Ohio Girl

Desperate haiku from a long, wrong meeting about “helping” people:

Eyes with furry roof

Soft but styled words that

-dedicated to the hairy bureaucrat wearing suspenders

Fat women all here

to give what cannot be had

-for all the givers aka fat social workers

Who knew poverty

has fiscal year calendar

-dedicated to the poor folks who do poor the right way

Two hours are gone

Who will remember meeting

-dedicated to my dwindling patience

Dreaming of cold bleach

Like lemonade on hot day

Pain from brain to gut

-an homage to sanity

Stewart redeems like

the rise of a bright, new sun

that sets with engine.

Are you an Aries?

Pillar of fire, Biffle,

but not a Dodge ram.

Stream of the top ten

rushes with tadpole rookies,

ready to be frogs.

Kenseth, no cheese head,

follows the yellow brick road

laid by his teammate.

The humidity-it is still taking up all the space in my brain. It reminded me of a hot day last summer when a colleague and I attended a conference at a prison here in Ohio. Chatty social workers and dubious, gum-chewing Corrections Officers crammed into a large room for the presentation-while women in khakis walked by smoking. The heat and the monotone of the lecturers made it impossible to concentrate. I did what I always do when conferences, in-services, or staff meetings go terribly wrong. I wrote haiku.

I may fall asleep

with dreams of razor wire

and women in suits

Donuts and peaches,

bagels topped with creamy cheese

Atkins fallen dead

My head is itching

Oh, what will become of me

if bugs have nested?

My underwear pinch

What will I do today?

Better choice Day 2

The perky intern

in a perky blouse and skirt

Hops to the issues

Risky Business

Wasn't that a big movie?

Woman in man's shirt

Phenomenon too

a movie, but not so big

Travolta sans dance

Is assault simple?

Aggravated is more clear

more simple to judge

Cognition sounds like

ignite, as in to light up

Steady smoldering

My head starts to pound

Dull like soft knocking at first

Revs up like motor

Phyllis is sure mad

Feminism discovered

Welcome the seventies

My brave, new boyfriend

Crossing hard ground to bring me         

palatable drink

(Dedicated to the nice CO who marched all the way

across the compound to get me a Diet Coke.)