Charles Harvey

3AM - Poems and Stories From The Other Mind Charles Harvey

Happy Pride Month!Some readers find comfort in reading poetry, as one feels at ease with a cat on the lap. But some poems rocket you out of your comfort zone. They have the audacity to get in your face and shake your rump up. Robert Frost said, "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."The poems in 3 AM were birthed at that hour, or at some point in the witching hours between midnight and dawn. I hope these poems lift you from the pages or pixels on your screen and send your heart flying around the room. Excerpts: The Man in The Moon 1Who's up at 2 am?The midnight oil has long burned outSleep and sex roll restlessOn the worn mattress. Dreams escape the open eyesShadows rattle the doorThree o'clock is the witching hourRed ashes float from the patioEyes across the courtyard catch you breathing. You look away only to look again. You know the lonely mattress would enjoy the companyAnd your lilac-scented air could use some funk. But the night won't last a lifetime, soYou slip back into your room and wonder, What if there is a man in the moon?A Good DogThe neighbor beats his dog at 3amand he don't stopI hear her tail beating the walland he don't stopShe gnaws on his boneand he don't stopAll night long she whinesand he don't stopHer collar and chain drags the floorand he don't stopShe begs at the tableand he don't stopShe rolls over and plays deadand he don't stopShe fetches his slippersand he don't stopShe trees his birdsand he don't stopShe has his puppiesand he don't stopAll in the wee hours I hearbitch bitch bitchand he don't stop. LOVE DOCTORThat Doctor ain't got no licenseHe practice love on the bootleg sideAint got no licenseSteals hearts just to get to the assWhen he done got throughYou say, Lord my name Skinny RooLove you so hard you change your nameYou can't sit down for daysYou dance all around the moon Singing Al Green tunesLove and happiness Three days later you touch your cold phoneLook up in the mirror and your heart be goneYou call them digits that doctor wrote downAin't no such number in town. That doctor aint got no licenseLord that doctor aint got licenseThere you go trippin out to the graveyardLooking for some kind of heart to fill upThe hole in your breastLord, Lord. That doctor aint had no license at allYou got your 45 just in caseYou run into that no license son of a bitchLove and happiness make you do wrongAll night long. Night Clothes The best time to be naked is 3:00 am Black velvet skin is the proper attire As you stand on your balcony Stroking the night A little drink, a little smoke, a little lonely. There ought to be other men Standing on their porches too Aiming the red tips of their cigarettes At you. ThirstIt's way past 3 AMand I would not should not could notdo what I ought not. So I did notThen, I thought, do it anyway. So I can, shall, and willwalk unlike an Egyptianand get my lazy hee hawa glass of water. MoneyThe store the farm the river the fan--The perfect square of life lived and unlived. It took Money to steal a smile unjustly. What would Caroline Do today if she still had Money in her blood?Would she confess her love for Emmett's song?What would Emmett do if he could turnA square inside out a frown upside down?My JonahMan in that waterChurning away in thatDirty wash water. Wife looking for himCan't find him. Beach patrol in the skyFlying a one eyed birdLooking for that dudeCan't find himGod told Saint PeterTo go down and fetch himThe saint went to the waterLooked all over for his soulReported back to God,"Can't find him."Water churned overAnd said, "I got him. I got a whale to feedGoing to make him my Jonah. I said I got a whale to feed. Going to make him my Jonah."