life is a game of scrabble
and i’m missing some vowels
if I had them, perhaps i
would know what to do
i have an l and a v
an n and a g
if i had an e and an a
i’d be leavng you
if i had an o and an i
i’d be loving you
shuffle the tiles my dear
and dip into the bag
our fate
is in your hand
Scene
Two dark rooms, split screen: Julien lay on his bed, on his back, with the phone to his left ear. Maisy lay on her bed, on her back, with the phone to her right ear.
Maisy: Good night darling.
Julien: Are we hanging up now?
Maisy: (sighs) I have to get up early to go to work.
Julien: I guess you need your beauty sleep.
Maisy: (frowns) Are you saying I’m ugly if I don’t get enough sleep?
Julien: NO! No baby, calm… I mean I didn’t mean that at all.
Maisy: (snorts)
Julien: I’ll let you get your sleep. I love you, baby.
Maisy: I love you too.
Julien: Good night.
Maisy: Good night then.
Julien: Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
Maisy: (sits up) Bed bugs! Are you saying you left bed bugs here last time you stayed over?!?
Julien: NO! No way, baby! You gotta calm…
Maisy: Don’t you freakin’ tell me to calm down, asshole!
Julien: NO! I didn’t mean calm down, I meant…
Maisy: ‘Coz you KNOW how I hate it when you tell me to calm down!
Julien: (trying to get in a word edgewise) Baby…
Maisy: Calm down? I have bed bugs in my bed and you’re telling me to calm down?
Julien: No, baby…
Maisy: (standing beside her bed) What kind of crazy freakin’ asshole are you anyways?
Julien: Baby…
Maisy: (nostrils flaring, breathing heavy)
Julien: Baby? Are you still there?
Maisy: What!?
Julien: Baby there’s no bed bugs. No bed bugs. It’s just a saying.
Maisy: …
Julien: (timidly) Are you okay?
Maisy: (plops down on the bed, nostrils still flaring. Speaks sharply) I guess.
Julien: I… gotta go. I’ve gotta get up early too.
Maisy: Oh, now you gotta get up early and I’m probably going to me up all night.
Julien: …sorry. Can I have a little kiss?
Maisy: (snorts)
Julien: Just a little bitty kiss from my hunny bun?
Maisy: (relaxes) Okay. (makes kissing noise)
Julien: I love you hunny bun.
Maisy: (giggles)
Julien: (like he’s speaking to a child) I love you my hunny bunny baby.
Maisy: I love you too.
Julien: Okay. Good night then.
Maisy: Good night.
Julien: Sleep tight.
Maisy: I beg your pardon?
Julien: I said… sleep tight?
Maisy: (angry) Are you calling me a loose woman?!
Julien: (holds phone away from his ear and looks at it. Hangs up.)
it isn’t just this and it isn’t you
you with your fair hair and your
sweet candy smile
and your way of moving oh so slowly
when i want you to hurry up
no, it’s me too
because i can’t stand that you’re
too perfect
too simply kind
to want someone like me
i’m base and horrid sometimes
you know?
or perhaps you’re innocent
where my faults lie
you’re not quick enough to see
so you’ll not really understand
why i’m leaving you and going
to places you can’t go nor would you want to
tread upon the type of dirt that
stirs up my brand of dusty irritant
i’ll miss you though but not as much
as you’ll surely miss me because
light is drawn to darkness more than
the other way around
goodbye
…and now it’s time
to switch off my lamp
i’ve closed my book
and slipped on my pjs
with my glass of water
and my pills
on my bedside table
i ate too much
for comfort’s sake
the ice cream
and cake
and all the other stuff
i don’t want to think of
because i loved myself
because i ain’t got no one
to cuddle with
except my teddy bear
on this cold february night
nor all day
just me
and my comfort food
and my book
and now my pjs and water and pills
and i switch off my lamp
it’s time…
…to sleep…
…until february…
fifteen…th
this world is a whitewashed place
with no corners, no curves
just endless void of colour
for time unsummed
but then
a glimmer,
is that a spot of darkness?
a punctuation upon the snowbound plain?
a figure…
no
it’s only
the hope to which I cling
a mirage that tells me eternally
don’t give up
Walking down the sidewalk with my shopping bags in hand, you’d think I have everything I need. But then there’s you. On the other side of the busy street, chatting with your friends and seemingly having fun. But I know you’re not. You can’t be. Because I’m way over here.
This post was inspired by Tuesday Use It In A Sentence, hosted this week by My Loving Wife at A Word Adventure. Click the link and join in!
Aloha Grace envisioned a place
with palm trees and white sandy beaches
In her room was a poster; she sat and imagined
the sea and the man she would meet there
For Aloha Grace lived in the arctic,
where the sun shone an hour a day
From this frozen tundra she needed escape
the moment she came of an age
Aloha Grace stepped off of the plane
and she breathed in the smell of the ocean
A half hour later her toes in the sand,
in the shade of a palm tree she stood
Then Aloha Grace, with the sun in her face
met the man she was destined to fall for
But a one-night stand left her colder than ice
and she realised the beach and the palm trees had lied
Aloha Grace went home in disgrace
pregnant and husbandless too
Down came the poster and down went the sun
for the grass is no greener than snow.
each morning at seven
she enters my store
and I watch as she
fingers the cherries
with her long blood-red nails
and her lips glistening the colour of wine
and her miles of stockinged legs
in scarlet stilettos
and I swear to myself
that one day I will
step up like a man
like the man that I am
and tell her
…
I love her
…
and I’ll love her even more
if
she’ll stop playing with my cherries
and play with my grapes
instead.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday – find it here.
Ideas drip down
Like serendipity from the heavens
Of what you might look like
When I finally set eyes
On a scrap of your coat
Or the cut of your jeans
Should a glimpse of the back of your head
In a crowd
Light my nerves
Make me run to catch up
To find
The ring on your finger
third from the thumb
and so
I’ll keep waiting
For drips of serendipity
‘Til I die.
It’s Just Jot It January! Click here and join in any time!
The first time he proposed I wasn’t ready, so I said no.
The second time he proposed I said no because I hate even numbers.
Now I don’t think he’ll propose again. I want him to but I can’t tell him because that will curse our marriage, according to my mom’s superstition.
Why can’t a guy just understand me for once?
The “odd/even” prompt is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here to join in today!
And also running right now is Just Jot It January! Click to join in any time!
Linda G. Hill 