TWO POEMS
By Henry Crawford
Teenage Soap Opera
[back in high school] [every day] [felt like] [an episode of] [As the World Turns] [doing my homework] [alone] [in my room] [without a] [Guiding Light] [my thoughts just] [Dark Shadows] [running through] [my head] [my single-parent] [mother] [working the day shift] [at] [General Hospital] [over in] [Port Charles] [she was] [never there] [during] [The Days of Our Lives] [sometimes staying out] [all night] [with one of] [The Doctors] [never mentioning] [All My Children] [believing] [Love is a Many Splendid Thing] [I wanted so much] [to be among] [The Bold and the Beautiful] [but I saw myself more] [as one of] [The Young and the Restless] [so at 15] [without much] [Love of Life] [I decided] [to end it]
[Manny Bologna] [was a fake construction worker] [pitching windproof] [wigs] [on daytime] [TV] [he had a slogan] [“What’s the story?”] [my own story] [took me to] [Sunset Beach] [where I stood] [gazing directly into] [The Edge Of Night] [deciding to give up my] [Search For Tomorrow] [and throw myself] [into the sea of] [Another World] [but as the waves] [broke around me] [I felt inside a] [Secret Storm] [and it occurred] [to me] [that even Manny] [had a story] [it was his] [Bright Promise] [and I remembered] [the good times back in] [Somerset] [when we lived in] [Texas] [the place] [Where the Heart Is] [and I knew] [From These Roots] [there would come] [A Brighter Day] [waiting for me] [back on shore] [so I left for home] [realizing] [for the first time] [so many years ago] [that I had only] [One Life to Live]
A.I. Poem App
[keep looking] it’s your face [the one we’re reading]
[giving real time feedback] on the screen [we can adjust the lines]
[keep looking and keep] smiling [as we get your data]
[let’s get more personal] with your mom [feeling uncomfortable]
[we can bring in] your dad [did that take you out of the poem]
[we can have him] standing in the background [is that better]
[let’s go on] outside the house [your shoulders look a bit tense]
[he was always coming home] late from work [remember the dog]
[you’re eyes are wider now] your brother [a nice addition]
[standing by you] throwing a ball to the dog [yes, that afternoon]
[they stopped what they were doing] waiting [for what came next]
[okay, let’s get mom back in] for mother [holding up her prop]
[we’re reading a lot of emotion] a pitcher of martinis [keep looking]
[this is what you remember] glistening [okay, stay with us]
[we’re going to get this] clear as glass [on your device]
Henry Crawford is a poet whose work has appeared in several journals and online publications including Boulevard, Copper Nickel, Folio, Borderline Press, The Offbeat and The MetaWorker. He was a 2016 Pushcart nominee. His first collection of poetry, American Software, was published in 2017 by CW Books. His poem Blackout was selected by the Southern Humanities Review as a finalist in the 2018 Jake Adam York Witness Poetry Contest. His website is HenryCrawfordPoetry.com.
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