{"id":14760,"date":"2023-06-13T07:52:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T05:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=14760"},"modified":"2023-06-12T23:59:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T21:59:20","slug":"poems-by-todd-matson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=14760","title":{"rendered":"poems by Todd Matson"},"content":{"rendered":"

God in Dog Years<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

the dog died<\/p>\n

at the bottom of<\/p>\n

the stairs at 91 in<\/p>\n

dog years when the<\/p>\n

boy was 11 in people<\/p>\n

years after boy and dog<\/p>\n

enjoyed countless days of<\/p>\n

fun in the sun together, after<\/p>\n

dog taught boy the meaning of<\/p>\n

friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, love,<\/p>\n

after reincarnating herself in the<\/p>\n

puppies of a half dozen litters,<\/p>\n

after boy realized that DOG<\/p>\n

spelled backward is GOD,<\/p>\n

she died, and that very<\/p>\n

night, the boy saw<\/p>\n

her constellation<\/p>\n

in the stars<\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Unholy Trinity<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI have to get out of here!\u201d Id said to Ego.\u00a0 \u201cThere<\/p>\n

is just so much to see, hear, smell, taste, touch!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNot so fast,\u201d Ego said to Id.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not that simple, Id.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that you\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 It\u2019s that everything has<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

consequences.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m gone!\u201d Id said to Ego.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re<\/p>\n

mine!\u201d Superego said to Id.\u00a0 \u201cAlready have your foreskin!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coming for what you have left!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSlow down,\u201d Ego<\/p>\n

said to Superego.\u00a0 \u201cLeave Id to me.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take care of Id.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Id is naive.\u00a0 Id is impulsive.\u00a0 Id is a child.\u00a0 Id wants, Id<\/p>\n

needs, Id demands.\u00a0 Id lives in darkness.\u00a0 Id is not bad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Id merely needs to be tamed by the light.\u00a0 Id simply does<\/p>\n

not know what is best for Id,\u201d Ego said to Superego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cVery well then,\u201d Superego said to Ego.\u00a0 \u201cDo it your<\/p>\n

way, but if Id runs wild, Id is mine!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou can come<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

out now,\u201d Ego said to Id.\u00a0 \u201cListen Id, I like you.\u00a0 You<\/p>\n

can be really fun.\u00a0 Don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do without you,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Id, but whatever you do, please don\u2019t do it, Id, without<\/p>\n

consulting me first.\u00a0 Superego has it in for you, Id.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Superego has a scalpel with your name on it, Id.\u00a0 I know<\/p>\n

it sounds crazy, Id, as old school as Superego may be,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

believe it or not, I\u2019d swear Superego loves you.<\/p>\n

Loves you, Id!\u00a0 Just doesn\u2019t know how to show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ghostly Feast<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As often as leap year babies are born<\/p>\n

the ghostly feast is prepared by phantom<\/p>\n

gourmet chefs of the billionaire class \u2013<\/p>\n

Americanized oligarchs promising \u201ctrickle down\u201d<\/p>\n

to everyone lower on the food chain,<\/p>\n

famished and craving the morsels and crumbs<\/p>\n

prophesied to fall from the banquet table<\/p>\n

to all salivating for the lowest hanging fruit,<\/p>\n

utterly ravenous to devour the red meat,<\/p>\n

ever forgetting the Russian proverb: Free<\/p>\n

cheese can be found only in a mousetrap.<\/p>\n

When will we learn that lunch is never free?<\/p>\n

For we are but prey for wealthy cannibals<\/p>\n

preparing spectral feasts as mere bait for the<\/p>\n

true feast of which we are the main course.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Tale-Tell Toilet<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The cartoon<\/p>\n

was the brainchild.<\/p>\n

It was always, only the<\/p>\n

cartoon that inspired the<\/p>\n

motive.\u00a0 Is that not enough of<\/p>\n

an alibi for an innocent four-year-old?<\/p>\n

The perfume bottle was a spitting image<\/p>\n

of the flasks the mad scientist used to brew<\/p>\n

the bubbling concoction.\u00a0 It was never about the<\/p>\n

perfume.\u00a0 It was about the flask.\u00a0 The four-year-old boy<\/p>\n

simply needed the flask to self-actualize as the mad scientist,<\/p>\n

to stealthily gather and contain all the mysterious liquids and powers<\/p>\n

from the bathroom and kitchen to brew the foaming concoction that would<\/p>\n

change the fate of the world.\u00a0 It was never about the perfume.\u00a0 The perfume was<\/p>\n

flushed by the little boy. The perfume was no more. That was before the interrogations<\/p>\n

began, with the usual suspects \u2013 his older sisters who insisted they did not know the<\/p>\n

whereabouts of mom\u2019s perfume.\u00a0 Of course, mom was quite the sleuth, a real<\/p>\n

sleuthhound, a veritable bloodhound of a mom.\u00a0 Have you ever been<\/p>\n

brought in for questioning by a sleuthmom?\u00a0 She turned her eye,<\/p>\n

her nose, to little four-year-old me.\u00a0 She brought me into the<\/p>\n

bathroom for questioning.\u00a0 \u201cWhat have you done with my<\/p>\n

perfume?\u201d\u00a0 I only remember my heart racing, pounding,<\/p>\n

sweat pouring like rank perfume from my clammy<\/p>\n

flesh.\u00a0 \u201cNothing,\u201d I choked out.\u00a0 That is when<\/p>\n

she pointed, as if in slow motion, to the<\/p>\n

toilet: \u201cHow can you be so innocent<\/p>\n

when that toilet has never<\/p>\n

smelled so good?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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