LatinosUSA

Nolcha and Barbara fought Google Gremlins by writing poetry together daily. Barbara’s verses are in italics. Nolcha’s are the rest.

Uninvited again.
Slaps my ailing knee.
“How’s it goin’?
Not up and about yet?
How ‘bout a jog 
around the block? What!
Can’t do gravel for weeks? 
How can I help? Dishes?
Oh, my arthritis is killing me!
Maybe next time. Can you spare 
some Tramadol?

I serve Payne
headache laced with Toradol
on a plate.
I drop the napkins
to make her 
gravel on her knees.
Before she leaves,
I give her a doggy bag
of arthritis and sick stomach.
I hope she enjoyed her tea.

Payne arrives
with her sewing kit.
Saw a video on YouTube. 
Now an expert. Sticks needles 
into my surgery knee. 
“Acupuncture?” I ask.
“What’s that? I just need
a pin cushion for this thing.” —
The thing she sticks in my mouth 
to keep me quiet.

I am not quiet when Payne arrives.
I growl, I snarl,
I’m a woodsy thing, shaggy,
unmanageable.
I bite, I tear.
Payne is a
pincushion.

Payne says she comes for tea. 
But she simply comes for me. 
Again and again. 
No matter how many goodie bags 
of Pepto Bismol, baby aspirin, floss
I send her out the door with. But 
an apple a day won’t keep Payne away.

from Too Much Fun to be Legal

Copyright © 2025 Nolcha Fox and Barbara Leonhard

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Author Biographies

Nolcha Fox’s poems have been curated in print and online journals. Her poetry books are available on Amazon and Dancing Girl Press. Nominee for 2023, 2024, and 2025 Best of The Net. Nominee for 2023 and 2024 Pushcart Prize. Editor of Chewers by Masticadores. Co-Bookshelf Editor LatinosUSA. Website: https://writingaddiction2.wordpress.com/ 

Barbara Leonhard is the author of Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (2022) and The Lost Book of Zeroth (2025). Barbara and Nolcha Fox co-authored Too Much Fun to Be Legal (2024). She’s a nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Trending Poets named her Poet of the Year in 2023 and 2024. Her poetry has been translated into Italian, Albanian, and Chinese. She is the Editor for MasticadoresUSA and FEED THE HOLY. And Co-Bookshelf Editor on LatinosUSA. Her blog: Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver.