#lifeintheseunitedstates
FIRST: the poem which inspired...oh, yes, laugh--it's reminiscent of, of, would that be the old "the house that jack built"? ie, Joshua Amos Graff/aka Graff1980's poem--
Graff1980
4h@18:04, 29Oct17
Untitled
The phone store
is closed,
but I can still see
the sharp blue glow
of those
bright screens
blinking out at me
from the window
to the streets
where I am walking slowly.
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2187429/untitled/
SECOND: the comment his poem inspired and which he too generously told me I "should post."--
[He said Jenny Williams]--Like a ghost none sees, catching the lurid eye of those eyeless windows to the black hole of an eerie yonder, the speaker treads as if slippered through the darkness which itself is alive and aware, the scene commonplace, yet rendered thus with a poignant ghastliness, a delicacy. Thank you for sharing.
THIRD: the sonnet which I told him I'd endeavour to compose from that same comment, yet which is a frustrating reminder why as Stella Armour was it? told me years ago she did NOT want to force thoughts into sonnets, and I heartily concur: I'd far rather pour the unformed thought into that "most exquisite form of poetry" than try to squeeze a complete thought into that "gilded cage"--
...for Joshua Amos Graff's poem--
(sonnet #MMMMMMDCCXXII)
Likeas a ghost none sees where streetlamps fence
The blacker shroud of night, how in betrayl
'Non catching lo, the lurid eye's detail
Of those more eyeless windows harking thence
Unto the black hole of an eerie sense
Of yonder, how you tread as if t'avail
Now slippered through the darkness which in pale
'Scuse ah, itself's alive and 'ware. What hence?
You only put down for the page as twere
That lonely walk through naked streets left to
None else. Yet where dead cellphones look in poor
Excuse out, la, you render thus anew
What's common, but whose ghastliness in tour
Is poignant, delcacies I cherish. You?
29Oct17a
Oct 29, 2017
Oct 29, 2017 at 7:16 PM UTC
I knew the actual recipe would be different when my first attempt used up cabbage gone south. What I forgot, until three days later, was that flavors need time to meld.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMXCIX)
The twa big heads at least chopped up, t'avail
We've canteloupe and breakfast hash fr'intents;
With cabbage, sausage and potatoes, dense
With flavour, saurkraut would be better; frail
As making that first batch with old, t'was bail
For heightened tastes. How fix that, eh? save thence
Til's aged? the rest will rot. Alas. What hence?
Be teased to death cuz that's the best detail.
Online suggests lo: vin'gar, as in tour
He tells me 'gain how to craft saurkraut--do
That later, mebbe? Sparrows gaily stir
A happy sense where milder temps now woo,
Like Summer's not far off. Come, come, what were
We thinking? LORD, restore us: we wait You.
11Mar25b
Mar 15, 2025
Mar 15, 2025 at 7:26 PM UTC
...routine will **** me yet?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCMXLIII)
If twas some lurid rite of passage, whence?
Gulp scalding water down cuz naught'd avail:
I'm driving, nor can spit aught out. Derail
Hopes of a lovely ev'ning cuz what hence?
Being brave jist does not cut it. I'm burned, sense
Now screaming in me til I canna fail
To hear that I'm on fire inside. Detail
Which, after that? I'm tamer--is't defense?
If being above ground is a joke as t'were,
Tis ***** and too cruel to torture through
My waning hours what's left of all in tour
I thought t'enjoy, or vainly thought I knew.
Mum held her tongue, yet warned me. Dad too. Stir
Hope in but Thee alone, LORD: I need You.
27Oct24b
Oct 27, 2024
Oct 27, 2024 at 10:52 AM UTC
...well, who doesn't love Cheerios?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCMXXVIII)
Mum said that I loved Cheer'os when, to scale,
A baby, til I knew the photos thence
Well-nigh by heart, those little o's fr'intents
So perfect yet so slippry e'en dry (frail
As aught excuse where tiny fingers hail
All sheer retrieval as a project hence);
And now she's gone, I eat them like defense
For all we knew and cherished, like t'avail.
One brother rhymed and sang that, "Cheer'os [were]
The best thing you e'er tasted!" cuz we grew
Up with our oats thus packaged, or in tour
Rolled, boiled and hot, as porridge, til what's new?
I'm packing them for werk, in milk, is't poor?
And if they're comfort, LORD, how we need You.
20Oct24a
Oct 20, 2024
Oct 20, 2024 at 3:44 PM UTC
I only let my trainee use the computer--did I unconsciously lean too much on the desk?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCMXV)
Say "road construction" nice and slow, til sense
Wakes up to realize "parked" upon the trail
To yonder is no jest at all. Avail
Me of the wilder flowrs as we sit thence
Upon the highway, driving some pretense
Stoked by whom thought it meant to travel. Frail
As aught excuse, I find no means of bail.
And "late to work" revives its image. Whence?
Have baby back pork ribs, pork egg rolls too
For lunch, and breakfast's omelet'd languish, poor
Though aught reply cuz, hunger sated, were
There else to eat, a spinach smoothie'd do
For in between, as I'm mixt up. Stir
Thyself and oh return, LORD. We wait You.
12Oct24a
Oct 20, 2024
Oct 20, 2024 at 3:26 PM UTC
We shan't indulge in the collection which puts the thought to shame.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCC)
You envied what? His paper cup's detail?
The plastic straw which shreds itself ere thence
You've even had a sip? Or what is't hence?
Sketch nothing cuz you won't draw, just to scale,
This world Bill Peet deplored thus? Yet the tale
Of naked buildings 'cross the fields pretense
Threw up to grand effect are what fr'intents
'Non haunt yer dreams likeas they would avail.
Or is the "lukewarm nightmare" all as t'were
That's left if you would trick out visions to
Beguile the fleeting moments none bestir?
Or join the traffic on its way, where through
What means you half yearn for those hours in tour
Which terr'fied was't? No. That vain hope I knew.
01/17.Jan.23a
Nov 7, 2024
Nov 7, 2024 at 6:17 PM UTC
These shifts are killing me. Oh well.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCMXXXIX)
Where pink is like romance ere daybreak, dense
Wi' import, burning on the East t'avail,
A fire which seems t'oertake the blackness, hale
In what, precisely? youth by now pretense
Is't? On but three hours sleep, I've no defense,
This dragging me along must do sans bail,
As coffee is some dragon I'll to scale
Do battle with when I've some strength for sense.
Tea-lemonade for drowning sailors'd cure
Me halfway, if at all, where Milo's brew
With "Simply Lemonade" I'll take in tour
Along to keep my chin 'bove water. Blue
Heav'ns warm as sparrows chirp likeas to stir
The dead (and I'm death warmed oer): I need You.
26Oct24a
Oct 27, 2024
Oct 27, 2024 at 10:37 AM UTC
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMCMXXX)
Say "retail," and then think of which detail?
Department stores and small boutiques, pretense
With boredom hard in tow, as tripping thence
Across the threshold, ladies men t'avail
Join, or else tiny dogs, pass through, a trail
Of lesser beings left in their rear for sense,
Who scuttle in and out trying for defense
Where money's not so plentiful for bail.
When I'd adjust the racks, or take as t'were
Their orders, party to the tales of who
And what, where money flowed like water (poor
As Daddy's saying it did not grow for you
On trees), I'd not aspire to their ranks. Stir
The same, til LORD, how I wait Thee: where to?
21Oct24
Oct 27, 2024
Oct 27, 2024 at 10:28 AM UTC
(tongue in cheek)
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMLXXIV)
As if to freeze maunt thus suffice, what hence?!
Work in an office where all boast in frail
Excuse of fevers, and food pois'ning! They'll
Trade ghastly stories til I cringe from thence
Whilst trying to feign I don't give for intents
A hoot for that contagion, like'd avail
To be aloof or play the nurse' detail,
Cuz after all, my dear, what's not pretense?
Grab for my "lunch" oernight what turns out fer
All that to be...so green with mold t'won't do
But for the trash. Did I, like, take as t'were
The wrong turn somewhere back?! Tell me's not true.
Yet wherefore does aught seem amiss? Bestir
Hope in the LORD our refuge: save us too!
08Jan25b
Jan 19, 2025
Jan 19, 2025 at 1:59 AM UTC
Enjoy?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMLXXI)
How can it be, and wherefore sans aught bail,
Just little me? None other'd 'bide fr'intents
And freeze, nor could I warm til, in defense
A very hot showr ransomed me t'avail,
Chilled to the core as if twas that detail
Deemed perfect, eh? I'm not e'en skinny, whence
Oh, what explains the tale, where for mere cents
I froze to death for twenty hours, too frail.
Tis known that pregnant women have as twere
Odd app'tite urges at strange times--is't true
Thet only pregnant women do? Is't poor
That freezing for eight hours, I ate all through
My lunch and starved? Nigh midnight, I'd bestir
Lo, hot dawgs by desire. Twas too good too.
07Jan25a
Jan 19, 2025
Jan 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM UTC
...did they EAT that?!
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMDCCXCI)
So, party late last night cuz that detail
Of a good night's sleep's mine thereafter, thence
Called in just after midnight as from hence
Sleep is for those mair blest souls. If I'm frail,
Well, maps is twisted, and I have no bail
Save Thy dear mercies, LORD, Thou my defense
Alone, be Thou thus magnified, and whence?
A Dove, erm, ice cream bar is mine, t'avail!
I'm praying the mouse is caught. Come, is that poor?
If pest control set traps with bait, twas two:
One in the kitchen, t'other by as twere
The laundry. There's one in the bathroom?! Do
I see mouse hair?! Oh good! It's caught in tour.
One mouse head. That's all. LORD, how I thank You.
10Oct25a
Oct 15, 2025
Oct 15, 2025 at 9:42 AM UTC
Aren't you glad?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMDCCLXXV)
What? In the warming light of dawn where frail
Hopes of was't rest? fade in the day's more intense
Note night is oer? Come, having mulled fr'intents
Just how we'd 'void last week's fiasco, hail
A catnap in the lack of tea's detail
Or coffee, like a sent'nal by from thence
That question called "the screen door," cuz defense
Was NOT the couch nor could that, erm, avail.
Yes, Tigger must attack me on in tour
The couch, til I give up. Duvet to do
Both comfort and protection good, deter
Their follies, finding laundry is oerdue.
I've slept in it six years sans washing?! Were
There hope, oh LORD, I wait on Thee anew.
02Oct25a
Oct 12, 2025
Oct 12, 2025 at 9:36 AM UTC
Insanity is the RULE.
[There's way, way too much in just the mention, for here.]
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMDCCCLXII)
We've not seen one another for intents,
For nigh a decade. Now I'm old sans bail,
And she's no babies, but four kids t'avail,
(Back then but two mere babies.) Wherefore hence
Meet now, and at yes, Woodman's?! Ask me thence
My name, and la, guess I've not changed; detail
No further cuz I am too stunned. Pray? They'll
Know more about me in trice now. Whence?
Go to refuel once back, and I'm in tour
Rear-ended. Like, my head is spinning. Do
The math for all, yes, later. WHY, as twere
All this?! "The LORD's His eye on you--" yes, true,
But, come, wherefore these odd things? What is poor?
I'm all mixed up (and ******* LORD, I wait You.
14Nov25b
Nov 30, 2025
Nov 30, 2025 at 10:01 AM UTC