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Car Interiors
A new face at the window is
Unexpected, but welcome
As steaming hot cocoa
Or imported tea or soft
Cloth comfort and bucket seats
Taking cruise control for
Granted, neglecting mileage,
Avoiding oil changes
Or the same old arguments
About why some live in
Mansions while others
Sleep in cars.
(Previously published in Ygdrasil 8/2003)
Taking a Breath
Is difficult when under water.
When composing a symphony.
While wearing a flammable substance
on your head. As the sun sinks in a
fire's haze. While listening to a
droning speaker. While having a
heart monitor strapped to your skin.
As traffic boils along the interstate.
When navigating a parking deck.
As a glass elevator hustles against
bricks. As luggage bangs against calves.
As an announcement for code blue
blares over loudspeakers. While
people mop under your feet.
Taking a breath is difficult while
under water. While the interstate
bleeds traffic. As the pipes shine in
the sun. While falling from the
twelfth floor with the city's
reflection in the windows.
Originally published in "Future Cycle" 2007
Language Combustion
By LB Sedlacek
Water and breath
Squeezed from
Ink on paper.
Something like sand dunes
Camouflaging non-existent
Military bases.
Area 51.
Radiation therapy.
Soaking brains with imagination.
Metal keys socializing with liquid ribbons,
Or letters dancing with stones.
Little green men and
flying saucers.
Previously published in "Joey and the Black Boots" - 07/02).
Third Shift in a Furniture Factory
By LB Sedlacek
Here in the factory shadows,
where the smoke seems to burn through the bricks.
My scuffed-up tennis shoes stand on the cement floor
like two bowling pins.
The forklifts do not know which direction to take,
but they are patient.
Scoring pallets and packages of furniture that might as well
be carried on the backs of the
blue collar workers who made them.
Previously published in "Blue Collar Review" - Spring 2000,
"Starry Night Review Literary E-zine - Fall 2000, and
"The Lummox Journal's 'Dufus'" - Summer 2002).
All poems are the work and sole property of L.B. Sedlacek. All rights reserved.
No copying, printing, or any other distribution of these works
above may be done without the express written permission of the
author. Copyright L.B. Sedlacek.