Five Poems by Romolo Wilkinson
Romolo Wilkinson is an American writer and radiologic technologist based in Alameda, California. He holds a BFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a two-time winner of the San Francisco Young Playwrights Festival. His poetry has appeared in WestWard Quarterly, Ultramarine Literary Review, The Genre Society, Double Dutch Magazine, and 100subtexts. He works in healthcare, specializing in orthopedic and pediatric X-ray.
OTHER FACE
I forgot to wear my other face!
How careless could I be?
When I spoke to you today
You saw the real me!
You mistook my anxious look for uncertainty
Here, let me put this back on…
All is great!
Whoopee!
CHEESE WHEELS
Simon needed brand new tires
Simon needed four
Simon had a bright idea at the grocery store
CREAKY CROOKED SKELETON
The Creaky Crooked Skeleton creaked by our willow tree
The Creaky Crooked Skeleton creaked right past you and me
It creaked past the farm on creaky arms
Creaked by the chestnut tree
Creaked into the shed that's painted red
And crooked our stuff for free!
The Creaky Crooked Skeleton creaked our fancy tools
He even crooked the lock and key
He creaking made us fools!
He creaked up Whipple Hill
He creaked into the town
He crooked off all our hard earned goods to buyers all around
He creaked a suit, a pair of boots
A handlebar moustache
He creaked some skin and muscle
Two eyeballs and sinew
And held it all together
Using creaking Elmer's glue
And now that Creaky Skeleton could be anyone at all!
He could be the creaking baker
He could work at City Hall
He's free to do his crooked things
With none of us the wiser
But if I see that skeleton
If I even catch a glimpse…
I'll pulverize his bony head
With my creaking crooked fists!
BUSY BEE
A busy bee is too busy to be free
But not me!
Not me!
The other bees will be upset with me
Because I do not want to buzz
But buzzing hard ain't who I am or who ever I was
Instead find me
Lounging in this tree
Wearing a robe of licorice fuzz
Sippin' lavender juice
Antennae hanging loose
But you will not hear a buzz
No, sir, you will not hear a buzz
NUH UH!
Tell me it's time to go to sleep…
I'll stay awake more!
Tell me to pick up my toys…
I'll leave 'em on the floor!
Tell me to brush my teeth…
I'll let 'em rot and turn yellow!
Tell me to shut my mouth…
An opera I'll bellow!
But tell me that you've given up on this troublemaking little pup
Tell me you've just had enough of my cranky, angsty, childish stuff
And I'll show you…
I'll show you what kind of things I'll do…
I'll…
Work hard in school and get my degree
Dot my Is and cross my Ts
Study health and study science
Improve the world through self-reliance
Open my heart to understand
The plight of every fellow man
Feed every mouth there is to feed
Improve the lives of all in need
Engineer a cure for the common cold
Increase lifespans a millionfold
Win the Nobel 787 times…
And then I'll smile into your crying eyes!
That'll show you!
That'll show you!
I wrote a children's book back in the old days. You can buy it here Zombie Logic Press
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