Online Open Mic -2021
We have come to the end of the month and the end of our series. To close out the end of this year’s first Online Open Mic, we have the enjoyable poetry of L.B. Sedlacek! Her work is full of engaging and thoughtful weaving of words.
My Favorite Line: “Imagine that lobster enjoying a three course dinner on the ocean floor (or maybe a last meal)”
Frigid Water
(1) Don’t attempt to swim.
Holed up in a basement with physics
students transmitting data using
a telegraph’s electronic circuits.
(2) If you have a life vest, put it on.
December 15, 1955 – some say it
was the first time a computer
remotely transmitted data.
(3) Pull yourself tight into a ball to
retain body heat.
A 33 year old telegrapher for the
Canadian National Railway took a leap
into modern day computer networking.
(4) If you don’t have a life vest, grab
anything that floats.
This data exchange saved months
of calculations all with the push of
a button.
(5) If someone else is with you,
huddle together for warmth.
A small first step to get computers
to operate together.
(6) If you don’t have a floatation device,
float on your back or tread water
very slowly.
With only a half megabyte of memory
it solved engineering problems.
(7) When rescued, check for signs of
hypothermia.
Natural computer calculations.
Signs of severe body heat loss are
slurred speech and no shivering.
Slowly re-warm your body.
Footle
We talk
act foolishly
as if
nothing’s wrong
as if
wires, plugs
are normal
connected to
the body
to keep
it breathing
lissome, fair
even as
the organs
shut down.
Gastrine Mill
Lobsters have teeth in their stomachs
for chewing their food
(even at their last meal)
a fact about as strange
as coffee on ceiling tiles
or houses sitting on triangle lots
or detached mothers watching their
kids play at the park.
Imagine that lobster enjoying a
three course dinner
on the ocean floor
(or maybe a last meal)
swimming around in a giant fish tank
without a way to escape
a fact about as real
as the sandwich generation
a fatal diagnosis
a missing person found alive.
It’s always better to chew food
thoroughly ‘cause you don’t know
when you will eat again,
(the last meal).
Artist:
L.B. Sedlacek has had poetry and fiction appear in different journals and zines. Her first short story collection came out on Leap Day 2020 entitled “Four Thieves of Vinegar” published by Alien Buddha Press. Her latest poetry books are “The Poet Next Door” (Cyberwit), “The Adventures of Stick People on Cars” (Alien Buddha Press), “The Architect of French Fries” (Presa Press) and “Words and Bones” (Finishing Line Press.) She is a former Poetry Editor for “ESC! Magazine” and co-hosted the podcast “Coffee House to Go.” LB also enjoys swimming, reading, and playing ukulele.
Follow:
lbsedlacek@gmail.com http://www.lbsedlacek.com https://www.amazon.com/author/lbsedlacek
Twitter: @lbsedlacek
Instagram: @poetryinla
Facebook: @lbsedlacekpoet
LB’s latest poetry books are: “Happy Little Clouds” (Guerrilla Genesis Press), “The Poet Next Door” (Cyberwit), “The Architect of French Fries” (Presa Press), and “Words and Bones” (Finishing Line Press). Her first short story collection, “Four Thieves of Vinegar & Other Short Stories” came out on Leap Day 2020 from Alien Buddha Press.
