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 Nov 2013 Basko
Valentine Ackland
When out of a clear sky, the bright

Sky over Japan, they tumbled the

death of light,

For a moment, it's said, there was

brilliance sword-sharp,

A dazzle of white, and then dark.

Into the cavernous blackness, as

home to hell,

Agonies crowded; and high above

in the swell

Of the gentle tide of the sky, lucid

and fair,

Men floated serenely as angels

disporting there.
 Nov 2013 Basko
Circa 1994
I like the way you twist your hair around your finger.
I don't think you realize you're doing it until someone points it out.
Like the way I bite my lips.

I never break a bad habit.
It just morphs into something else.
I started biting my lips
after I stopped biting my nails.

Your habit is a lot more charming than mine.
People often think I'm chewing on something.
Maybe I ought to go along with it.

Sometimes you twist me around your finger.
And I have to wonder if you realize you're doing it.

*I wonder what my next bad habit will be.
See The Future

The past can call you back in time
Just when you least expect
It tries to tell you what to feel
And how you should react

Dont give the past the time of day
Or let it rule your life
Dont let the past consume you
Or prevent you from whats right

Each morning when you wake up
Know that its a brand new day
You must leave the past behind you
And start your own new way

It's hard to see the future
If you're living in the past
The past has memories that are gone
The future, ones that last

See the future
..
Carl Joseph Roberts
 Nov 2013 Basko
Prabhu Iyer
In the stark valley,
by wheezing winds,
eyes puckered,
hope, gone afar:

solitary peaks

snow-capped at
summit, rising,
parting the clouds,
for opal skies.

An aspiration.
A lighthouse.
This 'picture poem' was spurred by a conversation with Victoria, on the appreciation of the vast and the bare in art...

Incidentally, the words 'gone afar' have a hallowed meaning in Mahayana Buddhisn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bh%C5%ABmi_(Buddhism)#The_seventh_bh.C5.ABmi.2C_the_Gone_Afar
 Nov 2013 Basko
Terry Collett
Helen and you
walked home from school
the long way
you wanted to show her

the man
in the pie and mash shop
cutting up eels
for jellied eels

or for the pies
how he would stand there
with his knife
and take up an eel

and holding it
firmly on a board
would cut off its head
and then proceed

to slice it up
into small pieces
and into a bucket
on the floor

and when you showed her
standing outside the shop
peering through
the window

she said
O my God
and put a hand
to her mouth

and spoke
through her hand
and added
poor eels

to end up
in someone's stomach
and the way
he cuts them up

and the pieces
still moving afterwards  
and she moved away
and walked up the road

still holding a hand
over her mouth
you don't fancy
pie and mash then?

you said
not with eels in it no
she replied
through her fingers

you smiled
not funny
she said
poor little eel creatures

yes I guess it is
a bit brutal
you said
but fascinating

to watch
I don't think so
she said
taking her hand

from her mouth
you both went under
the subway of the junction
she slightly

in front of you
her two plaits of hair
bouncing
as she walked

her green raincoat
tied tight about her
you whistled
so that it echoed

along the subway
bouncing off the walls
all along
the artificial lights

giving off
a surreal sensation
how can people eat eels?
she asked

just the sight
puts me off
don't know
guess they don't think

of it being eels as such
just as something to eat  
you said
you both came out

of the subway
on the other side
and walked along
the New Kent Road

by the cinema
she looking
at the billboards
through her thick lens glasses

are you sure your mum
doesn't mind
having me for tea?
she said

well we're not actually
having you for tea
we usually have
beans on toast

or jam sandwiches
she slapped your hand
you know what I mean
she said smiling

no Mum don't mind
you said
she invited you after all
I pleaded against it

but she wouldn't listen
you said smiling
Helen's face frowned
and she stood still

really?
she said
no I'm joking
you said

and she nodded her head
uncertainly
looking at you
through her glasses

I'm just kidding
you said
you touched her hand
she smiled

and you both walked on
and across the bomb site
the uneven ground
the puddles of rainwater

you your mother's son
and Helen
a lucky woman's
daughter.
BOY AND GIRL IN 1950S LONDON.
 Nov 2013 Basko
Sean C Johnson
Fall
 Nov 2013 Basko
Sean C Johnson
The wailing winds sear their caress in my memory
The cold of an eastern Pennsylvanian winter
Stinging yet rejuvenating, surrounded by ubiquitous gusts
This place is sacred, this hallowed ground
My toes rocking on top of the semi frozen hillside
Staring out across a chain or rolling hills and deciduous forests
Trees packed so densely together I see only one ever extending canopy of leaves
Seamlessly shifting colors as if on a whim
I feel small in this moment
Amidst the grand expanse of nature that has humbled my soul
The mist and lingering breath pouring from the nose of a horse tamed yet yearning for the open pasture
The clouds that soak up the pinks and blues of a setting sun
The wailing winds seared into my memory
I am home I am home.
 Nov 2013 Basko
maybella snow
my bones weigh more than my heart
nothing can lift me
i'm not strong enough
getting out of bed in the morning
an adrenaline shot might help
cut the skin here
slash it there
you'll wake up
enough
to fake the light in your eyes
flick the switch
act baby girl
maybe if you believe
there's nothing wrong
they wont notice

i had a break down
i told mum
how i was tired
i wasn't strong enough
to fake it
other days i'm okay
i can pull myself together enough
but today
on that day
i wasn't able to.
she sent me to school
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