1981 And Other Poems

By Richard LeDue

1981

Always thought I was a Gen Xer,
but I'm actually a Millennial,
meaning I'm no different
except on a graph somewhere
that might as well be faces on Mars
photoshopped into rocks,
or was it the rocks that did a person impression?

It doesn't change the interest
rate on my credit card, 
the rising prices of one bedroom
houses, the way inflation strangles
pensioners with enough subtly
that their cause of death is blamed
on natural causes, how politicians lie
so well that most think they own
the apple tree, and why my spoiled ballot
sometimes seems like the best poem
I've ever written. 

The Longest Pause

Her silence
proves how your words are trash
and that that empty hallway 
should have tried harder 
to scare away your hello,
while your heart is full as a garbage bag
that only your friends notice enough
to complain of the stench,
leaving each quiet second echoing,
even days later,
like shots saluting the kind of death
which reminds you how lucky you are
because Styrofoam 
takes 500 years to decompose.

Rational Enough

This poem believes in aliens,
but I do not
because poetry is a good place
for unidentified flying objects
turning night into daytime,
little green men, unaware
they're an allegory
for the Cold War,
crop circles that reassure us
we aren't alone,
while I am rational enough
to fall asleep with the lights on
and never dream
of light switches.

Richard LeDue (he/him) lives in Norway House, Manitoba, Canada. He has been published both online and in print. He is the author of nine books of poetry. His latest book, “It Could be Worse,” was released from Alien Buddha Press in May 2023.