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 Nov 2023 Orpheus
K B
How are you? They ask
I reply:

"I am fine."
I say that every morning
I say that to everyone
I say that to myself in the mirror...everyday
Change has found me and my life in many ways
But I feel nothing has changed
I am still...me.


How are you? They ask
I hesitate...I reply:

"I am.....fine."
Something feels off.
An undercurrent of unease travels through me
I dunno what, how or why
I have not changed yet I am not the same.
I read books right? Yes but not as much as I used to
I listen to music? Yes...but not as much
And not the same stuff anymore.
I watch movies? Yes but rarely
So I am fine but I am also not myself.


How are you? They ask
I pause....I reply.

"I....am fine......"

Pause.

I....am.
I........am not sure I am fine.
I was.....fine
I used to be....but right now
Right here...in the present...I do not know
I am not sure anymore....
I feel.....disconnected
Like Humpty Dumpty, I feel like a mosaic of fragments
Broken, cracked and yet whole
With all my pieces in the wrong places, the wrong order
I feel normal yet I also feel wrong

How are you? They ask
I reply .....

"I am not fine"
Bits and pieces of my being exist
But not in the right places
I am
I exist
I live
I am myself but not the same
I feel like facsimile, a broken copy
I used to be whole
Now, I am just bits and pieces masquerading as a whole
 Nov 2023 Orpheus
Nat Lipstadt
Why Men Cry in the Bathroom

For so many reasons.
I will tell you the why.
I think you know,
Or perhaps, you think you know.

Men are always O.K.,
Even when not.

We expect the worse,
Accept the worse,
Nonetheless,
We are forever unprepared.

Wearily, we cry,
In the bathroom, in private,
Lest sighs slip by,
We be unmasked,
Early warring, strife signs warning.

Copious, tho we weep
Before the mirror confessor,
It is relief untethered,
Unbinding of the feet,
An uncounting
Of beaded rosaries,
Of freshly fallen hail stones,
Of night times terrors
By dawn's early edition's light,
and welcomed.

But look for the mute tear,
The eye-cornered drop,
*** tat, that never drops,
But never ceases formation and
Reforming, over and over again,
In a state of perpetuity of reconstitution,

The tippy tear of an iceberg revealing,
And I see you peeping, wondering,
What is beneath


Look for:
the torn worm-eaten edges of spirit,
thrift shop bought, extra worn,
grieving lines neath the eyes,
where the salt has evaporated,
discolored the skin.
worry lines,
under and above,
browed mapped, furrowed boundaries.
the laugh line saga,
where better days are stored,
recalled, as well as recanted,
publicly, privately.

Why just men?

I don't know,
Perhaps,
it is all I know.


Jan 6, 2013
your effusive and lengthy comments are each a poem in their own right.  

Tinkered with June 22, 2013
With a push from Bala,
A serial peeper, thank God!
 Jun 2023 Orpheus
Marshal Gebbie
I strolled, awhile, down by that bog
Through thick, astringent, swirling fog....
Perchance, perhaps, in circumstance
I fancied that the reeds did dance,
Swayed in time to pulsing beat
Expanding in round ripples, neat,
To radiate across the pond
In league with moss of ferny frond.
Causing spider webs to sway
Through which the dewdrops came to play
In iridescent beams of light
Illuminating shards of night
Which cast a most unearthly glow
That only frogs in bogs, would know.....
And know they did from ancient time
Where bullfrogs ruled in slippery slime
When incandescence filled the glade
Whilst time stood still and mayflies played.

Dancing in the fantasy of Patty's Pond.
With love M.
Playful poetic response to patty m's fantasy poem "The Talking Frog"
 Feb 2023 Orpheus
Theia
on your last day
the sun was shining
and big white clouds ran across the sky

someone held you tight
and told you, "i love you"
admired you
and cherished you

on your last day
all of your love poured out

you inspired
and you soared
you lived
and you died

your love remains
always
 Oct 2022 Orpheus
Universe Poems
Poetry
Crisp backdrop relief
While on the bark,
a blanket comforting your heart
Take it with you,
on your autumn stroll
Sit under a tree
Wait
Did you see the mole
Was that a leaf,
that drifted from the tree,
while gazing at the sky I see

© 2022 Carol Natasha Diviney
 Jul 2022 Orpheus
Janet Doyle
The wind begins to slither, finding openings to my room,
Something moves along the window, touches of impending doom,
Growing larger, ever closer, above my lying form to loom,
I wake up in the night,
The darkness is alive now, my bright eyes stare into the veil,
Catching motion, is it blowing? Or somehow rising up through Hell?
The chiming ever louder, and the cause I ache to tell,
So little in my sight,
The still of the night is deadened,  waiting, waiting, dare I lay?
Suddenly, the birds are chirping, can they drive this dark away?
My heart to slow, my soul at ease, surer of the coming day,
So soon there will be light,
But will I see it? Moving forward, my hand to grasp upon the knife,
Peering, searching through the darkness, can I **** what don’t hold life?
Chirping, chiming, growing louder, the wind it rises, seductive, rife,
As I walk into the night.

JHenry
 Jun 2022 Orpheus
Ariana Bagley
I love him
I tell myself
I know that
We will be together forever
I don’t believe that
We could be separated
My thoughts tell me that
He’s the love of my life
Sometimes my heart lies and says
I could live an eternity
Without him
Like my friends say
“We’re perfect for each other”
And you can’t tell me
He’s not the one.

Now read from bottom to top.
Morals never change,
They fade away.
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