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of skin, arms, legs, and
chin. The only thing
that grows is the hair and the nails
on my fingers and my toes. I take

this prison with me
as I leave.  I paint it with golden
glossy dyes and red polish. So, it shines
over the men that befriend and

abolish. Most don’t see this
cage. It fits me as I age. I can fly. But
I'm not free. I can travel the world
But I take this little girl curled up in a ball

and flung around my shoulders
as a shawl with me. And she weeps. So, I wipe
her eyes with sunflowers and rose gardens
till it looks like we're pardoned. That's key.
She is gone…
swiftly, silently,
like the fading light

Settling into
my memory
like a thousand yesterdays

Taking what I
would never give,
leaving only heartache

Crossing love’s
forbidden line
—never to return

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)
Sleek and clean
wide of beam
what a dream

I'd like
to sail on her.
My reflection on the river that they say,
goes on forever,
so, will I go on forever too?
or
will I run until the sun has dried me out?
Tuning letters like strings
the words are reformed
The rhyme and the meter
the rhythm reborn

Each vowel and each consonant
together in line
No commas or periods
to block or confine

The meaning inherent
and left unexplained
restated once over
a blinding refrain

To put in the file
the future in bold
the verses in couplets
—the reading on hold

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)
When death sent out its calling card
the heavens came in view
Psalms to reach the Angel’s ears
one voice had broken through
Grace within her every word
each feeling soul infused
Patsy singing from above
—to bless the chosen few

(Remembering Patsy Cline: May, 2022)
Rest assured in the knowledge you are
—without having to know why

(Dreansleep: May, 2022)
<~>
Pradip Chattopadhyay:
“I think of death now, but more than that, the life I left behind.”

this is like gray hair,
one day, just there,
lower back pain, joins the train,
this retrospection inspection,
seasonal,
neither spring summer or winter,
just a unique fall,
like gray hair,
appearing slowly,
surprisingly unsurprising.


there is no wisdom herein,
just timed capsule release
decay.
the weaker the eyesight becomes,
the squinting routine,
we see every moment,
through a rearguard retreat.



did we win, or just
stalemate?
we cannot accept
the sense of lost,
so squint harder,
for looking ahead
is refused
for that is a neutral state,
facing backwards
is the only warranted
directive,
that you must, must
take to make hard
judgement.
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