Here is a poem from former guest Brent Hagen in response to C. D, Seventeen‘s prompt on the recent podcast. It’s always great to share poems inspired by the podcast. Please submit your own here for the chance to be featured.
garbled jargons
the way the teller counts out my paycheck
on the faux marble counter seems vaguely like a weapon
here you are, she says, and from her genuine smile i can tell
she is having lunch with someone special
someone who helped her and she helped
and that person, i can tell by the way she slips the not enough pieces of paper
into a butterfly sarcophagus,
has a laugh that is the opposite of a textbook.
i consider telling her a pun that subtly decimates the disintegrity
of an unthought life, myself included of course, this occasional urge i have
to mention i have the onyx larynx of a puppy dog drowning its sorrows
an irony-chapped heart
why i once woke up in a comma;
but usually words that lead to not understanding come off as derision
and seem to most vaguely like a weapon
Brent Hagen
Poetry Non-Stop 