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 Feb 2013 Michael Valentine
JM
I put the boy to bed
and sat reflecting
for a few minutes
about my blessed
offspring.
His face lit up
tonight
when I told him
that he was Grammas's favorite.
He is everybody's favorite.
My gift.

My salvation.

I looked up the story of Abraham
again,
and much like grade school,
I thought
**** That.

I listened to the new Trent Reznor project,
not bad.
I think of my
little brother whenever I see Trent's name.
I took him
to his first concert ever,
Nine Inch Nails.
Kicked ***.
I thought about my ******, ******* little bro.
I'm going to have to beat his ***, just ***.

I fired up a joint
as I put my
massive
music collection
on shuffle.

Genre: Electronic.

Shuffle: Puscifer.

I sifted through Craigslist
and saw an ad
for being a radio dj
for a grassroots
community based
nationwide
station
where you play whatever music you want
as long as it is not top 40 *******.
I could do that.
I could do lots.
Lots more than this, anyway.

Shuffle: Mike and Rich.

Buzzed.

I thought of my mother
and how
neither her nor I
are realizing our full potential creatively.
I called Mom
and we are
going to start going
to poetry readings.
She's gonna read my poems
and I'm gonna read hers.  
It's a start.
We are cool like that.
We laugh lots.

Shuffle: Awolnation.

I'm pretty high by now.
Then I read another article on NPR about mix tapes.
I thought about you.
Again.

Still.

I thought about you
and
the mix tapes we
used to give each other.

Shuffle: Massive attack.

****.

Angel.

I put this song on at least five of your mixes.
Even the cover by Sepultura.

The great nothing sighs deep and cold within me.

I started to write a poem.
This poem.
This poem for you.

They are all for you.

I know when I write I purge,
and you just keep coming,
like a
viscous
black
lie covered
rope
being endlessly pulled
from my gaping broken skull.
Will I ever reach the end of you in me?

Shuffle: Lords of Acid.
  
I rolled another joint.
You used to hate it when I
would pick you up
and have
Show Me Your *****
blasting.
But then again, you didn't like anything I used to listen to.
You didn't like much about me, did you?
Just that one thing.
It's no wonder though, you ******* hipster.

Shuffle: Moby.

Jesus man how many songs does this guy have?
He's like the ******* Bob Ross of geeked out techno.
That must make aphex twin the evil mad genius.

I made it through shuffling without crying
but I can't listen to the mixtapes.
Cd's, really but who's counting?
You would.
You.
I cannot
wait until
you becomes
her
and then
her
becomes a breeze of a memory,
wisping across my cheek
almost indiscernible
and
leaving
only the faintest whispers
of amber and earth.
Soil.
Soil and Ancient root.  
I can't listen to any of the great CD's baby.
My dearest.
My darkest.
My sickness.
My Love.
Beloved.
O, Fortuna, why?

 Shuffle: Dragonette,Take it like a man.

Ha! Well played, shuffle. Good timing.
I will eventually.
Until then
I will continue to pull your oily tendrils from my open throat.
I will continue to try and forgive both of us.
Myself most of all.

I will continue to write.
I will pull you
out of me
and
flog my canvas
with your shadows.

*They are all for you, Dearest.
Immortal, of gold and iron
And white wings
He is made,
They tell me, and with wide eyes
I listen.

Later, they say he is
An abstract, dark figure
With no face and no own heart,
And my thoughts grow louder.

And louder still,
Until I- strangely amused-
Discover the golden shine-
The iron twist in my skin-
And feel an odd pain
Between my shoulder blades.

Last night I saw
Little white half-moons
Surrounding my body
In a swirling echo.
He looked up into the grey sky
and decided: it's not time yet, I got time
and, shakig off the cold, massaging his hands,
he said: it should rhyme.

And thus he began:

To fabricate the best amongst all the poems -
that is what I will do, and forget about the rest
and the empty phrases
that fill no cup and no page.

To make you wonder, and frown
and think: who is this?
This master of words, of letters,
What kind of bliss
is he blessed with?

Then also: to make you remember
my name and my word,
and the fame that so uplifted
my thoughts.

And: to remind you
of my soul and bones
when I shall be gone, and not long after that,
you will build a statue
of stone.

But before all that I will-
I must-
I should-

But where shall I begin?
Where shall I
begin?

And you will put down your paper, your pen,
you will sigh, and know: all this was only a revery.
Then you will stand up, undress, stand naked in front of the mirror-
and dance.
A sick feeling
reaches up
and crawls out of my throat
its feet still dangling in the middle of me

Pull it out I cant
for it is still tied to my skin

Forget about it
does not work either
for I do feel it with every step.
I hate daffodils, because you know
and her face fell down a little as though not quite convinced of her own words
they are false and only mentioned when people
what? she thought, irritably
when people want to be poetic

But you like them, you told me once
and he was sure, and he was right about that
so I don't see why.

You never see anything, that's because you are too much-
too much yourself. and myself, too
because you are living in your own mind an awful lot of the time
what time?

Love, don't upset me, I mean what I say
and says what he means
and if you don't like them it's okay to me
only to me
and if you do like them, well I get you some.

                                *In the meantime, while his lips are moving, she begins
                                                                               to see words coming out of
his mouth and forming a beautiful little cloud above his head. She sees
                                                                                        them, does not hear them,
                                                                    circling. He is beautiful in every way, and daffodils are not
                                                                                                                                        the matter of this. Not at all.
In the middle is a little black spot,
An odd thing to look at
If you consider the fact that
What creeps from that place
Is what keeps me alive.

But it moves in a slow pace;
And more and more I fear
That what comes near
Comes from within.

The black mark has reshaped its edges
And matches the form of my face
In the mirror –
Only that – now –
The pounding has stopped.

The darkness
diffuses.
Gazing over the lands
he stands
and - withholding breath - waits
for the long war shout
to spill out of his lungs.

Sirens have summoned him
to that place
hiding their holy faces
as he paces behind them.

The message was carved
not in stone
but right into his bones
as he saw the bodies
of his companions.

The long, loaded cry
escapes his throat
and at the horizon he sees
numbers and numbers of men
coming for him
and only for him.

The sirens have long departed
and the demon - standing like a rock -
has started to breathe.
Crooked windows,
crooked streets
in the light -
during the night
they leak.

The beast inside, though,
does not fret.
It crept to this place,
its very own grace
being cut down.

Huge green eyes
peer through the glass.
Slowly,
slowly moving mass
approaches.

The space between
grows minimal,
and as you scream -
it screams with you.

Mouth wide open,
claws inside
these creatures howl,
they spit and fight.

Science
has reached
its ******.
The windows crack,
as you have lost your track.

Two pairs of green eyes
peer out of the darkness -
four claws -
two pounding hearts -
the beat,
adjusted.
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