Starling and Stuffing


That black, beady starling reminds me of you,
All wrapped up in your coat of blue,
Home alone,
Eating crow,
When any fool knew,
That there was room
At the confession pew.

The Priestess
Would have pardoned you,
And forgotten her role
As charlatan,
And turned temple harlot
And taken you
By the hand and left with you.

But, in guilt, you flew.

I tell you, true,
That people do the best they can,
And they do what they wanna do.

-jenn long

Happy Holidays (for a change!)


How ‘bout you stuff me for Thanksgiving,
And I’ll wrap you for Christmas?
We’ll start a few—New Traditions,
That we might just want to keep.
We’ll hang our old cobwebs on a tree,
Then throw the whole thing out for New Year’s.
Burn it all, like a Yule-time log,
Then drift off in unconscious sleep.
We’ll dream our way into happiness,
As we check our eyelids for holes.
We’ll sleep walk and sleep talk for decades,
‘Til the shifting of the poles
Realigns our charters, and allows for better lands,
In warmer places, where sugar grows wild,
And the pantheon understands.

-jenn long

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Done Wrong Song


I ate almonds
And drank post oak jack,
And still had a first-class
Heart attack,
When I heard the news,
That you had the blues,
Cuz, your baby done you wrong.
I hung my little head and cried,
And wondered how I’d hemmed the tide
And stayed with you so long.
Then with lavender, hemp, and hyssop washes,
I cleansed away my sackcloth and ashes.
I felt so free,
And wished it were me,
Who’d done you so dang wrong.

-jenn long

Mourning Sleep


He took a flint
And cut his hair,
Awkwardly, in the front and side.
And I lay down
To sleep until
His hair grew out again.

-jenn long

Peaceful Possibilities


I walked on peaceful waters today.
The winter sky stark, under my feet,
As I tread lightly upon the glass.
The barrenness, white as my new shoe laces,
Held nothing but pure possibility,
Like new ground, waiting for the plough,
Like wheat amid the tares.
Nothing shall in any way harm me.
This I know, and fully declare,
And yet, if it does, I am also aware,
That all this, too, shall pass.

-jenn long

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Labor of Love


Such a labor,
Pushing the sun
Up to its zenith.
It seems to take forever.
Then, it falls so lusciously—
Nestea plunge, right into his bed.
The world was huge
On my shoulders, like Atlas,
And now it is gone—
Disappeared as I tossed it,
Past the hammered bracelet,
Out into dark orbits.

-jenn long

My Indentured Fiefdom


I worked 7 years for my Rachel,
And got Leah.
And so I worked another 7 for her,
For everyone needs a wife, or two.
And now, I’m working for my consort,
And you want me to work, for you.
But I am a little tired of working.
I want to frolic. I want to play.
I long to gambol through the meadows,
Not slave and sweat in them every day.
So hear me when I resign the onus.
Hear me as I sing, and sigh.
Run ahead, or alongside me,
But please, don’t hinder,
As I choose to dance between death, and sky.

-jenn long

Private Cleaner


I’m a very private cleaner.
I don’t like to do it when anyone’s around,
Watching me pick up scraps and nasties,
Putting the dirty socks in the hamper.
But give me a hidden moment to myself.
Let me howl with the hounds of heaven,
And go to town on this chicken noodle soup,
And I’ll be a very happy, clean, little camper,
Leastwise, as you consider.

-jenn long

Cult of Personality


Come enjoy my inmate hospitality!
Oh, did I say inmate, I meant innate.
Of course, we might only have bread and water
And a buggy little bed on the floor.
But I will gladly share with you
All of the captivity—
Way on into my half
If it leaves you wanting more.

Come be a worshipful participant!
Twice the prisoner of hell that I am!
Look around and see the weary,
Lobotomized looks that dull from all the eyes.
Submit yourself to the heavy yoke,
Where no one will lift a finger to help you.
They gave me a ring, and a robe of righteousness,
And it was just my size.

-jenn long


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Fate


I walked a mile in my own shoes tonight,
And I cried every step of the way.
I had empathy for myself
And poured out a wealth of understanding
From the kingdom that is within me.
The Tablet of Destinies had lied about me,
Directing me to things that were never going to happen.
The Fates had woven a shoddy tapestry
Out of second hand yarn.
But tonight I burned free, in a baptizing fire.
Nuclear brilliance fused within me,
And pure Soul fed me the Waters of Life
‘Til it cooled the Evil Wind.
Now, I see clearly the true possibility,
The Ways that open so deftly for me.
And I will reach that good-hoped future,
And I won’t be fooled again.

-jenn long

Friday, November 16, 2012

Damned Diana


A young woman leans down to kiss the head
Of a gray and haggard lady.
She gives her a hug, and pats her back,
And hands her a magazine.
“How ya doin’ today?” she asks.
“Fine,” the older woman says blankly,
And stares at some distant time.

“What's that damned Diana been up to?”
The older woman mutters angrily.
The younger woman pauses,
Then says, “I don’t know. You tell me.”
The older woman launches in
On a suspicious diatribe,
While the younger one listens intently
To what she's never heard before.

Finally finished, the younger one says,
“Diana loves you, Mama.
She never thought you would take it that way.
She meant all of that for your good.”


Then attendants come to wheel away
The older woman, suddenly.
“It's time for her shower,” they tell the other one flatly.
The young woman sits and sighs a sigh, of bitter comprehension,
Finally understanding a rift that happened so many years before.
“Thank you, Alzheimer’s,” she says to herself,
“For setting her free to speak her peace...”
And the aides whisper, “See you tomorrow, Diana.”

-jenn long

One Thing Is Needed


Prostitutes get into the kingdom faster,
So I try to locate my inner slut,
Try to internalize this hard saying,
And come to understand.
I think I'm getting closer,
But still one thing is needed.
I'm saving the best for last, True Love,
And the kingdom is at hand.

-jenn long

Hidden Man of the Heart


The hidden man of the heart,
So dark and quiet, in the deep,
Stately and restful, near asleep,
But wakeful, vigilant is he.
Waiting for the rush to churn,
Until the waters run still and clean,
Then with dripping pearls of wisdom,
He speaks so quietly.

-jenn long

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Devolving Me


By sweat of the brow is the orchard tended,
Cultivated, the grains and hays.
We toil to lay the garden by,
Fighting at bay the weeds.
But the scraggly grasses and stickerbush
Thrive and flourish in spite of us,
And, at times, the undeniable becomes too much for me.
I fall to my knees,
And down on all fours,
I shed my dignity to the urge
To graze on ragged and bitter dandelion leaves.

-jenn long

Leaf Litter


In the sanctuary of Autumn,
The rays of light come dancing,
Only visible because the litter of the leaf
Has pulverized and leapt up in the air.
It rises joyfully to meet them,
And lathers now with brilliance.
The tiny beads enchanting
Like the sunshine in your hair.

-jenn long

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Loyalty Letters


So, the loyalty letters stopped coming
In the 7th year of my reign,
And for awhile I was heartsick,
Cut off from the information.
But then I saw that the prophecies
Weren't being fulfilled, either,
And so I quit worrying about the sacrifice,
And began listening to my heart.
The destinies were not determined.
The gods were not immortal.
Megaliths crumbled beneath me,
But the sun never came up in the west,
And so the queen remained.

-jenn long

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Conversion Dance

Good morning, Sunshine!
Warm me through!
Smile on me,
And shine on!
Get under my skin,
And stir up
My salty conversation.
Your bigness makes me feel petite.
Let your strength bring out
My glitzy glam.
Let's stroll together,
Hand in beam,
Dancing in healthy conversion.

-jenn long

Whitetail


He went to “get away,”
Deer huntin’, he said,
But, he shot himself in the foot,
And lost the only whitetail
He ever really had a shot at.

-jenn long

Monday, November 12, 2012

Ode To Love


O, Sweet Baby,
Do you think
Even if stars didn't align,

Together we could cause poles to shift
Ourselves, in timeless time?

Loving each other
Only for that space called now?
Vaguely knowing the truth for all
Eternity?

-jenn long

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Stray Cat


I’m a stray cat, baby,
And you never should have fed me.
I ‘m a stray cat, baby,
Now I’ll never leave!
I’m a stray cat, baby,
And you never should have fed me!
Now I’ll always be around
Just a scratchin' out fleas.

You saw me lookin’ poor
Out back of the alley,
A homely little kitten
All scrawny and mean.
You tamed me with some scraps
And domesticated me,
Now, you poor darling,
I’ll never leave!

You fattened me up,
Till I’m fat and sassy.
You chubbed me up
Just as fine as you please,
But now I’m so fat
It would take me two trips
To haul ass anyhow,
So how can I leave?

I’m a stray cat, baby,
And you never should have fed me.
I ‘m a stray cat, baby,
Now I’ll never leave!
I’m a stray cat, baby,
And you never should have fed me!
Now I’ll always be around
Just a scratchin out fleas.

Woman Starved


I might be bad company tonight—
In a good way.
I might not know that you’re not here.
I might not hold back at all.
I might unleash the things I should have said—
The things I really meant,
The things that got misunderstood
And I just let it go.

I might go crazy on you tonight—
Raw power of tigress uncaged,
A no holds barred approach to life,
A frenzied feast of woman starved
And loosed at the town café.
I might rip my blouse tonight
And burn the rafters down.
I might break dishes
Like a fat Greek wedding
And open Pandora’s box again.

-jenn long

Another Day


Another day,
Another mass of energy
To invest, in almost any way
We choose, with choices brushing past
Us and the life blood of our time continuum!
And numbers of them are fading fast.
Let’s take the time to make today
A bundle of joyful synergy
As we sway.

-jenn long

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

How Sweet It Is


Drama, drama everywhere,
And not a drop to watch.
We feel we must live it in our hearts and souls.
Reality TV in real life—
It must be spoken,
Nothing held back.
Each one must speak his piece,
Until there is no peace.
Quiet no more!
Reality unleashed!

I don't prefer to live inside
The soap-operatic boundaries.
I seek the aromatic oils of harmony
Which were said to have dripped
Down Aaron’s beard at Hermon.
I long for the tones
That occurs when two
Can walk together as one
In the sweet cool of the day,
And for love's joyful return.

-jenn long

When I Die


When I die,
Don't funeralize me.
Swaddle this hull
In gossamer gauze.
Wrap me but lightly,
And stick me in slant-wise
In a place where flowers already grow.
For I don't know if I'll have
Enough left,
To even push up a daisy.

-jenn long

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Prime Minister

He has a knack for sniffing out
The loneliest woman in the crowd.
He hones in on her from afar
And slowly circles in.
She gets dizzy, trying to see
What angle he is taking,
Until he appears, out of nowhere, there,
And offers a sturdy hand.

It’s quite a ministry, really.
A religious service he performs,
Removing them of their heavy yokes,
Unburdening them from their bras.
But he makes them feel beautiful, too,
And that they are want-able again.
He smells really good, tho, and as he smiles,
There’s something about those eyes.

I know one day, he’ll single me out.
I’ll find myself drifting into that spot.
My turn will come to be
The only-est lonely in the room.
And when my number comes up to match his,
I only hope that he’ll still have the gift,
And that he’ll still smell good.

-jenn long

Monday, November 5, 2012

It Is Good


It is good,
My brothers,
My sisters.
It is.
It is good,
This earth
That teems with life.
And we,
We should
Love one another
And realize our common bond.

And whether we hail
From east or west,
Northern or southern
Hemispheres,
Let him who would have friends
Be friendly, and
Polite,
and listen,
And think,
And speak from the heart.

-jenn long

Laws of Chaotic Attraction


Nature abhors an absence of heat.
Things have a way of going from order to harvest.
There is no cold, just a vacuum,
And seedtime into chaos,
As long as the earth exists.

Worth two in a bush
Are birds of a feather,
While a bird in the hand
Will flock together
While attractions are opposites.

So save your pennies
For a stitch in time.
A rainy day will save nine—
Ten, if counting un-hatched chickens.
But yes, opposites do attract.

-jenn long

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Co-destructive Dependence


So they skipped the honeymoon
And went straight for the jugular.
With guilt inspiring sarcasm,
Both felt compelled to rationalize infantile behavior.
As endless bitter communications
Continued to bring out the worst in one another,
He wondered what her ring size was,
And planned on setting the date.

-jenn long

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Change?


I’ve given up everything—but—that—for you.
Oh, no. Don’t ask me to give—that—up, too.
Might I just keep but one of my faults?
All else has failed me, all else is gone,
But one old trait carries me on.
Can a leopard change its happy spots?

But if I’m required to trade—that—for this,
I fear that the balance will throw so amiss,
That I won’t be at all what I was at the first.
So if you liked me then, why change me?
And if you like me now, a rearrange be
Unnecessary, friend, like it, for better or worse.

-jenn long