Featuring Two Poems by
Misti Rainwater-Lites
Sweat Into The Pot
deep in the bowels of no specific hell
any hell really could be your hell
could very well be mine
the witch who could be you
but is probably me
stands crooked & sore
sweating into her immense
black pot kettle cauldron
cauldron yes
that’s the word
she sweats into the troubled boil
the bubbles conspire against all humanity
the strong and the courageous
the good and the meek
the tall standing proud
the worm crawling weak
the photogenic evil
and the woods know and the woods allow
and the children yes the children are
on the way
and the sugar glistens its wicked welcome
and something not very original
and certainly not wholesome
will go down as it will
like a colorful pack of Go Fish cards
and the gods will roar
because they knew all along
but like me
like you
they can still be surprised
and occasionally
yes
they can be outraged
Refreshing
You add up the burnt sacrifices to Santa, the owls in the chimney,
the weird vegetable party in the crisper, the catatonic potatoes
on the counter, the plagiarized nursery rhymes sent as Valentines
to goofy kids who didn’t have much going for them to begin with
and you are left with a Grand Canyon deep thirst for Mr. Pibb.
You drink the Mr. Pibb, if you can find it, from the twelve ounce
can and look for clues in the periwinkle and pecan sunset.
Oh, what’s this? A letter from Grandma Ethel on the way,
media mail. You hope in her senility she didn’t include
a dead squirrel.
Bio: Misti Rainwater-Lites is your sweet honeyed ass tenderoni fine soul mate. Send her Ed Hardy perfume and naughty postcards and she will love you long time. Oh yeah…buy her books, bitches!
I love the strong language in ‘Sweat into the Pot’, the witch imagery and the ‘phototgenic evil’ – there’s a wonderful rhythm to this poem.
Love Misti – have for a long time.
Great choice here.