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Goes the bell flashing in the skittering crowd.
Surrounded by a ghost town, abandoned and forgetful.
Lined paper flutters through the hallway.

Empty cinder-block walls tower over the laminate,
Windowless cubbies cling onto their half-working outlets.
Irritation pulses in a scurry from jaw to wrist and ankle.

Aimlessly meandering through the tallied ceiling tiles,
Tired eyes weigh heavily on a ***** blackboard.
As empty seats are filled.
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I was on a train from
Paris to Amsterdam
and with an empty page
a sad smile and a pen
she was looking out
the window across
the apple green fields and
into the valleys of cobbled
villages and ****** churches
and as the dead air of Paris
was leaving my mind
I began to read the reflection
of questions in her eyes
I wanted to tell her what
she already knew
that the answers are in
the rhythm of the rails
and to only underline
the words that matter ...
Clay.M

Tip Tap Tip Tap Tip Tap Buzz Buzz Ring
Dancing light filters through the balcony
Drifting through the choppy air twirling
Another leaf drops onto the concrete
Brought by the feather of a small bird
Chirp Chirp Chirp follows a telegram’s
Stringing words racing to the finish line
To grow beside you nurturing the mind
Then your stomach by a thousand leaves
Eat the love you poured into the ground
Watching it blossom into a giver of life
Now returned is your efforts multi-fold

I sat on the edge of a teacup,
Spinning, spinning in a saucer,
My feet dangling in the boiling,
Tea-stained water—wondering
If it were better to fall forward
Or backward.

I said convince me you love me, and you say keep this only in the mind
But you forgot that I wanted something concrete, written, and left for all to find

I said convince me you love me, and you say here is a page I filled out
But I thought you would prove more devout

I said convince me you love me, and you say here are the words you requested it’s finished
But you let typos into your letter and fill it

I said convince me you love me, and you say clichés are to be condemned
But cliches are only cliches if you care to say them

I said convince me you love me, and you say words restated depreciate
But words never said leave me with nothing to appreciate

I said convince me you love me, and you say here is an idiom I don’t think you’ll get
But you weren’t supposed to make me upset

I said convince me you love me, and you say thanks
But you should have said I love you, you shouldn't have left any blanks

I said convince me you love me, and you tell me your words have been chosen carefully, casually, and with the intention of being a fleeting moment of the present
But I did not feel that

I said convince me you love me,
But I am unconvinced