Lavender Paint

Kenneth Pobo

photo credit: CNET

A rover runs around Mars,
a metal tourist with a camera,
probably wanting a margarita
on a planet without bars. 
Are we sure

we want to go there?  Neptune
has a storm with 2000 mph winds.
When I’m stirred up, I yearn for
that blue wind,
asking darkness to cover me.   

Back on Earth, darkness covers me
all the time.  The sun is a rumor
and I think it’s false.  Disease
is no rumor, but it spreads like one.   

I lost my face.  Like a figure
painted by Ensor, I’m a mask
looking like chipped cement.
I hardly go anywhere. 
My husband and I know the lines
for several Hazel reruns.  I did read  

War And Peace.  Tolstoy calls me
regularly now.  He’s amusing. 
I used to be amusing.  Now I’m a gray
wall screaming for lavender paint.

Kenneth Pobo has a new book out from Assure Press called Uneven Steven. He lives in Middletown, Pennsylvania, with his husband and two cats. Things he likes: Tommy James and the Shondells; bark. Things he dislikes: hot weather; cabbage.