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 Nov 2016
Kurt Philip Behm
The deeper the pond,
  the clearer the water

The older the wine,
  the richer the flavor

The longer the gaze,
  the sharper the picture

The fewer the words,
—less risk of conjecture

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)
 Nov 2016
Kurt Philip Behm
Am I the Poet that I used to be,
  or the Poet of tomorrow

Am I the Poet of this present moment,
  to own or then to borrow

Am I the Poet that I used to be,
  or the one I will become

Are my words fresh made or from seasons past,
—my spirit zero-sum

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)
Every second I live,
every breath I breathe,
every moment I exist.
I need You, Lord.

Every face I see,
every voice I hear,
every wounded heart.
Every soul I want to help.
I need You, Lord.

I need You, Lord.
Every minute.
Every hour.
Every day.
Every year.
For my whole life.
I need You, Lord.

I come to You in
my frail humanity.
Shine the Light of Your
face upon me.
For, oh, how I need Thee.
Inspired by the hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour," by Annie Hawks (1872).
 Nov 2016
Jay
Sadness becomes the clown
for humor is a reflex
and denial is breathing
and ease is a smile when one's secretly seething

Sadness becomes the clown
for punchlines are hits
and fools are martyrs
and what are mocked pains but conversation starters

Sadness becomes the clown
for laughter is weighty
and jokes are suppression
and comedic timing is a guise for depression  

Clowns give their all
day after day
while time is a pall of emotional decay
And they know it's inevitable
when the chips are down
that the clown becomes sadness
and sadness becomes the clown
 Nov 2016
Traveler
By a breach of trust
A now lost soul
You can't get back
What the Devil stole

I long to right
The wrongs of time
To be forgiven
For my worst crime

Yet for every moment
Every memory stained
No matter how apologetic
The blemish remains

Forgiven but not forgotten
The injured heart still grieves
No matter how long you spend
  Down on your knees...
Traveler Tim
 Nov 2016
Walter W Hoelbling
we have found each other
   across thousands of miles
   across different cultures and traditions
    
we have found each other
   among seven billion plus people
   on this globe

   finding each other
   was the easiest part

   strangers in the night

   staying together
   has been truly challenging
   at times

idiosyncracies
failures deficiencies fears
hopes wishes dreams
illusions and taboos
pieces of history from previous lives
   keep popping up at crucial moments
   in often Freudian transfigurations

   innocuous words
   may trigger convoluted memories
   freighten new contexts
      with old pain and sorrow

   a gesture
   a tone of speech
   a situation
   suddenly turn into déjà vu
   twisting their present freshness
      beyond belief
   into habitual frames of order

   the prisons of our pasts
   do not offer easy escapes

yet we have found each other
   among the billions on this globe

there is no other but the each
   to build a life together
 Nov 2016
Amy Perry
We are a generation,
Indeed, a nation,
Raised upon foreign warring.
Scapegoat aggravation.
Bushes and *****
Clamoring for horror and hoarding.

Conspiring against a population,
I watch through youthful aging.
With my childlike eyes, I see
The target they're blaming:
Afghan families having more
in common with me,
Working class American,
Than those transparent heirs
With the world's wealth and arrogance,
Ordering for the villagers' obliteration
Through boys from our nation.

We are a generation raised
On media sensation
Of militarized devastation;
Animal exploitation;
Technological manifestations
Providing privacy infiltration.
Material attainments;
Mental frustrations;
Fiat debt enslavement;
A nation entranced by
Senseless parading.

Tempting decadence and
Announcements with no evidence.
The September bounty of edifice
That fell with no hesitance
Still echo its unfounded,
Preemptive pretenses.

This murderous reign;
this senseless parade;
Advertisement cyclical
in their game of charades;
Dog on a chain;
Famine causing no pain.
Permissible opinions
To be solely maintained.

The damage, the waste,
The heinous race and class chase.
Oppression remains thoughtlessly dangerous,
As moral responsibility brings no attainments.
Chowing down on maimed millions
Bellowing from enslavement.

Fortunately, elder,
Rothschild, Rockefeller, or
Those above them whom
Remain blackened, faceless:
Resistance shall come
From all places, all ages.
Such as this generation of mine
Inheriting increasing complications,
With the type of America
You wish to keep in rotation.

I'll carry the flag containing
Your mistakes as a symbol,
To remind those behind me
What not to rekindle.

To the Boomer who stews
In your white collar suit,
Still refusing to shake
Your destructive pursuit,
Still asking me to lick
Off authority's boot:

Growing up in this nation,
With childhood innocence,
I grew increasingly aware
Of the land of such ignorance.
I had such thoughts since
Early adolescence,
I was not blind to larger lessons.
Only since supported by
Actual, factual supported confessions.

To the Boomer tied to his convictions,
Now will you see-
That isn't going to work
For us or for me.
I'll bring to this world
Whatever I please.
Which so happens to be
Truth, justice, and peace.
Sincerely, the Millenials
 Nov 2016
Amy Perry
If being stripped of liberty,
We owe no responsibility
To tethering our ties
To a system of lies.
Insanity, defined,
If we choose to read,
Means working to thrive
Through ways we won't succeed.

The system is broken.
Turn off the machine.
If doubt has not awoken,
Ask yourself, please:

Do you question many things
That you hear spoken?
Do you admit your own views
May contain false notions?
Does our culture retain
Unnecessary devotions?
Is government improving,
Bringing peace across oceans?

Emancipate from demands
Of societal bands.
Renounce the commands
And requests that don't stand
The test of your ability
To reason with civility.

A question is a "quest I on"
Not a destination.
It leads to many places.
Go ahead. Try it on.
Something I wrote a few months back. Might as well post it now rather than never. Losing a poem hurts.
 Nov 2016
penn
I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once, and cannot add up the sum.
There is something unknowable about you
a curse word, terrible and crude,
itching to be spoken, dancing on the tongue
flames licking the throat
hellfire blazing in eyes shrouded
by a palpable darkness,
bright as a falling star
catastrophic as a crashing comet
you are an altogether
beautiful and damaged thing
the weeping wound
and the blade itself.
 Nov 2016
Stefan Michener
leprechaun with riding cap
solitary sleeping avalanche
watch him tweeter on the edge
of fantasy round llama ranch

fall into an overture
shoot the applauding masses
wetter than the rabbits
cascading into molasses

dueling dollar and yuan
missives pointing to this guy
can't always get what you want
so shake your taxing habits

rocking and remembering
pay the peasant to do the deed
if you try some dimes
you get what you need

a lonely greta garbo hat
graces the desert dust
shining like new under the sun
pretending not to rust

hungry and thirsty,  
swallow another
hollow promise smiling; laughing
see them blindly follow each other

now the bones of our distress
blowing in circles like bits of dress
and jeans the skulls and jewels
don't walk run back to save a few more
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