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Josh Otto Mar 2011
Gatsby saw a green light across the bay.
I see a red one in-between the trees.
Josh Otto Mar 2011
The wind blows gently,
Whisking away with it all,
Except memories.
Josh Otto Mar 2011
15
a midnight cigarette in the wind
exhale
the wind blows the smoke back
stench
thinking it could have been avoided
return
what's that smell what were you doing
nothing
the lie reflects in the mud puddle and floating
ash
the wind saw it knows it
coughs
and
suffocates
Josh Otto Mar 2011
i
"It's over, isn't it?" You ask,
Unsure of what to do. Bask
In the glory of forgetting a
Fight, fulfilling what I would say,
Night coming to take me away,
For I cannot stay. Breakaway, nay,
My mind will not sway. Play
For the day I will say
And pray that I must get
Away. Away. Away. And never ask
In what way I did bask.

ii
But the words are cut short.

 iii
And someone else will die tonight,
This is simply the human plight.
We do not control, or know,
How we'll react to Death's scythe.*
Running up from behind, poked sides?
Charging headlong, blind, and teeth bright?
Or a chase, running shorts chafing?
But I have not finished wri-

iv
The fever is the cure, no?

v
I do not suffer, or
Make others suffer, yet
I am told that I am
Heartless, lack empathy,
Am mean. My rage speaks truth,
And the truth can help you.

vi
It's all in your head, right?
Contains excerpts from Isaac Lozano's "Six Words" which can be found here:
http://hellopoetry.com/#!/poem/six-words

*This is supposed to triple as scythe, the tool; sight; and sigh.

Still in progress.
Josh Otto Mar 2011
Three and a half beers into my night and someone is already trying to fight me. I leave, hoping to find some solace from the rain and darkness, and I hear a strange sound. A kitten--someone's pet--left for dead on the side of the road after some ******* hit it and drove off. I could do nothing for it but cradle it in my jacket until it stopped breathing. I dig a hole in the mud and lay it inside, gently, before covering it up with dirt and rocks and saying a silent, soft prayer. Then I smoke a cigarette and go back to the house where the same **** who tried to fight me is laughing about the stupid animal he hit on his way here. I can do nothing but look at him with pity until he notices me and hits me in the face. I feel the blood gushing from my nose and watch as three people try to restrain the guy and yell at him to calm down. I grab my ****, get in my car, and drive away. I roll down my window to have another smoke and realize that someone is right on my *** while I'm doing seventy, honking, flashing headlights, and screaming things at me. The car rolls up beside me, driving level, and I realize it's the same guy, but now he's trying to throw **** into my window. I slam on the brakes and turn down a side road, taking the first few turns I can. No sign of the other driver, so I relax a little--enough to get me thinking. Thinking that if we don't confront our problems and put them to rest, they will continue to haunt us in some way or another. When I sleep, I see kittens nuzzling up to me. When I wake, I'm surrounded by flashing lights and feel warm wetness trickling down my face. And I hear a familiar voice say: "No idea, officer. He was just swerving in an out of the lane. I was a good distance back. The bumper damage must have been from hitting the ditch."
This isn't really prosetry, but I felt it was more of a poem than a short story.
Josh Otto Mar 2011
Modernism:
Self-reflection.
Introversion.
"Reality" Television.
Mid-life Crises.
Subtle Meaning.
Symbolism.
Joyce, Nietzsche, Freud.
Pretentious Jerks?
Philosophers?
All-knowing and
Ready to stir
(the ***, that is)?
Self. Centered. Strife.

Views on persons,
Not our treatment.
Love and Sadness,
Not what's smashed.
Rage, anger, hate.
Oblivious
To the world
That surrounds.
Josh Otto Mar 2011
Im high on words
Their use and misuse
Connotations and denotations
The purity of them
But mostly
The fact that everyone understands them differently
You arent ever wrong
You just arent right in the way that is anticipated
And thats okay
Just dont obsess over it
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