James Casey
Pills and Bills
Pills and bills, currency for sanity.
ECT and cups of tea
Electro-Darjeeling if you please
Tantrums of thumping and vibrating
My sister twirls her hair with OCD abandon;
When can I throw her switch?
Digital pixel-pusher by trade
My oeuvre exists in electric circuits
Twisted representations that wind up
lining bird cages!
And dreams are dreams
whether shocked or shilled.
Poverty of emotion from the chemical warfare
in my brain.
Some day, in a manic bliss
I will go to Paul Stuart:
“I’ll have 12 of those—no cuffs please—pleats please!
Peridot and periwinkle pinpoint oxfords.
Cashmere and argyle with herringbone and tweed.”
Haberdasher for the great crash,
When the zenith breaks
And the valley looms
And everyone pulls back and disappears.
And there is no God on the road to Dibrapore
But at a wedding I went to He seemed to reappear.
Love declared over wine and dancing, who wouldn’t join in?
Love is hard to find while tending the flames of loneliness.
Caged by the fire and burned to the quick.
James Casey writes: I studied Literature and Communications at Benedictine University back in the late 1970s and it indulged my love of reading and exploring the writing process. I love poetry that reaches deep into the soul and explores the ironies and struggles of life. I also am a film-o-phile who loves Alfred Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman movies. I spend a lot of time watching Turner Classic Movies and following the classics. I share my apartment with my cat, Sophia, who is a loving tonic to life.
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Here is today’s prompt
(optional as always)
Write a poem about getting tested for HIV in 2017. For some information that might help your poetic process on this topic, check out this page on HIV testing.