me

by corinne delmonico

don’t want to be like my father working for the man for years don’’t want to be like my mother a fountain of tiresome tears don’t want to be like my brother a bum despised by all don’t want to be like my sister a brainless barbie doll i say i just want to be myself but what does that mean? it means i want to rule the world i would make an excellent queen you probably want to be queen yourself emperor, empress, or king it would really be so nice but you can’t have everything i am a big crybaby whining all day long that ’s just who i am and these are the words to my song

message in a black and white school notebook, found in a garage sale in arlington tennessee, february 9, 2017

by corinne delmonico

do you believe that anything is real? do you believe that you yourself are real? do you believe that you can be anything you want to be? do you believe that you can live forever if only you want to? do you believe that you will live forever? do you believe that you are real but that nobody else is? do you believe that all the other people in the world should be your slaves? do you believe that all the other people in the world are your slaves? but that they just don’t know it? would you like to learn how to make them realize that they are your slaves? do you think that somewhere in an another universe there might be someone even more beautiful and immortal than yourself? would you like to meet that person? would you like to make that person your slave? would you like to be their slave? and live with them forever? would you like for the two of you to be attended by thousands of slaves? or to be alone in a kingdom on an island? which do you like better, cats or dogs?

humans

by corinne delmonico

humans are disgusting and don’t like themselves much and create religions and taboos to avoid each other’s touch humans give off bad aura confined together in small spaces their bodies tend to be ugly and even more so their faces inside each human brain are dreams quite sad to see to be famous and beloved throughout all eternity for being a nice person but even more for well formed features life is a mocking classmate but death is the best teacher

frankie and johnny and eddie

by corinne delmonico

frankie and johnny were lovers frankie was johnny’s girl eddie was johnny’s best friend he started messing around with frankie because that was the kind of guy eddie was the kind of guy who would steal his best friend’s girl johnny got mad where do you get off, he asked eddie, stealing my girl? hold it right there, said frankie i’m not your girl or anybody’s girl get it straight, you mugs, i don’t belong to anybody except to myself, you got that? and with that frankie blew some smoke in the general direction of the mississippi river johnny and eddie were struck dumb they did not know what to say they both left town the next day johnny entered a monastery and became brother john in time he became head monk under his guidance the monastery regained its reputation for sanctity but its vineyards lost some of their luster eddie hitchhiked to memphis where he fell in with a guy known as mean old stagger lee eddie and stagger lee began holding up banks and jewelry stores from kansas city to pittsburgh they got in a shootout outside evansville indiana a federal man’s bullet found the heart of stagger lee eddie got 99 years

the two friends

by corinne delmonico

kelli and jerri were best friends they went everywhere together and did everything together one day jerri said to kelli i do not wish to be your friend any more why not? , kelli asked because when you have style you have no substance, jerri answered and when you have substance you have no style i am sorry you feel that way, said kelli and they went their separate ways kelli got a job at a dollar store and stayed there for many years as jobs are not easy to find in today’s economy jerri became the most famous pop star in the world an enterprising journalist learned of the pair’s early friendship and went to the dollar store and interviewed kelli why did you break up with jerri?, the journalist asked jerri told me that i did not know the difference between transcendence and taxonomy, kelli said jerri was shown a copy of the interview by one of her many assistants and satellites i never said that! jerri cried

power

by corinne delmonico

an angel came down from heaven and skimmed along the surface of the earth the first thing it met was a butterfly the angel was quite enchanted by the bright colors (pink, green and red) of the butterfly and waved happily to the butterfly and the butterfly waved back next the angel met a cat how do you like this planet?, the angel asked it is all right, i guess, the cat answered you can catch a nice nap here once in a while then the angel met a dog it asked the dog how it liked the planet well enough, said the dog i just wish there were more round bouncing objects i could chase the angel encountered an elephant the elephant, too, professed satisfaction with the planet but wished there were more human crops and gardens for it to stomp the angel them met a flower and asked it the same question but before the flower could answer it was eaten by a giraffe

poem 300

by corinne delmonico

sometimes i wonder why i am on this earth my mom was not a virgin not even at my birth my dad was not the lightning and on a mountain did not live and words of truth and wisdom he had but few to give the people that i lived with woke up every day but exactly why they did that they really could not say they ate cheeseburgers and donuts but did not make their own without dunkin and mcdonalds they would be skin and bone they had 5000 channels to watch on the tv on exactly what to watch and when they did not always agree if they had been neanderthals or monkeys in a tree or wanderers in the desert would they have been more free? o wise men in your think tanks and sages in seminars think of the lonely prairie dog beneath the disappearing stars

poem 200

by corinne delmonico

this is a poem that by myself i wrote david was just a little boy but big goliath he smote joshua blew his trumpet against the canaanites he practiced through the night and day until he got it right cleopatra ruled the world and floated down the nile she could have lived forever but got tired after a while henry viii was a mighty man and liked his roasts well done he wanted a true and loyal wife but had trouble finding one billy the kid was a killer with a price upon his head he always knelt and said his prayers before he went to bed some lucky folks are famous and songs about them sung but most are soon forgotten and some born to be hung i am sitting in the raindrops feeling so forlorn i really need somebody to blame for being born

dream

by corinne delmonico

i had a dream last night the party was over the other guests had all gone home the host had retired to his study i went for a walk in the garden under a full moon the garden was filled with statues there was a statue of alexander the great weeping at the river weeping at the river forever there was a statue of pharoah’s daughter discovering little moses discovering little moses forever and joshua blowing his trumpet fighting the battle of jericho with the walls tumbling down forever and lincoln in his top hat freeing the slaves freeing the slaves forever it started to rain so i stopped looking at the statues and went inside the house was filled with corridors long corridors long corridors lined with pictures there was a picture of jesse james getting shot in the back by bob ford getting shot in the back by that dirty little coward forever and edmond dantes diving under the water finding the treasure finding endless wealth forever and orville wright flying the first plane at kitty hawk flying through the foggy air forever and delilah cutting samson’s hair while the poor boy slept like a baby slept like a baby forever and robert e lee at appomatox surrendering to grant handing his sword to grant forever and dracula outside the window looking in at lucy looking in at sweet lucy with his glowing eyes forever and teddy roosevelt at san juan hill charging up san juan hill charging up the hill forever and lindbergh riding down broadway in an open limousine being cheered by the crowd being cheered by the crowd on broadway forever and anne frank in her attic writing in her diary writing in her diary forever and oswald getting shot getting shot by jack ruby getting shot by jack ruby forever all these people with their stories doing things in their stories doing them forever everybody doing things forever living forever doing their things forever everybody except me because i am going to die some day sad!

102

by corinne delmonico

nobody knows my name and rules the world they rule the world because they know my name but i have no name orangutans live in the trees they have long arms that hang down sadly sadly among the disappearing leaves pomegranates are referenced in poems but nobody really eats them have you ever eaten a pomegranate? at night the earth is quiet but not as quiet as it used to be before you all came along robin hood robbed the rich to give to the poor but kept a little for himself because he had to eat samson was big and strong and loved delilah he loved delilah because he was big and strong but no good came of it turtles live a long time longer than mosquitoes or tigers or humans but they don’t go anywhere much uncle john kept his pants up with a suspender a single suspender held on with a button i swear he did the possums came out at night in old virginia by the light of the moon in old virginia and ate the watermelons woodrow wilson wore a top hat he wore a top hat because he was woodrow wilson when he took it off he was not woodrow wilson any more expect the best and you will get nothing expect nothing and you will get something your mother expects you for dinner a lonely youth sits in a lonely room he is lonely because he is a youth and his true love is only a dream zebras share the earth with humans but do not really care much for them and wish they would go back to their own planet

101

by corinne delmonico

ali is a muslim and plants bombs in cars he plants bombs in cars because he is a muslim all muslims plant bombs in cars bud is an african american man and holds up liquor stores he holds up liquor stores because he is an african american man all african american men hold up liquor stores hillary clinton was a woman and ran for president she ran for president because she was a woman all women run for president donald trump is a white man and was elected president he was elected president because he is a white man all white men are elected president einstein was a scientist and smoked a pipe he smoked a pipe because he was a scientist all scientists smoke pipes frank sinatra was italian and sold a lot of records he sold a lot of records because he was italian all italians sell a lot of records gorgeous george had long blond curls and everybody hated him everybody hated him because he had long blond curls george thought of himself as a pretty nice guy hitler was a bad person and had a little mustache he kept it neatly trimmed all the time but sometimes his hair fell down over his forehead i am a nice person i wish people liked me more i wish people liked me more because i am a nice person joe dimaggio was a strange man and played baseball he played baseball because he was a strange man all strange men play baseball jack kerouac had a cool name and went on the road he went on the road because he had a cool name he didn’t care if it rained or snowed leonardo da vinci was a genius and lived a long time ago he lived a long time ago because he was a genius all people who lived a long time ago were geniuses marilyn monroe was a human female and a sex goddess she was a sex goddess because she was a human female all human females are sex goddesses

rabbit

by corinne delmonico

i am a citizen of the new world i get junk mail including lots of calendars i got a calendar about saving animals there were pictures of cute cats and dogs and pigs and whales and chimps and gorillas and a lemur with big sad eyes looking into the depths of your soul and … a rabbit and my first thought was a rabbit! a flipping rabbit! rabbits are not exactly an endangered species! “The world's domesticated rabbit population is estimated at 709 million. however, there are many different species of wild rabbits that live throughout the world. since rabbits have been introduced to many habitats to which they are not native, it would be very difficult, to estimate the wild population. “ i guess! but then i thought what difference does it make? a rabbit is just a living creature that wants to live does a rabbit know that there are a trilion other rabbits in the world? as opposed to an albigensian lemur of which there are only 15 left in the forest in madagascar? maybe it does maybe a rabbit knows it can find fellow bunnies wherever it goes in the world whereas the albigensian lemur knows it better not go very far or it will never find a friend but again, maybe not does a rabbit know it is a “rabbit”? do cats and dogs know they are “cats” and “dogs” ? as opposed to just being creatures that you might hang with or ignore or fight or eat as the situation calls for? do humans know they are “humans”? a human can have a dog for his best friend and happily kill other humans, no? but humans love the idea of different creatures getting along make a video or a gif of a cat getting along with a monkey, or an octopus being pals with a porcupine, or an elephant snuggling with a piranha, and put it on line and you will get 10 or 20 million likes as opposed to a poem which might get 1 or 2 likes from your mom or your best friend if you are lucky don’t forget, september 23 is international rabbit day just some thoughts on a gray morning

2 poems

by corrine delmonico

names my dad used to address human females of all ages angel baby baby doll blondie boom boom cupcake cutie dear doll gorgeous honey kitten love luscious mama sugar sweetie sweetie pie names my mom used to address human males of all ages angel baby big boy boomer champ cutie doll gorgeous handsome honey lover boy muscles studly sugar sweetie tarzan wild thing you burning hunk of love

a poem and a story

by corinne delmonico

illustrations by eddie el greco

death someday i won’t wake up and the world will still be there it won’t laugh at my jokes or ask me to say a prayer a cat will sit at a window a dog will bark on a lawn a raccoon will eat a pizza crust but i will be gone

broken hearts josie was standing in the aisle of the supermarket, looking at the six-packs of candy bars. she would have liked to steal one, but she knew the supermarket had pretty good security cameras. an old man came toward her from one end of the aisle, pushing a shopping cart with his arms folded on the handle. out of the corner of her eye, josie saw an old woman, with a red plastic shopping basket on her arm, approach from the other end. they were both old, about fifty or a hundred years old. the woman had gray hair and the man was bald and they both had wrinkled faces. they met about eight feet away from josie and josie could hear their conversation. “ray davis! is that you?” “by god - it’s marcia! marcia! how are you, marcia? i hope you are well. my god, this is amazing!” “you hope i’m well? you have the nerve to ask me that, after the way you broke my heart?” “no, marcia, i’m sorry. it was you who broke my heart.” josie could not take any more. her stomach was going to hurt from trying not to break out laughing. with a last fond glance at the six-packs of reese’s peanut butter cups, she made her way out of the market as quickly as she could without actually running. or walking so fast she might as well be running. she went to find her friend samantha. samantha was where she usually was, on the park bench over by the duck pond. and reading one of her dumb books, like she usually was. samantha was not impressed with josie’s story. “i don’t see what is so funny about it,” she told josie. “it’s not funny at all. only a goof would think it was funny.” “you are breaking my heart,” said josie, and laughed at her own joke.