Feature Poet:
Jennifer Poteet

I'm Not Bitter

I want you in the backseat of a car
all flushed and open
but we won't talk about that.
I would love
to bed you
in daylight,
your supposed
fears lofted by the wind
like dandelion fuzz--
but
why don't we
just sit here, instead,
in this stale room
that stinks of cigarettes
and my lurid desires
and discuss Coleridge, Keats
and your mother
burying the obvious
in dusty tombs?


A Brief Sidebar

Arguably, she was a hard case
and then she got harder after that.
I wouldn't deny
life with her was a trial.

Obsessive, moody, a temper
and not even beautiful.
Jury's out on that one, Counselor;
not that I'm judging you.


And How Do You Want Your Daily Grind?

Cats sit in windows and dream of the hunt.
Some accept their milk-soaked enslavement,
but you and I choke down the cream
and fill out time sheets with our greedy paws.
Night draws down its filmy shade
as cats sit in windows and dream of the hunt.
When your cup is empty all you taste are the dregs
so you and I choke down the cream.
Even when we wake before the alarm,
the sun will always mask its mourning.
The man who shares our commute is fully-vested,
but will soon declare bankruptcy.
Fatigued with fear of the tightened belt,
we wake before the alarm.
How many tricks must we turn today?
The man who shares our commute wears a fine black hat.
The sun will always mask its mourning
as workers turn into corpses at their desks.
Our souls have all declared bankruptcy.
Cats sit in windows and dream of the hunt.


July 4th Holiday Tirade
Fireworks go off
both outside and in here
and I can't listen anymore.
Your episodes and fake propriety
aren't the least patriotic
so put your flag away.
You should be ashamed,
behaving like this on a holiday
after I went to the store
and bought us all of
this beautiful meat.

Jennifer Poteet is a member of the Hudson Pier Poets. By day, she works in Direct Marketing for the Cable TV industry. Her poetry has appeared in various web zines including: Stirring, Poetry Super Highway, PoetryMagazine.Com, 2River View, The Absinthe Literary Review, Thunder Sandwich and The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks. She will soon be published in Salonika. Jennifer is currently compiling a collection of poetry tentatively titled Flights in Purgatory and will soon begin a search for a publisher. She's also a mean salsa and merengue dancer. You can reach her at: mailbabe@mailcity.com.