Fred Aiken Writing

Category: Poetry

October 2, 2021

Friendship Editor

I’ve edited friends on the veranda

as I grow older in the past reeling back to

strains stranded on back porches of dilapidated houses experiencing

gentrification for the first, not the last

time, winding up to the pitch, leaning in for the hit,

collapsing to the impact of ball in hand,

waiting for skin to bruise and remove all pain

as blue makes way for purple makes way for red

makes waves in soundless echoes popping

over the fence to hide out from all,

not every,

criticism drawn in sand castles built to mimic prime real estate

in a great school district where the kids are definitely

not taking drugs to experience grammatical ecstasy from their lives

comma flight

October 2, 2021

Collecting Momentum

I received my empathy on loan from the bank,

took out a second mortgage and everything,

though I can’t pay it back

can’t seem to understand why creditors keep calling

to tell me I owe them my emotions,

I owe them the core of my self

plus interest,

so they say liquidate all my assets,

cleanse myself of all that holds me from my goals or dreams

or dreaming goals,

I’m not sure,

but remove the lien on my self, to selfish needs crossed out

of contracts typed in bland office chairs

with poor lumbar support as they squeak out

what I should do, who shall I be, determining what I can feel

from the midsummer mist to the ecstasy of an aubergrine kiss

peppered in light made on a spectrum missing

in the backwoods of another think tank made of aluminum

while sitting on the think hill of forests no one goes to

because it’s a forest and I no longer pay attention to what’s outside,

dripping,

leaking

moments as an escape from the impending doom of debt collection of the self

too soon

September 28, 2021

Lordosis

I once read a poem about lordosis

being the curvature of the spine,

which occurs when women wear high heels and

when they orgasm,

which I guess suggests that high heels were designed

to be sexually suggestive

for both the wearer

and the the terror,

but I could never find it after I read the poem,

though I never forgot the word lordosis and its meaning