Versus

By Ron Coleman

Conflict: an aspect of all of our lives that is
unavoidable and depending on the situation,
leaves one happy, sad, angry, or even feeling helpless.
Ron Colemans first literary foray, VersUS, explores
conflict in many forms, subconsciously placing you
in each poems situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465374042

Ron Coleman

I have been a freelance cartoonist part-time for about 50 years, having sold my first cartoon while in the eighth grade. Since that time my work has appeared in hundreds of magazines, newsletters, newspapers and online. My most notable sales were to Saturday Evening Post, Official Detective, Medical Economics, and Hustler Humor. My day jobs consisted of working for movie studios in Los Angeles including Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Orion Pictures and Walt Disney Studios. My work in these studios was mostly in the areas of payroll, publicity and advertising. I am now retired but remain active in cartooning. I live in Oakridge, Oregon with my wife.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Ron Coleman.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4653-7403-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-7404-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

105224

Contents

Inerasable

May December

Divine Intervention?

Question (Tetractys)

Imitation = Flattery (Monorhyme)

Bare Knuckle

Fireman (Call & Response)

Trespass (Lanturne)

Meltdown (Kyrielle)

Knee-Jerk (Sedoka)

Bitch (Double Etheree)

Disappearing Act (Acrostic)

Against My Will (Tanka)

Old Flame

Long Distance (Sonnet)

Barren

Running (Palindrome)

Damage Control (Monologue)

A-Bismol

Evil Intentions

FANatic (Ottava Rima)

Hating Love (Diamante)

Route 666 (Pantoum)

Going Nuts (Clerihew)

The Push of a Button (La Libertas)

Boston (Trinet)

Tough Love

Dirty Thoughts (Nonet)

Bulletproof

7

Greed

Lust

Sloth

Gluttony

Envy

Wrath

Pride

Connect Four

Forever (Naani)

I Can’t Stop

Down

Life Support (Paradelle)

Insomnia

Invisi-War

Starve or Stay? (Minute Poem)

Asphalt Aggression

The Twelfth Man

Red-Handed

Unholy and Proud (Alliterisen)

Taken

Stream of Conflictness (Blitz Poem)

The Send-Off (Song)

Good Eats (Cinquain)

Scarred for Life (Staccato)

The eVolution (Triquain Swirl)

What They Didn’t Know

Test of Faith (Trijan Refrain)

Hard Times

Extraterrestrial (Co-Written with Catherine Bailey)

The Agony of Defeat (Haiku)

The Last Ride (Sestina)

Waiting (Septolet)

Scarily Good

The Anatomy of Forbidden Desire

Come on Here (Monologue)

The Face of a Cheater

Playtime

Can’t Say No

Weapon (Quatern)

Conflict (Quinzaine)

For mom, for my family, for Lump, for real friends, for Governor’s School, for Lynchburg College, for IFCA, for you…

Introducing: Catherine Bailey

Inerasable

short, quick,

exasperated

breaths. a

cold

hard

mattress

below me; her,

beside me.

eyes,

closed,

trying

to remember,

eyes,

closed,

trying

to forget.

her Egyptian cotton

bed sheets

adhere

to the dry sweat

on my back.

her hands,

they grip

my skin

and trace

my skin,

as if she

is following

the veins

to my heart.

my heart

(like

an enzyme

that has

been halted

by sulfuric acid extract)

has

stopped.

what I want,

often,

screams louder

than what I

need,

because

I did not

need

this, I

do not

need this.

this,

(like

too many

dead bodies

in this

trunk

to hide),

this,

this

burden.

last night

I felt

electrical,

she made

me feel

electrical.

now,

I feel

vulnerable,

vulnerable

as

hell.

because,

even in a

parallel

universe,

I would be

wallowing

in shit.

even in a

parallel

universe,

I

would be

desperate,

so desperate,

to erase

this,

to erase

her.

because,

what scares

me

the most,

is this

startling

reality

that

this

is

(even with one

of those

big,

fat,

pink

erasers)

something I cannot erase.

this

is

undeniable

undisputable

indestructible

unforgivable

inerasable.

Introducing: Kayla Coleman

May December

The difference between

You

And

I

See

you are just like May

And me

I’m more of a December kind of girl

And just like December

I dwell on the little things

And the wind blows and blows

Its extremely cold

And the tiniest bit of pressure

can shatter my heart into a million little pieces

Akin