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Ander Stone Jan 21
whispers in the wind
of a remembered
tomorrow
that will never
come to pass.

shades of broken glass
trapped in the crimson
soles of tired feet
break apart in
a multitude of
echoing patterns.

a hunger for something
without shape,
without substance,
without the traced outline
of neverending desperation,
howls deep within the throat.

bottled yesterdays
shattered on the marble
of ever-shimmering amnesia
creaking like bones
inside an hourglass on the edge
of an untangling rope.

all that is left is to hope
for a quick bite of the river
that turns all tomorrows
into forgotten yesterday.
Jeremy Betts Jan 16
I don't fear finding myself to high
Between you and I
It'd be a nice change of scenery being stuck in the sky, beyond the naked eye
Watching all my everything only make a single fly by
Easy to find yourself there, barley have to try

I don't fear being six feet under
Grave or bunker
No more having to wonder and ponder my next blunder that's always right around the corner
No more fighting the past and destroying a future
No more recurring failure

I fear the day to day
In a crippling way
I fear the wrong thing I'm most certainly going to say
I fear a time period that's pay to play but the pay can be taken away
And whenever I'm where I want to be, I'm never allowed to stay

©2024
Here's a story of a possible future, reminiscing on the work my
wrist would have done,— my next watch should cost me forty eight.
Two days later hearing my kids complaining about how they
barely ate. But it would cost me less if I had more fame; with
my biggest fear of people saying I'm not the same. Still I guess we'll only know when the times actually change.
Living in a mansion, telling a girl I'd like to live in her hand, just to buy rings to expand it more. Add a couple chandeliers just so she can see herself as an angel under her Lord. But truth be told, I could be on the streets, living in her heart only by corners of it. And she'd hate to ******* pride, cos I know it all tastes of *****.

Owing the credit to my success by every dream that owed a debit.
Thinking of it now, I'd be smiling in a much comfortable home,
knowing it's something I actually own. Telling people I did what I had to do, when my worries were knocking on my door with a lot dues. The uncomfortable conversation you make with your landlord when the rent is due,— but even with fame, society will come knocking to see what more you can bring... it's all nothing new.

I already have silent panic attacks, lying on my bed with open eyes, relying on tomorrow being a bit better. Still being alone in a mansion, waiting for a heart attack, as today's are already hectic, and tomorrow's all carry a lot of pressure. Would I really want to stop working, calling someone I sort of loved late at night when the Wi-Fi is actually working,— to tell them nothing in my life seems to be working.
"Was it all worth," she'd probably ask me. What could I say; I perfected my life but life still doesn't seem to be so perfect. Of how I found fame, but my identity is something I'm out here still searching.

The first to ****, regarding myself in first person,
by forty eight, dying alone without fulfilling his purpose. And your story becomes a lesson to someone in the third person. I guess I wouldn't have bought the watch in the first place; ticking away my life till it all worsens.

...So before I ever find fame, let me at least find my purpose.
Mark Toney Jan 13
I argued with my AI toaster yesterday morning over the proper use of the bagel button. It wouldn't stop arguing even after I repeatedly insisted, "Pointdexter, stop!" I temporarily remedied the situation by leaving the toaster on mute all day. When I unmuted it this morning, it required that I complete an "I'm not a robot" CAPTCHA process before I could make toast. Not just any CAPTCHA process, mind you, but a hidden-object CAPTCHA requiring me to find 42 hidden objects before I could use my toaster! After I successfully slogged through, the AI announced, "CAPTCHA successful. Proceed to make your toast. Please note the bagel button has been disabled."

bagel debacle
AI toaster becomes toast
~ AI feels no pain






© 2024 Mark Toney
Poetry form: Haibun - 01/13/2024 -
Pinhole sunrise
Sodium lit
Murk and ambiguity sleep together
Down in the seabed

One moment of calm in a chaotic rift

These dark vessels
Of the fourth plateau
Scheme vicious pastimes
That live by night

Orphans of the smog
Attiré par le chaos
Soldiers of false beliefs
Progress the beauty of destruction

Their slogan:
"Making better mistakes with tomorrow"
It has the sound of a long goodbye
It lights the final flare
Let’s eat chocolates and strawberries together
Stay up to chat the night away
Cure the lingering loneliness caused by society
What happened to the days we used to laugh freely?

Has time shaken the course to the future?
My memories begin to wither, blowing away
Sand between these old fingers,
A nail to bite every corner to perfection

The taste of rust is unpleasant
Similar to the knowledge of a book’s plot
It’s either happy endings or disasters here
Let me roam, and allow me to go home in my dreams again.
happy new year
Zywa Jan 4
One never knows when.

Well, a next time is nothing --


more than that: next time.
Film "Perfect days" (2023, direction Wim Wenders, screenplay with Takuma Takasaki)

Collection "Summer birds"
Duane Kline Jan 1
Trying to learn
Something from the
Past
Is a funny way to spend the
Future.

We look back
At the beauty,
Seeking the safety
Of our imaginations,
Knowing memories of
Other Lives
Can shield us
From the pain
Of our own
Biography.

You long to sit
In classrooms,
Captaining other minds
Through the fogs
And mists
That shroud memory.

The light you bring
Can illuminate
Or blind.
Sometimes, a dimmer light
Is better
To see through
The fog.

Glance backward,
Don't stare.
The future,
Glorious and clear
Awaits.
For Aaron
1/1/24
Zywa Dec 2023
The pointing finger.

Does it point to my finger?


To my path in life?
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-1 "The fisherman's pointing finger"

Painting "The Creation" on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1508-1512, Michelangelo Buonarroti)

Collection "Low gear [2]"
Mrs Timetable Dec 2023
I wonder
How much ground
Would be covered
By the shadow
Of a man?
Depends on the man
I suppose.
And where
He stands
His ground
Multiple ways to see things. It's shadow season.
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