Venus Blowhard

Everything bright is Venus

unless it's Jupiter it's the one

gap in my knowledge I'm

happy to draw attention to

in the crackly empty grey

of afternoons.

Some trope of a hinge and rust

drowning out what isn't there

we have nowhere else to

be these days than crunching

the salt thrown down and

gathering by the empty tree bed.

I'm trying not to feel alarmed

by other people's no context

clicks but the wellspring

of conversation is well,

sprung with the new parents

I have met but we'll snatch 

at what we can.

But it's great, what leaks out of you.

Now Lily knows about chip butties

and also ate the one I made she had

saved for her daughter and maybe one

day what will she save for me?

The 21st Century has a Quarter-Life Crisis

My first words were 

“war” and “terror.”

I’m eager to acquire 

new vocabulary.

I wanted to be different 

from my parents

and my parents’ parents. 

It’s not looking good.

Maybe if I was less ambitious.

Maybe if I could just settle 

down. I’m willing to settle.

If only the right

person would come along. 

If only I could be left

alone with my poems. 

Maybe I'll get a tattoo. 

I'm losing the thread

of the metaphor

which is in keeping 

with the thread

of the metaphor. 

For now I'm going to cross 

my fingers and hope

I make it to forty.

Thanks everyone! This was rewarding and challenging. Hang in there for the rest of 2025