The Coin

Julianne Neeley

Heads of the syllables cut bent and creased/ Tails
of the hummingbird chemiluminescent

like a glow stick trail/ Head of my body
short/ Tales like this are told and/ Heed

not the warning but a/ Head with one eye
Cyclopes was used by a poet for his strength and size/

Tale like folk/ Heads of the politicians
who leave us hungry those who have flipped the metal

will know a/ Head apart from its neck
or a/ Tail on a human body modification/

Head of the syringe disinfected
why leave it to chance like a line

laced with a ribbon secure on a/ Head hell
poetry is not luck

as if some people are born with a/ Head for it
and others are born into serpent/ Tails of ouroboros

money do not trust my/ Head or my breath
kiss my/ Tail and pull at the hair on my/

Head as I write this poem best out of three
some are fortunate to not have to let the minted

decide their fates for their/ Heads
expensive shampoo used on the mane and/ Tails
            of prized horses

shine like gold silver copper zinc nickel/
Head of a man the dynamic of power

like a squirrel/ Tail caught under the wheel of a truck
if fate exists I will swallow the coin

and choke on the inversion of this Image or Image
as if I know what I’m going to say I must flip-

flop to see what is next
like the/ Head of the person I love
who does not love me and then who does
this poem tells me to shut up and put lipstick on

my/ Head for once/
Tail if you play with destiny you are done for/

Heads of the Poets all of them period
I have learned your ways and I would never leave it up
              to chance

Onomatopoeias for a Scorned Lover

Julianne Neeley

 

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