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 1589° 
RedMushrooms
They come in many
Shapes and sizes
Some are white
Some are pink
Some are brown
and others are purple
Some you can't see
Some are thick
Some are thin
They might even hurt
One thing that they
All have in common is
that they all have a story.
Whether it's from
Climbing a tree
or from crashing a car
maybe it wasn't an accident.
Thought no matter what
Every
Single
Scar
Is beautiful
No matter what you say
or other people say.
They are as beautiful
As the sunset
over the ocean.
 965° 
Aaron Beedle
The news is a c#%&
That son of a b@#$!
They don't give a f$%!
about talking s&#@
That girl is a s!@$
and that dude's a d!@&
But I blame this boll@&$s
On tabloid pr!@&s
I hate the news. I didn't put much effort into this one, I just wanted to give it a try. I'm pretty sleep deprived today due to drinking tea too late and having to get up to *** 3 times in the night.

Why does my body retain so much tea?

Why does it burn so intensely?

I must eat biscuits to cope with the unpredictable nature of tea.
 965° 
Kate
You can’t eat money.
Not when every river has dried up. Not when every tree has burned, its ashes coating the sky—when our children think it’s snow.
Not when the world is too hot to inhabit. When our scarred bodies bear the marks of explosions nearby.
You can’t eat money.
Not when our teeth have fallen from the radiation.
Not when our fingers are gone, our brains decimated—our regret the only thought we have left:
How did we let this happen?
not when it’s all that is left.
 870° 
lia
I don’t even know him well,
But there’s something in the way I fell.
A glance, a laugh, the way he stands,
And now I’m stuck in daydream plans.

He doesn’t know, and that’s okay,
I watch from just a step away.
It’s nothing big, no spark, no rush,
Just a quiet little crush.
 803° 
Mary Huxley
You ever feel like you’re talking
but no one’s listening?
Like you’re throwing words out
into a sea of silence
and they’re just sinking?

I tried to tell you once,
but you never asked the right question,
never stayed long enough
to catch the part of me
that was unraveling.

So I kept quiet,
held it all in,
but it didn’t disappear,
it just grew louder inside.
Isn’t it funny?
How the things we don’t say
get the loudest.

I could tell you all the things
you’ve never asked me,
but would you want to know?
Would you hear it if I said,
"I’m scared you’ll leave if I speak my truth"?
Or is it easier to stay in the space
where we pretend we’re okay?

I think we both know
the truth is something we avoid—
not because it’s a lie,
but because it’s a weight we’re not ready to carry.
So, we tiptoe around it,
dancing on the edge of the words
we’ll never say.

But one day,
maybe I’ll stop waiting for you to ask,
and I’ll say it all anyway.
And maybe that’s when we’ll finally listen.
 705° 
D
Following the tracks,
I pick up the scent of everything that attracts hate.
The smell is pungent and bitter, like a rotten apple.
But I’m going hunting; I’m the hunter.

It’s a watershed moment when the villains rouse their cheers.
A paradigm is built from the ruins of fallen heroes.

They sing their songs,
Praising the things they’ve razed with their iron shackles,
Honed with a need to peck the bone.
They scavenge off the sick and mad.

But I’m the hunter, and I’m going hunting.
I follow in shadows,
Watching with purpose.
Should the city cry out,
I’ll bring the game.

Feed a future—
Full of the fruit of the garden.
Wearing snake skin,
I’m alive in the light of enlightenment.
And I’m a hunter, and I’m going hunting.
 626° 
Adam Torch
I thought we would be done by now.

But I keep finding more of you
between the lines
and more of me
between the letters.
letters love
 612° 
preston

There are paths you don’t choose
but find yourself on,
waking one day to realize
you’ve left the voice that once
called you home.

There are people—
beautiful, bruised,
who touched the hem of healing

and stepped back

as if love would demand too much.

And I wonder how God handles
the slow disaster
of the almost-return.
The ones who knew,
who felt,
who started to lean in—
but didn’t.

Does He grieve
like a father who watches
his child walk past the open door,
too ashamed to knock?

Or does He simply wait—
unmoving,
unchanged,
burning with a stillness
only eternity understands?


Because I still ache
in the temporary.
I still hold their names
in my prayers
like broken glass
pressed into palms
that would have held them whole.



God help me
 574° 
Travis Green
His hazel eyes
A dynasty of enchantment
Shimmering ever so pleasingly
Rendered me speechless
Had me entwined
In his spellbinding design
Delighting in his inviting work of art

I was lost in his honeyed, iridescent eyes
Utterly lovestruck by the depth
Of his unprecedented affection
His splashiness pulled me into him
With a passionate force

His enchanting manliness
Surrounded me completely
His resplendent existence
Glistened like the exquisite seas

He was a seamless symphony
Of sweet, heavenly dreams
An immense kingdom
Of endless enchantment

A hypnotic poem that charmed me to the core
A man so extraordinary
He seeped into my system
Wrapped me in the unyielding tenderness
Of his masculinity
 474° 
Poetato
I wish we never met
Even if fate led us there.
I wish we never talked
Even if the words came easy.
I wish we let silence win
Even if the conversation pulled us in.
I wish we never saw the signs
Even if they glowed so bright.
I wish we never felt that spark
Even if it burned so right.

But everything happened
And still, I wish I could turn back time
Even if I would never know you at all.
 401° 
Jimmy silker
I like the word preternatural
It's like a bridge between
The achievable
And the functional impossible
What we all might do
Versus some Hellraiser ****
The step that says
I can't believe
You got away with it.
 314° 
Tommy Smith
her
she was tranquility in the morning’s early,
  moonbeams dripping red lights
and her eyes shifting softly,
she’s my favorite time of day when she smiles and moans
whispers and sees
she’s my favorite time of day
wrapped in moonbeams
dripping red lights
in my solitude and hers
my peace
   in her...
 279° 
Nêijî
To love and to be loved,
Oh how lucky one is to have both.

A warmth that neither time nor tide
Can wear away or coax to loathe.
 276° 
Abi Winder
if i were dead,
what circle of hell would i call home?
~
April 2025
HP Poet: Nishu Mathur
Age: 54
Country: India


Question 1: A warm welcome to the HP Spotlight, Nishu. Please tell us about your background?

Nishu Mathur: "I was born in Delhi, a somewhat chaotic yet majestic city with an interesting and rich historic past. Had a lovely childhood and loving parents. Simple, honest and hard working folks. My late father was with Indian Airlines (senior executive management). My mum is a retired Professor. She taught in Delhi University for 41 years. I have a younger brother who is an economist/ professor. I spent a few years in NYC as a child in the 70s. Impressionable years. My love for reading started in school in NYC. We moved back to India in 1979. Did my undergraduate and Master’s in English Literature from Delhi University, St. Stephen’s College. I used to be a voracious reader. Read a lot till I was in school. Had finished reading most classics by the time I was in 10th grade. After that, I started reading contemporary works.

My husband is a technocrat. I have two lovely, kind-hearted daughters, one is an investment manager and the other, a budding lawyer. We love dogs. We had an adorable saintly pug, Now we have two incorrigible beagles.

I have travelled a bit. I have lived in Japan and Canada for a few years and have stayed in different cities in India. I have met incredible people from all over, experienced different traditions and cultures. Learned so much.

I used to teach once upon a time. I’ve also worked as a corporate trainer. Now I work as an editor and content creator for a non profit organization."



Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry?

Nishu Mathur: "I wrote a bit as a child. Then for a little while around 2000. But finally, I really started writing when I took a break from work in 2011. Have been on this site for almost 9 years. I posted my first poem on Hello Poetry in 2016."


Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you).

Nishu Mathur: "Nature — trees, flowers, the sun, the moon. A moment in time. Something I read that I love. Memories. Something around me that I notice that leaves an impact. I used to write happy-go-lucky, cheeky poems too. Really silly stuff. I once wrote a poem on Indian moustaches. On double chins. Mosquitoes. I wrote parodies. Would love to get back to writing poetry like I used to.

I mostly write when I am at peace. For the longest time I found it hard to express sadness and grief. But I think I am getting over that."



Question 4: What does poetry mean to you?

Nishu Mathur: "Poetry is my go-to-place. A friend, a companion. It is a feeling. It is catharsis. It inspires. It is an outlet for creativity. I am very happy when I am able to write something. I feel rejuvenated. Like I can breathe.

I have learned a lot about poetry over the years. Poetry has also given me an opportunity to know myself and others better.

A poem can say so much in a few words. We can all have our own takeaways and interpretations. Words become magical and beautiful when woven together in poetry. I find that fascinating.

I am not a big talker. So I find happiness and comfort in written words. Poetry helps me to connect with people — thanks to online websites such as HP."



Question 5: Who are your favorite poets?

Nishu Mathur: "Rumi, Emily Dickinson, Vikram Seth, Maya Angelou, Ruskin Bond, Wordsworth, Yeats, Shel Silverstein, Pam Ayres. I love reading the work of fellow poets too."


Question 6: What other interests do you have?

Nishu Mathur: "Besides poetry, I enjoy music. I am trying my hand at painting. I love walking, going for long drives. I used to love travelling but haven’t been able to travel much these past few years. Love watching feel good, happy movies."


Carlo C. Gomez: “We would like to thank you Nishu, we really appreciate you giving us the opportunity to get to know the person behind the poet! It is our pleasure to include you in this Spotlight series!”

Nishu Mathur: "Thank you Carlo for Timetabling me and for your support. Grateful for the encouragement and inspiration I have received and continue to receive from this wonderful community of poets on Hello Poetry."




Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed coming to know Nishu a little bit better. We certainly did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez

We will post Spotlight #27 in May!

~
 226° 
Dan R
You are my tangerine,
Brimming bitter-sour
Across the wretched, dusty room.

And you brought me
An orange touch of sun
Glitter glowing on my skin.

To wake wide in the morning,
Curtain dances with fresh air
Into my smoker's lungs.

Even to my deathbed remains
The scene of you that will
Leave me between the walls

Of longing and regret.
And to my morning sunlight,
I will never become better.

I say to you, my tangerine,
You are my very will to live,
And to die, if I cannot save you.
 213° 
Debbie
Infinitesimal,
we stand beneath the sun
of a gargantuan world.

Heart is born in a locked cage of bone.
Prisoner to it's rabid desire not to be alone.
Love is the crux in what feels like emotional infinities of searching.
Pure unconditional love annihilates doubt's obsessive lurking.

Grains we are, yet with heart's that extend so vast and far.
Reading sacred eternity in the shimmering language of the stars.
For every yearn, the epic answer is love.
 199° 
Kai
I've been lately writing poetry!
Oh? What do I see?
A perfect poetry site waiting for me!
First poem, proud of it!
Oh? Someone in my messages?
This guy seems sweet
And he's hoping I don't get beat!
Pretty songs for me to listen to!
And a drunk man messaging me...?
“You're only making yourself a victim because you're cutting yourself"
Oh? Okay- thanks for the paragraph/drunk rant?

Shining lights on all of my latest poems?
Thank you! You're so sweet!
….oh…talking to me about pedophiles…got it…
Why are there so many sad songs?
WHY DOES THIS MAN HAVE SO ****** MUSIC TASTE AGGGHGDGFGCC

Oh? You wrote a poem about the 764 and absolutely humiliating them?
Great! Good job!
…But uhh… why and how did they make a virus only going after your followers that are minors? Not funny!
Why is this man warning me if they threaten me? Is he trying to make me scared on purpose?
Blaming the Japanese for this virus now, huh?
Oh? Now blaming someone else named Pax to be part of the 764? Crazy

…. going to another website? But you're so fun!
May as well click on the link you sent me so I can join you

Drunk rants with me? That's okay!
Giving me gold so I can freely make poems?
THANK YOU SM
Daily texting
2-10 hour sessions
Why are you drinking everyday?
You're making me concerned for your health
I told you to stop drinking, papa
You promised me you'd stop
All you did was keep on drinking

Commenting on every poem I made
Oh? So suddenly I'm a “nasty *****" when I have done nothing to you? ありがとう!
We have a suicide pact now?
I'm going off the bridge first?
Don't mind if I do

Oh? Another poetry site? Okay…
I really don't like the way this site works, can't we just message each other with email?
Yes? Yay!

People bullying you on the internet? That's not okay!
Why would they accuse you of being a *******?
Letting me join an uncensored group to back you up? Great!
Sending me to a Reddit page to back you up?
Alright!
….oh … they warned me and I didn't do anything….
******* this man is an actual *******…..
gotta go fast like Sonic
pack my bags and leave

Oh? I betrayed you? Crazy
We were just friends
Can you stop spitting my name everywhere?
It's like you're so obsessed with me
Stop trying to be the Eminem to my Mariah Carey
Made a poem about you and you HAD to take it down?
Never thought you'd want to hide your identity THAT hard
Oh? Betting on my suicide now, are we?
Sending me multiple emails, desperate for me to come back to him?
I'm not that ******* naive or gullible
It's crazy if you think that about me
…I did tell you to send those photos of your cut open arms but I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND DO IT

Being racist?
“Japshit”?
Why are you so obsessed with my Chinese genes?
“I thought I can use Kai because of her Chinise genes because the Chinise was known to be very good spies. ☝️🤓" へー! Didn't know that!
Also, that's not how you spell Chinese, my fellow kind sir
Threatening people to come to America with a Katana and slice us to pieces
So envious, I see
You're just mad because we have a little bit more freedom than your drunk *** does

Oh…. Talking to me about ****
Got it
Thanks
I didn't need to be taught about METART or some **** like that
I'm only 12 years old
You ***** *****

Well…this is the aftermath
There it goes out to all of you:
Ghost
RGH
Ryan Geoffrey Hayward
Nephilim Angel
Nephalem
Rose White
Rose Red
Jacob Lives
Hybrid Angel
Tormenter
Bread Crumbs
The Machine
Dirt-In-My-Shirt
Soul Unknown
And etc. ENJOYERS

(Btw, all of these names are RGH's names so if you have these names, please don't feel targeted! The person knows who they are.)

EDIT: ILY ALL SM!!! I DIDN'T THINK THIS POEM WOULD GAIN THIS MUCH ATTENTION BUT I'M HAPPY THAT IT DID!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) I'M GOING TO VIRTUALLY KISS EVERYONE ON THE CHEEK ONCE THEY READ THIS... or just virtually hug you, yk, whatever you're comfortable with
 181° 
Immortality
It was dark in cave,
the air felt cold—inside out.

He held her
as if she were glass,
a lamb
in the arms
of a wolf midnight.

Outside
the sky wept,
but inside us
a flower bloomed—
in April.
I turned 18 today! Ahhhhhhh, happy birthday to me!! Thank you all so much for the love and support. I still can’t believe I’m 18 now. I’ve been ill for a few days, so this birthday hasn’t been the most enjoyable. On top of that, I’ve been caught up with academics too. I’m really thankful for everything I have, but I also want to keep improving and become a better version of myself. I have the best family ever, couldn’t ask for anything better, tbh.
Vois-tu comme le flot paisible
Sur le rivage vient mourir !
Vois-tu le volage zéphyr
Rider, d'une haleine insensible,
L'onde qu'il aime à parcourir !
Montons sur la barque légère
Que ma main guide sans efforts,
Et de ce golfe solitaire
Rasons timidement les bords.

**** de nous déjà fuit la rive.
Tandis que d'une main craintive
Tu tiens le docile aviron,
Courbé sur la rame bruyante
Au sein de l'onde frémissante
Je trace un rapide sillon.

Dieu ! quelle fraîcheur on respire !
Plongé dans le sein de Thétis,
Le soleil a cédé l'empire
A la pâle reine des nuits.
Le sein des fleurs demi-fermées
S'ouvre, et de vapeurs embaumées
En ce moment remplit les airs ;

Et du soir la brise légère
Des plus doux parfums de la terre
A son tour embaume les mers.

Quels chants sur ces flots retentissent ?
Quels chants éclatent sur ces bords ?
De ces deux concerts qui s'unissent
L'écho prolonge les accords.
N'osant se fier aux étoiles,
Le pêcheur, repliant ses voiles,
Salue, en chantant, son séjour.
Tandis qu'une folle jeunesse
Pousse au ciel des cris d'allégresse,
Et fête son heureux retour.

Mais déjà l'ombre plus épaisse
Tombe, et brunit les vastes mers ;
Le bord s'efface, le bruit cesse,
Le silence occupe les airs.
C'est l'heure où la mélancolie
S'assoit pensive et recueillie
Aux bords silencieux des mers,
Et, méditant sur les ruines,
Contemple au penchant des collines
Ce palais, ces temples déserts.

O de la liberté vieille et sainte patrie !
Terre autrefois féconde en sublimes vertus !
Sous d'indignes Césars maintenant asservie,
Ton empire est tombé ! tes héros ne sont plus !
Mais dans ton sein l'âme agrandie
Croit sur leurs monuments respirer leur génie,
Comme on respire encor dans un temple aboli
La majesté du dieu dont il était rempli.
Mais n'interrogeons pas vos cendres généreuses,
Vieux Romains ! fiers Catons ! mânes des deux Brutus !
Allons redemander à ces murs abattus
Des souvenirs plus doux, des ombres plus heureuses,

Horace, dans ce frais séjour,
Dans une retraite embellie
Par le plaisir et le génie,
Fuyait les pompes de la cour ;
Properce y visitait Cinthie,
Et sous les regards de Délie
Tibulle y modulait les soupirs de l'amour.
Plus ****, voici l'asile où vint chanter le Tasse,
Quand, victime à la fois du génie et du sort,
Errant dans l'univers, sans refuge et sans port,
La pitié recueillit son illustre disgrâce.
Non **** des mêmes bords, plus **** il vint mourir ;
La gloire l'appelait, il arrive, il succombe :
La palme qui l'attend devant lui semble fuir,
Et son laurier tardif n'ombrage que sa tombe.

Colline de Baya ! poétique séjour !
Voluptueux vallon qu'habita tour à tour
Tout ce qui fut grand dans le monde,
Tu ne retentis plus de gloire ni d'amour.
Pas une voix qui me réponde,
Que le bruit plaintif de cette onde,
Ou l'écho réveillé des débris d'alentour !

Ainsi tout change, ainsi tout passe ;
Ainsi nous-mêmes nous passons,
Hélas ! sans laisser plus de trace
Que cette barque où nous glissons
Sur cette mer où tout s'efface.
 159° 
matt r
soundless scape
(take me to Her)
travel,trapse
cross starful terror
candescently sing
(one last goodbye)
She'll be thinking
Him, not Her&I
 152° 
D
Little laddie was a baddy,
Broke the rules -
Missused daddy's tools
Chucked rocks at fools
Watched as brother rocked a squirrel
Brother socked a loser
But mummy wasn't a soother.

Tooth fairy principled
Knock-Loose discipline
Lost tooth hits the porcelain
Another root dug out
Pick out the weeds
And let the rot grow from trees

Laddie in a playground
Abandoned by the swings,
Inert babbling,
Whistling through the gap
Where his teeth once yapped

Aghast,
A wolf approaches
Jiggling a bag of mummy's teeth.
Sometimes you suffer from some traumas and need to write about it, this one isn't necessarily my story, but it is something I heard about.
 148° 
Davy
Times pass,
worlds change:
everything moving,
always,
forever
—stop never.
 147° 
Faith Cubitt
I do have a dream....
one I guess no one else can see.
they all doubt me and I'll lay in bed wondering why?
do they not see inside my mind?
I'm sorry if I fail you I really didn't want to.
I can see it all so perfectly.... the way things truly should be.
Just know I tried....
 139° 
Jack Turner
Sweet Caroline,
You're on my mind.
You're a crazy minx,
But you're pretty fine.

I can't deny,
I miss you close,
So I read your words
To get my dose.
 138° 
Thomas W Case
He had wings that
gave him flight.
The sun was
beautiful and bright.
It melted into the ocean.

But there is danger in
flying too low as well,
just ask the mermaids in
the depths of hell.
The seawater screws
up the lift.

Fly to safety and
peace,
not the
fantastical or
far-fetched.
You don't need to
have it all.
Beware of

too

much



ambition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k5NY8ZMx3I

Check out my YouTube channel where I read from my recently published books, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems and It's Just a Hop, Skip, and Jump to the Madouse Poems, both available on Amazon.

www.thomaswcase.com
 127° 
dread
Trying to teach you that can't is a broken spell,
a collection of words smothered in a fist,
deprived of touching can, before its magic had its knell,

The progenitors of these phrases drown in its graces,
they become the it of their own undoing,
husband and wife to guttural utterances,

Cloaked is the mirror with a window on full display,
smiling through your reflection, praying through convection,
seeking the angel's wings buried in the ground,

It's all dirt beneath their lips,
give them a spear they fancy it a fork,
a hook for their purposes,

There is no can't besides what is in there eyes,

There is no can't and above the bird flies,

There is no can't and here we find ourselves in our minds,

The law to them is of designs,
the life is what they inscribe,
there is no can't, but they can't.
 124° 
Natalie
You say you love me,
but humans are only capable
of looking at what they
can see.
and you are not capable
of loving what you don't know.

and you say you love me
but what is shiny is also
scratched.
the layers of my skin hide
a frostbitten language
only know by the foreigners
you don't know exist.

and you say you love me
but love means
walking through a snow storm
I had already passed
because you know you would
meet me on the other side.
but you turned around
because you couldn't see past
the white casted trees.

don't say you love me
because you don't have anyone else
to say it to.
say you love me
when your mind wont swell
if I don't say it back.
Don't say you love me if you don't know what the word love means.
 110° 
Max Vale
forgive me for taking a chance.
because i can't forgive myself,
for believing.
still, i hope.
 107° 
Amethyste
I write - he said
Can I see your poems- I said
I wanted to see him.
I wanted to see the universe.
 105° 
Skye
I'd tell you're worth it
I'd tell you're not worthless
 96° 
Nolan Bucsis
We're dead already.
And we're just witnessing.
The story.
Of the process.

Of death.
And, we lament.
The dying of the light.
In the dark we cannot see.
Anything familiar.

And.
Things are moving.
Unknown.
And
Menacing.
 88° 
Shivpriya
Whenever you come to me in white,  
Your grandeur walks away with my heart.  

It takes my heart away and carries it with you.  

Whenever you come to me,  
Notice me; you are in white, while I happily watch you in adorable yellow light.  

Your white and grand light,  
Do look into my heart,
A heart that has left the possession of rosiness  
To feel the mighty volume of its light within itself.  

Do look at me in my heart,  
And for the sake of this peace,  
Do dip your hands in its grandeur yellow light.  

Whenever you come to me,  
In white along with your grandeur walk.  

I will be at the corner praying for you  
With my yellow heart.  
©shivpoetesspriya
I’m pleased to announce a new update for my writing collection, Songs of a Different World. Here are three chapters that have just been added:  
1. A Transitioning Gaze!
2. A Yellow Light Song!
3. Alone, with the Chasm of the Heart!
 86° 
EliMay
It didn't take long.
From one conversation.
From one call.
To say this three word prayer.

Please don't go.

Please don't go
When the light is out
And the sirens call.

Please don't go
As shots are fired
And the pressure to fall
Is too much

Please don't go
When your demons call
And memories flash

From friend to friend
As these terrifying words
Cross my lips
Just listen to my
Three word prayer.

Please don't go.
For my military buddies. Those who lost. Those willing to go the distance. And those who struggle with the return.

Please don't go my friends
 79° 
Nat Lipstadt
for she
<>
"I choose to love you in silence, for in silence I find no rejection.
I choose to love you in loneliness, for in loneliness no one owns you but me.
I choose to adore you from a distance, for distance will shield me from pain.
I chose to kiss you in the wind, for the wind is gentler than my lips.
I choose to hold you in my dreams, for in my dreams you have no end"

Rumi
<>

writ in a time, for when
there is never enough,
and yet,
always, waves of too much,
needy for
filling feeling fulfilling

We must learn,
be self taught to:

"Leave a tender moment alone
You got to leave a tender moment alone
Leave a tender moment alone
Leave a tender moment"

ah the tender time is nonetheless
rightly and wrongly
rightly now,

for I have stumbled,
overheated, sweaty, from the night bed,
at 4.30am into another darkened toom,
and I have smacked~stumbled into
Rumi
and her

our paths continuously intersect,
in the same but
in different cities, continents,
and yet,
diffident, differing,
we silently choose
never to close those lady~last few miles
and tie the knot of
eyes, skin, lips
the instruments
that transmit thousands of
neuronal explosions that
seal the deal

so we write in poetry,
in silence broken by the gentility
of fingertips soundlessly
and yet,
boundlessly rocking,
explosively soundings of
tap tap tapping

my music mocks me,
it is definitively god interfering,
advising, conspiring,
wiring into my brain
better lyrics,
idealized notions,
exactly appropriate
and appreciated

with the lyrics urging me on,
and that we must be
self taught to:

"Leave a tender moment alone
You got to leave a tender moment alone
Leave a tender moment alone
Leave a tender moment"

but my heart trembly refuses,
insightful informing
that now,
now! is
the moment to exchange
vows of words,
though un spoke,
they require
written completion
through
& though
apart, alone,
to finally out loud confess
what has always been known, only to each other,
to be
so real

and yet*,

we will never exchange
these sentiments
in out loud words

but though this be lacking,
it will never
diminish
their  ultimate
intimate
truthfulness

and I ask,
is this a poem?

surely
it is that, and
so much more,
an essay, a letter on
invisible NML stationary,
a heart carving in
an oaken barrelling of
ancient vintagery

and that interloper,
Him again,
eavesdropping
on this private communication,
insists that I draw deep
from her favorite
singer~songwriter,
words that say it better,
that for real seal the deal,
in the saddened perfection
of total, enwrapped,
silence:

"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence"

and
it is time
to finish this task,
it is exactly one hour,
no time at all,
to complete a love poem that
is/was complete,
even before its
composition
and yet,
is never to be be familiar with
the finality of
completion
<>

postscript:

I taste your private shed tears,
hear the howling sigh,
but most of all,
'tis the explosion of
a deep smiling creasing
your lips,
spreading in all directions
saying and stating:

at last, at last!
a lasting, a confessional to you god,
though,
a through and through
silent
jubilation
                                              ­             nml

April 8, 2025
530am
New  York  City
excerpted lyrics from Billy Joel and
Paul Sumon
 79° 
Nat Lipstadt
I asked a woman to change her curls to forever straight,
and offered $50,000 (a sum on my mind that day after a
rough day trading), to maintain said style in perpetuity

she has accomodated me now for over a decade+, but
every every, every now and every then, She pulls me
closer than close, whispers 50K~ok!, and hits me with a
hip swaying pow, her physio~verbal cueball reminder,
that poets must always pay their debts, and even forever
too,
has its poetic limitations
 79° 
Joan Zaruba
Truth
It breathes
It speaks
Sometimes in a whisper
like a mother’s gentle kiss on her child’s fevered forehead
Sometimes in a fierce growl
like a protective dog with hackles raised and teeth bared
Sometimes as a calm, steady chant
like the beating of a drum
vibrating in your heart
Truth speaks
We just need to breathe
and to listen
I wrote this today during journaling time at a Women's Empowerment Group I recently joined.  The  journaling prompt was, "What truths have I been holding that need to breathe?"
 77° 
Lost Indeed
I've been Pavloved
Obsession
I've been converted
Devotion
I've been addicted
Destruction
I've been activated
Vibration
I've fallen in love
Emotion

I whisper into the night the thoughts that can’t be rhymed
I beg beneath fluorescent lights
For words that can’t be signed

I love you
love you
love you, love
love you
you
love
I
You
T
 75° 
Soul Searching
I don't know why I do the things that I do.
I know that I can get scared,
I know that I can be a lot,
I just feel safe when I'm with you
I think I used to make you feel,
how you make me feel,
I will get back to that,
I promise.
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