Poem: Feeling like a Third Wheel

There we are on our date
Your friend sitting next to you
The two of you engaged in a lively conversation
About the movie we had just seen
A movie filled with violence, sex, and drugs
One you don’t take a girl to
When you’re just getting to know each other

No words escape me then
And I’m beginning to think
That it’s the two of you who are on a date
And I am nothing but a third wheel
Someone that doesn’t belong
In the booth with you at the diner

I want to leave you right then
But you are my only way home
And so I sit there waiting
Until the two of you finish your date
And finally say it’s time to go home

Written May 17, 2018 

© 2018 by Lena Kovadlo. Use with permission only.

Poem: Stuck in the Express Lane

I am standing in the express lane
Hoping for a fast checkout
But instead I find myself
In a lane that crawls

Being stuck in the express lane
Every second that passes
Feels like an hour
And I stand their wondering
When it will finally be my turn

All the while I can’t help
But think about my life
And how it resembles this express lane
That’s moving at turtle speed

When will it finally pick up speed
When will I finally get to the checkout
And be on my way to my desired destination…

Written May 15, 2018

© 2018 by Lena Kovadlo. Use with permission only.

Poem: Tears from an Old Book

Flipping through pages of an old book
My life is filled with tears never-ending
My future has a bitter outlook
No sugar coating, no more pretending

I am the only one who can rewrite the story
The only one to make a life that’s sweet
The only one who can achieve the glory
To make my life one that’s not incomplete

It’s up to me to wipe away the tears
Tears of the past that haunt me to this day
To rid myself of all the settling fears
That keep me dormant and won’t go away

Until I tell myself I’ve had enough
That I’ll take charge and fight to make a change
That I can do this and that I am tough
The life I hate will never rearrange

Because no one can help me here but me
To live the kind of life I want to live
To be the person that I wish to be
To change the sad existence that I grieve

Written May 8, 2018 

© 2018 by Lena Kovadlo. Use with permission only.