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"The Horror" & "Music Turned Up so Loud You Know No One is Listening" by Richard LeDue



The Horror


The monster's mouth is giant,

yet invisible,

with teeth crushing us daily

until we call it living.


The monster is careful

to eat politely though:

no elbows on the table,

counting its chews,

and gingerly spreads its salt

because its dead parents

believed a clean floor

the best sort of love.


But the monster never even looked

as it swallowed us,

instead it sighed

at eating alone again.



Music Turned Up So Loud You Know No One Is Listening


No one will love you

the way Leonard Cohen could,

not even me,

but he's dead now,

so what does that leave?


All the lovers must sing

a final song, and the beloved

bed down with the belief

in the lie of forever,

if they're lucky.


No one will love you

after the worst funeral

of your life, like that one

person, who stood next to you

and held your hand,


but that isn't the passion

that smokes cigarettes

and writes love poems at 3 AM,

among closed curtains,

keeping you safe from yourself.


All the lovers must sing,

even if it's out of tune on a Tuesday,

when you dropped

your only Leonard Cohen CD

and expected someone else to pick it up.


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