Silence of Riots
written by: Andrea E. Lodge
The cloth’s been cut,
And I’m sorry.
I’m breaking a promise today.
To you.
To me.
I’m too old.
Redo
Overdo
Under-do
Overdue
Replay
Playback
Do-over
Not exactly
Nothing to pick from,
Nothing to choose,
Not gonna die soon,
Nothing to lose.
Maybe invisibility
Is just a glitch in the matrix
My galleon is sinking
It’s beaten and bruised
No use.
Water pouring in,
Let me drown.
Somehow I doubt that oblivion is blue.
But I know there’s water there.
And like the stillness of the sea,
I am invisible.
So, come out and play today.
We will play ‘Real Life’
I’ll let my skin flake,
And show my imperfections.
Make-believe is just there
To deceive.
And there’s water everywhere.
Sopping wet and dragging on
I’ll sing you a song,
It’ll be off-key,
But that’s a part of me.
Sitting on the side of the pool,
Waiting.
Mom and Dad
Waiting.
I can cross the damn thing,
Swallowing chlorine sorrow as I go.
For even then, somehow I already did know.
I’ll choke to death,
In a broken-down sea,
Trapped in some broken-down vehicle,
Not meant for me to travel in,
And never meant to even be.
Andrea E. Lodge resides in Philadelphia with her husband and two disabled cats; Budgie, with only three legs, no tail and who is constantly drooling, and Loki, AKA Poki, AKA, Pokapotamus (because he weighs 20 pounds), a Scottish fold with only one folded ear. She studied English/Secondary Education at Holy Family University and taught middle and high school Writing and Literature after graduating. She is now a full-time Writer and something resembling an artist. She has had several poems featured on Spillwords, two pieces included in an anthology by Havik, several poems and some prose in different issues of Alien Buddha Press’ Feminist Agenda, The Alien Buddha’s Block Party: Blackout Poetry, Alien Buddha’s Zine #12 and Alien Buddha’s Zine #21, her poem, Screaming at Tiffany’s, was in the 12th issue of Voice of Eve magazine. She has also had some work featured in Danse Macabre’s Entrée DM 123 and DM 125: Fete de Noel. She has also been featured in the Winter edition of Soul Lit’s online ‘zine, 2019. As of late, Andrea has written reviews for the books Evocare (Ayo Gutierrez, Eileen Tabios, Brian Cain Aene) and The Tears I Never Told You (JinQue RD). Andrea has also edited The Tears I Never Told You and Are You Ready? (Ayo Gutierrez, Gigi D. Sunga, Ph.D.) She has most recently had her poetry featured in the anthology, Scentsibility, a book of poetry related to the senses.
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