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Best Poems From
ABBI VAN DEN BERG
(6 November 1980)
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9.
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O'Neill's
This moment of amusement
you're getting from your act
of valour
isn't nearly as amusing to me
because this incident that defies belief
is not an anecdote
It is my life
And although my Bridget Jones style
fumblings make wonderful
stories to tell your court,
I wake up next to them
every morning
So stop encouraging me falsely
and make your own movie
Abbi van den Berg
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10.
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Roadkill
While walking home from work one day
in the rain
I encountered a lump of mutilated flesh
on the side of the road
although I should have looked away
I marvelled at the glossy sheen of the membrane
surrounding it and watched the
last drops of living blood ooze
syrupy out of its crushed ventricles.
The blackened sting of the bits of gravel
around into its spongy
processed strawberry yoghurt pink
blood-drained
muscle
made me wince with an all too recent tenderness
and as I lifted my boot to nudge it out of my way
I saw something just a little too familiar
in the edges of its shape
so I looked down at the craterous wound in my chest
and realised it was my heart
still lying
mashed into the tar
where youre thrown it, crushed it
when you left me
(12-01-2005)
Abbi van den Berg
Read more: pink poems, work poems, rain poems, home poems, heart poems, wind poems
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11.
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Seal Culling
I sat on my back porch
cigarette smouldering between fingers
staring at a lilac sky
backlighting two trees
one skeletal in its nudity
and the other gaudily confetti-blossomed
flaunting its beauty before it
And I wondered if there was someone, somewhere
in the world
sitting on their back porch after a night out
staring at their overgrown
alien infested lawn
smoking
longing for a girl with just a little too much
energy and volume
Did he stub out his cigarette
considering what I might look like
when he met me
and if I would ever come
Was he clubbed to death like me
wishing that destiny would hurry up
and cut him some slack
Abbi van den Berg
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12.
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Social Chameleon
You misunderstood me again
tangled up in your
misinterpretations
you heard something I never said
Im a social chameleon
inching along the branch of your insecurities
switching colours and personalities
Hoping to dart out my
endless marshmallow muscle molasses tongue
and catch a
fly
of news I can use
a bit of you
that I can add to my pallet
and display as Im edging along
another branch
Im a social chameleon
waiting to regurgitate
what Ive ingested at just the right
moment
with just the right quota of impact
like an inebriated gatecrasher
vomiting onto a
prominent part hosts perfect Persian carpet
Yet you still love me
Im a social chameleon
flipping through nuances of myself
to find just the right shade for you
and youll remark
at how I understand you
and youll marvel to your friends
and mine about how Im
just so easy
to spend time with
But you dont see
my conic, pinprick black eyes
swivelling
one on you
the other looking for the next branch
preparing for my next guided strike
So Im sorry if you thought I cared
but I have my fly now
and your mindless jabber has sated me
(07-11-2004)
Abbi van den Berg
Read more: sorry poems, time poems, friend poems, hope poems
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