Marianna Staroselsky
Five Poems

People Watcher

People sip like faces full of talk
The bulky girls exchange
Garrulous grins
Across open books
A couple of Indians couple
Their relationship
Nips at the back of my neck
The sporty-capped boy
Buttons his computer
Up and down
How to wear this jacket,
Grandma?
Polka-dot red and white
Dressed girl
Scampers back
And forth across the
Coffee shop; pretty,
splotched
Crab
My little red shoes catch
attention
Now and then and
I get flickers of discomfort
Across my mirror of vision
I prefer anonymity
The music is a
Hush of indie
Something or other
I'm cornered and
existentially
Comfortable leaning
Back into this hug of a
Couch an old friend
And perfectly nameless.

Mesmer-eyes

The eyes of love are only you
Who will sink into that
vision
Who will love me

Temporarily mesmerized
My eyes are only blue to you
Lips can lie when in need of a
momentary suckle

Full
Film
Me

Raise me up to pink bubblegum
Playtime pop this
Drop this
Make me seem like
A masochist to myself

Where is the little boy who
kissed me
Unexpectedly as I lay with closed
eyes
Spinning on a merry-go-wheel
Day-dreaming I was then at age 12
and below
Bliss me slow

I was sleeping beauty to
someone
Am I sleeping now or am I
Too awake to glow like
Shooting star marmalade
sunshine

My void named "you" is a
beautiful
Vapid tomb
The exorcised aborted
Vacancy of a nauseous womb

Serum droplets turn to
diamonds
Skimming down my soul
The flesh of it watermelon
thick
Rich with black seed of the
pupils
Of your eyes stranger I
Self-hypnotize

What if cupid accidentally
stepped
On a stray arrow
And the siren choked on her
Own song
Where did play time go wrong
Was I always just
Someone's little plastic
doll?

best playmate ever.

Remember barbie play time
When I taught you all about plastic
Women
and their magical ways
Remember how you brought
Ninja turtle action
figures into
The picture but hey I did introduce
Channel 17, prime time
ninja action
If it wasn't for you I still to this day
Wouldn't be
obsessed with Jean
Claude Van Dam or Monty Python
Or martial art video games
Remember the endless
Games of monopoly turned
Into chess into
sophistication
Because we grew up somehow
Into this big people world
where
The toys are only faintly discernible
Yet my childhood still
flickers in your
Eyes and I'll always keep yours safe
Too just in case

You might need turtle power again some
time.

An Explanation

Throw a pebble into
My stony well of you
And hear an echo
Sharp, exaggerated
From the depths
This frustrated
Hunger
Complains like a greedy
Child
"I hate you"

Inside

Look my window says

As my fingers press

The soft sway of never

And the goodness of

My hands working together

Handsome rhythm like

A man I used to know.

<< Back to Issue 5, 2003