CRUSH
i wish i were your crush-
ed tomatoes
shelf stable
your recipe staple
two years in your kitchen
cool tin
on the dreamshelf
i wait to expire on your tongue
savor me raw
reheated and slick i
want to pour sauce
on your noodles
unjar me, i’m halfway
open already you strong
handsome pantryman
you
Oh
oh take this tea towel, friend
a housewarming present.
no you haven’t just moved
but it’s my first time
visiting you here.
hey it might be of use
if you ever had to run
from a natural disaster or something.
you could quickly pull together
your precious possessions
wrap them up in the towel,
tie a knot just so,
slip it over a branch
sling it over your shoulder
and you’re ready to run to safety.
such a becoming hobo you might make
with this new and unstained tea towel, friend
if you ever needed to use it
oh I like what you did with the living room.
(benny hill)
a duckie parade of
girls and women
pursued by this letch
they totter on heels
signal and flap
for rescue
a speedy hunt
a lusty chase
into the warehouse
closets and cupboards
lace and red lips
betray them
hungry hands follow
void of remorse
a thrusting tongue
panting and slobber
receding hairline
brown teeth
the silence of the girls
detained behind doors
you struggle to gauge is
it rapture or ruin
turn off the carnival
kazoo for god’s sake!
you do or do not
hear them screaming
©2023 Shayna Shanes All rights reserved.
Shayna Shanes writes this and that, off and on, for better or for worse. She facilitates a writing group for the Poetry Society of South Carolina and lives in Charleston, SC.