Poetry by: Melanie Rutman


{The Other} {Hooter}
{Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It} {Living In Duality}
{Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go} {Stick of Snake}
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The Other

She crumpled to the ground as she fainted
dead away,
He knelt by her side and in her ear were
whispers,
Of promises and professed love, no jealousy
intended,
"My lady love I'll hold you near and make you want none other,
So focus all your fears, my love,
We'll shrink them down to not."
She answered him liltingly, "You try to steal my heart…

What makes you think you're good
enough to captivate my heart?"
Confidence was on his side
he would not go away,
"No matter what is done or said
it will avail you not,
Cupid struck my head and in
my mind are whispers,
Of lusty nights and pleasant dreams
OOH! No other,
I beg plead and implore for you
my intended,"
"What exactly was meant by 'your
intended?'
Mind and spirit rest but loudly
beats my heart,
A wandering Troubadour with no
other!
Let me ponder this a while,
get you away!"
She mumbles to herself in careful
whispers,
"No matter how I decide; he
will leave me not,"

But his crooning songs will
also leave me not,
He asks me for my hand as
his intended,
Wonder if he's aware of
my husband's ear whispers,
Asking to steal what's already
been stolen, my heart!"
I've got to get rid of him
make him go away,
Husbands get jealous when
there is an other,

He has a sword and I am glad
I'm not the other!
No matter where you run and hide
it will be for not,
Run all day and all night
you won't get far enough away,
He knows all about your calling
me 'intended',
Fool that you are when husband
has my heart,
You hide from him and call
to me in whispers,

I respond in kind as always
in whispers
He says, "I had no idea there
was another!
This truth of truths has
shattered my heart,
Now I know my efforts
were for not.
I thought you were my
intended,
Delusion kept me here now
I must go away."

She said, "I'll not forget
the whispers,
Had I no husband you would
be no other,
I give you one last gift from heart to heart…"
Fall, 1993

{The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It} {Living In Duality}
{Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go} {Stick of Snake}
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Hooter

A time ago when I was young,
My dreams were filled with feline fur.
And on my neck a spirit sat,
A semblance of a small fat cat.
Dreams come and go,
And then awake,
But this treasured one refused to part,
I felt that she was meant to be,
A link still absent from my heart.
Time passed as it will,
And she appears,
In life.
A sense of wonder,
Pure as love when dreams take shape,
Little paws stumble,
Shadowing my steps,
And I remember clumsy cat,
Just how well-trained you made me.
1994

{Hooter} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It} {Living In Duality}
{Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go} {Stick of Snake}
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Rush Hour

Watch people pass by
With destination known…
Tempers flaring,
Windshields glaring,
Exuberance of a child
When the bell sets him/her free.
Five o'clock the work day's done.
Pack your briefs,
Punch the clock,
Rush to who knows what.
Home is well worth while
When watching and whorfing
Junk food.
The sun sets slow
And all there is-
A by-gone day.
1994

{Hooter} {The Other} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It} {Living In Duality}
{Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go} {Stick of Snake}
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Don't Push Me

"Don't push me!" She warned
in a voice concealing scorn,
But he returned unafraid
She turned on him
He was repaid
And more she knew and cruelly
Kicked the family jewels
A crunch, A gurgle
And down he went
A hunched-over form-
Double-bent,
Bloodless face and tear-streaked eyes,
He crawls away and cries,
"And now you see why you
Shouldn't push me!!!"
1994

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {To Remove It} {Living In Duality}
{Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go} {Stick of Snake}
{top of page}

To Remove It

Someone in the house tried to cook.
It was a failed attempt,
Miserable in its grisly consequences
And undeniably green.
Smoke arose from the gaping
Jaws of the oven
Like a ghost long gone,
Didn't smell like a day at the beach either.
She could only ignore it for so long,
Before she would have to do the unspeakable
And remove the carcass.
Finally mom came into the room,
With face scrunched up,
To remove it.

Fall, 1993

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{Living In Duality} {Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way}
{And I Let It Go}
{Stick of Snake}
{top of page}

 

 

Living In Duality

I reside in the future of the past
Memory matters little,
Wasted recollections of times gone by,
Clouding the brain in shadows.
I walk, through airy mists,
Aimlessly wandering
To My Final Destination.
Yet somehow I find,
Where was meant to be-
Mystery.
Times looks both ways,
Forward and back,
As do I.

This duality confuses
And makes things clear
All at once.

Fall, 1993

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{To Remove It} {Dust} {Brass Bars Her Way}
{And I Let It Go}
{Stick of Snake}
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Dust

A fluff-ball blown around the room
Has no prophesy of doom.
It tells a tale of forget,
Not cleanliness, I'll bet.
"Dust motes who live alone need company," said the maid.
I know the next time she'll get paid!
Plenty of time has passed and that fluff-ball still floats
In a spiral pattern till it returns again, at last.

1991

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{To Remove It} {Living In Duality} {Brass Bars Her Way}
{And I Let It Go}
{Stick of Snake}
{top of page}

 

 

Brass Bars Her Way

Canary sings her song,
Brass bars her way,
It has been so long,
She feels her soul decay.

They clipped her wings,
A snip of doom,
Now she sings,
In a small cage room,

Longs to fly North,
There's food for thought,
Swinging back and forth,
Not what she sought,
Brass bars her way.

Fall, 1993

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{To Remove It} {Living In Duality} {Dust}
{And I Let It Go}
{Stick of Snake}
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And I Let It Go

Watching the world pass me by,
I stood,
Alone in a place filled
With strangers
Exchanging pleasantries.
They walk by blind
Though they see what they want to,
Opened eyes,
Closed minds.
I smell the smoky pollution
That floats in the air
Like a feather floating in limbo,
Dirty dusts and smells,
I hear the noise
As horns honk,
Engines roar,
People loud…
So the world passes me by…
And I Let it go.

Fall, 1993

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{To Remove It} {Living In Duality} {Dust}
{Brass Bars Her Way} {Stick of Snake}
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Stick of Snake

Hourglass sand flowing backward...
There were three of us gazing,
But I was the one that slipped
Down into the dirt-slide ditch,
To be face to imagined eyes,
Almost seen in the sunshine,
Flick of a tongue slick with slime.

Both figures frozen in wait,
For something that was never to come.
Then Courage took my hand in a vise
To find wood where scales expected.
Salvation instead of ruination,
Using branch to climb like a monkey
To the helpless two above.
Hysterically laughing,
We had made fun out of fear.
1/28/98

{Hooter} {The Other} {Rush Hour} {Don't Push Me} {To Remove It}
{To Remove It} {Living In Duality} {Dust}
{Brass Bars Her Way} {And I Let It Go}
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