Today’s Sunday Reader comes from writer and musician Ryan Kent and is one of the many poems found in his most recent anthology titled This is Why I am Insane.
98. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD
she told people she was v e n u s
collected rocks and other silly shit
said this one was good fortune
this one was for testicular fortitude
gave them and a few more to me
i threw them in her front yard
as i walked back to the car
she called me drunk at 3 am
about making dandelion tea
said the stars were aligned
and the moon and the gods
and the seasons wanted
us to dance naked in her
front yard where she saw
me toss the handful of rocks
told her i’d be over in a few
n o w she may have not been v e n u s
but it’s not like i’m royalty
e i t h e r
24. THERE WON’T BE ANY STATUES
her married name was a city in italy
she had yellow purple green bruises
on her legs and arms
track marks
encore
thinking of that girl and another one
as i sit next to strangers in brooklyn
drinking corona alone l o s t c on f u se d
no intention of going back
or being asked to turn around for that matter
that’s ok
one of these days things will be different
until then i’ll slink by
breathing at one bar
and breathing at another
holding my breath
in between
119. A HORRIBLE DISGUSTING HABIT
the last girl wasn’t around anymore
i spent three days drunk with
some redheaded b i r d
up in her bed her little d o g too
then it began to wear off
and wore off quickly f a s t
like cheap varnish flaking from
cheaper wood
then i dropped a house on her
little vintage shoes
pointing up
then there was this town
then another one & g i r l s
girlsgirlsgirlsgirlsgirlsgirls g i r l s
now i’m walking up these new stairs
a place where i creak
but the floors
do not
141. THIS IS WHY I AM INSANE
she has that curly hair you
can only get if you were to scalp
some unlucky son of a bitch
wore dresses like carmen m i r a n d a
smoked cigarettes drank bourbon
could fit on the back of a sport bike
she collected knick knacks
and cats and skulls and dead bugs
had some knives and custom guitars
the hairs in my five o’clock shadow
have started turning gray now and
everything is too damn loouuudddd
i lie in my bed on my b a c k
ask my feet if i was right
was i right to leave her
wait for them to give an answer
but just like me
they got n o t h i n g
26. THE FOX
must have given her number
to forty men that night
she was new to this stretch of road
from somewhere out west
everyone wanted to know her
even me
eventually she made it my way
blinking her eyes
stirring at some drink
wearing some strappy dress
talking all kinds of shit
while i filled an ashtray
on that wooden patio
clever women
cover all their bases
no one wants to be caught
looking over the fence
when standing
ten feet from
the bag
82. RED FLAGS IN A PRETTY DRESS
she turned over that time in her bed
back and mermaid hair to me
didn’t like what i’d said about love
i counted her boxes of shoes
her scarves and ties and necklaces
and dresses and hats and purses
from my exiled side of the mattress
her cat hopped up purred on my chest
made little kiss faces at me
that’s when i knew i was finished
and that’s when i knew i was glad
oh we muscled on for a while
but we were already a dead m o u s e
that was no longer fun to toss
cats sure got a hold on
this reality thing
most of us play dress up
112. SPIRIT THAT BEAT THE JAPANESE
he said we had wooden dreams
that we were foolish stubborn boys
real men get out of bed before 7 am
they don’t wear seatbelts e i t h e r
said christian academy would fix us
knock us down a few pegs
spent years proving them wrong
sleeping through the afternoon
flying under the radar
ignoring all of the gods
our own private suicide missions
now we’re poor drunks
and at night we remember
that we love our fathers
no matter how much
we hate them
Find more of Ryan Kent’s work HERE.
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