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Best Poems From
ABBI VAN DEN BERG
(6 November 1980)
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5.
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Aspartame
Switch off the saccharine
because your sweetness
leaves me nauseated
and retching
clutching for a bucket
at the side of my bed
While your adoration
makes me reel drunkenly
stretching for a hold
on something solid
Because your words shimmer through
my fingers
like vapor
I can't be bothered to appreciate
your sentiment
because it is the sediment in my red wine
Leave me
burnt, bitter, black
Abbi van den Berg
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6.
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Cheddar Tuesday
Grate, grate, grate
My heart slides over the finger-top, dimpled metal plates
Shavings of flesh squeeze, bloody
Through the sharp curves
I gave you a small, stilly shiny-smooth corner of my soul
Not criss-cross kelloid with the past
To caretake
And you force it
Grate, grate, grate
Through the serrated surfaces
With your pointed words
And leave me oozing
Damaged
Grate, grate, grate
Another scar, another surface
Open to salt
Open to burn
Open over you
Grate, grate, grate
15/06/2006
Abbi van den Berg
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7.
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Monkeys
I built a wall one day
or maybe it was more like a cage
I may have put the bricks up alone
but you provided the mortar
All of you helped me
and now Im not so
sure about this wall
its the fortress of my sanity
but it keeps me from you
We are like two monkeys
separated by our bars
trying to reach one another
metal grinding on metal
shooting out sparks but not starting a fire
Abbi van den Berg
Read more: fire poems, alone poems
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8.
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No backstage pass
I locked the door
but you still found your way in
like a groupie, flirting her way
past security into the backstage area
at a Whitesnake concert
but instead of raging
at this invasion
and retreating to a quiet corner within
myself,
I let you in,
jugular exposed like a
cat sleeping, belly-bared believing
that rather than ripping out
my entrails with your pointed teeth
that you would caress my
naked flesh
But don't think
because you charmed the heavies
that you may come
and go as you please.
You opened the door
but I still hold the keys.
Abbi van den Berg
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