Two Poems By W.R. Green

i am not one

i am not one for love poems
or pancakes with syrup
or to dally around waiting
as my dear grandmother used to say
i’d prefer a whiskey
the cheaper the better
a screen door
filtering country music
a back porch
wooden planks fighting rot
a bare bulb
the only bright spot
no glass to pour neat
just the pint bottle
easy to finish
without the guilt
and the mosquitoes
the ever present buzz
a soundtrack to the heat
refusing to bow
except to the humidity
its lover and partner in crime.
that kind of love can’t be broken
it bears down on you
sweating out
the booze
the truth
the pretenders

neon

Soul food
4 lost souls
the neon flashed
red to green red to green
as good a place as any
a pot holed road to no where
eating up my gas money
might as well fill my belly
before the tank goes empty.
a starless sky
reaches as far as the eye can see
which is only as far as the neon shines
then nothing but darkness
like that place in the ocean
when the blue of the faraway gaze
gives way to danger
a fine line
only realized
when you look back
and see all hope lost
as the last of the color
seeps into the sand
like neon stolen by the night

W.R. Green was born and raised in Mississippi and now lives in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, two children and two pugs. He is currently working on a collection of poems titled The Red Suitcase. Read more of his poetry here.