Tammy Smith

Koinophobia
Koinophobia refers to the fear of living an ordinary life. 
After May Swenson’s “Question,” an imitation

Madness my mirror 
my fixation my means
what will I see 
when you are cracked

Where will I stare
How will I gawk
What will I follow

Where can I go
without my figure 
all flawed and damaged
How will I know
in images ahead
is sickness or health
when Madness my stark
shiny reflection is split

How will it be 
to sit in the dark
without candles or clock
and shadow for a hand

With puppet for play
how will I live?

 

My Rejection Slips

Sonnets I wish I could write.
All the weight I’ve lost and regained.
Mothers and fathers and brothers.
I wish we’d never been born.
All the Shakespeare I pretended to read in high school.
A heavy push—
Stop!
Gathering piles of dirty laundry.
I need to run away.
The sharp click of high heels.
Sweaty skin.
The smell of vigorous exercise.
Ignore every reason to quit.
Your last slap. 
Leave me alone.
Go away—please come back soon.
Strips of paper I toss under the bed.

 

Marked Safe From

Making shadow puppets.
Chasing dreams.
Blaming brick and mortar stores for going bankrupt.
Shopping online.
Boycotting bookstores.
Rooting for the enemy.
Googling fake news.
Power Outages.
Winter melting into spring.

 

Tammy Smith is a social worker from New Jersey. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Merion West, the New Verse News, Eunoia Review, Grand Little Things, Verse-Virtual, and others.