r l raymond | four poems

After slipping off the pedals

The question was serious
his expectations more so

Why do girls’ bikes
not have a crossbar?
It doesn’t even make sense
when you think about it.

You’re right
it doesn’t.

Why is it like that?

You’ll realize
son
in life
things rarely make sense.

But if my bike
didn’t have a crossbar
it’d be easier to ride
and less painful…

You’re right
again.

But you know what
son
in life
easy things are never painless.

L‘autodidacte

ne veut rien
entendre –
à l’aise avec
ses pensées
………….coulées dans le roc
……………………..de son expérience
même si la fissure
qui se présente
murmure
…………..pour un marteau
……………………..et le changement
d’un choc

Measured in lumps

she warns him about
…………words like perfection
…………watching him blow
…………steam from his coffee

he closes his eyes
…………swallows hard
……………………adam’s apple bobbing
otherwise silent

The small blade

wasn’t the sharpest
he saved that one
to clean his fingernails
after digging in the garden

he did however keep
the main blade honed
to a polished edge
always using it to cut
the carrots and potatoes

but when he heard her
put down the needlepoint
to come check in on him
he’d snap the blade shut
against his thigh
…………..and drop the knife
……………………..in his pocket

when she reached the kitchen
one of her dull paring knives sat
on the pile of vegetables
ready for stew

glad you didn’t use that
absolutely filthy knife of yours –
it’s disgusting to think
what’s been cut with it

he winked
kissed her on the cheek
and never told her
he didn’t even wash ’em
before peeling ’em

R L RAYMOND
runs Pigeon Bike, a Review of Poetry, Short Prose & Art / A Print Journal. “We are just storytellers and poets ourselves. We pay everyone of our contributors with respect and hopefully exposure. Our goal is to put good poetry and art on the web and in print for others to read and enjoy.”