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Whoredom

Satan came to you
In the form
Of a vacuum,
Sucking away -
Ripping apart -
My flesh,
From yours.
What had been joined
Now ejaculated
Out
Into a white
Void
Of nothingness.
Strange fingers
Warm
And Intimate
Bathed in sandalwood
Oil
Lyre in hand
Playing
The siren song
While you danced…

Music
Where was our music?

I danced
Alone
While they captured
Your oyster center
To swallow the pearl,
A prize
I had never found.

And Satan came to you
In a gold
Subaru wagon
With hooks and nets
In size 34D
Intent on reaping

Pleasure
Then tacking it
To your soul
With Blue
Steel,
In the warm leather
Backseat -
While our daughters
Squealed
In the shade
Of a willow tree
That had no roots.

After the fall
You brought him
Home
For dinner.
I hadn’t prepared,
For a rat like
Beast
At our kitchen
Table
So I served him
My heart
On a cheese
Platter,
Because I wouldn’t
Need it
Anyways.

- Sheree La Puma Watson

(featured in the poetry forum 02.14.13)

editor's note: On this day of hearts, here's inspiration to be true to your first. Woe to any adultering second. That's all... lovers! - mh

Tryst

At 57, she opened the door
To an eagle,
Cup-bearer to the Gods,
A boyish beauty.
Without regret they frolicked
Throughout the kitchen, among
The copper cookware, baskets of
Oranges and green plums.
The scent of lilac
On the counter,
Composing together,
A dance of triumph,
Legs entangled as they sang
“Oh ecstasy, oh lover of mine.”
Forgetting for an hour
The holes
In the fisherman’s net.
“Love hath reason, reason none”
And they clenched
Each other
Savoring the intensity
As if it
Was the end,
Knowing her husband
Was due back
Soon.

- Sheree La Puma Watson

(added 02.14.13)

THE DAY AFTER

How often
I’ve hated myself,
   After
   Cold gin
   Has
   Warmed
   In my stomach
And dirtied glasses
Lined up
On the counter
   Reminded me
   Of wasted hours
   Spent
   Sipping martinis
   And dreaming of things
   I
   Could have done,
   Should have done,
   And will never do
As long as
Empty bottles
Are replaced with frequency
   And gin soaked
   Olives
   Look better
   To me
   Than life.

- Sheree La Puma-Watson

(featured in the poetry forum 10.08.11)

editor's note: This is a familiar view; this world through an empty glass. Heavy the weight that would keep our view locked on that blurred lens. Turn around; the window is open, the sun is shining. - mh

HANDS

No excuses, I don’t care
What they say -
Remembering –
Those hands –
Still bitter tears
After 20 years
Remembering –
His hands –
Dirty fingers,
Callused,
Rough,
Groping my face, breast.
Rabid
With desire,
Like a dog
Digging
For pink flesh.
Lines down my neck
A trickle of blood, ragged nails
Scratching
Dividing me in two, mind, spirit -
Floating
Drifting,
Disconnected.
His sticky sweet
Breath permeates my being.
To this day
I can’t stand the smell
Of whisky.
Pressed down,
Being pulled down
Against his sweaty
Groin.
Silent
Tears searching for salvation
Unearthing
Judas
The night my mother’s lover
Crept
Into my bed
& impressed me with
A memory.

- Sheree La Puma-Watson

(added 10.08.11)

Clean Sheets

A blessed child, precious, adored, no need
to hoard love under the bed…
soft, warm, clean sheets
made of crisp linen and percale
ready to swallow men whole
in an ocean
of hungry satisfaction
addicted so addicted
by twenty
had men beckoning
on knees, so many knees with flowers
roses, orchids, lustily open
wanting to be touched
held in my arms
rocked
on my hips
bounced in my lap
never enough, two, three
fifteen
never enough, need to feel
their need
desperate torture -- call it
cruel punishment -- never have me
for themselves
knowing youth is fleeting
pain apparent
need a fix
or I’ll wither away, twisted
contorted in lonely
lost despair
overwhelmed, with mountains to climb
so I bury my lust/love deep
inside my toes
curled tight, locked away
my face blank for ten years
no words, no poetry, only anger, bushels
and bushels of misplaced anger
no sex, no lust
no love, no passion, no wicked thoughts
now thirty, leaking out, my desire leaking out
every pore, every opening
like a flood
like the Mississippi, rising up and over
no where to go
first my neighbor, then on to others
uncontrolled pleasure, consuming everything
in its path
never free
I will never swim free
I would sleep
with you
first.

- Sheree La Puma Watson

(featured in the poetry forum 12.26.10)

Networks

He called her
A bitch...
Told her Neiman Marcus
Was running
An October special
On restraw jobs
For flying single seater vehicles.
They all laughed,
Especially the fleshy, mildewed ones.
It made their hearts race,
Which is more
Than sex had done
In the last thirty years,
But then she countered,
“Must have been a local special.
Our Neiman’s featuring
Petite G-Strings
In rhinestone, leather and silver lame.
What’s your preference?”
It made the hoary ones groan.
They were protective
Of their mentor,
After all it was merely custom,
Standard indoctrination,
Belligerent routine,
And they were all friends,
Intimates,
On that
Computer
Bulletin board.

- Sheree La Puma-Watson

(featured in the poetry forum 10.21.10)

Hot’n Spicy

Lots of rich
Cheddar cheese -
Just a hint of Jalapeno,
A dash -
Of chili pepper
With a blend of
Zesty tastes and textures,
Born of the sun,
For coy
People
Who want a little spice
In their lives.
I bought a dozen boxes,
Should have filled
My cart I thought. They promised me
Pleasure…
Something new and bold
And I was desperate,
Needed a little variety
In my somber life.
So I took a chance, spent
Forty dollars,
On the red hot boxes
And smiled
A saucy smile
As I stashed them in my
Cupboard
Unopened.
I wasn’t really hungry
After all.

- Sheree La Puma-Watson

(featured in the poetry forum 08.07.10)

Sheree La Puma Watson

A bit about Sheree: I've had a varied career as a writer, first working at the L.A. Weekly as an assistant music editor to Mikal Gilmore, (Now writer for Rolling Stone among other publications) then detouring with family before going on to earn two degrees, my most recent one a MFA in Writing from CalArts (The school that Disney founded). While there I had the privilege of learning from some of the most amazing voices of our times: Nicole Panter, Susan Compo, and Peter Gadol, to name a few. Through the years I've published articles in Keynoter Magazine, as well as fiction in National Doll Magazine, Both Sides Now, and poetry in The Pub (Ansuda Press), Lifeline, Up Against A Wall Mother and Mad Swirl. I've also written, directed and produced a play, “The Boy Who Was All Used Up” for The Road Theater Company in North Hollywood. The play dealt with a family’s perception of mental illness and was well received. In June of 2005, the fourth chapter of Scent-i-mental Over You, my most recent book, was published by the University of Arkansas Press. I've also edited a memoir about a man with Muscular Dystrophy, taught poetry to inner city teens and taught animation to K- 6th graders. I am listed in Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, The American Copy Editor Society, and SCBWI (Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators.) I am currently working on a book about the murder of an artist in Los Angeles. "I love the passion/insanity that goes along with creating something out of nothing."

Other works by Sheree:
The Shell of Mariette

Sheree on the www:
Poets & Writers
Scent-imental Over You