Poetry: Selections from Gerard Manogue

hiding from disease

how could anyone say

the sunset in pomona

doesn’t perplex

the forty ounce efforts

of our lives

 

hiding from disease

in my childhood bedroom

three days of straight indulging

my internet addiction

 

in a kind of darkness

black as smoke that emits

from a pile of burning car tires

 

i wouldn’t say things

are always fantastic

in gooberland

 

miles davis’ trumpet

in “blue in green”

as cake batter as it is

won’t help me resolve

this coke zero anxiety

this poem might show my age

i remember two things

my kindergarten teacher said:

1) “everytime you lie

you add another brick

to the wall you build

between yourself and god”

2) “does anyone know

what is going on

with the oj simpson trial?”

this poem might show my age part 2

my unluckiness started

the day i turned twenty one

when i showed my driver’s license

to a cashier at a grocery store

who miscalculated and refused

to sell me a bottle of wine

thoroughly embarrassed

i pulled out the calculator on my iphone

subtracted 1,991 from 2,012

to prove my innocence

Gerard Manogue (he/him) is a poet based in Southern California. His poetry has been published in The Daily Drunk, don't submit!, The Sparrow's Trombone, and other little magazines.