Slab

Each crispy bite
is pure delight
until they have to pick a site

that's safe to slice
(did you say slice?)
is smoky flavor worth the price

we pay to clog
where platelets slog
with that which helped condemn the hog?

Weak

On Monday I'm moody
for soon I must face
an underpaid duty
in a pitiless place

by Tuesday I'm tepid
attuned to the trash
that tames the intrepid
with cufflinks of cash

then Wednesday gets weary
how much can one take
of lying while leery
who's real or fake

on Thursday I'm thinking
of starting anew
the habit of drinking
so I can pull through

and Friday is iffy
for nothing is done
and then in a jiffy
a new bout's begun.

Do or Die

Germ on a slide
right on the verge
anxious to hide
fighting the urge

prodded and poked
staying subdued
cheerily choked
so misconstrued

down to the nub
barely extant
flourish or flub
options are scant.

Nervy

One verse was blurry
beyond comprehension
the other was clearly
against apprehension
the caesura got surly
to ask for attention
and it was quite literally
teeming with tension.

Hysterical

I'm so out of shape
a squishy white grape
or a rubber-necked giraffe
that's covered each day
with a bit more gray
and all I can do is laugh.

I'm so unprepared
like a blooper that's aired
or a stuttering staff
that no one will ask
to manage one task
and all I can do is laugh.

I feel as upset
as a whale that can't bet
on a lopsided graph
whose data has skewed
as life has ensued
and all I can do is laugh.

Pseudologist

Every single word you speak
is just a dab of paint
to make the picture seem so chic
but all you do is taint

the canvas with your skillful lies
which makes it hard to see
beyond delusions you devise
with well accomplished glee.

Mad

Every bill is overdue
I owe much more than I am worth
if only I could sell this rue
accumulated since my birth
perhaps I could afford a few
indulgences of mirth

but I'm a plain old working fool
resigned to ever live in need
an unassuming fleshy tool
for those that profit off their greed
a microbe banished from the pool
by chlorine the acerbic bleed

there is no union to secure
a more accommodating wage
no agreement to insure
I'll really reach retirement age
but there's one thing completely pure
and that's my growing rage.

Reroute

I watched the jets depart
like lines upon a chart
and plotted in my heart

a better way to fly
that doesn't cloud the sky
with toxins we deny.

Unraveling

Two hours of pointlessness left
just to break even with bills
complacency quietly kills
the urge to examine the weft

which leads to a shuddering smash
that mars the impeccable weave
compelling a craftsman to grieve
as pride and impertinence clash

more harshly than one might presume
to tragically trigger a trend
of blindly accepting the end
when losses alarmingly loom.

Proliferate

The sun is grasping at the clouds,
attempting to pull itself up
it fringes them in golden-orange fire,
but roiling grayish nimbus shrouds
the sky just like a cup
of steamy yet attainable desire
requiring some effort to acquire.

By noon the sun had found a way
to scale the azure peak
ascending steadily through will alone
it got so hot it scorched the gray
and things weren't quite as bleak
which made it seem that aspirations sown
could see a day when they are fully grown.

Monarchy

The brambles are a brittle brood
once coronation has ensued
the crystals on their crowns are white
as dreams that new regimes incite
belying how their barbs will bite.

Foliation

He's locked inside a tiny room
his cubicle of gloom
deciding: should he laugh at doom
or sow his dreams to bloom?

The skirmish in his mind is brief
and not without some grief
but then he's bolstered by belief
and starts another leaf.

Charming

Words can't patch a hole
but they can fill your soul,
they'll never feed the poor
but they can stop a war,
they can't replenish earth
but they can state your worth
(though all that you might be
is shown nonverbally)
they'll never cure the flu
but they can heal me and you
by leaving us beguiled
like the love of an innocent child.

Loopy

Our orbits round a dying star
is how we have defined it
and then our careful slices are
the way we have refined it
enigmas of infinity
confound our comprehension
so endless circles seem to be
the clock of our convention.

Government

He wondered as the newest day began
if anything he did would matter much
his arbitrary ambition
had failed to foster fruition
without a pointed purpose or a plan
and now he worried if he needed such.

A revolution doesn't always end
the tyranny oppressing those that long
to break the bonds prohibiting
their courage from contributing
the mettle to improvingly amend
and keep their constitution going strong.