The phrase, just a bump in the road,
aggravates me because it doesn’t address
the times the road caves in, and I really
need a flashlight to find where my feet have landed.
I’m not always the director of my drama.
Life too often of late has channeled Martin Scorsese
to turn my latest travesty sequel into a movie that runs out
of popcorn before the opening credits have stopped scrolling.
I’m jealous of the fourteen-year-old me who filled
a diary with nothing, but whining about being fat,
and how life was soooo unbearable without a boyfriend.
A rainy Sunday and arthritis are perfect guests
for my tea party of grumbles, my why’s, and damn it’s.
Therapists sing the song of how wrong
it is to keep pent up emotions inside,
speak or journal them.
Welcome to my therapy!
I think I might just be one of the elderly women
Scarlet O’Hara went on about … I’ve tossed the corset
and put more lemon in my lemon biscuits.
Ok, I must confess I do feel a fit of cackles teasing my pout.
My mood matches my hair, gray, unruly, and denying
I’m the hornet queen of my own nest.
©Susie Clevenger 2024
I'm very glad you wrote things out here - I think those grumbles can be related to. And a sharp ending at that!
ReplyDeleteI had to smile at Martin Scorsese taking over your script. I know the feeling. And the tea party of grumbles. So clever! The cackles are what make things bearable. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI still keep a journal of my thoughts but it doesn't get filled up as often as in my youth. What a delightful poem, making light of aging beautifully and gracefully.
ReplyDeleteOh Hornet Queen, you've done it this time, and what a humdinger (stinger?) of a poem this is. Shooting from the hip and knocking the cigarette out of every convention's mouth.
ReplyDeleteFrom start to finish, this "mood" poem (not merely moody) describes a "tea party of grumbles" perfectly, and when you throw in a Mad Hatter humor and a Scarlett O'Hara "attitude," well, not the Red Queen but the Hornet Queen reigns and long live the queen! (BTW, great therapy for the reader too!)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this Susie, and oh how I can feel so much of this deep in my bones!
ReplyDeleteI adore that last line, Susie, and the entire poem just crackles with sarcasm and smolder. That stanza about the 14 year old and her diary--I can totally relate, and how the immensity of those tiny realities ruled all my actions and moods. Now we have so many peas in our princess beds! Love this one, and totally relate as well.
ReplyDeleteSusie, I love this! Teen angst, moodiness, arthritis, Scorsese, that popcorn, and of course ... the roads that have caved in on you. Perfectly penned.
ReplyDelete"the times the road caves in, and I really
ReplyDeleteneed a flashlight to find where my feet have landed" - perfect. I love that image, life as a sinkhole swallowing us up, car and all. The Hornet Queen has plenty of sting here.