Three poems not good enough for ANGEL CITY REVIEW.

FOUND POEM FROM LINES IN BETH CHENG POEMS

(Note: poem constructed from lines in Beth Cheng's chapbook SYZYGY)

 

History speaks,

but I'm not drawn into conversation

> 

It's not better,

just different you say

In response to my lament

> 

I do not grow, cannot,

I only deflate, shrivel,

shrink, sublimate...

OUTRAGE CULTURE

 

it's so easy

to be angry at Famous People

(justified or not)

for perceived sins of the past

and display purifying present-day scorn

in public forums

with no need

for nuance or perspective 

or historical context

> 

shut down opposing views

and make it absolutely sure

actual or imagined crimes

and dubious, outdated, chauvinistic remarks

will cause every second of their art

and/or entertainment

created in the imperfect past 

to be avoided like Video Plague

by future generations

and imprisoned in studio vaults

without much chance of escape

WHY YOU DON'T SEE ME ANYMORE

Didn’t want to be single at 50

Complaining all the time about change

Didn’t want to be around people

Pronouncing the word “multicultural”

As an obscenity that begins with the word “mother”

Didn’t want to hear the words

“violating the natural order of things”

If I objected to bigotry

Didn’t want to be hushed up

If I said I liked some new movies

Just as much as Old Hollywood classics

Didn’t want to hear discussions at Bob’s Big Boy

About Alan Ladd being superior to Leo DiCaprio

Didn't want to be single at 60

And unable to make a woman trust me

Because of spending decades

In the company of aging men

Who preferred to remain boys