Magnolia Poems

STANLEY SPECTOR

"What is that, Jimmy?
What is that?
I'm asking you that."
Why am I in a circus
I want no part in?
I am not happy with any of this,
But I stuck with it to make you,
Dad,
Happy enough to get through.
And right now that's not good enough.
I deserve more than content applause
And second-rate patronizing.
I reserve my right to be a kid.
I'm ready to take flight
Into the rain.
It's worth getting wet
Just to get out.



JIMMY GATOR

"The book says,
'We might be through with the past,
but the past ain't through with us.'"
It catches up with you.
It sinks its hooks into you.
It is a cancer and it make's its home.
My past,
The darker corner,
Contains family betrayal
By stealing innocence
And keeping secrets
I forget except in my sleeping nightmares.
And I am not what I seem,
Not to most of the world.
But she knows me,
And that's why she screams each time she sees me.



QUIZ KID DONNIE SMITH

"No, it is not dangerous to confuse children with angels."
No, it's not that way.
It cannot be.
Don't ask me to agree with you.
I may be drunk,
But you,
You may be more lost than me
Trapped on the end of the bar
On your pedestal or barstool.
I know what I want and I'm trying to get it.
I'll right my teeth and right my life.
All for the man behind the metal teeth
Behind the bar
Staring at me like I'm wrong to be alive.
He'll see me as better after the truth,
When I tell him "I love you."



CLAUDIA WILSON-GATOR

"Now that I've met you,
would you object to never seeing me again?"
It might be better for each of us
To skip past the trouble we could get in.
If you knew me like I know myself,
You would leave.
And I don't know that I could handle the strain.
You are good,
The best kind of man.
Get out now while your last memory is this:
This first and last kiss.
I need you and I could be with you,
But I could not live with myself
If I messed you up.
And I would.
I always do.
"So just...
Give up."



FRANK T.J. MACKEY

"I am quietly judging you."
You words do not go unheard.
I pretend to die inside
So I can see inside your lies.
But all you say are truths,
And they make me hate you.
I do.
I hate you.
I need you to know that
Without saying so.
Who can you be
To say these things to me?
Who are you,
Self-righteous bitch?
And who do you think I am?
You think you know who I am?
My dear Gwenovier,
You are not mistaken,
Just wrong to think you know all.