sucker
we all
wanted to screw
the substitute,
he was the only dude,
running the halls
of our all girl school,
and every time he passed by,
we’d drop our pencils
bending over
just to make him cry,
wearing our little, short,
catholic school skirts,
knowing
the games we played
were barely anything
a boy could handle,
much less
a desperate grown man,
who was always
just one dirty look away
from fixing our grades,
while enjoying the perks
of his new side job.
metal
growing up
you were the only guy
i would’ve done anything for
and how
we managed
to not hurt each other
through
the wreckage
of our combined flaws
is
nothing
short of a miracle
i guess
we both naively hoped
our artistic outlets would save us,
as it turns out,
the needle has stolen
your limelight once again
all i can do
is worry myself to death
when i get a text out of the blue
because i’m glad
to know you’re still alive
but wonder for how long
sorry
about feeling
all alone out on that road
hope
the groupies do their part,
giving you whatever you need,
that is,
until your broken ego
can bleed a more genuine story
as i keep
the memory
of our friendship, intact enough,
in the event
your senses return home
to those who actually give a fuck.
sorry but my memory was shot
i couldn’t remember
what brand of booze you wanted,
though it was
of utmost importance,
moving into
the new apartment, and all,
who knew it would lead
to you waving your gun around,
talking about how everyone
had always let you down
as i hurried to pour the liquor
into your already chilled glass,
sliding it towards
those madly shaking hands,
all the while making myself
the mental note
to bring
a better grocery list, next time.
not positive
but i’m
pretty
sure
death
will be
in good
spirits
when
he comes
for me.
shady proposition
death
was
the worse
possible
character
to buy
anything
from,
but he was
pimpin’
so many
sexy poems,
i had to
get me some.
Eliana Vanessa is originally from Argentina and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana at a young age. She recently participated in 100,000 Poets for Change (2018) and served as part of a panel of poets in The Jane Austen Festival (2017, 2018, 2019). You can find her work online at The Blue Nib, Beneath The Rainbow, The Sirens Call, The Ramingo’s Porch, Ariel Chart, The Horrorzine, Fearless, Drinker’s Only, The Rye Whiskey Review and Punk Noir as well as in the following anthologies: Masks Still Aren’t Enough (2019), Americans And Others (2019), and A Dark And Stormy Night: Sixteen Halloween Tales (2019). She is Eliana Vanessa on Facebook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/eliana.vanessa.7758