Sunday, April 4, 2010


The prompt for this poem was actually posted on April 3, 2010, but I didn't want to post unfinished work. I plodded along until this was finally birthed. The prompt was "partly _____ (fill in the blank.) I posted it on my FB status and got a few suggestions, but the main one that I specifically used in the work was "yet fully," so I thank you, Regina F. Here's what resulted.

*******************
partly a man

yet fully a child
he puts his keys condoms dreams
in his front pockets
where they jostle in jeans
held mid thigh by a perfected
perp walk locked steps
perhaps only a dress rehearsal for the real thing
where there are no belts or shoe laces
only square bars where no drinks are served
only numbers that don’t involve math
only sentences that are handed out instead of spoken written.


partly a man
yet fully a child
he puts his keys condoms dreams
in notebooks full of rhymes and beats
his blueprints for a escape in tubes
that also tie
large enough to include a ball
but much too small for books
he will never read since he
ain’t white ain’t gay.


partly a man
yet fully a child
he puts his keys condoms dreams
in the palms of his hands
held tight by clenched fists
hidden just between the life and heart lines
a wishbone to be pulled apart only
on holidays
after the leftovers are properly foiled
and the scraps
thrown to chained dogs.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I *love* this. I read it, then immediately read it 2 more times. Well done Twin, xoxo miss jil

April 4, 2010 at 10:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

kn, this was great, i liked your reading it to me earlier in the evening, and that gave it a lovely richness that comes out when i read it again. keep writing!

your roomie - rk

April 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM  

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