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Never quite content alone,
Never at home in a crowd.
Silence frightens us, and
So does being loud.
Never here nor there, but
Discontent in the present.
Longing for the past,
We crave a different future.
Lines in the equal sign
Make them all wavy
Approximate
How we
The people
Go crazy
The proud,
Mighty, prosperous,
Virtuous
Free
We’re the ones
Tribal discord
Interminably
Comes between
Splits the seams
Sees us
Misanthrope
And if ever there was
A more
Perfect
Disunion
I’d sooner
Strive for it
Than see it in
Ruins
Aquí paz,
y después gloria.
Aquí,
a orillas de Francia,
en donde Cataluña no muere todavía
y prolonga en carteles de «Toros à Ceret»
y de «Flamenco's Show»
esa curiosa España de las ganaderías
de reses bravas y de juergas sórdidas,
reposa un español bajo una losa:
                                                                paz
y después gloria.
Dramático destino,
triste suerte
morir aquí
                      -paz
y después...-
                              perdido,
abandonado
y liberado a un tiempo
(ya sin tiempo)
de una patria sombría e inclemente.
Sí; después gloria.
Al final del verano,
por las proximidades
pasan trenes nocturnos, subrepticios,
rebosantes de humana mercancía:
manos de obra barata, ejército
vencido por el hambre
                                             
-paz...-,
otra vez desbandada de españoles
cruzando la frontera, derrotados
-...sin gloria.
Se paga con la muerte
o con la vida,
pero se paga siempre una derrota.
¿Qué precio es el peor?
                                                  Me lo pregunto
y no sé qué pensar
ante esta tumba,
ante esta paz
                            -«Casino
de Canet: spanish gipsy dancers»,
rumor de trenes, hojas...-,
ante la gloria ésta
-...de reseco laurel-
que yace aquí, abatida
bajo el ciprés erguido,
igual que una bandera al pie de un mástil.
Quisiera,
a veces,
que borrase el tiempo
los nombres y los hechos de esta historia
como borrará un día mis palabras
que la repiten siempre tercas, roncas.
Just a note to say I'm sorry.
Please let it go don't worry.
Everything will end up well.
Kiss Kiss from eternal hell.
(NaPoWriMo Challenge: April 2, 2019)

What is it we’re doing among parodies and spoofs,
gardening statements and occupational gloom,
pickling our scorn and passive reproofs
around tables in dreary workrooms?
What is it we’re trying at the end of the day
before we climb into our sports cars and utility vans?
We don’t care a whit anyway
for the scopes and the archives and the myriad plans,
for dependents and despondents who pay us no rent,
for the annual declarations we mostly mimed.
The paycheck is dwindling and mostly spent.
The spirit has already been fined.
We are twisting ourselves around hemispheres.
What are we doing here?
Prompt: End with an open-ended question, provide lack of closure.
A magic spell to undo fear.
A charm to make care disappear.
An invocation against desolation.
An elixir for agitation.
Just three words I swear are true–
to repeat three times–”I love you.”
It works!
Don’t let it settle
The thoughts into place
Lest you linger too long
In contemplative space
And let dwelling
Impel you
To stay in suspension
Remain in a state
Of immense
Apprehension
A tension
That stretches
And pulls you
Apart
Discontentment
Embitters
And sours
Your heart
Until want for not
Need no companion
Engagement
Embrace your relationship
Sinking estrangement
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                             A Wedding Dress at Goodwill

Long lost longings along a dusty rack
White for purity in her tender years
Backless for a slender, suntanned back
Now stained with disappointments and angry tears

Did she wear it happily that first night
Share champagne kisses passionate though shy
Then slip it off slowly for his delight?
A pause, a touch, an answering touch, a sigh…

Why did she bin it, happy memories and all
That day she received a telephone call?
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