Poets published in Spectrum Online Edition: The Villanelle Masters are invited to read at the Saturday Afternoon Poetry Zoom meeting on Saturday, June 17th between 3 and 5 pm PST.

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Jackie Chou

The Catfish


There are things to learn to be a catfish

To avoid looking like a fool

One is the use of proper English


No doubt do your pictures astonish

Bare bronze skin to make men drool

There are things to learn to be a catfish


Your background info is all gibberish

Saying you went to an Ivy League school

Without the use of proper English


I find your diction very childish

Repeating overused terms like “cool”

There are things to learn to be a catfish


Your clothes in the photos are stylish

But you seem to know no social rule

Or the use of proper English


You’re a scammer with an unfulfilled wish

Your strategies as crude as they are cruel

There are things to learn to be a catfish

One is the use of proper English






A New Year's Reflection (a Villanelle)


The year has begun with gloom,

my smile fallen to the floor,

to be swept away with a broom.


I feel a momentary peace, and then boom,

my fears enter through the door.

The year has begun with gloom.


I pace back and forth in my room,

pondering what God made me for,

to be swept away with a broom.


My anxiety is in such full bloom,

that I can't stand it anymore.

The year has begun with gloom.


There were days before all this doom,

memories stored inside a drawer,

to be swept away with a broom.


I know I ought to go look for a groom,

but sorrow keeps gnawing at my core.

The year has begun with gloom,

to be swept away with a broom.


Previously published in Medusa's Kitchen 2023


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