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George Krokos Oct 2023
Do not ever forsake us dear Lord
even though it does appear at times
that we all do forsake Thee
but please, be with us always,
to guide, protect and heal,
wherever we are
for we all have a need to be.
___
Originally written and recited in the first person many years ago and still even these days due to it being etched in my mind. I've posted it here for anyone who might find comfort and solace with in these troubled times.
Ken Pepiton Sep 2023
2023, after the rain at Black Rock,

already past Gerlach on County Road 34, north.

not far from Winnemucca, as the crow flies
- you know.
In the bottom of a no longer dry shallow lake.
The People of 10 Principles are dealing with weather.

I feel for the fearful, and pity them a bit,
but the world is in a novel state, bhering up
under the worth of eight billion plus of us,

all awishing
to leave the system behind, out grow the terminii,
for a time,

loose the future on the past, for a week,
with no choice of your own,
overriding the ten principles of the community.

Today, the dry lake
feels like a war zone, f'real
refugee reality chance, t'be with your self, to re-
imagine helplessness out of bounds,
with fidence, confess, the hermit swears
even fasting you can walk to Winnemucca, in three days.

It's eighty miles as the crow flies,
and all the waterholes are full this year.

But I got a pint of RSO and a box of toothpicks, so
I'd mud trod over to the nearest puddle,
and offer dabs to my neighbors.

This I'd call my gift, fret-less.

That's the essence of the whole experience.
I'd imagine.
Had I had the need to be radically included,
in an unsustainable urbanity exercise this year.
I'm too old to care, but I would treasure the experience Burning Man was,
this year, after rain I thoughtlessly asked for, fervently in August.
Brian Aug 2023
It begins as a soft cry
one voice alone
stepping forward
challenging the dark
something so pure
the wounds of being used
keep our trust in it subdued

and then it begins
the voice is changing
wait no
things around it are changing
they are turning
to the source of this cry
which is growing now
into an echo
and now in my chest
this voice I know
not from my mind
but my heart, my soul
it's calling me home
but not the one I own
but was promised

the echo that was just a child
has now grown into a thunder
one that numbers the thousands
one that is so booming
paint is shaking from the walls
it rises from the horizon
waking the entire Earth
something greater than emotion
overcomes my very being
and now the planet
has become a choir
the sky can no longer contain
our voices fly to the heavens
an entire love story
wrapped in a single word
one I can trust with my life
may it fall from my lips at my end
amen
amen
Oh how it must itch-
The lady whose body is
Covered in hard plaster.
Finely carved face of alabaster.

The miracle maiden!
The matriarch with
The eternal smile
Could never feed
A hungry child

The dress she wears is a
Skin tight suit.

Shield atop shield.
Even in the heat.
her sweet baby ****
Burning beneath
Layers upon layers.

Prayers upon prayers
Would only save her.
Francie Lynch Jul 2023
In my youth,
My sleek clean youth,
I was taught to pray.
Learn the right way,
Said men of the cloth,
And women of the rag-tag convent.
In rows, on knees, in suplication,
We prayed for days off Purgatory,
Babies, lost in Limbo;
Pray for starving
Blacks in Africa,
or
In Peru.

I prayed for you.

Beside my bed,
In my head,
For the Living,
For the Dead.
I prayed.
He delayed.
I prayed longer
For thirst and hunger.
I prayed harder,
Got no farther.
I saw little change.
Perhaps got worse,
Despite my prayers,
Or a longing curse.
                       Amen.
Jeremy Betts Jul 2023
Who of you can hear laughter in both ears, a devilish whisper from each shoulder
I dare say this two vs one nightmare is a little unfair, turn to tag out and there's no one there
My corner's bare, how'd I even get here? On my knees, can't breathe, please, someone return the air
Dark comes from everywhere leaving one light in the far distance, dead center and it draws near
Looked death square in the face and said, "you're no longer welcome here"
He didn't hear, probably did just didn't care to answer
No atheists in foxholes huh, who knows the correct prayer?
Do we even have a prayer?
Why bother with a prayer
It's only wasted air, there's no one there
...is there??

©2023
Man Jun 2023
Often not, is prayer
In fear of God
But of our fellow man
neth jones May 2023
watching for air                              a mad thing of static to do
unwashed  i hold it all foreign   my perspectives clothed as the enemy
an agreed muscle of tension       with pockets fracked into my hands 
i look out the window   wide agape guidance                                                     invasive drills of heat   the giving sunlight ; punishing,
a tree,   the grieving buildings
the whinging of cicadas
and here i am     watching for air

one point for the weather                                                      
one­ point for the view                                                            
­one big point for my ****** condition                                
one point for the passers by and their galling dramedies

and there it is ; the wiry plan that's built                        
from one small tickle of wild thought              
                                 formed long ago
trickling to the current day
some whipped wit of poisoned psychology          
     fed to the inbreed   (welcome   you panting imp)
decades of saved up fatty layers
a deed   of habitual sediment
retching until the tide laps become still
   a cured and congealed gladness
marbled, a butcher would say
i am full and hearted and heated and padded senseless
        turned under a heel   with my wastrel history
  i’ve accomplished this     a stifled condition
                               of poisoned obscenity

seated deep        almost fully incapacitated  
in my armchair   on this chummy day
my leisure clothes greasy     sluck against my blemished hide
a packet of cigarettes   to my side
rounded upon  by sounds of the neighbours affairs
with a gasp of energy   i 'skin one off' vigorously
my system trembling   with years of hard liquor
borderline   to a state of unconscious whelm
retained final       prime for ignition
i could manage a spectacle
a blinding flare
                                  a glorious incineration
and the release
                      of my true oder

i light a match for my cigarette
a glass bottle                                                                                  
formed-to-conform-to-be                                                
         and not simply shatter       with  '*******' explosion    
(though it is an option)


imagining the worst sinnings in the rooms surround
Pyrrha May 2023
For the first time in months,
I prayed
Before my statue of Apollo,
I kneeled
With my candle lit
I held my open palms to the sky
I cried
Before Apollo,
I begged
For the first time in months,
I had to believe
There was something beyond me
That could bring you what you need
She is my comfort in my storm,
The breath in my lungs
The soul in every poem that I write

When her hands are on my body
And her lips are on my neck
Her name is the prayer on my tongue
I never believed in religion until she had me on my knees for her
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