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It only hurts for a while
the cuts that bleed will heal
the bruises that blossom
will fade in time,

can you feel
it now?

Feel?

the way,

they told me it's long and I thought they were wrong and they were,
it's even longer and takes a strongman to get there,
many are stronger than me,
but the way that it was,
it was the way that chose me.

Whatever way is any way when you're not going
my way.

Being alone
or being a being alone being alone?

I
play
make
friends
it gets serious
and the playing ends.

I had to grow old.
and
fortune favours
cold dice on
hot tables.

It only hurts for a while
the smoke
the smoke
the smile
when my heart broke
more smoke
It only hurts when she flirts
for a while,
I will bleed
she fuels me
I feed her
she murders
I murmur.

The way
is a long way and more
I planted my garden
In straight spaced rows;
Under the scrutiny
Of  thieving grey squirrels,
But I fooled them, I think,
With my ribbons and bows:
Pink, red, green and yellow,
I hope no one tells 'em,
For I surely won't sell them,
These tatters, tomatos and carrots,
Beets, near lettuce and onions,
And kale, beans and turnip:
All because squirrels
Have been tricked,  
Yet they'll turn up.
Tip of the cap to Robbie Burns.
 Apr 2016 Sethnicity
Nat Lipstadt
~~~


The Poet, God,
God, The Poet,

smiling beguiling disguising
as old man tailor,
in dusty shop,
well hid neath the arch of well trod
ancient medieval arcade

in modest, peeling letters,
of gold plate,
hawking, hawking,
suits of poems,
made to measure,
cut to the cusps,
so profound unique,
each will be a promise,
modestly guaranteed,
at a price proffered,
profoundly inexpensive,
to be merely,

"only the very, very, very, best of the best"

grasping torn yellow cloth
measuring tape,
the tailor takes your heft,
drawing broad lines,
sketching your pored cells,
measuring your 'made,'
the stuff that you claim
as only your own,

"only the very, very, very, best of the best"

this delivered,
but none of the finished,
fit to the sane, none fit the same,
all off, hanging wrong,
each different, each suit,  each poem,
fitted but still imperfect

angered and human,
de-man-d,  
an explanation,
why each poem bespoke,
speaks in a different tongue,
tongue stained with complaint,
these are missed leads, misleading,
none made to measure

The Poet, God,
God, The Poet

the the tailor
of each and every
misshapenly one-of-us,
condescends to explain
the foolishness of
human shape

my tape, with steady hands,
takes with accuracy,
the who, the way, the which,
of your momentary composition

but who can say with honesty,
what is the best of the best,
accept that flaws are your finery,
and the skin of your fabric
every changing, a peeling changeling,
excited atoms of colliding constancy

there is no 'best of the best'

there is only one standard
of each creature
that can be accurate recorded,
and this poem, I have delivered

give and gave the
'very, very, very'

e-very stitch and syllable,
is a truth, a ver-ity,
unique to the measure of
who you are

but there is no,
'best of the best,'
from this classification,
you, yourself, must
deselect

make no error of compare,
the wrongness of unfair,
crucify not on the altar
of a golden calf made of
erroneous bitter 'betters than'

every suited poem
suits you,
well and proper,
of this I certify,
all a verification
of the
ver-i-fiction
of the

'best of the best'

of who you are,
reflecting your mirrored image,
of who you wished to be
for in every exhaled instance,
in every poem,
is the
'very, very, very'
of you

is not misshapen
perfection?
what could ever be
better than the best
poetic imperfection?
March 30, 2016
5:13am
for bex,
the collector
of flora fauna friends
and dogs in need of shelter
 Apr 2016 Sethnicity
Nat Lipstadt
and you want to write,
get the insides out,
let the outsides in

you half start
half a dozen,
leave them in the fridge
next to the half finished ones,
on the shelf where the
almost spoiled fruit,
can't let yourself throw 'em
not-quite-yet,
ages on
begging to be finished, discarded

and you want to write...

cull and ****, analogize,
separate the chafe from the sweet,
write about what you want,
which will never be good enough

review the incompletions,
candidates for renewal,
they lie to the left of this
work in progress,
mocking, preening, begging arrogantly,
flaunting failure to your face

and you want to write

but you are the hanging judge,
hung up on the braking shadows
that fight you, make the wholesome sodden words sound
terrible unright trite

and long for the days of might,
torrents of passion that arrived fully formed,
but those sweet place and days are
"currently unavailable"

and you want to write,
so you write of need,
rather than deed,
leaving yourself
disappointed

that you have been culled and weeded
but no flora,
spring sprites spike through
the concretized city streets of your
inabilities

7:18am EST
April 2 2016
nyc
 Apr 2016 Sethnicity
Nat Lipstadt
alliteration intervening invasion,
a bed-throned life journey summarily unasked for, reviewing

follow behind the collected beaming seams,
to the discolored end-of-a-whiting rainbow of writings

sack in hand, sack'd yet surfeiting,
gleaning the falling bits,
inventoried stories, the poor and the glorious

light droppings,
stir'd and stor'd in hopsack bag,
woven intervals of clashing fabrics

trilogy of
me, myself and I,
following falling, trailing, failing flalings

cross currenting, swirling,
disheartened chest heaving cursing
if only, a mite more sipping
of courage everlasting

here a memory,
there a visionary,
happy haunting,
glaceing eye dreams

keepsakes of a life
modesty and poorly lived
error prone, choices weak,
father confessor to the supremity of oneself

played safety first,
thirst quenching
with the unsatisfying yellowed bursts
of "it could be worse"

but these stuffing,
gleanings of a life,
uprighted night, declining days, admixture of son and moon,
women's flashing eyes inviting
happy danger and ending disaster inevitability

this sifted treasure chest
of self-selected retained
cursings and blessings,
the measuring cup of a tragedy
well acted, quantifiable pathos superb aplenty

a play veined with comedic relief,
a Falstaff for every Hal,
compare and contrast
your essays on the container storage
of dusted cells morning-mourning

summarizing gleams gleaned from a life well....dissatisfaction satisfied...truth in poetry
 Apr 2016 Sethnicity
Nat Lipstadt
no matter that plain words are
my ordinary tools,
with them,
I shall scribe the small
cherish the little,
grab the middle
simplicity my golden rule,
write they say,
about what you know best,
surely in the diurnal motions,
the arc of daily commotion,
do we not all excel?

me,
just a poet poseur extraordinaire,
street urchin, word merchant,
all my verbally,
worldly goods expropriated
by the wind,
where your scattered thoughts
lie about, carelessly, unattended

scout the competition.
weep,
for you and I will never surpass
the giants who preceeded us,
and yet,
laugh,
cause they thought
the same as well

so I spend my cold, hard time
laying down cold hard verse,
can't stop,
cause it's my daddy's dying curse*

addict and dealer, a ****** poet ******
excerpt from an old poem of mine
--------
and below a variant from 2 days ago:

Truth is like poetry. And most people f**king hate poetry.
a quote from the movie "The Big Short"

~

a screen provocation,
you laugh out loud,
mime hating yourself
that you are joiining in
tacitly acknowledges the truth
of abbreviated wisdom

you,
disguised minority of
modest disagreers,
c'mon, admission submission,
more truth in it
than deserving of argumentation

a one liner throwaway,
neatly designed,
leaves you disturbingly
probed,
thoughtfully tormented and
aroused

poetry just a vehicle,
your vice for revelation,
the critical door to open is this:

do people hate the truth?

inescapable reality
ironical probability,
truth well disguised,
in plastic shell of lying
from the Hollywood's would be poets,
an escapade from the escapists

let us not pretend
that you and I
uncaring, for by virtue of
your reading this, you are
poetry aficionado,
required to deny the lie,
and yet,
accept
the
granular view
that we are rising writing thru the wronged end of
a telescoping microscope

so I scare scar a tissue sample from my tongue
and the cells spell
this rejoinder:

all your lies are poems,
incomplete truths,
and that's why people hate poetry.
 Apr 2016 Sethnicity
Roanne Manio
The earth is getting warmer,
the ice are melting,
the polar bears are endangered,
mermaids are not real,
my dad's never getting clean,
you'll never drive two hours to bring me Butterfingers,
you'll never listen to the songs I send you,
you don't know my middle name,
I feel like I have to beg to be with you,
you'll never read this poem because it's so tiny and insignificant,
and my heart's going to break any day now
but I'd still ask you to pick up the pieces for me.
Just how long would it take
For your love to answer this-
Are you positive he loves you
Are you his and ONLY his?
Just how often does she ask
Do you really love me dear?
Are you often times too busy
For to care about her fear?
Just how many times in one day
Do you give your girl a hug?
Are you mostly always running
So you pass her with a shrug?
Just how aweful would you feel
If she gave away your love?
Are you so lost in yourself
Or not her you're thinking of?
Just how's it going to feel
When she finds another man?
Are you gonna care about it
Or it's part a bigger plan?
Just how aweful person are you
For to play with someone's heart?
Are you thinking it won't crush her
When you rip her world apart?
Now just stop and think about it
How you're living life a lie,
Have you thought a bit about it
Who will care just when you die?
You may feel somethings important
Other than the vow you made
To your bride in front of God
Proudly on your wedding day.
Bet your wife will be beside you
When those other things are gone,
Better hurry up and love her
'Cause with you she'll soon be done!
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