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ivan 9h
that dog
the one that bites
don’t get close to it
or it’ll bite you too


‘it bit me’
the blood is still warm,
dripping from hands that shook
but no one dared to look.

‘why doesn’t someone help me?’
that ******* dog
wait, it’s not a dog!
Emery Feine Sep 24
The king sat upon his throne
Announcing ideas in the gentlest of tone

The people disagreed, and they fought back
But aggression was something the king had lacked

They rioted with pitchforks and torches
The king saw them yell out each night on their porches

And eventually, they set the castle ablaze
The king fled without even being fazed

He found the kindest people under the trees
The opportunity to build a new kingdom he had to seize

The palace could prosper with the right support
Unlike the old one, which could only distort

So he built with the people, leaving his mark
Until his eyesight started to go dark

He woke up in his old, burning palace again
Surrounding by the sound of illogical, angry men

He realized his prosperous castle was only a desire
“It was merely a dream,” he thought, as his skin lit on fire.
This is my 10th poem, written on 2/15/23
Zywa Sep 2
Is a general

thirsty for blood like plants are --


thirsty for water?
Play "The Three Arrows" (1972, Iris Murdoch), Act One, scene Two

Collection "Unspoken"
Zywa Apr 14
The words she spits out

rip open everyone's skin --


like a vast, barbed net.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-6 "My tenth birthday"

Collection "Low gear"
Zywa Mar 14
Behind her: a man,

his head perched on her shoulder --


like a frightful hawk.
Novel "Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights" (which is 1001 nights, 2015, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2 "Mr Geronimo"

Collection "Low gear"
Jeremy Betts Feb 2018
No place for me to fit in, sometimes not even my own skin
The 65th crayon on the floor next to the 64 count special edition tin
The two dollar DVD bin is even out of reach, at a loss as to where else to begin
I guess it's back to the drawing board to start over once again
Not a chance of bein' normal as an outcasted heathen
But that's never been a why for me, to fit in is not a win
I've been sittin' in this same place like a mannikin with a phoney grin
A clothespin holdin' together the fabric of my being with such discipline
But a strong gust of wind tears through like blowing your nose into a cheap napkin

Patched together like a quilt of sin read like a story board of which I'm a star in
Stitched together by not giving in, givin' it all I can, taking every shot to the chin
But life's not getting the win by KO or even by decision
I'm gonna need to be taken out the ring on a stretcher with blue skin
But the goal isn't really to win but to survive this doomed zeppelin
I start thinking maybe I can take this aggression and passion and turn it in...
...to a winnin' combination and spread it through the nation
Empower an entire generation, awaken an entire population

But all they'll see is Frankenstein's monster

©2018
Zywa Sep 2023
They steal her beauty

with compliments, and laugh at --


the mutilation.
Poem "dit spuls die aarde vol" ("the earth is full of it", 2022, Antjie Krog)

Collection "Truder"
Zywa Feb 2023
From now on, dare to

be tough, firm and resistant --


more than a man's wish.
Novel "Zij" ("She", 2023, Maaike Neuville)

Collection "Truder"
David Hilburn Jan 2023
Oily flowers
Slap faces like an angel
Simply twain, simpler powers
Sit in the sun, like a smile for the devil

Agony, of an oily smile
Sit to once, upon nothing more...
Hap and adage, require you, of a while
Meaning no-where's step, for a curious war...

Anything, everywhere at once...
A promise to shed, a tear
Through and through, before life begun
The love and misery, is a magic, to fear?

Sated...?
And shown to chew the thought
Is a mystery, of reality, so fated?
When poor is such, aren't we a death sought?

Oily more...
We said the cope, of another world
Suggesting only, the question's we were
Given pride's notion, specialness's devotion; is a fears lover, ever early?
Little Bo Peep, is wearing your underwear...
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