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 Apr 2018
L B
I hadn’t meant to spy
just an evening’s walk along the beach
knowing that things are sometimes strewn there after storms
between a gust of wind—a break in clouds

Coming upon moonlight
gleaming on wet teenage backs
Two—
by a leaning erosion fence
fondling the last discoveries of childhood
fumbling with the barriers of her bikini
behind the erosion fence
out of sight and forbidding

Breeding like sea grass by rhizomes
prowling that neck, those *******
Gasping! Warring!
for the land of white warmth below their tans
His hands grip, lift, position, insist
By such undertow
mouths and hips pinioned in disbelief...

where they cannot be seen
two half-rounds in rhythm – struggle in the surge of being

as the surf binds them in refrains
about the ankles
Needing the ocean again.
 Apr 2018
Cinzia
Made from ground up leaf of
sassafras

taste like the bottom of the bayou
shrimp boil
smoke and gators

sprinkle it on stir it in
don't cook it or your gumbo
gets stringy-ew
Choctaws knew

FDA will tell you it's poison
like strong words
bad haircuts
keep sipping your KoolAid please

nothing but magic in filé
flavor of down-home voodoo
zydeco iron skillet cornbread
Mama knows what's good for you
 Apr 2018
Sjr1000
when the moon was
red
The ocean luminescent
she was a starry
eyed girl
with a northern star
and a direction to go

Epiphanies unfold
like ribbons in
the winds

Decisions
they come
in wishful
longing
or
careful planning

Throwing caution to the wind
she took the first boat to
the island.

There he waited, an
apprentice to an ancient art
Preoccupied and isolated

She of the northern
star
had a sense of
direction

Settling into a
parallel universe

They were like
two kiwi bushes
across a fence
3 years later in
vined embrace
Produced the fruit
that never ripened
and over night
was gone.

She took the
last boat back
the northern star was
encased in fog
But
the southern cross
She couldn't miss it.
 Apr 2018
zebra
sleep walking through you
dead brain with a hard ****

a man
all pretense
hiding behind your skirt
who hurt you like a cold razor bleeding
and who was hurt by you
like a bullet in the chest
your charms killer ray guns
making me collapse from the inside out
like a house in flames
screaming

left out of your dreams
oh dread
an empty shroud
with a charred mouth

who twisted your heart out
a man with a winter corpse for a soul
short ***** and dead tree eyes
who ravaged your bones
and ate your marrow with belligerence
crushing your fragrant garden
my feet pebbles and stones
trampling your bed
while you sped by me
in your new man's muscle car
sneering

you
a laughing hot *****
wearing cold silver sunglasses
and flaming lips
that ***** hearts

blacktop down
in a red fast car
like a rocket with fat Dunlap's
spewing
mud in my mouth

like me
he looked at other women endlessly
like rows of sprinkled cupcakes
for the eating
loving their form
imagining their slick glide
and wet kisses
insulting your tenderness
so you would believe in nothing
until you where an endless black pit
until i found out i needed you
and it was to late for us
your absence a lesson
that your presence could never teach
like snow in the summer

in youth, i was a deadbeat
somnambulist
struggling with angels and hellions
tedium and desire

i feel
remorse for all i have done
and did not understand
only now dusted white am i ready to love you
so please come to me
and we shall make a home
of this tortured cage
and turn it to
heavens tremulous kiss

i have finally learned my lesson
have you ?
 Apr 2018
kaycog
A child took a pair of crinkle scissors
to the construction paper horizon
and thus, formed the mountains
that jut out of the earth's crust
I have an old guitar named Gypsy Queen.  Normally this would not be much of a momentous occasion, lots of people name their guitars, but Gypsy is hand made by me.  Many moons ago when my ex wife was pregnant with my only child, a daughter, I took an adult education night class while I was attending college as a day job.  Our instructor had recently taken a trip to Canada to buy wood as he made his living building custom guitars and he had some of the most beautiful birds eye maple I'd ever seen and also some very good spruce for the top of the guitar.  We met at the local high-school's woodshop classroom.  I knew all the power tools there having taken wood shop twice in middle school and again in high-school.  From raw lumber I fashioned her pieces, sides, three piece back, neck, keyboard (made from some exotic ebony my instructor had), and top.  While my wife was patiently waddling about the house I shaped and sanded those pieces on our living room floor.  The interior struts, the binding, and frets for the keyboard had to be created as well.  When I finally got her glued and assembled she was quite a sight, almost perfect in every way, and the quality wood she was made from was so beautiful I had never seen the likes of her before.  Most of the people in the class didn't get that far not having the skills with the tools or the coordination necessary to succeed.  Still she needed to be lacquered and finished.  All told, special tools and accouterments, cost of the wood, glue and sandpaper, plus the frets (nickeled silver), and the grover tuning pegs she cost me about $160.  But almost 500hrs labor went into her creation, whole free weekends spent sanding and shaping.  It was a year or more before I finally got her lacquered and she was so beautiful I could scarce believe I had made her, totally from scratch.  I had even inlaid her mother of pearl keyboard art, god she was a sight.  Both she, and my daughter, are now close to 40 years old, and she still plays like a champ.  Ask any guitarist about guitars they use a lot, see how many survive that long.  She's my prized possession to this day.  Her custom bridge is shaped like a bird (something I've never seen to this day anywhere else) and I'd put her sound up against any expensive Martin made.  Plus she is so much prettier.  She's old and her finish is crackled some but her neck is still true and her action is superb.  Through the years she has brought me so much joy, I'm so glad I took that class.  I hope she survives till I die cause I want to mix her ashes with mine before they get spread around by my friends.  I'll want something to play in the afterlife.
...
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x370/toreinss/IMG_0325.jpg
Gypsy Queen my friend who knew I was such a good Luthier.  Beginners Luck!!!!

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x370/toreinss/IMG_0324.jpg
Said the sea to the shore “you don’t love me anymore
All the good times seem like long forgotten chores
While sunshine ***** my waters making rain
I’ll visit other shores where I have lain
Make trees and grass and flowers grow again
Make harmony with clouds the sky I lend
Yet your sandy walk I will forever tend
Though you forget it’s time itself I bend”

Said the shore to the sea “you truly take me wrong
We will touch throughout eternity in song
Though moonlight is the mate for which I long
We’ll touch your tides like members of your tong
Make swirling currents beautiful and strong
For time is but the mask where we belong”

Said the sea to the shore “take comfort in my lust
For I turn even iron and steel to rust
Like the oceans of night’s sky I will remain
To touch your soul with yet a new refrain
That we may yet be lovers once again”
Inspired by a youtube clip "the sea and the shore" featuring John Fullbright

https://youtu.be/5mdl6bcwG18
 Apr 2018
r
There was always a great darkness

moving out
like a forest of arrows

So many ships in the past

their bows bearing women
as stalks bear eyes

The burning ships

that drove their bowsprits
between the thighs of dreams

With my ear to the ground
I hear the black prows coming

plowing the night
into water

and when the wind comes up
I can smell the rotting wood

leaving a wake I want to be
left alone with

Night after night

like a sleeping knife
that runs deep through the belly

the tomb ships come.
 Apr 2018
James M Vines
A single voice spoke a truth. A solitary life started in his youth. Setting an example for all to see, he chose 12 students in Galilee. About a life they wrote many books. Lessons to live by and words that can save. So we must ask ourselves what can one person do. We can teach our children what is wrong and what is right. We can celebrate the solitary life. We can show kindness to strangers and live with mercy and love. It doesn't matter if you believe in a God above. Though some of the lessons he taught were said to be divine, he said you can't go wrong when you're being kind. So whether or not you believe that Christ is God Son, there are so many things that can be done. As one person you can change many lives. That's what a man named Jesus did Once Upon a Time.
Whether or not we believe that he is the son of God his examples of morality and social responsibility still resonate today.
 Mar 2018
Melissa S
When I think of trees
I think of strong, majestic, massive
but even trees
need help standing up...
Roots are amazing
they hold up the tree both physically
and by helping nourish it.
Asking for help from our roots
doesn't mean we are weak
We turn the rain into energy to sustain
Using the very tears from our cheeks
We should never be ashamed to ask for help.
Our loved ones or roots~ friends and family are there for support :) xo
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