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Insults do not hurt a woman who spends her time building walls—not fragile walls, not walls of fear, but walls forged from experience, patience, and iron resolve.

These walls are not meant to cage me; they are meant to shield me, to protect the spaces that are mine alone. To penetrate them requires more than words, more than empty threats, more than the shallow venom of a lapdog.

And you, honey… you are just that. A lapdog, kneeling at my mercy, begging for entrance you have neither earned nor deserved. You tremble in the shadow of my patience, and yet, you call it weakness.

Do not mistake my restraint for fragility. Do not assume that my silence is submission. I hear your whispers. I see your attempts. I feel your claws scratching at the gates, but you will not pass.

I do not welcome dog-biting attitudes, pawing, snapping insults, or claws of envy. I do not bend for theatrics. I do not bend for attention. My walls are high, my ground is firm, my gaze unflinching.

Every insult you lob at me, every mockery you think sharp, ricochets back to you, hollow and impotent. It is a noise in the wind, a shadow on stone. You have nothing to pierce me.

And yet, you persist. You think kneeling and whining, whining for recognition or forgiveness or entry, is cleverness. Sweetheart, cleverness is earned. Respect is earned. Not begged. Not begged from walls you cannot scale.

I have lived long enough to know the value of patience. I have fought long enough to know the power of restraint. And I have built long enough to know that those who try to tear walls down with words alone are already lost.

You do not frighten me. You do not tempt me. You do not matter beyond the amusement of observing your futile struggles. Your insults, like your ego, are a paper-thin veil over the hollowness you carry.

Every attempt to claw inside, every feeble growl of indignation, reminds me of the distance you must travel, the depth of strength you lack. I am not your playground. I am not your spectacle. I am not your conquest.

Do you feel clever when you bite, when you bark, when you think your words could wound? You mistake your venom for power. You mistake your envy for influence. You mistake your begging for strategy.

But walls do not bend for fools. Gates do not open for pawns. Respect is not purchased with groveling, nor loyalty won with empty snarls. And you, poor creature, have brought none of these.

Every hiss, every half-hearted barb, every shadow of a threat—insignificant. I sip my patience as you flounder. I count the steps of your climb, knowing full well that the summit is unreachable.

The strength of a woman is not in submission. It is not in rage alone. It is in knowing her ground, in holding her boundaries, in standing unbroken while others writhe in desire for access.

And I, standing behind walls built of foresight and courage, watch you tremble at the gates you were never meant to cross. You are not my equal. You are not my threat. You are merely noise in my ordered world.

Do you feel the sting of your own impotence? That even your insults, aimed with intent to harm, land as nothing but feathers against armor? That even your hunger, your desire to breach, is impotent against the fortresses of self?

You are here, begging, groveling, offering allegiance and venom alike. And yet, I remain unmoved, serene, untouchable in my domain. You are small. I am infinite.

Dog-biting attitudes have no place here. Insults are irrelevant. Your shadow cannot darken my sun. Your growls cannot crack my foundation. And your pleas cannot compel me to lower my gates.

I am the keeper of my own walls, the architect of my own strength, the sovereign of my own domain. And you, kneeling, begging, whining—you are merely a spectator, caught in the gravity of my power.

Insults do not hurt me. Venom does not sway me. Begging does not bend me. You are here, yet invisible. You are loud, yet unheard. And the irony is exquisite, the lesson inevitable: strength cannot be bargained with, walls cannot be breached by folly, and mercy is never owed.
Master of all lies. A man who cannot walk his talk is a fool. Sweetheart, you wear deception like a crown, but it is cracked, tarnished, and heavy upon your head.

You preach that gossip brings no wealth, yet you lap at every whisper, every rumor, every shadowy tale, as if it were gold dust falling into your palms. And yet, what have you earned? Not riches, not glory. Just enemies. Just the bitter taste of contempt.

Ah, I suppose I must be important then. After all, you spend your days, your hours, your every waking second, collecting fabricated stories as if they were treasures. Stories with no proof, no merit, no weight—yet you hoard them like a miser clings to coins.

Meanwhile, I hold a reverse uno card. I play when the time is right. I collect receipts, evidence, proof—a ledger of truth that outlasts your smoke and mirrors. I sip my piña colada in the sun, watching as the foolishness of your efforts collapses into absurdity.

You speak of honor, yet your tongue drips poison. You say discretion is valuable, yet you scatter secrets as if sowing weeds. How quaint, that you believe your duplicity is cleverness. It is folly, pure and unadulterated.

Every lie you tell is a stitch in the shroud you will one day wear. Every whispered rumor is a brick in the coffin of your credibility. You may not see it now, lost in your small victories, but it waits, patient and inevitable.

You paid attention to me, and in that attention, you thought to craft control. You spread my story as if bending it could bend reality itself. But reality, darling, is not yours to shape. It bends only to truth—and you are far from it.

You call yourself shrewd, a master of strategy, yet you cannot see that your currency is contempt. Haters, enemies, the shadows of those you slandered—they are your true legacy. Not millions, but resentment. Not respect, but whispers behind your back.

Be wise in investing your time. Time is the only coin that cannot be reclaimed. And yet, you spend it lavishly, casting venom where it serves nothing but your ego. Sweetheart, did you ever consider that silence and dignity could yield more than gossip ever could?

Some people pay back respect and silence. Quiet, unassuming, steadfast. They move through life with integrity, and their restraint becomes their armor. And others? Others pay back karma. Slowly. Deliberately. Remorselessly.

Do you feel clever now, as your words coil through circles, twisting perceptions, stitching shadows into my name? Do you not feel the weight of the eyes you cannot see, the judgment you cannot escape?

Your lies are like smoke. They drift, they burn, they suffocate. And yet, when the wind shifts, when the truth rises, you are left coughing, choking, grasping for a foothold that does not exist.

You cannot walk your talk. You cannot own your words. You cannot contain the chaos you so freely unleash. A man who spreads venom while preaching virtue is no master—he is a jester, dancing on the graves of his own dignity.

Haters do not build empires. Shadows do not create legacies. Gossip does not enrich the soul, nor the mind, nor the life. You trade ephemeral attention for permanent disgrace, and call it cleverness.

Do you hear it? The whisper of karma, patient, deliberate, circling closer with every lie, every manipulation, every act of malice. You cannot flee it. You cannot bribe it. You cannot charm it. It waits.

Time invested in venom is time wasted. Energy spent on deception is energy stolen from creation, from love, from truth. And you, master of all lies, squander both recklessly. Meanwhile, I sip my piña colada, receipts in hand, reverse uno card ready, knowing exactly when to play.

Some will remember your cruelty in silence. Some will repay it without words, letting the weight of justice fall unnoticed until it is too late. Some will let the universe itself deliver its verdict, patiently, with precision.

Sweetheart, you gained haters, not millions. You gathered contempt, not respect. And one day, perhaps, you will realize the truth too late: gossip is a currency the soul cannot spend, a poison the heart cannot digest.

Be wise in investing your time. Some people pay back respect and silence; others pay back karma. You will find which is yours, eventually. And when that day comes, the mask you wear will crack, the shadow you cast will falter, and your lies will finally meet their reckoning.

Master of all lies. A man who cannot walk his talk is a fool. And fools, darling, always pay their debts. Meanwhile, I drink my piña colada, collect my proof, and laugh quietly—because time and truth are mine, and yours are already running out.
 Aug 19
Joy Ann Jones
I've unpacked the moon
from her nightboard box
so many times
I've worn out the ribbons.
I've hung her up
where she couldn't be missed
unless you were
watching
TV.

After a time, however
things loosen. The moon falls.
That paper crackle under the boot
is the crumpled bonesnap of
last night's hopeful crescent,
broken like a shotgun
that has two black eyes for
what it scars
and always fires blind.

So I gave up being
a moon-hanger years ago.
Now I'm retired--fallen
by the way
some say-- too tired
to lift that heavy glow
or to reach a sky that high,
but I have gotten by
by being very good at
dodging bullets.




©joyannjones~October 2015
 Aug 18
Mike Adam
Rounded by salt and
Water rolling from
Tide to tide

Inviolate cipher of
All time
Fallen from molten skies

At the beginning

Holding all
Within your elliptical
Mystical mound
Of stone
 Aug 18
Agnes de Lods
We’re getting on this streetcar
without our permission.
Deciding every single day,
not to get out, just to survive,
until the next stop, the next breath.

Let’s pretend to be naive,
when the absurdity of norms
pushes us to follow the one-way track.

Please, look around,
see through rose-colored glasses,
how beautiful it could be!
Everything would seem easier
and more tolerable.

In this magical place,
we once called wishful thinking,
all the stars spark at night,
the rainbow shines all day!

Why must we be so practical,
when stray pieces intertwine,
forming a cohesive and unique whole?

Passing silently, unnoticed,
in the city of unseen lines,
in the depth of our hearts,
we dream that this tale
could end happily.

We, all Passengers,
craving more space
spreading our wings,
we are trapped in small cages.

In the streetcar called
Bare Existence
until the last trip,
until the last call,
we wish only
to be unconditionally accepted.
 Aug 18
guy scutellaro
the river has no voice.
blue sky no heart.
the swan trumpeting
in the black of night. my soul

longs to be far out
lost in the vastness of ocean.
nothing but rolling waves, grey dark sea.

(no mercy
from the swan's sad song.)

I want to vanish in a cabin in the woods
away from people

and caught on the dock at the lake
in the pouring rain,
i beg the rain,

she's crying
to me
to come to her.

heart of rain,
black phantom born of sorrow, wings whirr,
vanishing into the hush of night,
wings grow distant in flight.

the black swan a ghost light flickering.
she is the echo of every sad goodbye.
 Aug 18
TOD HOWARD HAWKS
There will come a time
when time doesn't matter,
when all minutes and
millennia are but moments
when I look into your eyes.
There will come a time
when clinging things
will fall like desiccated
leaves, leaving us with
but one another. There
will come a time when
the external becomes eternal,
when holding you is to
embrace the universe.
There will come a time
when to be will no longer
be infinitive, but infinity,
and you and I are one

TOD HOWARD HAWKS
 Aug 17
Tanisha Jackland
we betray
our bodies
fluid in nature
despite our bones

when we ****
the pure
waters with
rubber oil speak

we are She
dancing in
the blood
giving us life

remember Her
for She is the silent
waters within us
sometimes raging
sometimes calming

be soft and
whisper to Her with
a sacred tongue
then you shall
be blessed
with favor
 Aug 17
Tanisha Jackland
when men are good, and women are seen
and atom bombs are peace
it is nice to do the right thing
but the fear is obscene
for there is no room to dream
i am nothing without you

when talk is serious, and actions are sincere
and feelings are grasped
there would be a global cheer
but children believe in flying reindeer
for it is the sky that is clear
you are nothing without me

when plants can speak, and trees can sing
and touch can bring the dead to life
it would be such a holy thing
but truth has quite a sting
for what these words can bring
we are nothing without each other
 Aug 17
badwords
.[Voice like broken glass in a silk sock].

In the beginning, there was grit and stubble,
And morning’s mirror, cracked in gospel light.
He shaved with steel, not for the look—
But ‘cause the world don’t treat the soft ones right.

He wears a scent distilled from job rejections,
And legal threats scrawled red on unpaid bills.
Top notes: divorce. Mid notes: eviction.
Base note? Charcoal. Regret. And sleeping pills.

Hard-Life™—a fragrance forged in fights you lost,
In bar tabs paid with teeth and bleeding pride.
It lingers long, like silence after news,
Or knowing you were right—when no one died.

No citrus here. No dreams of Tuscan beaches.
No musk of gods, or mountain air, or snow.
Just smoke and bootblack, diesel, final warnings—
The scent of men too stubborn not to show.


.
 Aug 17
Susie Clevenger
In my desk drawer
are broken things,
bits of what were,
hopes of what could be.

It’s a journal without words
where a red paper clip
holds nothing together,
and a tape measure
never reached the length
of a bookshelf.

Tucked in a corner
is a faded love letter from my husband,
a few words about roses, and
how beautiful I was at seventeen.  

Sticky notes lay scattered
in confetti colors of green,
pink, yellow, and blue
waiting for ink instead
of just taking up space.

I should clean it out…
send most of it to a waste basket,
but not every treasure box holds gold.

Mine is a cluttered drawer
filled with broken things, the
archaeological site of a dreamer
with a catalogue of stories to tell.
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