Joseph D E Phillips

Said the old woman
while holding
her lover's hand
...

Be still, loves, be still!

Find the happy medium
that path to enlightenment
...

I spent twelve hours in the factory
to put heat in the house
and pay for the house
and put food on my family's table
...

It is not a cat.
Do not stand quietly
waiting for it to come.
...

Your lips stole my breath
the first time they touched
and not even death
could scare me so much
...

There's a glitch in the matrix
and I've seen this before.
Why, I've written this
a thousand times
...

it does not look like what we imagine.
Often it resembles the shape of a red blood cell
though clear, colorless and reflective as glass.
...

A lion paces
the cage of the head
of the bipedal mammal
who dreams
...

passed by in aisle eight at the grocery store.
Your eyes met mine and your hand, reaching
for a box of cereal, hesitated as you returned
...

A flare of anger
a stark reply

a scowl, indifferent
...

Dear grandmother,

your pottery
is immaculate,
...