A Poetry Showcase of Robert Fleming

A New Toast 

shlitz & seagrams r at a standoff
raise a glass with beer
raise a glass with vodka
shlitz seagrams r friends
raise a glass as long as it has alcohol
only good times when alcohol in the glass
forget when the glass goes into the mouth
& arms & legs r behind a car wheel
glory to the glass of gin
forget a man who falls on his chin &
sidewalk sleeps
pump pump pump the keg into the mouth
nancy the sophomore falls down in the south quad &
nachos choke out of nancy’s mouth
start a new tradition
raise a? to Sobriety



hurrah for unhappiness!

down with happiness
undred the dead
pom poms 4 dred
pep rally makes such a ruckus
tail pipe party make it a pity party
rah rah row in pain
pittance please please pain
trash down the drain
happiness what a sham


Some Swings Aren't Fun

an off-on thunderstorm switch
a 212°F tea kettle whistling
sixty-minutes sun & sixty-minutes shadow & then reverse

a red & green six-foot dynamite stick fusing
everyone within 100-feet destroyed &
you destroyed first

a three-year older-than-brother sister 
in a bedroom with no window blinds &
a laundry-bin-hamper bathroom lock

sister u were a Venus flytrap self-sealing
capable of photosynthesis
but child-of-parents who always removed your jasmonic acid



Long-Distance Record

my sister entered a competition but did not know she entered
Florida’s most arrested woman
people meet at a coffee shop-bar-restaurant
not sis
sis brings the bar in her car and 
bartends to the cop
over tea sis asks her probation officer 
           do you validate parking?
a bra-ed blue buttoned shirt rises
           DWI no driving Ms. no tea in jail
at 59 years sis self-admitted to AdventHealth Tampa hospital
life left to four days
insufficient time to get biopsy results and
add to the record
three days after sis’ last death rattle
         biopsy: uterine cancer stage 4
after release of sis’ ashes at Clearwater Florida to Gulf of Mexico
submit sis’ record to the Guinness world records
is sixty records enough?
please officer i couldn’t make it to a toilet



Bio: Robert Fleming lives in Lewes, DE. Published in United States, Canada, and Australia. Member of the Rehoboth Beach, Eastern Shore, and Horror Writer’s Association. 2022 winner of San Gabriel Valley CA broadside-1 poem, 2021 winner of Best of Mad Swirl poetry and nominated for Pushcart Prize by Ethel Zine and FailBetter and double nominated for best of the net by Devil’s Party Press. Follow Robert at https://www.facebook.com/robert.fleming.5030 .