Lord he was ugly, but we liked him,
like you like a pet snake, that your mother hates,
and he shed the same, as well,
flicking fingers down through the psoriasis,
flakes littered my desktop and I booted
his desk far enough ahead to keep it from drifting
I couldn’t be unkind, but neither could I brush it off without gagging.
Lordy she was not pretty. She was new. She was loud,
She was the ugly girl the almost-pretty ones hung out with
hoping to catch the upper comparison
while she played ball with the boys, boy-cut hair,
causing red rises on her frown, while the rest of us were worrying
our mirrors, she hit home runs.
Why would god give ugly girls zits, poor girls, one’s who needed to be pretty?
Other friends steered clear of them, but something drew me
to the dry and wet of them, like a crow,
sitting in a bare branch, not hungry, but watching the dog’s dish
bright-eyed and wondering if there would be enough left
to attract prey when famine hit. Interesting, like an ugly stone
being pressed into the deepest earth places, to become a gem.
There is always someone for everyone, I figured when I knew.
It was common knowledge she was easy and he was desperate,
like the rest of us who rode through the flickering poplars
lining the bus route to our school, clacking and gossiping gaggles
giggling about the bunch at the back of the bus, Clearasil
gunked on like glued paper on newly shaven faces
and making mountains of moles in all the wrong places.
We, righteously, kept our eyes glued to the front, like at church.
It attracted us, this wonder and wager that it was, but wouldn’t last,
gagging us at the thought of pressing faces or hands running through dry scalp
and we were not surprised when they fought. Relieved, perhaps,
until he said, “I’d slap you but I don’t know which way the pus would fly,”
and we tried not too smirk and were not surprised when they got over it,
married and stayed married while we went through our slimy divorces.
See, there are many kinds of zits, we just didn’t have the right comparisons.
Author notes
someone should have squeezed us.....
Written May 4th, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- Zits by ea.
300 points, ended May 5, 2006, 5 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
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thanks, Jo, it is a true anecdote.....and a true lesson.
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I know..I nevr loaughed then...but later..omg it was so funny...and then, the lesson came...
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LOLOL..let me walk you back to our teenaged years...we had choices of backs back then...lolol
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I just KNEW you'd grab up gold with this one, Twista! it was just so zit-reality it had to win! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Jo
Edited on May 06, 11:33 p.m. because ''. -
This is good! My favorite line is 'I slap you but I don't know which way the puss will fly." I know we're not suposed to laugh at people's misfortune but I must say your zit is quite funny.
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OMG -- give me a man who wants his back done!!!
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I get all shivery jsut remembering..and noway jo is not helping...she made me remember how my kid's dad wanted his back done...ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww........ lololol...this memory shall self-destruct in 30 seconds and I shall forgt I ever said it...LOLOL
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oh, chips and dip and coke, every day fatr school while we did our homework....no pimples for us...but....thunder thighs, now that's another sotry now that my chips and dip caught up with me...LOL
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f***in' cool
" flakes littered my desktop and I booted
his desk far enough ahead to keep it from drifting " Now that is a great line thank you. -
I knew this had to be a true story...the lover's spat was just so REALITY! If only we knew we could have downed the chocolate cake and greasy fries too, Twista!
Jo -
Well, dangit,t hey weirded me out too...but we got our just zits....lololol
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I'd love to say it was fiction...but, alas, whle they settled in and made do, the ret of us settled for nothing and made less.
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ahahahahahaha! omg! this was simply marvelous, at first, i was a tad weirded out, and then..BOOM! you put it all together great, humorously and the fact that the way you ended it..makes some think..
well done!
Best of Luck
~Alea
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“I’d slap you but I don’t know which way the pus would fly,”
FUCKING LMAO!
Seriously, that was great!
Hahaha awesome poem, really very creative.
Keep writing! -
amazing. primal.
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Darn I wish this weren't true...they are the only one of the busful that stayed married....and happily so.
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what a storysmith you are! Really, I am dazzled by this thoughtful and completely unexpected appraoch to this contest. Bravo! I'll be giving it lots of reads but as you know, I like to let writers know my first impression when it's so positive. Thanks for this one, sista!
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