lenten journal: the flavor of fear

I have a growing collection of phrases that I have come across reading. I started writing them down just to see what they might become. One of them became the title of the poem below, though I’m not sure this is an ice cream shop I’d enjoy.

social anxiety a la mode
chicken ripple, rocky road

crowded elevator, past mistakes,
family gathering, faulty brakes,

ice-o-lation, terrorist crunch
late-night rumble, sucker punch

online date, salty stranger
minty clear and present danger

broken promise, stomach flu
foreign substance, botched tattoo

repeated failure, fall from grace
double vision, deep disgrace

final jeopardy, too much stuff
perfect storm, just not enough

Peace,
Milton