John Edward Smallshaw

John Edward Smallshaw Jun 8

she says,
what man is
not full of
**** man

she
uses the word
man
a lot

it used to be the thing
when she was young
and full of
that thing
they call gullible.

Sun baked
skin caked
with the salt
from
oceans of tears
she
wonders where
the years
have gone

and says
**** man.

Jun 8

Nat Lipstadt

false face!

As HL Mencken put it,
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”

<>
You can drop that History course now

#false #face #history #lipstadt

Jun 8

Kyle Kulseth

Routine Maintenance (Dead Mechanical)

Leak into another night
     I am dead mechanical
Cut black lines into my skin
     Tattoo me with asphalt
Touch my face one time--kiss me goodbye with an insult
          I'm just fading tail lights
          It isn't my fault.

               Your fingertips are tracing something...
         And my reddened eyes are craving something...
     Some might hope for for the weather's improvement,
                        but, me?, I'm hard in love
                        with the cold front that's
                                     moving in.

Let me crawl across the sky--
     a skull coated in red wine.
The Titan's getting tipsy.
     I'm at home in the sweating night.
Cracked my ribs one time, kissing asphalt on Orange Street
          Then I had to stand up
                    screaming
      after sweating through sheets!

                My memory surrendered something...
            Your frozen face was mending something...
        Might have hoped for condition's improvement,
                        but, me?, I'm hard in love
                           with my aching--that's
                                     all I am.

Dead Mechanical
     Romanticize it.
Dead Mechanical
     I can't eclipse it!
Make me fiction, or ***** my fingertips.
     Let me lie. I am Dead Mechanical.

Fell in love with having nothing better to do than hate ourselves. Is it any wonder we hate each other, too?

#self #habit #friends #people #change #same #regret #relationships #hellopoetry

John Edward Smallshaw Jun 8

One thousand and one damnations ( for when the dogs crap on the floor )

Somebody talks
my ears are on fire
my eyes out on stalks
my skin starts to itch
wish I was rich?
oh
and one more oh to go
I'll use that oh later

You can never have enough 'ohs.'

Sunday
did you want a blessing
to get dressed up in
and go down praying?

and Jesus on the tambourine?

my dream is my instrument
of torture.

John Edward Smallshaw Jun 7

15 fathoms light

Drop me a line
with a hook
on the end
go on
let's pretend
when we both know
that
you don't give a..
..shucks
I didn't mean to write
shucks
but
you knew that
didn't you.

John Edward Smallshaw Jun 7

Medusa's hairdresser.

If you didn't get to where you got to
it's not you.

Someone out there is pretending to be you,
and has arrived at where you should have got to

it's true
but you won't believe it.

I should have got to a lot of places
but ended up in Benidorm
with the expats and pensioners
and those who were prisoners
back in the day.

I'm just rattling on here
battling against and not with
the fears that engulf you or
someone who pretends to be you

and me here
beside the sea
in chains.

John Edward Smallshaw Jun 7

Codswallop and chips

Those who have never been real in their lives
want to talk to you about real life.

cloud cuckoo springs to mind
signed on the dotted and sealed with wax,

lacking facts
they whitter on
regurgitating,
gouging out their right from the wrong

another song played out at 78RPM
crackles from the shellac
raising hackles on the broad back

but everything's bent
the wind doesn't have to blow
to sway us and we
know.