CHARLIE DOESN'T WORK HERE ANYMORE

Charlie loved Luanne
with grade school infatuation
Notes left on her desk
after he emptied
her trash
in the morning
His garbled professions
and recurs of scoldings
put a chill
down Luanne;s day
Her kindness
to this sweet overworker
changed sharper
when he would not
dissuade
Now Charlie cleans windows
sweeps carpets empties trash
on another floor
in another wing
to another life

 

VIEW AT THE MALL

The baby
in the stroller
was too young
to understand
a stuffed toy ant
He fussed
for what only he
knew he wanted
Daddy rocked
his stroller
in and out
Faster
as the cries
continued
I remembered reading
of so many shaking deaths
and I pitied
his teenage
impatience
and I hoped
the baby would stop
trying it

 

SIDE LUST

He was so carelessly ugly
that it drew me into him
with an excitement that
bordered repulsion
as if the belief that
all women fantasize
being raped were true
as if what he made me feel
wasn't true
wasn't me

 

DUST

I sit in rooms
of sad light
Watch the lace
of morning
as it lays across
the spot that once

was yours

---

click for larger view

photography:
• WarmArts
• Impetus
• Nudescapes
• Ascension Gallery
• Cat's Impetus Gallery Shop
• A Sampling of Townsend
• Images of Cheryl Townsend
• The photography of Cheryl A.Townsend

poetry:
• Cheryl A. Townsend - Sex Is Poetry
• Cheryl Townsend
• Cheryl Townsend/Impetus
• Journal: Townsend first page

In the e-zines:
• Disquieting Muses: February 1999 Issue
• Perihelion