Thursday, May 28, 2015

Steven Hendrix- Three Poems


the lean, mad days

I'm not hungry now
but I was once
those Long Beach days
those lonely, mad student days
competing with the cockroaches
foraging for food in the cupboards
anything I might have missed
every other time I looked
"let me know if you find anything"
I yelled out in the direction of the
scurrying, pattering legs on wood and linoleum
and when I heard the sound fade into the walls
I knew they hadn't found anything either


after the arguments

it had been one of our worst
I remember smashing
your plastic container
against my forehead
running downstairs
and banging my head
against the door
hoping to knock
myself out
in a search for sympathy
but as always
never hitting my head
hard enough
out of fear
of what might happen
I walked to the end
of the block
and back twice
before coming in
you pointed to the door
where the blood was
I remember thinking
I couldn't have slammed
my head that hard
I would have felt something
then you showed me
the plastic container
cracked with sharp
jagged edges
and the yelling started again
it was suddenly
your favorite container
and you demanded
I replace it
and neither of us
remembered
what the original argument
was about


the unborn

it was a beautiful spring day
the sound of birds
the smell of flowers
coming in through the open window
as I walked toward it to look out
it began to slide shut
slowly at first
but when I put my hand upon it
to stop it
it slid faster and gained force
and momentum
I brought both hands to it
and braced myself
pushed with all my strength
to keep it open
but couldn't 
when I looked out
the now closed window
winter had already set in
there were no leaves on the trees
a layer of snow covered the ground
and the sky was dark
and ominous


Steven Hendrix received his BA in Comparative Literature and his MA in English Literature from California State University, Long Beach.  His work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Chiron Review, Pearl, Re)verb, Silver Birch Press, Drunk Monkeys, Creepy Gnome, and Cadence Collective, among others.  He co-hosts the reading series at Read On Till Morning in San Pedro, CA and currently resides in Southern California.
 

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