Thin Mints and Unsent Letters

Published on by Tosha Michelle

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Sharing one of my older poems 
Love is often on a street
that only runs one way.
In the space between
stop and go. You think
if you stand still long
enough, he’s bound
to bump into you.

You wait with your
defibrillator.
Doing painful logic
inside your head.
Charting your feelings
in an equation that
never adds up. No
wonder you never got
far in math.

You call out, and he
spits back a thousand
different tragedies.
The shaman in your
right ear says
“WTF, let it go”.
The leprechaun in
your left ear says
“Don’t stop now”.

You climb out of
the pothole you’ve
fallen into, saved by
a rope with a noose
on it.

You’re still alone.
Heart in the gutter.
You pick it up, dust
it off. The wilted
roses blowing
across the road.

You place one foot in
front of the other, only
to find you are on a
moving sidewalk
going nowhere.

You jump off and
hail a cab. In the
distance you hear
a steel guitar, and
what sounds
like a fight song.

You look for clues
and chess pieces
in your purse.
Trying to unriddle
the endnote.

You wind up at a
street carnival,
in a form fitting
black dress, high
heels and garters.

You look up and find
unsent letters in the sky.
Folding the stars into
tokens, you stupidly
hope for another chance
to win that bear.

-Tosha Michelle

46 thoughts on “Thin Mints and Unsent Letters”

  1. Saved by a rope with a noose on it…looking for chess pieces in your purse…and looking for another chance to win that bear. Yep. This and you are amazing. You stream together emotions brilliantly!
    well done, Tosha. X

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  4. Loved the chess reference as well!
    The shaman and leprechauns have spoken to me as well in my youth…..I love this…I am going to share it with someone near and dear to me who is young and has already experienced heartbreak….she was “on a moving sidewalk going nowhere” and ended it……beautiful poem and what a great way for me to end the week!

    Looking forward to Monday’s poetic treat!

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    1. Thank you. You’re really lovely. I remember young heartbreak well. It never gets easier. I think with age, we do learn how to adopt better, though. Nevertheless, rejection hurts at any age. I
      I hope the young lady finds peace.

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  11. “You wind up at a
    street carnival,
    in a form fitting
    black dress, high
    heels and garters.”

    Clearly, I was going to love this!

    But then again, anything with Leprechauns will melt my heart.

    Thank you for sharing. I hope you had a great day.

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  17. Your photo is just stunning! Simply gorgeous! I never won a bear, or anything from The Claw; last time I was too old to ride the Round-Up, for it made me ill. But, we can still appreciate sweet, sticky cotton-candy (yum!), corn dogs on a stick, and those silly, naive, Dumbo elephant ears that will always bring on a lopsided grin and that erstwhile hope

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  18. that only youth can know. Lovely words and universal feeling.

    Thank you for the song. I’m looking forward to listening to it and really appreciate your singing it! It will undoubtedly be joining my two other songs in the “Special Songs” playlist of my Soundcloud account (and it’s your songs, only, that make up that list)!

    PS – Everybody does it, ‘cuz I like guy stuff and my name is spelled that way, but I’m actually a woman! No problem on the confusion; it happens all the time. Even the US Army sent me a postcard regarding selective service or whatever, but my gender and flat feet (two out of three) prevented my being able to join. Too bad; I would’ve loved to have been a pilot, and to have an old(er)-age pension/income. Thank you so much!

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