Today's poem is by Owen McLeod

Gingerbread Man
       

My gingerbread man says drink it
if it gives you shield, says remember
the nearest exit might be behind you,
says you're probably part of God
and love won't let you go back.

Used to be I had only three emotions:
Emergency Cone,
Crow Atop Utility Pole,
and Discarded Doll Stuck In Storm Drain—
but gingerbread man got me past all that.

Now I have more feelings than I know
what to do with. And when the elevator
is packed with rotting mummies,
gingerbread man covers my eyes
and sings me a nonsense lullaby.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling shy,
I hide with gingerbread man in the attic,
up there with all the mounted deer heads
and fading daguerreotypes
of nineteenth century clerics—

but gingerbread man never cries.
If he did, the tears would ruin
his Red Hots eyes, which he needs
in order to see the world in his sweet
and round and ruby way.

It's the only world worth knowing.
Where else can you get a haircut, fill up
the truck, and mail a couple of love letters?
This one's for my gingerbread man.
The other is meant for you.

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Copyright © 2023 Owen McLeod All rights reserved
from Before After
Saturnalia Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission