"Bipolar Lexicon," "Mousetrap Molly," and "Hermit"
Bipolar Lexicon
but did you know I drive through scare crows
pin wings to walls ladybugs to kites
it’s all thunder to my wilderness and wilderness inside my thunder
the startling of your island
I will take only my goldfish and my gun
(no suitcase can alleviate my tyrants)
I am filled with ghosts and bats and doctored apples
blowing up cobwebs with cannons
you will find your coins
inside your footprints
together we embower beehives
my sinew begs for snails my bones sigh with aftermath
Previously published in The Belleville Park Pages, January 2015
Mousetrap Molly
she was something between
a fabrication and a famine
disclosing her leeway
along saint fausta avenue
clocklike pear-drops pleading
the falter of her framework
unrobed for all to remiss
crystal women in abridged kaftans
passed by in peckish parades
coddling pussycat pocketbooks
inhaling the spicy corkscrew sun
pendulous men with wilting wives
uprooted quarters for cajolery
bracing for a madcap show
she twirled her violent stare
skivvied down to weeds
undulating underbelly bones
the garish grace of defrocked queens
Previously published in The Furious Gazelle, May 2018
Hermit
I have grown a little eccentric,
a little discontent, I suppose,
since I moved my corner rocking chair
to the very center of the den
near the growling, grinning heater
to cover the carpet’s balding bald spot
and began turning the volume to heaven
to drown out the absence of snoring
in the fireplace glow of yellow-orange
and flashing turquoise tongues.
I must admit,
I have also grown
a little unnerved
by the eerie reverie
of snow-silent cats.
Previously published in The Bitchin’ Kitsch, April 2015
Megan Denese Mealor echoes and erases in her native land of Jacksonville, Florida. A survivor of bipolar disorder, she often incorporates her kaleidoscopic emotions into her writing. Her poetry and short fiction have been published in literary journals worldwide, most recently Ginosko Literary Journal, The Stray Branch, Eunoia Review, and Spillwords. Nominated twice fo the Pushcart Prize, she has authored three full-length poetry collections: Bipolar Lexicon (Unsolicited Press, 2018); Blatherskite (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2019); and A Mourning Dove's Wishbone (still in the works). Megan recommends the National Autism Association in honor of her beautiful son Jesse, who was diagnosed at age three.
