"No one gets to be your poetry boss"

"No one gets to be your poetry boss" –
words I wrote but I was shown by Jewel.
I made up rhymes before I went to school.
But in college I got a poet Prof.
I worshipped him, he was a Jesuit,
an accomplished & acknowledged poet.
I was assigned to him, oh lucky me.
He said poetry must be imagery,
all show, no tell. "Fuck you!," might Jewel say?
Well I didn't, in fact I quit trying...
Wrote no poetry for a long long time
(except rhyming for loved ones on birthdays).
Teachers, let your people be creative!
If they say it's poetry, then it is.
 
05.17.2024

Elizabeth's parents memory RIP

Elizabeth, remember both reading
Diet for a Small Planet age 16?
Can't recall, did I tell you or you me?
Either way, we were bout to swear off meat.
But all had enjoyed how your dad would grill.
He was charcoal broiling before Hardees!
If you attended, your plate he would fill
with the best-ever burgers you could eat.
I visit the cottage in Conesus,
he's serving up his burgers delicious.
He got everybody's mouths watering
& there we are politely declining
& there's your mom like, what shall we feed them?
Perhaps let's make a bigger salad then.
 
04.09.24 RIP Joe & Mary Jane Culotta

Diamonds I

I’ve heard that diamonds are a girl’s best friend
You wanted one; I failed to apprehend.
I called em bloody & ruled against it,
And my one-sided rule bred resentment.
We got our bands of gold to show our vows,
Hurt so bad when you broke em anyhow.
I didn’t grasp what a diamond ring meant
to you; about girls I was ignorant.
When we got it, it made you feel secure.
And you waved it around, bougie for sure.
Fast-forward 15 years you don’t wear it,
You wear our band of gold & swear by it.
Maybe the diamond was an investment,
How bout we sell it & keep it stepping?
 
08.08.2023

Why mothers-in-law got reputations

As a meddling mother-in-law-to-be, 
Can't help but keep a clutch on my baby.
That's my baby boy we're talking about!
No matter he's a man inside & out.
From Oedipus complex to Adam's rib,
I'm just starting to grasp how hard it is
To give my son away to another –
Who, it must be said, is not his mother!
But it may also be said, I did scheme
He'd marry him the woman of my dreams.
I see now through my own machinations
Why mothers-in-law got reputations!
Meddle, middle, maddle – why can't I stop?
I ask while thickening another plot.

12.13.2023

Washing my hands in the kitchen sink

I'm washing my hands in the kitchen sink,
Sending Re-re yet another blessing.
She always been self-serving & a snob,
Treating you like helping her is your job.
Of course we always help her anyway
She called me about her garbage one day.
I went & dragged our big bin up the hill,
Complete with garbage bags that I then filled
Like a free disposal service but when
I went in to wash my hands of her trash,
Using her kitchen sink she was aghast.
"We use the bathroom when we wash our hands!"
Now every time I wash in my kitchen,
Re-re gets a blessing just for bitching.

12.07.2023