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Therese Villar, three poems


LACEY

Lacey completed five self-portraits and one landscape

Now she rested surrounded by the five self-portraits and one landscape

She sat in a wooden chair, which was not ideal for her buttocks as the wooden chair was rigid

Indifferent to how her buttocks or her upper thighs felt trying to rest in the wooden chair

Lacey yearned for a chocolate chip cookie

Her mouth was arid and she was famished

She needed to belie the metallic taste in her mouth

Her mouth watered for a chocolate chip cookie specifically

Although Lacey wouldn’t refuse a lemon crème or a custard crème

In each self-portrait she painted of herself, she emphasized her nose

Just because Lacey could draw noses best.

EIRA

Making bets with each other, Eira and two of her friends were making bets with their hearts

About the men in their lives and secretly with themselves, not letting on how desperate they felt about the men in their lives

Not one of them wanted to lose the man or become alone without one, it would hurt like hell

Eira secretly went to the local church to beg God for her man to stay, that is what she needed, to continue as the woman she is now

Life was inexplicable and comfortless already

During the tenebrous periods and lonesomeness, each one of the three friends wanted a man to be there

Love was not in the equation, although, love is what they believed they had

To circumvent the shadows of life, Eira was willing to settle for less in her life

She didn’t want to be in despair alone.

JACINTH

To purchase these shoes, Jacinth stood in a protracted line

She had been the only one who wanted these shoes, however, there were three other women with the same predilections as hers

Ergo Jacinth abandoned her spot in the line

To the end of the line, she returned with another pair of shoes

These particular shoes, no one wanted, Jacinth purchased them anyway

Considered uncomely, nonetheless, they wore on her feet rather well

In comfort, for long distances, she can meander, even on cobble-stoned streets

Jacinth doesn’t risk sore feet and blisters

Instead she ventures to wear the most unappealing shoes

In another protracted line, Jacinth stood to make an appointment with a doctor

There a long time, she waited, to hear her name called out to see the doctor

Inside her right ear, he told her, there is a huge tumor, he cannot see the eardrum

Finally referring her to a specialist, Jacinth had been waiting a long time for such a referral, back and forth to the doctor repeatedly all year

Out of her right ear, Jacinth cannot hear, which furthermore pains her

In the meantime, he gave her antibiotics and ear spray

Her uncomely shoes Jacinth wore today

A woman remarked that she liked her shoes

Jacinth accepted the woman’s compliment, regardless, she hopes that woman doesn’t buy the same uncomely shoes as her.

 

Therese Villar was born in San Francisco but grew up in Orange County/LA County. Her parents are from the Philippines and she also has ancestors from China and Spain. Her Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies/Chinese is from California State University Long Beach. She has had 50 poems published in magazines 2001-2007. She moved to England in 2013 and married an Englishman. "When my father gave me my first diary at 7, I began writing poems to myself inspired by Dr Seuss. "


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