The Reading Room

MANAO PUBLSHING

The Reading Room

For a few moments respite, enter the Reading Room. Here you’ll find previously published, unpublished or soon-to-be published works; short stories, essays, poems and serial pieces covering a variety of subject areas and topics. They change regularly so drop in and spend a few minutes. These works are posted solely for your enjoyment, interest and entertainment.

AT MY DOOR THIS WEEK

From our beginning

it was then I knew

as we both talked

only of you

No small place for me

in heart or brain

Against my own will

my emotions did strain

Pulled to and fro

if only I’d known,

but wait,

I did . . .

There beneath the shadows

did truth and reality peek,

Divorce

came to my door this week

Lust filled days

Craven sex soaked nights

You demanded

You demeaned

Slowly at first

yet always from you

a steady stream

I struggled to breathe

both awake

and in dream

My soul clamored

from you to break

My mind and body

wanton slaves

of your honey and cream

Setting a trap for myself

my promises to please

All the while sensing

deep within my being,

muzzles to muffle

the truth that did shriek

Divorce,

came to my door this week

Building a stage

upon which to flaunt

the props you required

until each and every

was fully acquired

Climbing debts’ pedestal

with titles desired

It would take my death

from you, to retire

Hooks buried deep

into meaty flesh,

down to the bone

your truths, all lies

Children; assurance, you'd never be alone

A proffered lifetime meal ticket

now punched and paid for

Divorce, this week

came to my door

All works of literature posted herein are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in part

or in whole, either in print or electronically without written permission of the author and publisher.

Please be advised that works by Branch Isole are written for adults, containing adult material and

language, some of which is sexual in nature. All works are intended for mature audiences only.

PTA

Dear Parents,

As we begin

a new school year

It’s incumbent from each

of you we hear

We need your acceptance

of our new rules

for your sons and daughters

attending high school

As partners with parents

in raising your young

it’s important they see us

unified as one

For that reason

from this point forth

your home values

we will endorse

In accordance with the lawsuit

filed last year

the courts have made it

abundantly clear

Our job is no longer

to be at loggerheads with you

in determining what’s appropriate

or within who’s view

Your home and you

are the primary source

the biggest influence

as to the course

their budding lives take

and what of themselves

they will make

You being the foundation

of their behaviors and morés

we’ve been instructed

to assist you in all ways

We can’t control

their cell phone use

anymore than we can

your cell phone abuse

Therefore, one-half

of each classroom will be

dedicated space

for egress and ingress

voice text messaging

Half of the remainder,

(that would be one quarter)

is reserved for clothes and make up disorder

Insuring one-up-manship fashion borders

with enough pre-pubescent skin showing

and high heel heightening

to aid at least an appearance

of chronological growing

Shorts should be no shorter

than summer’s micro shorts look

Blouses, shirts and tops

no more than three buttons or hooks

For the boys any new, used

or cleanest T-shirt

from the pile will do

And since they insist

on wearing their pants

hanging off their asses

Out of respect for their classmates

(obviously they have none for themselves)

we would ask once again

they pardon with “excuse me”

when passing gases

With fifty percent

of the available space left,

that would be one-eighth

(as in ‘eight ball’ you know)

remedial basics will be addressed

for our high school scholars

who have yet to pass

the third grade competency test

With this last section,

a final one-sixteenth

piece of the pie

As charted on our colored

bar graph grids

representing the other kids

It too will be fractionalized

yet one more time

so we’re able to provide

four whole seats, serialized

Two and two that is

in each classroom’s

one-thirty-second space

For the two hard core

on the felons path,

and the last two

getting an education

in spite of the place

In this way our Bell Curve

will automatically adjust

according to Piaget, Skinner

Freud and Bloom

Sealing our children’s myopic lives,

and we, our doom

Like you, we will let them

have their way

Then irresponsibility

can continue to play

and wreak further havoc

on a society in decay

Please sign this release form

and return by Friday

indicating that you fully understand

we are now absolved of doing your job

and your children’s future

is back in your hands

BULL’S EYE

How Lord

can we possibly

stand before you?

You know

of those things hidden,

veiled within our hearts

The jewels

and precious stones of sin

bedecking our crown

of lusts and cravings

To you suspicions? No

Your awareness is

right on the mark

An arrow already flown

it’s perfect placement

suddenly shattered,

its shaft splintered

by one even more precise

following in its path

So exacting is your knowledge of us,

our sinful nature

wishes and desires

There is but one way

for us to have avoided

our unrepentant acts

Thereby being held accountable

for nothing

That would be, not to be;

To have never been born again

Then our loss

would be two fold

First, we would know nothing of you

Then, we would believe ourselves sinless

and in no need

of your redemptive love and compassion

+ -

Even perfect balance

Requires opposition

VEGAS RUN

How fitting

it should end here,

in Vegas

where it all started

You walking away

how symbolic,

already gone

in your mind

your non-hesitant gait

one step short of a run

As if the years might fade

like a mirage

in this desert’s heat

as you travel

further

from what was once

your oasis

There is no escape

from your indifference,

the past

stalks each of us

as closely

as a shadow

GAME DAY

Riding,

on a bench of existence

Waiting,

in and out of sight

Praying,

the coach will put me in

Afraid,

he might

Testing,

self effacing efforts

with a broad stroke brush

Painting,

a scene for public consumption

and critique

Anticipation

Agitation

Deep down

No, deeper still

In a place as dark

as black hole’s night

Raw nerves flutter

coveys of synapse butterflies,

taking flight

Readied

for first contact strike,

I am born

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