Musical Selection: Abbot Kinney and the Lighthouse Choir|Trouble of this World
Dreamy-eyed Boy
An Experiment Audio Poem
Dear Dreamy-eyed Boy,
promise me you won’t
let them pull you into their black holes —
their secret places of regret
I need you stronger than the masses
of clicking tongues and forceful hands
under white robes and covered heads
trained to track you, shoot you,
and string your lifeless body up a tree
whose breath still beats in
urban forests
I want to remember this smile —
this innocent smile that overpowers me
whenever I see it
and I want the world to be
just as mesmerized with it too
They’re coming for you, they are trying —
their methods are failing, but
they are in constant motion in
devising plans to take us out and
I don’t want to live in fear of losing you
You have so much life to live
the sun has not had its time
on the bridge of your nose
the sky is seeking refuge under your arms
and I still need decades multiplied by three
before I can even begin to be satisfied
with my love for you
Dear Dreamy-eyed Boy,
hold on —
our help never fails us and
when the time comes
we will be remembered in
seasons throughout the years
our smiling mouths opened to
the sea’s stirred pots
We will sop them up with
buttery biscuits, wipe their
remnants on our plates,
and pray for their souls
*Author’s Note: Right at about “refuge,” I got a little choked up. I thought of stopping and beginning the audio again, but listened to it and felt that I should leave it. It seems to be the perfect flaw in a good spot of the poem. You should read Justcallmejillybean, ZUVA, Vincent Huying, Mary Holden, Interculturalisticman, and Zaira Abbas. If you want to think but enjoy words that reach out and touch you too, start with them.
Thank you for reading and for listening too.
©2019 Tremaine L. Loadholt. All Rights Reserved