Carol Allis Poetry

The poems

ordinary poets
- ordinary poets
- waitress
- desk clerk
- chaplain
- cable guy
- for sale
- luck
- to the rescue
- personals ad
- warrior
- fashionista
- valentine
- normal
- sean and teresa
- fame
- prepared
- caste
- soldier
- PR girls do pepper jelly
- chick place
- in Hovland
outrage
- baja
- priorities
- illusion
- mobile home
- tour
- mother
- hair
- hurricane
- loser
- Red Lake
- privilege
- poor
- weapons of mass destruction
- Lamborghini
- fur
- temple
- American
- Sedona
- values
- why they didn't leave
- efficiency
- shelter
- lounge chair
love
- marriage
- old marriage
- vulnerable
- terrarium
- caretaker
- material things
- laundry
- rose
- that's all, folks
- lost and found
- daybreak
- eHarmony
- envy
- love song
- reunion
- beds and ladders
- prom
- farewell
- incurable
- reset
- vow
family
thinking too much
- magic act
- choices
- logic
- sorting
- grudge
- doubt
- caste
- film
- aging
- Shady Pines
- alone
- getting ready
- hedgehog
- clarity
- lonesome
- planes and anthrax
hurting
- paper cuts
- collateral damage
- conflict
- forest fire
- lights out
- wounds
- breakup
- commitment
- camouflage
- knives
- unfaithful
hooked
- hooked
- adversary
- monkey
- addicts and angels
- the First Step
- serenity prayer
- iceberg
- sober
- enabler
- hope
loss
- grief
- monsters
- autopsy
- ambush
- bruise
- giving back the daisies
- checkout
- bad check
- talking with death
- condolences
- closure
- full post
- spring
- jacket
- resurrection
- first year
- passage
- Michael
- uncharted
- lightness of being
respite
reflections
the light side

sorting

Here it goes again – the unpacking late at night
Ready to fall asleep
Or soaking in the bathtub
Or having that last cigarette, last cup of coffee
And suddenly it starts
Hmm, let’s open this box
Remember that time when the kids were little
We were on vacation
And we started to quarrel
Was that when we knew it wasn’t going to work?
And, oh, here’s this box
How will he get health insurance?
What if he can’t buy his meds?
And if he doesn’t …
And this box …
She’s forgetting more and more every day
Maybe she needs assisted care
And this box …
Why is work so bumpy lately
And whatever happened to that big ladder
And should I have sold the piano
And where is that beautiful blue scarf you gave me
And those little salt and pepper shakers
That looked like berry baskets
Who got those, anyway?
And this box … I should look in this box
No, I don’t want to look in that box …
And that blue glass prism from the Denver Art Museum
You didn’t want to buy it and I talked you into it
And you took it when you left
But it doesn’t matter anymore
Because you put a bullet in your head ….
Stop … stop … stop …
Close up the boxes
Put them away
Under the bed, on the closet shelf
Into the cave at the back of my head …

There will be new boxes to fill tomorrow ….