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Once upon a time
in the Great Hall
of the Metropolitan Museum,
my woman wan~pale,
doozy, woozy, about to grace
the floor marble, with an
undesirably inelegant fall.

Steadied her, a quick diagnose,
Low Blood Sugar + Dehydration,
her condition I pronounced.
The antidote in my possession!

From my pocket left,
withdrew my emergency tangerine.

She looked, quizzically, upon me,
even a bit weirdly,
marveling and marvelous,
as I fed her bite-sized orange curvatures.

Who walks around with a
tangerine in their coat pocket?


I replied, doesn't everyone?

besides, that juicy tangerine looked
mighty good, so I took from
pocket right, another one,
laughingly, which we shared.

Henceforth she has called me,
a partial mocking homage to a former actor,
who should have stayed that way,
the one who was thinking you can always start over,
The Anticipator.

If you ask me what is the secret
to keeping love alive, my answer permanent.

Get thee a coat of many pockets,
like the one Joseph had,
fill them up with with the things
that will shelter her from the storm...^

No longer the season of the tangerine,
In my pocket in the fall,
a Fuji apple and a box of
raisin~poems
^ was searching for the end of this line, when I hear bob dylan singing shelter from the storm, so gotta give a partial credit
A perfect day (in the city)

First off, it is Saturday morning!
I wake up too early,
Slip into a heated reverie,
five poems to achieve,
along with five healthy sneezes,
expelling the week's dusty remains.

She checks in on me,
to see if I am adequately watered
in my poetry riding place,
in truth, to see if I am overcooked,
still alive, still in my creative place.

A real frittata from her new frittata pan,
is the breakfast plan,
that pan,
gives her so much pleasure(?),
I will be eating them
for the rest of my weekend
life.

Tho confess I must,
The sun-dried tomatoes and
smokey mozzarella, my fav,
were pretty tasty,
maybe I am being too hasty?

She to Dracula dvr'd,
me to nap sweet,
a rest to finally complete,
for once.

we meet up again around noon,
preparatory work, i.e., getting dressed,
off to see Little Miss Sunshine,
now Off-Broadway, at
Eighth and Forty Third.

Yes it was charming and delightful,
dear Wallace Shawn,^
and there were no ****** histrionic
rutting cats in it,
not one at all.
(I know, I know,
I am embarrassingly, lowbrow)


Walked home,
so she could exercise her pet
man.
On the way,
bought us new earphones,
cause I go through a pair a day,
given that I write poetry
in a someday,
watery grave.

Up Eighth Avenue,
at my request,
a reality show,
the meandering tourists
and the grunge to
circumnavigate,

Across 57th Street,
west to east,
surrounded by the city's teemings,
people flash mobbing,
giving NYC,
its special heartbeat.

Up Madison to window shop,
it seems in this part of town
of fancy shops,
I am to France and Italy teleported,
they don't speak
no English anymore,
though told, they still accept
American
Express
and US dollars

Home by late afternoon,
she, a promise to keep,
lamb chops,
honeyed Brussels sprouts,
a sweet potato
and a very very good Pinot Noir
purchased when,
I was very very goodly broke,
and contrapuntal insanity was a
partial cure.

Romantic lighting, yeah yeah,
a date-dinner, she gets,
in return, I ecstasize semi-silently
(actually quite loudly, with every bite)
in a carnivorous man-haze.

A grand bargain.

In bed early,
a Hercule Poirot to drink on tv.
I see fifteen minutes,
so I can wake up
to record
in the dead of night,
in plain, yet
triumphant poetry,
her final words.

“A perfect day”
^ see the poem Wallace Shawn

Ironically, written on the day Lou Reed passed way, who sang one of her fav songs,
Perfect Day
I don't show her all the poems
I write,
Because if I did,
I would be picking up
***** crying tissues
From every room.

I don't show her all the poems
I write,
Because if I did,
My neck would be sore,
My back twisted,
My arms black n blue
Where she alternatively
Hugged me too hard or punched me harder,
For making her sadmadhappy,
Or just one of
all of the above.

I don't show her all the poems
I write,
Because some are meant for her to read,
Après les deluge,
After I'm gone,
Safely but sadly,
Out of her reach,
And the man who always carries
Tissues for her,
Has finally
Run out of stock.
There are some sufferings
When you witness
You feel like laying down your pen
Throw out as garbage all ***** of paper
Where you penned sufferings
That comes nowhere near
What you witness
The real sufferings
When you wish
You had the might
To open the doors
Set free the caged birds
See them soar in the blue
Then come back once
Write your last poem
Saying you achieved it
The incredible feat
Of doing a little something
Tangibly good
And way better
Than what floods your paper
And there wasn’t anything
Greater to get
From poem
From life
Not anything more
For you delivered
The ultimate poetry
When you bought two birds
Caged cramped suffering
Opened the door
See them soar free
Gave this world

**Your finest poetry!
 Oct 2013 Temitope Popoola
Ian
Mired
 Oct 2013 Temitope Popoola
Ian
Why do I even bother listening to the music.
Why do I even bother finding the words.
Why should I ever try, given that everything I do ends in failure.
I will never be him. I will never be like him.
And I cannot be him for you.
I know that I am not passionate,
I am not exciting,
I am in fact very plain.
And it doesn't matter that being plain would mean stability.
It doesn't matter that all he leaves in his wake are ashes.
Why does it ever matter, if all the flowers I have ever planted are fated to die.
Tell me, give me a reason why I should care.
I am mired in my mediocrity, stuck with myself.
I used to think I was lost somehow,
That no,
No there is a place for me out there.
I take that back, I thought there must be a place for me.
Well I guess that I was wrong.
Everyone keeps telling me what I deserve,
But I can't help but think that they are lying.
So I am left to my aches and my longings.
Left to watch my garden never grow.
LOST IN MY MIND, DECISIONS ON EVERY SIDE
EVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES, BITTERSWEET MEMORIES OF YOU AND I
FALLING IN LOVE, GROWING APART
STILL YOU ARE THAT SPECIAL PERSON IN MY HEART
I KNOW THAT ALL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE UPS AND DOWNS
BUT SHOULDN’T I HAVE LAUGHS AND SMILES MORE THAN I FROWN
THERE'S BILLS, KIDS, BAD ADVICE AND BRICK WALLS
MY LOVE FOR YOU WILL LAST FOREVER BUT IT DOESN’T COVER IT ALL

WHAT DO WE HAVE IN COMMON – JUST OUR LOVE – IS THAT ENOUGH

WHAT IF OUR LIFE’S PATH HAS TAKEN US INTO SEPARATE DIRECTIONS
WHAT IF IT’S SIMPLY TOO LATE TO MAKE ALL OF THE CORRECTIONS
WHAT IF YOU AND I ARE NO LONGER MEANT TO BE TOGETHER
WHAT IF OUR LOVE’S NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO SURVIVE BAD WEATHER
WHAT IF MY SOULMATE IS OUT THERE, SOMEWHERE, WAITING FOR ME
WHAT IF THERE IS A CHANCE THAT I CAN TRULY BE HAPPY

DO I SACRAFICE IT ALL – JUST FOR LOVE – IS THAT ENOUGH
I wonder why it is that you have not left my mind
Too far behind to even say goodbye
Little by little you were slipping out of my grasp
Until out of nowhere there was absolutely nothing left

When will you come back - we both know you will
When will you look into my eyes again and hold me close at your will?
When will we stay up again - rolling in the sheets
Bodies interlocked.
Eyes stay meet.
With the moon glowing bright
Until the sun sinks in
"I can never get any sleep when I'm with you, what am I going to do with you?"
This is my excuse for why you ran away

So many questions I've been waiting for you to answer
Shall I wait much longer?
They say "distance makes the heart grow fonder."
So why haven't you called?
Or do you not care at all?

Just tell me you care and I will be there
Am I making this up all in my head?
It's easier to think you just wanted to **** me instead.
But if this is true - why would you say the things that you do?

"If it were any other time in my life Stefanie, I would have chased you until the sun burnt out."
If you felt this way then how not now?
The sun is still shining and you're not behind me.

Ah, I see it was all a game
You conquered me and left me to shame
And now we can never be friends again and it pains me inside
To lose the friendship we used to have because of a sweet talking lie

I will love you forever, this I know
And I know you will think about me and our time together
Holding me in your arms
Kisses on my back
It has been a year full of tears
And I want my energy back
It is no longer yours to keep
I am tired of feeling weak

This is me letting go, until the sun burns out.
Mamma don't you love me
the thought goes through my mind
over and over without a clear path or destination
like a tumbleweed in a desolate ghost town
it rolls around unseen
unlike on the movie screen

her tongue was a battalion
it fired through my soul
with metal shards of hateful love

her words were like a leather belt
that licked me time and time again
hit straight through tissue blood and veins
and hit my heart , my lonesome bitter heart

my house is painted in tiny black lines
the shadows from the bars
that surround the now empty and cold chambers of my heart

last night you ruined a lot more than just a tiny little crush
your ruined an opportunity for love
one for smile
one for tears
one for memories
one for some more fears
you ruined the chance for me to love again
one for me to be loved back
you ruined a chance for me to fall
to hurt myself and cry over the pain
you see...
you didn't ruin my night
or my crush
or my dignity
you ruined my chance at another chapter in life

I can't write a story
if you edit out the chapters mother...
the story would end and seem unfit
to ever be published
I can't write a story, If you take out all the chapters
I'd rather just stop writing
and leave it all unfinished

because you loved me to death
and the contradiction killed me
I’ve hated you for quite sometime
since you’ve been gone
playing staccatos into someone else’s heart.
And I blame you
because you left
and promised to stay in touch—
that’s why all of your replies are
disgusting slurs of
h’s and a’s.

But I never let myself forget
that I was a double-edged sword, once.
It was that afternoon when you were leaving
and you covered my lips and my cheeks with
stars
and wrapped my body in your
sunlight
and your eyes
burned
because you were unaware that
I didn't know how to accept happiness.
And I looked into your eyes and smiled—
I bet I looked like the devil
before he slashes your soul and
sends you to eternity—
and said, "this is silly".

You agreed;
so you covered my lips and cheeks with
thorns
and wrapped my body in your
twilight
and your eyes dimmed with embers and
ashes.
Apologies never came easy to me—I'm too proud.
But I'm sorry that I shattered everything and tried to piece it back together the last day we had.
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