Running on Nerves

SERVE on helpdesk frontlines, lunch late to grab
FILLY cheesesteak, add mayo–my choice. Hectic in
CLOSE of my buzzing mind, users’ nerves and mine. Try stray, peaceful thoughts.
AROMA of peppers lingers when I’m back. All else today smells of adrenaline.

The Veil of Night

THROB and thrum of party carries on evening air.
COYLY, night withholds its message; instead
ENSUEs variety: many sleep, some make love, some fret, some few slink.
ABOVE, eyes needing no light trace a story we cannot see through the dark.

Dragon on Stilts

ANGLE on life: carefree and playful, Grab
CIGAR from humidor, then up onto, one hop,
STILTs, in TRex costume, all swooshy step.
CAPER! Littlest kids will recall a dragon’s strut.

Watery Heist

HEIST Neptune’s treasury? Perhaps. Yet thief must
DROWN, descend to depths past light, past
ALGAE, steal the sunken horde, ascend hoping
BELLE, lady of the reef, deigns a kiss for his revival. Then he must quit the sea, never turn his back on a trident.

Hodgepodge 2

MINCE followed by meat in association game,
RACER by back, is that straps crossed?
BILLY, well, goat, Bob, or club-wrong spelling for Holiday,
ULCER, that one gives pause, preceded by peptic, yet succeeded by . . .? What a pain in the gut is ULCER!

Over the Last Fence

CLUMPs of dirt! Call this a yard?
POUND is barren patch,: narrow kennels, narrow
AISLEs. A twitchy border collie is evolving, starting to invent:
WINCH to get everybody over the last fence and outta here.

Might he Forgive

CHAFF into the troughs–he’d be happy to have a portion.
LOWLY station, it was always his, but he was proud, blind to self,
SWORE to make his own way, live by his own lights.
PAPER scraps are a welcome find: time to write his father. Might he forgive?

Thief of Self

DEVIL has no horns,
MURAL won’t hold his image. Only fallen boundaries show his presence.
SNEAK thief brags he got away, yet devil shadowed; more than property went missing.
LEGGY burlesque dancer can’t recall the moment devil misstated her worth.