Author: Ian McKenzie

When I have a cold
My sinuses turn bold

I capitalize my sneezing
Underline my wheezing

I’m filled with snot
As I adorn an i with a dot

I cough

I just got flowers for a lady
My motives are not shady

The truth of the matter rings true
I honor her is if she were new

Like

The more I say, “no”
Truth may be revealed
Of my inner glow
Insecurities nil concealed

From there, understanding birthed
New ways of thinking unearthed

Acceptance begins
No more sins

Against those

I have a distant memory
Of a tall woman, so shimmery

Three times my size
My head up to her thighs

She wore a thin layer
Of blush and

There is a great shame
In this contemporary culture
Forgetting the origin of our name
This self-inflicted torture

Of course, value the insights of today
But, let us not

I’m as awkward as…
A hog-tied snake
A dirt farm rake
A milkless shake
A fishless lake
A red tide clam bake
A red state gay wedding cake
Arbitrary rhymes, for

Almost every day
I am celebrateful
Of almost every way
That I am grateful

Sometimes it is miniscule
Others, it is great
Sometimes it is obscure
Others, painfully forward and straight

It

Everyone I know
Is a sagely mentor
Teaching what to bolster
And what to temper

Some of my mentors
Are cautionary tales
Are wind in my sails
Lift me from my