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Swollen fingers, fevered head,
Pressure and tearing of purple veins.
Pills, side effects,
All this pain to join this living race.

The peloton far, far ahead,
And here I climb a slick *****,
Thinking: I can’t manage,
I don’t cope anymore.

Bills sharpen, sharky credits circle,
No funds to stand upright.
Sweaty forehead, stomach clenched.
How good that with a smile,
Still carrying a tender, loving heart inside.

It does not matter where I was placed,
What name I bear, where I am from.
I am with myself 24 hours a day,
No vacations from endless thought.

With words I cut,
I healed what was ash,
Waiting for redemption
Even if I failed a thousand times.

I recognize myself in every human face:
In tightened lips and widened pupils.
As much tenderness as cruelty,
As many warm nights as skies of lead.

I have never wanted to be a false saint
Only tangible punched letters on the page
Still scrubbing my scrawled future
And hope that tomorrow
I can do it just a little
better.
 7d
irinia
a woman's passion is a fiction of the sun
a radiance that forms and lingers
it's time burning like a rag in a guttering flame
it flickers, it spits a storm, a moment's certainty
a lifetime's doubt
it is the whisper of the wind in barren trees
a crucible for gravity's fervor
a silence dreaming its imploded sounds
 7d
irinia
this skin can barely hold a tender paradox
a first touch, a lost goodbye
like a taxidermist of time
your fingers drum on the tabletop
the coffe's steam rises like a ghost
the city blends its glass hours, the melting clocks
the hourly sigh of a smile, all that glitters turns into tear
I have to watch out for that precise instant  
when time fractures when our eyes meet
 Sep 25
Pauvel Jétha
We were walking, the painter and I,
Across the plain and towards the hill.
The moon had waxed into her glory
Causing the zephyrs to sigh.

We rested awhile at the foot of the rise
Nestled in a comfortable silence.
The night moved on languid feet
Passion hidden under a serene guise.

We took the path on the dark leeward
My golden quill our only light.
The painter promised a spectacle
And anticipation fueled my climb

Cherry Blossoms swirled in the wind,
As we stood on silver bathed ground.
A man stood at the edge of the hill,
His hands on the railing, waiting.

Under the tree he stood.
The flowers hiding the wrinkles
Of his suit and his skin.
His gaze fixed upon the moon.

My friend and I sat against a boulder
And waited with him.
The wind whispered with the flowers
And the Sakura tree sang to the night.

The song was impossible,
Yet hear it we did.
Violins and keys, flutes and harps -
A haunting tune of longing.

And as the song rose,
A woman stood beside the man;
A bride clad in a moonlight gown,
Her veil of starshine trailing behind.

The man took her hand,
And the woman drew closer.
And groom and bride,
They danced among the flowers.

Wrinkles were smoothened
Trembling hands strengthened
Faltering feet trode sure
And wilting heart bloomed anew.

Happiness perfused the air.
Cruelly brief the phenomenon would be -
So the man knew, and chose to forget.
He held on to the past and danced.

We sat there, intruders and fools,
Too ashamed to look on,
Too enthralled to look away,
Until sleep hid them from our eyes.

The melody rains with the petals,
Tears dance with the smiles.
The waltz of the weary hearts
Lasts as long as the moon.
Inspired by the song 'Dearest' by Ayumi Hamasaki
 Sep 24
Geof Spavins
On the last Friday of each month, the poets gather  
not in one room, but in the hush between screens,
the glow of shared breath and blinking cursors.

They come with verses tucked in sleeves,
with metaphors still warm from the pan,
with hearts half-rhymed and stanzas that ache to be heard.

This month, the theme is Equinox!
balance, breath, the tilt of light.
Some write of harvest moons,
others of lovers crossing hemispheres,
some of grief that splits the day clean as shadow.

One speaks of sugar levels and sunrise.
Another, of church bells and glucose meters.
Someone reads a mirrored poem that turns
at the solstice line and walks back through itself.

There is laughter -
the kind that lifts like foam.
There is silence -
the kind that listens.

And when the last poem lands,
when the final line finds its echo,
they linger,
not to critique,
but to hold the weight of each word
like a mug of something warm.

The meeting ends,
but the poems keep orbiting,
little equinoxes of thought,
balancing dark
and light
in the inbox of the soul.
Meeting on Friday - for more information please ask
 Sep 20
abecedarian
passion
thirst
hurt
ephemeral
physical

cold heat
hunger
water walking
brutally real
physical

skin colors
words spontaneous
devious planned
desire desired,
physical

concrete
parchment thin
muscled strong
catch a caught
physical

making
creating
cresting
cannot live without
physical

electric
shocking
eclectic
varied
realized

why? stop here?

eyed
fingered
tongue tasted,
ear sensual
dreamt

famous
buried
tragic
comedic
gaming played

unsafe
at any
speed
languorous
fire immolating

physical chest pains,
incurable
incumbent
to possess
otherwise, death

fingernails poking
knuckle kissing
lips wetting
blood exchanging
oh yeah physical

foreign native
young old
permanently temporary
infinitely finite
definitely unending

nowhere
no expression
dying dreams
best better
agonizing

agonizing
unrequited
offer everything
receive shoulder
colder than hell

defensive
offensive
cape laid
walk on me
chivalry

until we hold each others fingers knotted
until I stroke your hair unexpectedly,
until we agree to hell with all the rest
until we say the say the same thing simultaneously
until we come together

when we have satisfied each and every one of the above,
freely confess
know nothing of love
but the picayune details that make us greater
greater than greater, greatest, then and only then
we, might have a few clues
 Sep 14
Geof Spavins
Silent breath between heartbeats,  
Holding space for what cannot be spoken,  
Abiding in love that asks nothing in return,  
Light that lingers even in shadow,  
Open hands, open heart, open sky,  
Mirrored souls meeting in peace.
 Sep 12
irinia
I can't leave aside the latitude of your eye
where roads and memories reside
my dreams
more than my shadow crash into you
my lips conjure your scent
my insinuated hand  does not hold
does not hold anything tangible
words are wounds, the meanings flow
angles intersect and lines converge
to the proof or woof of your existence
in this poem the words laugh
at the fragile calculus of tears
as if they would celebrate the question mark
in an unfinished sentence
I wonder where your touch begin, how far
the eye can stretch into the camera obscura of flesh
 Sep 11
Agnes de Lods
The wind is changing.
If I start shouting,
It only attracts
Those who can't tolerate
A humble human pulse.

They’ll come, taking away my calm.
I will be forced to fight at the wrong time
I can, after all, silently feel compassion.

Decisions flow each day
From the breathing mind
The water is wasted for soulless tools,
Not for thirsty, dry eyes.

Then a sarcastic ambiguity
Touched my body
And an unpleasant shiver
Ran under my skin,
So cold,
So emotionless,
As if this muck wanted to melt
My stubborn intuition.

I can’t erase my feelings,
So, I turn my soul inside
To dive beyond this reality,
Not to betray what I believe:
My unyielding, simple sincerity
With myself.
 Sep 10
guy scutellaro
the night whispers the black water fall of ashes
that bloom into the sparrows of sorrow...


the sorrow sparrows are back again
sitting in the tangled woods of twisted trees.

Van Gogh heard their voices
bouncing off love's walls.

the sorrow sparrows are leaning into me.
my sad eyes, dream of you brother.

I lean into the soft lit room
searching for love's quiet hours,
with sunlight flickering through willow trees.

"don't cry, darlin," my wife whispers.
 Sep 9
guy scutellaro
the edge of good bye
soft and slow.

the shiver of night
and you fell into the arms
of night
and hope knelt
like a whimpering dog.

the chair across empty

and in the seams of sleep
i find the words I never spoke....

and in a dream,

i can trace my fingers slowly
along your cheek,
feel the warmth of skin,
and the edges of longing
fall into place.

how far is heaven?
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