Fred Aiken Writing

October 9, 2022

Broken String Instruments Composing Letters

i write a lot of love letters that i forget to send

because i have a lot of love to give

or something of that nature

and i’m too ashamed

i’m too fragile

i’m too broken bones sculpted in poorly constructed flesh

i don’t eat my vegetables and so i don’t have enough fiber

i have never made someone of the opposite sex orgasm

i have too many crippling thoughts and not enough marketable skillsets

i once wrote a love letter instead of a cover letter to a recruiter

they weren’t amused

but i wasn’t kidding

so i guess because i can never gauge when it is or isn’t an appropriate time to write and send a love letter i’ve defaulted to stop sending them altogether and i’ve been wondering if that means if i don’t love anyone or if no one will ever love me

October 6, 2022

To Be Great and Okay

do you know what I’m supposed to do with this,

because I have no clue,

I wish it came with instructions, though I’m sure I’d ignore them too,

though maybe it’s supposed to make me comfortably uncomfortable

in a weird state of clueless innuendo suggesting

I knew what to do today,

but that’s a lie, and it’s okay…or great

October 4, 2022

Slipped Up Fever Dreams

postponed fever dreams sweating through t-shirts

of teenagers slinging dope on the sidewalk upside down and on electric scooters

while piles of mile high coal flames to the purple heavens making clouds abundantly clear

skies for weeks on in

not a drop of rain

not a single tear to drown the dirt seeping through the cracks

calling me back without a name

without a telephone id masquerading as identity without teeth