Tiresome Tendencies
by Daniel Sumrall
I thought I could quit smoking, but
my world is hectic: reality
TV, cell phones, and one night stands.
Thus, there’s a lot of downtime.
I’m certain all women I know
have ulterior motives with
their perfect make-up and utter
disregard of me. I’m used to
waking up incognizant and
finding lipstick around my
cigarettes, each snuffed out early
and standing erect in the ashtray.
What I never caught I can catch
now without trying: ease, colds, mice
and struck birds, obscure jokes, and your
glances. I don’t think it matters.
________________________
Daniel Sumrall currently teaches English composition at
Manchester Community College. Sumrall’s poetry and reviews
have appeared in several online and print journals. Currently he
is making slow progress on a novel tentatively entitled Perhaps
Next Time. He loves candy and smoking and will not apologize
for either.
On “Tiresome Tendencies”:
“Tiresome Tendencies” is a catalogue poem of sorts written
as a mocking self-critique. Mentally composed around 2002/
2003, this poem is meant to capture the banal if not asinine
20- to 30-something hipster culture then on the rise and that
I was caught up in. Fortunately, I’ve outgrown “irony” as a
fashion statement or cultural attitude.
◄ Previous Page Apple Valley Review, Fall 2007 Next page ►
I thought I could quit smoking, but
my world is hectic: reality
TV, cell phones, and one night stands.
Thus, there’s a lot of downtime.
I’m certain all women I know
have ulterior motives with
their perfect make-up and utter
disregard of me. I’m used to
waking up incognizant and
finding lipstick around my
cigarettes, each snuffed out early
and standing erect in the ashtray.
What I never caught I can catch
now without trying: ease, colds, mice
and struck birds, obscure jokes, and your
glances. I don’t think it matters.
________________________
Daniel Sumrall currently teaches English composition at
Manchester Community College. Sumrall’s poetry and reviews
have appeared in several online and print journals. Currently he
is making slow progress on a novel tentatively entitled Perhaps
Next Time. He loves candy and smoking and will not apologize
for either.
On “Tiresome Tendencies”:
“Tiresome Tendencies” is a catalogue poem of sorts written
as a mocking self-critique. Mentally composed around 2002/
2003, this poem is meant to capture the banal if not asinine
20- to 30-something hipster culture then on the rise and that
I was caught up in. Fortunately, I’ve outgrown “irony” as a
fashion statement or cultural attitude.
◄ Previous Page Apple Valley Review, Fall 2007 Next page ►
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Apple Valley Review:
A Journal of Contemporary
Literature
ISSN 1931-3888
Volume 2, Number 2
(Fall 2007)
Copyright © 2007
by Leah Browning, Editor.
All future rights to material
published in the Apple
Valley Review are retained
by the individual authors
and artists.
www.applevalleyreview.com
A Journal of Contemporary
Literature
ISSN 1931-3888
Volume 2, Number 2
(Fall 2007)
Copyright © 2007
by Leah Browning, Editor.
All future rights to material
published in the Apple
Valley Review are retained
by the individual authors
and artists.
www.applevalleyreview.com
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