Emoticons Poem by Felix Bongjoh

(for a friend after a joke)

(i)

A flower of a man
spraying a grin
with the gaping cave
of a torn mouth

over sprayed debris
of flowering cackles
and withering giggles.

A toothed orifice
pulled to its overflowing
drifting banks
invading
an unclothed street

flooded with a silver
lake brewed by saliva
floating with teeth
twinkling like stars.

How fat a grin
should a face carry
to take
a sized dose of petals
and moonstone beams,

in a bundled
bouquet of a thousand
shades of hue,

to the targeted owner,
one too many screens
blocking his sight,
as he filters out intent?

(ii)

How many stamens
should tongues
of a kiss spin,
when bright suns
from a butterfly mouth

flaps soft powdery wings
from wheeled
rolling skidding lips

to spray fast strokes
and brushes
from Picasso's inner self,

but only land
on the owner with a culvert
full of croaking frogs,
and buzzing beetles
over a stench of dung?

(iii)

How dark a night
can gloom
spin with cold coals
in a frozen fire,
when a shade
from a volcano's womb,

the bottommost floor
of a crater,

brews more darkness
than sprayed
with brushes of intent

from the darkest inkpot
churned from a deep
hearth's charcoal and cinder?

(iv)

How bright should
the fire of a grin blaze
and burn
to reach an owner
without
sewing blisters to fester
on his skin?

How deep should ridges
of a frown dig
into a forehead and cheeks

carrying rags
more shredded than
a straight message

of shared empathy
wearing an onyx head gear?