Fred Aiken Writing

Category: Poetry

May 27, 2024

planet of the anglerfish

my wife refuses to watch the planet of the apes movies with me,
though she won’t tell me exactly why,
rather she just tells me that she doesn’t like the idea
of apes and primates taking over the world,
the idea sounds too farcical,
which i tell her that’s kinda the point,
but personally i wish that when they rebooted the franchise
ten years ago, that those hollywood executives and creatives
would have chosen a different species this go around
to become the dominant species of earth,
like what would it look like if anglerfish
were to suddenly march up from out of the 
deep, dark blue
and organize an interspecies rebellion against their human overlords,
perhaps the we’ll never know

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May 26, 2024

ghost joke

the ghosts asks me when i go to the cemetery
where i’ve been,
and i like to tell them my joke,
it’s a dumb joke,

but i like to tell ghosts that i haven’t visited
in a while because i’ve been out living…
the ghosts never laugh,
even though i find it funny as hell,
granted, it’s best not to mention hell or heaven 
to a ghost still roaming around
in a cemetery,

i’m not saying i know all the rules when it comes to 
what happens to a person when they die,
but i get the impression from some of the ghosts i’ve met
that there are certain tiers
in the afterlife,
and some of those tiers aren’t all that definitive,
if you catch my drift,

though if i’m being perfectly honest with the ghosts
when they ask me why i haven’t been to the cemetery to visit,
then i’d have to say it’s because i’m just not all that interested
in joining them
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May 25, 2024

cat in front of the computer

my cat sits in front of the computer screen
as i write down this poem,
she licks her paw,
then scratches her head,
then chews on her nails because my wife just clipped them
and my cat’s natural instinct is to make them sharp again,
but she’s not paying attention to what i’m writing,
she doesn’t even know it’s about her
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