Poetry by Cherri Randall



Added 24 January 1999

This is a section where I post poems sent to me by people who have found my site and wish to display their own works. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This poem is by Cherri Randall
Cherri is seeking C&C (Comments and Criticism) on her poetry. If you have something you'd like to say to Cherri about her poetry, feel free to e-mail her at: carandal@wolverine.cameron.edu


fishing

the other woman is a girl of 22
fishing for my husband
casting conversational lines, luring him into shallow waters
hiding the hook meant to grapple his heart
with bait much fresher than mine
I float in the deep end, amused
watching her on the shore
imagining what her reaction to getting her feet wet will be.

I give her the benefit of my doubts
maybe she likes to sleep to the metronome of bull elephant snoring
waking up at 3 a.m. shivering from the necessity of repossessing her half of the covers
and getting up at 6 a.m. with muscles cramping where his elbow and knee jammed
against her shoulder and hip

she might like sitting beside him in his 'n' hers matching ultrasuede recliners
watching the seasons change from football to basketball to baseball to golf
she probably won't mind explaining "X-Files" plots to him while he pretends interest
even after she realizes he's only watching to see the redhead
maybe she wants a practical man who always buys gifts like a Proctor
Silex ten-speed blender or a lifetime membership in the Psychic Friends Network

it only took me five or six years to learn all his habits
to remember he eats mayonnaise with baloney and mustard with ham
no matter what's on sale or in style, he only wears knit shirts but no
horizontal stripes because they remind him of Charlie Brown
every woman has her own priorities when it comes to romance
in some cultures it is considered a compliment to the cook when
a diner burps at the end of every meal
it's so personal doing a man's laundry for the first time
including the balled-up sweat socks he threw in the back of the closet
which have made everything fragrant with the color of size thirteen feet

I know other women have different ideas about love
one woman's beard burn is another woman's aphrodisiac
some women like the rugged appeal of a man with five-o'clock shadow
especially when it's three days' worth on Sunday night combined with the

manly smell of unshowered musk
which only reminds me of a rotting couch potato
she might be turned on by that six-foot hunk of burning love draped across the sofa
doing calisthenics with his nimble thumb on the remote control
her heart might melt during foreplay the way he slaps her rump every
time she brings him another beer

if things work out, she'll get the opportunity to see a new side of her lover when he
campaigns for his favorite cartoon as loudly as his children do for theirs
I hope she remembers to buy Fruit Loops for one child, Corn Pops for the other,
and Honeycomb for the one who doesn't return to my house Sunday afternoons

in a way she is smarter than I am
in finding a man already trained to put the seat back down
to carry out the trash and scrape the ice off winter windshields
a mature man who faces the future
knowing what he wants and how to find it
not afraid to leave the past behind in his quest for marital bliss
I remember there were other fish in the sea
I watch the techniques of this young woman on the bank
wishing her success reeling in her catch, hoping she might actually get
what she thinks she wants after all
the same techniques worked for me over ten years ago
I don't want to go up on shore
oh no
I've learned a few things out here in the ocean
I want to go deep-sea diving


Cherri is seeking C&C (Comments and Criticism) on her poetry. If you have something you'd like to say to Cherri about her poetry, feel free to e-mail her at: carandal@wolverine.cameron.edu

BIO: I'm a non-traditional student at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma on the Creative writing track component of the English major. I've started publishing poetry in the past year but would really like the potential feedback of having a poem or two posted at a website.