pain – Kevin Trent Boswell

Venus in Scorpio

I can, at times, be a bit much
And hotly sting, with a heavy touch
But only if you ask real nice
Only good girls pay the price

Politely say, “Pretty please”
While looking up from your knees
As swirls of hurt cause you to slur
The proper response is “Thank you, Sir”

Author’s Note: Venus in Scorpio is the title of this piece because that is the current position of Venus (as of this writing, Sept 22, 2026). The sign of Scorpio is intense astrological territory for Venus, the Goddess of Love.

However, in my own birth chart, I have a lovely, nurturing Venus in Cancer. And I assure you, dear reader, that I am perfectly harmless.

I promise 😶

a tragic soap opera

stage is dark

sad violin music
minor key

a single spotlight falls on a

circus clown
with baggy clothes
and floppy shoes

throws his hands up in the air
and wails, forlorn

all those poor,
lonely scribbled
numbers

all crumpled up
on the page

crying themselves
to sleep at night

he looks to the sky,
shouting in an over-the-top,
melodramatic caterwaul

why, oh why,
did I even bother
to buy that box
of pens?!

drops to his knees
in front of a telephone
that sits atop a small table
and sobs quietly
into his hands

curtain closes

the end.

the next day,
a critic writes,

this was the most
pathetic piece of
maudlin garbage
that I’ve seen since
grade school.

the only thing
that might have
improved this pulp…
slightly…

is if the clown
committed seppuku
and then the theater
burned down.

round up the author
of this mawkish nightmare
and have him shot.

Norms

I.

That’s never appropriate.
But people will talk.
Unacceptable.
Immoral.
Wrong.
Weird.
Bad.
No.

OK.
Yes, I do like it.
It does feel right.
Alright, but just once.
It’s none of their business.
Yeah, I guess this is different.
Only under these circumstances.
I don’t usually, but I’ll make an exception.

II.

They say it’s wrong, and other things, too
Though it hurts no one, and nobody lied
A small person dictates who can kiss who,
Who can think what, and what’s dignified

Unless you’re spreading disinformation
Better not to worry what others will think
In trying to fit in, find justification
The world passes by before you can blink

Wanting what it wants, the heart an artist
Mores and taboos prevent much strife
Rational, safe, and often the smartest
Unless they protect you from having a life

Jumping from thing to thing is unwise
Or hiding in a socially acceptable jail
Or hurting others with deceitful disguise
All surefire ways to flounder and fail

Promises you make to yourself and yours
—Never betray these oaths you contract
People may shame you, scold, shut doors
Regretting you let them compel you to act

There’s no easy way to sum it up neatly
Love your loved ones, to hell with society
Be faithful to your small circle completely
Be truthful, be kind, but fuck propriety

Goddess

Yes, my dear,
You’re exactly like God

You’re exactly like God
In the following way

You demand to be worshipped,
With no return on investment

And you angrily smite those
Who don’t bow and pray

Yes, my dear,
You’re just like the Divine

You’re like the Divine,
And the way I can tell

Is that I walked away
From it, and from you

And having done so,
I’m no longer in hell

A Trick of the Light

I mourn the loss
Of who I thought I knew
But as it turns out,
I do not miss you

I grieve for the person
You pretended to be
It helps to remember
You never loved me

dead, bloated cow

and that sickly, ugly war
raged through the streets,
unhinged and unhappy,
all too costly and unaware
of the damage it deals

it blisters the skin and boils the blood,
ripping down foundations,
blasting apart buildings,
making vehicles cease to exist,
filling the air with a foul stench
of fear and anger

its reward? only carnage
and arrogant blustering,
nothing of validity or consequence;
nothing positive or loving or logical

only the bellowing roar of endless warring

a hotdog cart burning in the road,
and fat, half-dead cow by the river,
making horrible noises of pain,
as it hopelessly calls out for attention

and to think, how everything
could have been peaceful, happy, and quiet

but some will always find it absolutely
unacceptable to have anything other than
their way

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I.

II.

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