Duplex

My ears vibrate on a pillow To a beat, that isn’t my own, But a distinct and tedious Female cower, sexual and loud Crawling into my lobes, I feel Her cold sweat, drip on my chest Holding me so close, and lost In every note of her animal groan. She trembles, tortured with pleasure, Because it’s never been better Than tonight. I listen, Rusty vents echo in the wall, Waking drywall eyes, at three A lonely thought wishes She would concede, and come, Here to finish interior decorating My bedroom, naked and bold, Painting my entire body in blush, At the slightest stroke Of a single finger, Instead of my neighbor, exploding Ecstasy in the room behind me, Not mowing his section of lawn, Leaving it another’s duty In the hot summer sauna. The lucky bastard hasn’t even thanked me…

The Observer

Temporary thrones for two fill the room besides a gentlemen in the middle, who is dissecting his menu to study appetizers and appendages of the day. While solemnly sitting with a family of silverware who are his only companions, through necessity, his expressionless lips sip expensive wine letting it stain his pale canvas of teeth, brush strokes of red creating a grin. A collar rests around his neck with no tie to hold it close or kiss the top button. Fingers tap endlessly since the empty glasses of conversation won’t be filled this evening. Eyes are stumps from harvested forests, cut at the root and made into accessories. Shoes not shined, desperate for attention, but not from one another. They’ve been a pair together to long, hating each other’s tongues and souls.

This is a man who is truly free, or a tumbleweed. Why he sits at a table alone I’ll never know, I’m just an observer from across the room being observed for my scotch, suit, and the empty seat across from me.

Ode to Nothing

What’d you expect? a poem? It’s only there in lost thoughts, broken hearts, and started Monopoly games.

A baby’s clean diaper and unwritten novels.

Here’s to you nothing, You’ve never been there for me.

John Ingemann is a Junior at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. He is an English and Theatre double major with an emphasis in creative writing.