
‘Written While Vivaldi Reminds Me I’m Tone Deaf’ and other poems
By: Richard LeDue
Written While Vivaldi Reminds Me I’m Tone Deaf
Most would rather complain
than realize a strength
doesn’t make you strong
and a weakness isn’t
what makes you weak,
but what matters the most
is how you use them
to create your own music.
Rejoice in Yourself
God is not beautiful
eyes watching you take showers
or step on sidewalk cracks
you pretend are someone’s back.
God is not perfect
smiles, glad at your latest paper cut
and amused by the newest dirty joke
you found on the internet.
God is our need
for a hot cup of coffee
on the coldest mornings,
when loneliness is looking at us
like we’re a piece of cherry pie
tempting it to cheat
on a diet beyond our comprehension.
We are as flawed
as cataracts and yellowed teeth,
but that’s okay.
A Mundane Canvas
Wrinkles stain my hands like paint,
but I’m a house painter at best
instead of another artist,
desperate to outlive myself,
while my greying hair
makes a mundane canvas
for a paint job
recommended by a pharmacist,
and liver spots ruin my blank skin
that I hid behind,
until betrayed by time’s aspirations
at making art out of me.