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Sarah Nielle Feb 2015
I never knew myself as
the kind to dwell on simple things;
Like alphabet soup.
I look at the strange bland liquid,
surrounding the spongy flotation devices.
They move around just as leaves do
in a gusty gale.
I see what they spell out,
The slowly evaporating words.
I spell out the aching bellows
of what is to become my life.
Simplicity in it's finest.
Houses sitting condemned, taking up the view
while the old guys sit sipping forties in forty degree
temperatures facing the wall so the wind doesn't burn
their faces too much in what could be called a modest December.

They turn their back to the guy hiding bags of rock
in his lips to avoid detection from the cameras posted
on both street corners. This place is set to a constant sneaking
violin pluck. We are all capers in a burgle commune.

I hung up a tarp today so the stray cats can hide from the wind.
In one stanza, January has set in and it is bitter to the bone.
We summoned the name of old man winter from repetition and
no one man may hold that burden. The ***** only warms their blood.
Charlie Dec 2014
With all of the grand adventure awaiting you,
I wish you could just pack me up in your suitcase too.
That way, wherever you go,
You'd have me and I'd have you.
A couple sat embraced in the corner of the subway at 2 am,
They huddled together in their winter jackets,
Riding around to escape the bitter cold.
She had her legs in his lap and she leaned into him as if whispering a secret,
Her head was against his collarbone as she listened for agreement but was met with the steady hum of the lights overhead.
The moment was intimacy
So much so that it led to the question of how they had gotten to the point of being so intimate
On public transportation
And I felt as though it was something I had been interrupting.
But three stops later and they were off into the night at Grand Central Station.
I saw them again in late May
But now they stuck to just holding hands,
She rested her head in the same spot as last time though,
And they weren’t embracing, but the intimacy was present in the stifled giggles and stolen glances.
And forever was more than a promise,
It was a reality.
An Ekphrastic Poem (a poem about a piece of art, in this case a photograph by Gary Winegrand that was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City)
Beth Richter Dec 2014
His eyes reminded me of what the grand canyon might look like,
                    they whispered warmth like the sun
                    snuggling the earth.
Aron Oct 2014
Somewhere deep in the ocean hides a majestic creature.
With a gorgeous hair and an amazing feature.
Everybody thought it didn't exists
with it's beautiful face and voice, you just couldn't resist.

As I walk along the shoreline
I saw something grand, something divine.
I thought to myself maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.
I'm thinking whether to sojourn or flee.

I gathered all of my strength and cast away the fear.
Her voice is the only thing that I can hear.
Now I'm beside her, standing & looking for the right words to say,
but all I can see is her smile that's as bright as the day.

As I finally said hi and catch my breath,
I remembered a legend about pirates & their sudden death.
Enchanted by a beautiful voice,
they're all ensnared without any other choice.

And with my love for her, now I am bound,
crying & lying hopelessly on the ground.
I'm engulfed with a burning sensation and she's the one that ignite,
this enormous flame called "love at first sight".
James Jarrett Jan 2014
She wraps me in her  icy flow

and chills me 'til I'm warm

Soothes away the open space

With sand and pebbled shores

She tries to lull me downriver

Gently pulling, drowsing

Massaging the miles off me

Relaxing

I know she lies

I know she'd take me to the big river

Carrying me like an eddying breeze

But I want to lay back and dream

And slowly drift away
Bright angel river, bottom of the grand canyon
mark john junor Jul 2014
she lay wreathed only in sunlights warm glow
loose strands of her long red straight hair flowed
like bountiful silken ribbons
of silent beauty's fire

i brushed one strand from the
velvety skin of her shoulder
and there softly laid a single lingering kiss
tasting her elegant beauty with my lips
ever so quiet ever so soft
she murmured a lustful smile

she is that faster than light butterfly
spinning in the hot winds of timeless dreams
a dutchess of the grand
a pauper of the sublime
regal in her reflections

their sweeter wines succumbing to the autumn celebrations
the girls in silken white dress
the boys in trimmed black cuffs
they all stand back bowing heads in humble submission
when on the cusp of a light whim she wanders through
the gathered and waiting apostles of beauties delight

dutchess of the grand
pauper of the sublime
regal in all her reflections like a warm jewel
at the center of all things pretty
at the epicenter of all things envied
the precise defining of the better universe at her fingertips

the dream murmured was just the soft stirrings
of her restless soul as she dreamt that all could be hers
if she would only reach for my hand
take the chance
dutchess of grand
pauper of the sublime
she murmured a lustful smile
(As she woke, opening the saltwater jewels of her eyes said to me...)
final poem in the series
Union and Grand

I moved into this house less than a year ago
and already three gun related murders have occurred
within a three block radius; two of them involving children.
I'm not making this **** up.
Those numbers wouldn't be anything exciting for a population
hitting upwards of the millions,
but this is not a big city.
This is the heartland.
-
The city paid for a series of strategically placed dead ends,
forced turns, and surveillance equipment to be installed
in the area of about a mile surrounding my house.
No wonder they call this place "The Trap".
They keep changing the maze,
and studying us like rats.
-
They had a make-do memorial for the little girl who got shot.
They attached her stuffed animals, cards, and photos to a utility pole
on the corner of Union and Grand. The city had it taken down.
Some kind of city ordinance
from some dusty tome at the town hall.
Kids killing kids, and the shots keep firing.
-
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not what'd you call an activist.
But when bloodshed occurs within eye shot of where you sleep,
you start to get a little irked.
These kids have as much potential as me, and twice as much grit.
Their teachers barely even know their names,
let alone what it's like to be deprived of privilege.
-
I'll stomp this concrete until my feet break.
This labyrinth is my constant reminder and reality check.
I am here, and you are there.
This connection is suspended on silver threads and I am your puppet.
Mold me into your angst driven dreamboat.
Because tomorrow, I'm just going to wake up here. **Tyler
.
-
This soul has been folded seven times
and I grow tired of this reality.
There was a time when I could scream loud enough to wake the dead.
I guess I'm showing the symptoms
of an accidental child
with a tongue that only tastes art as bitter protest.
-
I'd tear my face off
to know if this is really getting through to you.
The face in the photo is that of the goat; the false idol and deceiver.
A Knight of Pentacles, selling you gold plated garbage.
Odin-kin.
You always feel like I have a secret to keep; my fist is in the air.
The most personal piece so far.
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