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#nova
the world will end all our graves, gone a super nova what a way to go!
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Jan 21
Jan 21, 2026 at 10:58 AM UTC
all will be gone
fluffy abyss cat loud-mouthed, cuddly, loveable she's mine forever
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Nov 19, 2025
Nov 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM UTC
Nova Haiku
Launch Me Let Me Build It I'll Fly It Quantum Levitating In A Disk UFO UAP Call It Me Can't Believe History 10 Milliion MPH Z King Official 3 Degree Festival Ride Triangle Lense Diamonds
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Nov 8, 2024
Nov 8, 2024 at 5:00 PM UTC
"Quantum Levitation 3 Degree" By: Z
You had the power of one thousand stars behind your back; holding you up. You were supposed to be our new beginning. Our new dawn. With the support of a million moons, and the hope to cover an army, you let us down. But with the failure of all  those before you shadowing your potential, you never stood a chance. You were, and still are, my strength. But you followed in their footsteps, and I followed in yours. You were their hope, and that's something you never asked for. You crumbled under the pressure. You threw away their sun. But you always be my light.
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Sep 11, 2018
Sep 11, 2018 at 1:23 PM UTC
Nova Dawn
#***Time A Nova ✨ Stuck Orbiting The Black Hole Of PROCRASTINATION***#
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May 31, 2018
May 31, 2018 at 3:04 PM UTC
Procrastination
You've got to have some rhythm if you're going to boogie down. At the latest tango hotspot at the Roxy in the town. The principles of foxtrot and the sways of swing will show. That dancing with your heart will always make your passion flow. When the bossa nova starts and the lady sings the blues. The time is now to shake your hips and don your dancing shoes. You trip the light fantastic, your shoulders shake in time. Your fingers snap and feet will tap along to mambo rhyme. The rumba stirs the frenzy of your heart in Latin beats. You feel the crazy samba in the footsteps on the streets. Your ready for your spotlight doing cha cha cha and jive. You can never stop the lindy hop to keep your soul alive.
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Apr 17, 2018
Apr 17, 2018 at 5:27 AM UTC
Like No One's Watching.
Constallations, a septette for shining stars Seven in number, aline like no other, a fusion sign in melting white, Caught in stellar evolution in the arts of the nuclear, they expand, Red giants, the final step in their life, before they either blow the layer off gently tossing it into the depth of space, or they go out with a bang The fall of these great stars, gifting light which is likely to grow life, A nova which drags their orbital children to the deepest abyss releasing enough energy for a heavenly meltdown breaking hell loose Stars, standing upon the pillars of creaton planted in there like trees, Polaris, burn bright in white till you blow up, hell fire don't go out, In line, with the others, you form a radiant great, or rather big dipper, Oh you blazing fixed star, northern, luminous and majestic, shine on, Let this dream fill you up with energy, rumbling deep inside, still you are satisfied, with the reactions, with speed much greater than sound, A force which would easily break the earths ground, shatter it within moments of a violent dance of might and power beyond any reason, For the millions, the septentrion shall shine on in a changing dipper, Until the moment they die. ~ Umi
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Apr 1, 2018
Apr 1, 2018 at 6:37 PM UTC
"Septentrion"
I am running... into a tunnel that seems to be nothing but a galaxy of voices Echo the stars into its shooting state,  for I chose to ignore their choices Comets have left their trace,  But like an icy breath,  their existence goes extinct Cover my ears! For their twinkling whispers of constellations will never predict The future laid aside for this black hole Dreamer. For I have disposed the old axis The dwarfs of my outter life I have chosen to betray,  I need a morphallaxis Soften my core with an after glow ripple of silence, and open up wisdom through the coronal holes Cover My Ears! I only listen to the language of the Solar winds. It understands my soul My planet has enough craters... No more damage shall be done.  I am the mistress of dark matter My  past and  memories have been dipped in the light of a lunar eclipse,  it's blood scatters Only within a Large field of view can I  recognize it's purpose. Not through men's atmosphere Cover My Ears! I must deal with these super clusters of instincts alone. Now and Here The Super Novas have no sensitivity to the relationship of  Outer Space and  Precious moments Gravity is quick to make me stumble...So now I beg the Novas to no longer see me as an opponent My life has been spilt into two hemispheres. Meteors shower down, destroying every Neutron Star Cover My Ears!  For only my eyes will notice the Satellite from afar Where is my home? The milky way?  The singularity of my black hole had ****** me in Please someone! Anyone!  Flare me away at the speed of light! No longer do I wish to be a captive of sin Once blinded by the Oort cloud,  But praise the Nebula's, I am now a T-Tauri of a young force and desire Cover My Ears! Oh Zeinth! So I may focus on your celestial point of view.  Your rays are my purifier. Cover My Ears...
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Jan 31, 2018
Jan 31, 2018 at 8:15 AM UTC
A Galaxy's Plead (Cover My Ears)
I am running... into a tunnel that seems to be nothing but a galaxy of voices Echo the stars into its shooting state,  for I chose to ignore their choices Comets have left their trace,  But like an icy breath,  their existence goes extinct Cover my ears! For their twinkling whispers of constellations will never predict The future laid aside for this black hole Dreamer. For I have disposed the old axis The dwarfs of my outter life I have chosen to betray,  I need a morphallaxis Soften my core with an after glow ripple of silence, and open up wisdom through the coronal holes Cover My Ears! I only listen to the language of the Solar winds. It understands my soul My planet has enough craters... No more damage shall be done.  I am the mistress of dark matter My  past and  memories have been dipped in the light of a lunar eclipse,  it's blood scatters Only within a Large field of view can I  recognize it's purpose. Not through men's atmosphere Cover My Ears! I must deal with these super clusters of instincts alone. Now and Here The Super Novas have no sensitivity to the relationship of  Outer Space and  Precious moments Gravity is quick to make me stumble...So now I beg the Novas to no longer see me as an opponent My life has been spilt into two hemispheres. Meteors shower down, destroying every Neutron Star Cover My Ears!  For only my eyes will notice the Satellite from afar Where is my home? The milky way?  The singularity of my black hole had ****** me in Please someone! Anyone!  Flare me away at the speed of light! No longer do I wish to be a captive of sin Once blinded by the Oort cloud,  But praise the Nebula's, I am now a T-Tauri of a young force and desire Cover My Ears! Oh Zeinth! So I may focus on your celestial point of view.  Your rays are my purifier. Cover My Ears...
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21
she was like a hurricane followed by winds of a thousand miles leaving wreckage all behind she was red lips and cheap champagne on a crispy night leaving broken hearts all behind she was wilderness a beast that could not be tamed leaving corpses all behind and she was a star a super nova in the sky leaving glittery dust all behind for the others to catch
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Dec 23, 2017
Dec 23, 2017 at 11:42 PM UTC
super nova ;
By Arcassin Burnham Find Salvation in the leaves, Liking for a day without rain to match the demise, Drip \ Drop/ Drip \ Drop Dripping from the Corpse, of course it bleeds, Drip \ Drop/ Drip \ Drop making calm Ripples free with ease, Darker days are coming for the ones that sign their Name in Blood, Looking for a new host to play the part, nope ! I am not the one, To bring you to freedom , the things that you serve, Will only get you in deep fire and brimstone plus the gnashing of teeth, When I'm speaking his name , you only seek vengeance and run away so cowardly, Thinking you see right through me, I'm learning how complacent You are, When you judge , it's not the level of polite , serves you right for Gambling with my life, Criticise and scrutinize , man do your worse, I been through worse and I've seen demons at their early birth While in my sleep at times when I can't move and my eyes are Still open, My mind is clear and I'm aware that the devil has spoken, Drip \ Drop/ Drip \ Drop , having dripped Another since dear old pops died, Drip \ Drop/ Drip \ Drop , looking for another Way to save my life, I gotta get out of here , but I'm the beacon and the brightest Light to see everything clear.
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Dec 20, 2016
Dec 20, 2016 at 10:11 AM UTC
NOVA
At 2:30 a.m., I drink a beer, as if it is a crushed Ambien. I light a joint (the parents are gone for the weekend). My girlfriend is asleep in the basement, eyes closed, lightly snoring, the left side of her face is covered in scars and burn marks. I look around my room: white and blue Ralph Lauren shirts hang from the lampshade, the collars and sleeves are layered with dust. The bookcase is littered with shoeboxes, novels, and poetry collections. I take a drag from my joint and realize my ears are full of static, as if they had been packed with black and white TV sets. There’s the faint sound of a car passing by. The car is a reminder: Civilization, glass buildings, happy hour at my favorite hole-in-the wall in Chinatown. I’m naked, but not totally bare. All I’m wearing are blue boxer briefs, as though it is my uniform for my current occupation as a poet. The blinds are open and I wonder if I open the window and jump out, will anyone give a **** My therapist will probably label me as suicidal, if I mention that last thought. I think I’m just restless and idle. I take another chug from my beer. I’m hunched over a notebook, and writing with a blue pen, not because I think I’m an authentic writer. But because my computer’s in the basement and I don’t want to wake her; I love her. But I can’t stand her critiques, in regards to me. Maybe I can’t handle the harshness in her honesty, as if it is a foreign language coming from a stranger who I’ve known for years. I’m not sleepy. I’m scared. Scared about growing up, scared about having to stop giving a **** and finally having to care about my life.
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Dec 15, 2016
Dec 15, 2016 at 12:47 PM UTC
A Poem for the Insomniacs in NOVA
At 2:30 a.m., I drink a beer, as if it is a crushed Ambien. I light a joint (the parents are gone for the weekend). My girlfriend is asleep in the basement, eyes closed, lightly snoring, the left side of her face is covered in scars and burn marks. I look around my room: white and blue Ralph Lauren shirts hang from the lampshade, the collars and sleeves are layered with dust. The bookcase is littered with shoeboxes, novels, and poetry collections. I take a drag from my joint and realize my ears are full of static, as if they had been packed with black and white TV sets. There’s the faint sound of a car passing by. The car is a reminder: Civilization, glass buildings, happy hour at my favorite hole-in-the wall in Chinatown. I’m naked, but not totally bare. All I’m wearing are blue boxer briefs, as though it is my uniform for my current occupation as a poet. The blinds are open and I wonder if I open the window and jump out, will anyone give a **** My therapist will probably label me as suicidal, if I mention that last thought. I think I’m just restless and idle. I take another chug from my beer. I’m hunched over a notebook, and writing with a blue pen, not because I think I’m an authentic writer. But because my computer’s in the basement and I don’t want to wake her; I love her. But I can’t stand her critiques, in regards to me. Maybe I can’t handle the harshness in her honesty, as if it is a foreign language coming from a stranger who I’ve known for years. I’m not sleepy. I’m scared. Scared about growing up, scared about having to stop giving a **** and finally having to care about my life.
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56
Here you and I stand Beneath the cosmic graveyard Engulfed in twillight
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Dec 6, 2016
Dec 6, 2016 at 8:33 PM UTC
Nova (Haiku #45)
Fairfax Station’s socialite, a trustfundee Still hallucinates on a lone hammock In her penthouse. Her ex-idols still burn the light green foliage From the Tree of Experience. Her sister’s a screenwriter Who lives near downtown in a cobwebbed basement. Each morning she composes a page of dialogue. Usually There the fragments of yesterday’s conversations With an insomniac. She is the turned page In a worn storybook. Her shutter snaps mental photographs Through a blurred lens. The girls’ father Is a patient in an asylum, in his leisure, he treads Water in a soiled bedpan. Psychotherapy and straightjackets Cannot restrain his work ethic for Art. Before his admittance To the institution, in his studio, on a giant canvass He painted the green youth that struggles to Grow in an elementary school. The socialite is undeclared In her major. Unsure of faith leaping. Remains pessimistic at charity functions. Vast Auditoriums with smudged tablecloth. She’s accompanied By an entourage of underdeveloped emotions. On occasion she side glances from a hand mirror At a potential love interest. It’s too soon. The spring is a late bloomer, blue frost clings To the edges of grass blades. At a coffee shop on The corner of Main and North Harrison Street, The screenwriter raps away at her laptop; talking To herself. Her coffee foams at the mouth with expired cream. A welcomed patron to this local getaway; This is where her father used to read her articles From the Washington Post. He nearly hanged himself After the car accident. His wife’s body smashed Halfway through a windshield. Around his wrist Is the Movado, she gave him for their anniversary. For months now, for an hour before night class, Our writer opens up her treasure chest of demons To a word document. She’s almost thirty. The divorce took her strength, Along with her two legacies. Yesteryear, or Was it the day before yesteryear? The talented Family met at a Hibachi restaurant. They had a Gift card to use. It was a day after the funeral; there black Clothes were wrinkled, just a bit. Napkins lay Folded over their laps. Silverware untouched. Hot bowls of miso soup grew cold. Visits to The bathroom were common. Tsnumai of Mixed emotions: trickled, flooded, filled there eyes. The foreign chef noticed their mood, he Could only offer body language. In the air Swan eggs were cracked into two halves. The yolk sizzled on the aluminum surface. Fire soared from an onion volcano. Mouths Watered, and eyes were parched. Kobe steak, Grilled vegetables, juicy chicken, fried rice. They chewed their food with shut mouths And gutwrenched eyes. They sat and ate Until every last morsel disappeared. Over her balcony, she leans on the railing Of her loft. Ashtray spills Marlboro’s remains That plummet onto a city of funny people. She can’t use humor as a defensive mechanism, Why should she? Her credit card is her alcohol. Her eyes daydream of elevators And clothing stores. She lays out in Her hammock, wondering why an automobile Had to be the antagonist. They all live above the billboards, below the heavens.
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Aug 31, 2016
Aug 31, 2016 at 2:09 PM UTC
Funfax
Fairfax Station’s socialite, a trustfundee Still hallucinates on a lone hammock In her penthouse. Her ex-idols still burn the light green foliage From the Tree of Experience. Her sister’s a screenwriter Who lives near downtown in a cobwebbed basement. Each morning she composes a page of dialogue. Usually There the fragments of yesterday’s conversations With an insomniac. She is the turned page In a worn storybook. Her shutter snaps mental photographs Through a blurred lens. The girls’ father Is a patient in an asylum, in his leisure, he treads Water in a soiled bedpan. Psychotherapy and straightjackets Cannot restrain his work ethic for Art. Before his admittance To the institution, in his studio, on a giant canvass He painted the green youth that struggles to Grow in an elementary school. The socialite is undeclared In her major. Unsure of faith leaping. Remains pessimistic at charity functions. Vast Auditoriums with smudged tablecloth. She’s accompanied By an entourage of underdeveloped emotions. On occasion she side glances from a hand mirror At a potential love interest. It’s too soon. The spring is a late bloomer, blue frost clings To the edges of grass blades. At a coffee shop on The corner of Main and North Harrison Street, The screenwriter raps away at her laptop; talking To herself. Her coffee foams at the mouth with expired cream. A welcomed patron to this local getaway; This is where her father used to read her articles From the Washington Post. He nearly hanged himself After the car accident. His wife’s body smashed Halfway through a windshield. Around his wrist Is the Movado, she gave him for their anniversary. For months now, for an hour before night class, Our writer opens up her treasure chest of demons To a word document. She’s almost thirty. The divorce took her strength, Along with her two legacies. Yesteryear, or Was it the day before yesteryear? The talented Family met at a Hibachi restaurant. They had a Gift card to use. It was a day after the funeral; there black Clothes were wrinkled, just a bit. Napkins lay Folded over their laps. Silverware untouched. Hot bowls of miso soup grew cold. Visits to The bathroom were common. Tsnumai of Mixed emotions: trickled, flooded, filled there eyes. The foreign chef noticed their mood, he Could only offer body language. In the air Swan eggs were cracked into two halves. The yolk sizzled on the aluminum surface. Fire soared from an onion volcano. Mouths Watered, and eyes were parched. Kobe steak, Grilled vegetables, juicy chicken, fried rice. They chewed their food with shut mouths And gutwrenched eyes. They sat and ate Until every last morsel disappeared. Over her balcony, she leans on the railing Of her loft. Ashtray spills Marlboro’s remains That plummet onto a city of funny people. She can’t use humor as a defensive mechanism, Why should she? Her credit card is her alcohol. Her eyes daydream of elevators And clothing stores. She lays out in Her hammock, wondering why an automobile Had to be the antagonist. They all live above the billboards, below the heavens.
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69
In the basement where I sleep alone Tinted mirrors shot right through my veins of gold There's a nova in the mirror, holding up his two legs With damp marks on the collar of his robe With incisions and ghosts, on the nape of his neck But there's nothing you can do When he doesn't praise the sun But he'll praise the moon When he doesn't praise the wind But he'll praise our oxygen
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Jul 15, 2016
Jul 15, 2016 at 7:17 PM UTC
Nova In The Mirror
You could have reached here Wednesday by last choice Perhaps your mood shifted. All the calm nights you had now lay awake. You explore the city built by the perfect people, white cathedral stands upright on a slant, a compass buried in plain sight, the gibberish of art students from painting lullabies as sirens. Only children are asleep. The university grows younger each year. The best teacher is always late, not realizing her impact. The person I’m most comfortable with stays in bed. Security found indoors the couch allures, security in the capsule, The deafening whispers, the genuine friends who live nearby and can’t talk straight. The blessed temple building worshiped by advertising majors. The lucid potential, morning sprints round the track, a library sustained by crushed Adderall — glowering orbs rotating back counter clockwise, out of chimneys the black spirits climb, detectives bicycling, the honor students rummaging for class notes in the deep end of the dumpster. So this is college? That frontier plateauing before you can dive off a cloud? So this utopia was a dollhouse, the daily on the doormat camps in the hallway: waits while the child watches a sit-com? Don’t apartments stand still? Are abstract paintings and basketball supposed to nurture a city, not only Richmond, but also other lonely cities of misunderstood brunettes, dank **** and dubstep the weekend will seldom put out until the city you moved to shuts its eye? Just tell yourself, “live.” The best teacher, eighteen when she moved to the university, still grins even as she coughs out fiberglass. Any day now, she sings, I’ll take a drive and leave this place. I pull her close and say. You haven’t slept in your own bed. The boy who you’ve always loved still thinks about you. The books you read before breakfast, whoever the author may be, inspires and your least favorite student who raises her hand is judged but her posture never falters.
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May 25, 2016
May 25, 2016 at 4:29 PM UTC
Opaque Shades of Richmond
You could have reached here Wednesday by last choice Perhaps your mood shifted. All the calm nights you had now lay awake. You explore the city built by the perfect people, white cathedral stands upright on a slant, a compass buried in plain sight, the gibberish of art students from painting lullabies as sirens. Only children are asleep. The university grows younger each year. The best teacher is always late, not realizing her impact. The person I’m most comfortable with stays in bed. Security found indoors the couch allures, security in the capsule, The deafening whispers, the genuine friends who live nearby and can’t talk straight. The blessed temple building worshiped by advertising majors. The lucid potential, morning sprints round the track, a library sustained by crushed Adderall — glowering orbs rotating back counter clockwise, out of chimneys the black spirits climb, detectives bicycling, the honor students rummaging for class notes in the deep end of the dumpster. So this is college? That frontier plateauing before you can dive off a cloud? So this utopia was a dollhouse, the daily on the doormat camps in the hallway: waits while the child watches a sit-com? Don’t apartments stand still? Are abstract paintings and basketball supposed to nurture a city, not only Richmond, but also other lonely cities of misunderstood brunettes, dank **** and dubstep the weekend will seldom put out until the city you moved to shuts its eye? Just tell yourself, “live.” The best teacher, eighteen when she moved to the university, still grins even as she coughs out fiberglass. Any day now, she sings, I’ll take a drive and leave this place. I pull her close and say. You haven’t slept in your own bed. The boy who you’ve always loved still thinks about you. The books you read before breakfast, whoever the author may be, inspires and your least favorite student who raises her hand is judged but her posture never falters.
Continue reading...
42
Restless in bed, the stir of warmth blossoming in his heart, the girl he loved has gone, drifted from his house to the field of vacant stares. Rainstorms brew in his mind, shifting from one end to the other, the current forming into a large sheet of distance damp with disconnection. He thinks of fire. As he rolls out of bed. Grabbing a cigarette from his ashtray, he lights up. Old habits stay kept in the roof of his mouth. Fresh air permeates through his nostrils as he steps out onto the front porch. He props his elbows on the balustrade, brushes against the grainy wood tarnished from the skywater. The sun droops below the gray cluster of clouds hanging over a horizon colored with blues, reds, and yellows. While he smokes on his cigarette he remembers the girl. Her name is a wrinkled photograph stored in a dusty shoe box. She has green eyes and curly red hair. Her body is shaped in an hourglass figure. She's tall and gaunt, but her legs are toned from running several miles on her treadmill each morning before the dark slips away into the fog of light. He grounds the cigarette out on the porch. He steps onto the driveway. There's a red Honda CRV parked across from the two-car garage. He hops in. The key turns. Booming engine roars out loud. The wheels churn backwards. He pulls out of the cul-de-sac. And he drives, drives, until he can remember the road map, the one that she stole from him to follow her dreams, and hopes, the aspirations that he had once shared with her. A thin, white film of mist belays across the windshield. And for a short second he wishes that he were dead. Dead so that he could have the perspective of an omniscient narrator to oversee everything, and everyone. But where is his girl? She's not the one who got away, she's the one who abandoned him, the night after he ate the sweet nectar, the fruit, little drops of dew splashing onto the back of his tongue. The red Honda CR-V careens down the interstate, windows down, subwoofers pumping with something similar to apprehension, tense with overwrought poems. The substance lacking from trying too hard, for something that wants nothing to do with him.
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May 25, 2016
May 25, 2016 at 11:25 AM UTC
Drive
Restless in bed, the stir of warmth blossoming in his heart, the girl he loved has gone, drifted from his house to the field of vacant stares. Rainstorms brew in his mind, shifting from one end to the other, the current forming into a large sheet of distance damp with disconnection. He thinks of fire. As he rolls out of bed. Grabbing a cigarette from his ashtray, he lights up. Old habits stay kept in the roof of his mouth. Fresh air permeates through his nostrils as he steps out onto the front porch. He props his elbows on the balustrade, brushes against the grainy wood tarnished from the skywater. The sun droops below the gray cluster of clouds hanging over a horizon colored with blues, reds, and yellows. While he smokes on his cigarette he remembers the girl. Her name is a wrinkled photograph stored in a dusty shoe box. She has green eyes and curly red hair. Her body is shaped in an hourglass figure. She's tall and gaunt, but her legs are toned from running several miles on her treadmill each morning before the dark slips away into the fog of light. He grounds the cigarette out on the porch. He steps onto the driveway. There's a red Honda CRV parked across from the two-car garage. He hops in. The key turns. Booming engine roars out loud. The wheels churn backwards. He pulls out of the cul-de-sac. And he drives, drives, until he can remember the road map, the one that she stole from him to follow her dreams, and hopes, the aspirations that he had once shared with her. A thin, white film of mist belays across the windshield. And for a short second he wishes that he were dead. Dead so that he could have the perspective of an omniscient narrator to oversee everything, and everyone. But where is his girl? She's not the one who got away, she's the one who abandoned him, the night after he ate the sweet nectar, the fruit, little drops of dew splashing onto the back of his tongue. The red Honda CR-V careens down the interstate, windows down, subwoofers pumping with something similar to apprehension, tense with overwrought poems. The substance lacking from trying too hard, for something that wants nothing to do with him.
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43
In Northern Virginia, for the ladies of wealth, Sunday mornings begin with a hangover, a Virginia Slim, and a Xanax. The day transitions to brunch at Liberty Tavern: one mimosa and one ****** Mary; an omelet with green and red peppers; and another round of mimosas and another ****** Mary, because: why in the world not? For Thu—a Vietnamese American—Sunday mornings always begin with a different routine. She comes downstairs to the dining room, steps around the bundle of adult diapers, and pulls back the curtain that leads to her parents. There, on the far right corner, her Dad lays on an electric bed, his eyes sleepy as if he had drunk too much whiskey from the night before. His mouth agape, he has a face of a man who has lived for many years. In fact he has, 80 something years in fact. His arm hangs over the railing, blue veins protruding from the skin. Thu pulls the blinds and light comes seeping through the window. Her Dad smiles as the sunlight warms up his face. Thu lifts him out of bed and into his wheelchair and travels with him, looping around the house in a circle: starting with the dining room, then the foyer, through the hallway, out the kitchen, and then back to the dining room. She tries to make him walk at least three rounds. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he doesn’t. He grunts and curses in Vietnamese, his walker scraping against the marble and hardwood floors. He moves the walker, using the little strength he has in his biceps and the muscles in his right leg. Two years ago, her Dad had a stroke, leaving the right side of his body impaired and aching. Ever since then, he’s been trying to recover. He spends his time watching soccer and UFC on a television with a line running across the screen. He has caretakers who assist him with going to the bathroom and showering. His wife is the only thing that keeps him going. She has Alzheimer’s and at random times in the night she’ll open up the refrigerator and search for food, because during the day she hardly eats a bite. She walks around in a cardigan and cotton pants, a toothpick jutting out from her mouth. She enjoys lying on the sofa and making phone-calls to her friends. But she often misdials the numbers, startled when she hears a voice of a stranger on the other end of the line. She tells the stranger she doesn’t know English, shutting her eyes before trying to dial another number. Thu has lived in Northern VA for many years, 18 years to be exact. She’s a Hokie. She’s an avid watcher of Criminal Minds. And she enjoys apple cider with a side of kettle-corn. Despite having to cook and look after her parents, she never complains. Never gets upset. Never says that life is unfair. Later on in the day, she’s wearing a blouse dotted with blue flowers, a pair of gray sweatpants, and open-toed sandals. When her daughter Vicki walks into the kitchen, she makes a remark about her posture. Vicki scoffs, no longer trying to seek her approval, but when Thu’s back’s turned, she straightens out her posture. Thu never makes a comment about her boyfriend. That’s a lost cause in her eyes. Once Thu doesn’t approve on a relationship that’s the end of it. She wants the best for her daughter, pushes her to be the best at what she does. Thu used to live in Saigon. When the war ended, she had fallen in love with a boy who lived next door to her. He was her first love. He would write love poems to her. Sometimes they would hold hands. Once they had shared a kiss. They were young and deeply in love. But as the war finished up, they moved on from each other. The boy went to live with his family in Australia, while she moved to America. After they broke up, Thu would still think about him. He was the one who dumped her. The breakup crushed her heart. But she didn’t let it mar her dignity. Time passed by, Thu moved to Virginia and she went to high school in Fairfax County. The letters started pouring in from the boy. But she had too much pride and she didn’t respond until one day. That was the day that John Lennon was murdered in cold blood. She was heartbroken like every other person in the world. Yet, she also thought of the boy and how much he loved John Lennon. Thu remembers reading the newspaper, seeing John Lennon’s face on the front page of the paper. She took a pair of scissors and cut a square around John’s face. Then she wrote a letter to the boy. And then she sealed the newspaper clipping and the letter in an envelope and begged her mom over the phone to send the letter to the boy. Her mom was still in Saigon and somehow she made contact with the boy and gave the letter to him. A month later, she opened the mail and there was a letter from the boy. She read the letter, stifled a cry, and then proceeded to write. The next day she sent the letter. Thu was happy to read his words. It was as though she could hear his voice through his sentences. Like he was there next to her, looking at her, speaking to her spirit. Days passed. Weeks passed. And then after a month she realized he wasn’t going to respond back to her letter. She couldn’t believe that he didn’t give her a response. “And that’s the end of the story,” Thu said to her son. “What do you mean that’s the end of the story? That can’t be the end!” “Well you’re the writer, right? Think of an ending.” Okay. So here it goes. Thu smiles, her eyes grow sleepy, and her head slumps over. She starts to snore, very loudly in fact. But it’s cute and you’re hoping that she’s dreaming, dreaming about something relentlessly lovely.
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May 3, 2016
May 3, 2016 at 1:35 AM UTC
To you, Mom
In Northern Virginia, for the ladies of wealth, Sunday mornings begin with a hangover, a Virginia Slim, and a Xanax. The day transitions to brunch at Liberty Tavern: one mimosa and one ****** Mary; an omelet with green and red peppers; and another round of mimosas and another ****** Mary, because: why in the world not? For Thu—a Vietnamese American—Sunday mornings always begin with a different routine. She comes downstairs to the dining room, steps around the bundle of adult diapers, and pulls back the curtain that leads to her parents. There, on the far right corner, her Dad lays on an electric bed, his eyes sleepy as if he had drunk too much whiskey from the night before. His mouth agape, he has a face of a man who has lived for many years. In fact he has, 80 something years in fact. His arm hangs over the railing, blue veins protruding from the skin. Thu pulls the blinds and light comes seeping through the window. Her Dad smiles as the sunlight warms up his face. Thu lifts him out of bed and into his wheelchair and travels with him, looping around the house in a circle: starting with the dining room, then the foyer, through the hallway, out the kitchen, and then back to the dining room. She tries to make him walk at least three rounds. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he doesn’t. He grunts and curses in Vietnamese, his walker scraping against the marble and hardwood floors. He moves the walker, using the little strength he has in his biceps and the muscles in his right leg. Two years ago, her Dad had a stroke, leaving the right side of his body impaired and aching. Ever since then, he’s been trying to recover. He spends his time watching soccer and UFC on a television with a line running across the screen. He has caretakers who assist him with going to the bathroom and showering. His wife is the only thing that keeps him going. She has Alzheimer’s and at random times in the night she’ll open up the refrigerator and search for food, because during the day she hardly eats a bite. She walks around in a cardigan and cotton pants, a toothpick jutting out from her mouth. She enjoys lying on the sofa and making phone-calls to her friends. But she often misdials the numbers, startled when she hears a voice of a stranger on the other end of the line. She tells the stranger she doesn’t know English, shutting her eyes before trying to dial another number. Thu has lived in Northern VA for many years, 18 years to be exact. She’s a Hokie. She’s an avid watcher of Criminal Minds. And she enjoys apple cider with a side of kettle-corn. Despite having to cook and look after her parents, she never complains. Never gets upset. Never says that life is unfair. Later on in the day, she’s wearing a blouse dotted with blue flowers, a pair of gray sweatpants, and open-toed sandals. When her daughter Vicki walks into the kitchen, she makes a remark about her posture. Vicki scoffs, no longer trying to seek her approval, but when Thu’s back’s turned, she straightens out her posture. Thu never makes a comment about her boyfriend. That’s a lost cause in her eyes. Once Thu doesn’t approve on a relationship that’s the end of it. She wants the best for her daughter, pushes her to be the best at what she does. Thu used to live in Saigon. When the war ended, she had fallen in love with a boy who lived next door to her. He was her first love. He would write love poems to her. Sometimes they would hold hands. Once they had shared a kiss. They were young and deeply in love. But as the war finished up, they moved on from each other. The boy went to live with his family in Australia, while she moved to America. After they broke up, Thu would still think about him. He was the one who dumped her. The breakup crushed her heart. But she didn’t let it mar her dignity. Time passed by, Thu moved to Virginia and she went to high school in Fairfax County. The letters started pouring in from the boy. But she had too much pride and she didn’t respond until one day. That was the day that John Lennon was murdered in cold blood. She was heartbroken like every other person in the world. Yet, she also thought of the boy and how much he loved John Lennon. Thu remembers reading the newspaper, seeing John Lennon’s face on the front page of the paper. She took a pair of scissors and cut a square around John’s face. Then she wrote a letter to the boy. And then she sealed the newspaper clipping and the letter in an envelope and begged her mom over the phone to send the letter to the boy. Her mom was still in Saigon and somehow she made contact with the boy and gave the letter to him. A month later, she opened the mail and there was a letter from the boy. She read the letter, stifled a cry, and then proceeded to write. The next day she sent the letter. Thu was happy to read his words. It was as though she could hear his voice through his sentences. Like he was there next to her, looking at her, speaking to her spirit. Days passed. Weeks passed. And then after a month she realized he wasn’t going to respond back to her letter. She couldn’t believe that he didn’t give her a response. “And that’s the end of the story,” Thu said to her son. “What do you mean that’s the end of the story? That can’t be the end!” “Well you’re the writer, right? Think of an ending.” Okay. So here it goes. Thu smiles, her eyes grow sleepy, and her head slumps over. She starts to snore, very loudly in fact. But it’s cute and you’re hoping that she’s dreaming, dreaming about something relentlessly lovely.
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28
I met Lori at a beer pong table. She was tall. A trash talker. Beach blonde hair. Eyes blue, blue as the sky on an afternoon in July, when the weather was cool from a light rain. This was post-college—a house party, for young adults who wanted more from life than the typical 9-5. She wasn’t from NOVA. She was from Weston, FL. Her teammate was a guy she was with at the time—they ended up breaking it off and for a while she was dating Cam, a pro-bass fisher, a long distance relationship, but they loved each other. But at the table, I was competing with her teammate, later on I ended up mentally competing with Cam, which didn’t do any good except to make me chain-smoke jacks and drink bourbon. I had a girlfriend at the time—let’s just call her Voldy. My teammate was Lori’s best friend Erica. This girl had swagger; played beer pong like Dr. J, always got us roll backs. I was tall as **** for a Vietnamese American—still am tall as **** for a Vietnamese American (Don’t worry my guys, my family’s from the Southside)—and in college we had built a beer pong table, at a spot called the pink house. “We,” meaning my roommates and I: CJ, Trevor, and Samuel. The U.N. I had practiced daily, playing before class, playing after class. Height made a difference; some great basketball player once said you need to have game on and off the court. I wasn’t sure what court I was on when I was in that moment. Lori was more than appearance; more body language; more eye contact; more southern twang; and more astuteness, than a TED Talk combined with NPR, combined with The New Yorker, combined with Al-Jazeera and linked with Wikipedia on a ***** binge. I could talk all day about how she looked, how she dressed. But I told you what you need to know. She shot first, her right arm shaped like a swan, the type of swan that sits on a lake in the middle of a spring morning, the type of morning when the sky is blue with the eyes of a girl who has seen too much, been through too much, and has heard too much. She sank the shot. Her teammate roared. But all I could hear was Lori’s voice; soft as the piano notes played by Sakamoto’s right hand, loud as the piano notes played by Sakamoto’s left hand. Blu was not how I was feeling. Or maybe I was. Because at this table I had to either take a loss, or seal a win. I didn’t know what I wanted. But I wanted her. Wanted her, like how you wanted a postcard from Santa when you were 5 years old, and it was opposite day. So you got the address wrong, and the letter was never received. And your parents told you to keep trying so you did, you did, and you did, but you were young and naïve. You didn’t know what was real and what was not real. And now I was at a place in time, when the setting didn’t matter, and the alcohol didn’t matter, and the drugs didn’t matter. All that mattered was her. Because when I shot that orange ping-pong ball, I kept eye-contact with her eyes. Blue, much more blue than the water in the red solo cups we were playing with. I wish it were water from the beaches in Florida, beaches I could read a Salinger story on, beaches I could rest on beaches I could lay on, lay and take in the sun that rises above my soul that aches for something more. But Lori wasn’t Brett Ashley, she was more Daisy Buchanan than anything. But does that make me Tom or Jay? Jimmy or Nick? I didn’t know and I still don’t know. What I do know, is this; the ball sank into the first cup of the triangle. Lori’s face went from cocky, to frustrated, from frustrated to relaxed, from that to a smile. One that I remember, and one, I won’t forget. Because all I want to do is forget, Take my memory and squeeze the bad **** out, twist the living **** out of it, and burn it with a match. Because she thinks I’m the one, Who did her wrong, but it wasn’t me. I put that on my integrity, even if my words don’t mean much to your ears: please listen. I was inebriated, 3/4ths of the time we chilled. So I didn’t know what was false and what was real. You can check my temperature, Because when you’re in my thoughts I get a fever And hey, I shouldn’t have made a pass on your roomie I should have thought before I texted, because now your trust in me has been affected. We’re not talking. I can keep apologizing for what happened, but you don’t want to listen to a broken record. I wish the bad memories would pass away and I guess they’re all in the past today. Look, I don’t have a time machine strong enough to change all the mistakes that I’ve made. But take this as a time capsule, this piece that I’m sharing. Like that piece we were sharing. The one that belonged to you. The one I wish I could kiss again, Because your lips touched it, And mine never touched yours.
0
Apr 28, 2016
Apr 28, 2016 at 5:51 PM UTC
B.P.
I met Lori at a beer pong table. She was tall. A trash talker. Beach blonde hair. Eyes blue, blue as the sky on an afternoon in July, when the weather was cool from a light rain. This was post-college—a house party, for young adults who wanted more from life than the typical 9-5. She wasn’t from NOVA. She was from Weston, FL. Her teammate was a guy she was with at the time—they ended up breaking it off and for a while she was dating Cam, a pro-bass fisher, a long distance relationship, but they loved each other. But at the table, I was competing with her teammate, later on I ended up mentally competing with Cam, which didn’t do any good except to make me chain-smoke jacks and drink bourbon. I had a girlfriend at the time—let’s just call her Voldy. My teammate was Lori’s best friend Erica. This girl had swagger; played beer pong like Dr. J, always got us roll backs. I was tall as **** for a Vietnamese American—still am tall as **** for a Vietnamese American (Don’t worry my guys, my family’s from the Southside)—and in college we had built a beer pong table, at a spot called the pink house. “We,” meaning my roommates and I: CJ, Trevor, and Samuel. The U.N. I had practiced daily, playing before class, playing after class. Height made a difference; some great basketball player once said you need to have game on and off the court. I wasn’t sure what court I was on when I was in that moment. Lori was more than appearance; more body language; more eye contact; more southern twang; and more astuteness, than a TED Talk combined with NPR, combined with The New Yorker, combined with Al-Jazeera and linked with Wikipedia on a ***** binge. I could talk all day about how she looked, how she dressed. But I told you what you need to know. She shot first, her right arm shaped like a swan, the type of swan that sits on a lake in the middle of a spring morning, the type of morning when the sky is blue with the eyes of a girl who has seen too much, been through too much, and has heard too much. She sank the shot. Her teammate roared. But all I could hear was Lori’s voice; soft as the piano notes played by Sakamoto’s right hand, loud as the piano notes played by Sakamoto’s left hand. Blu was not how I was feeling. Or maybe I was. Because at this table I had to either take a loss, or seal a win. I didn’t know what I wanted. But I wanted her. Wanted her, like how you wanted a postcard from Santa when you were 5 years old, and it was opposite day. So you got the address wrong, and the letter was never received. And your parents told you to keep trying so you did, you did, and you did, but you were young and naïve. You didn’t know what was real and what was not real. And now I was at a place in time, when the setting didn’t matter, and the alcohol didn’t matter, and the drugs didn’t matter. All that mattered was her. Because when I shot that orange ping-pong ball, I kept eye-contact with her eyes. Blue, much more blue than the water in the red solo cups we were playing with. I wish it were water from the beaches in Florida, beaches I could read a Salinger story on, beaches I could rest on beaches I could lay on, lay and take in the sun that rises above my soul that aches for something more. But Lori wasn’t Brett Ashley, she was more Daisy Buchanan than anything. But does that make me Tom or Jay? Jimmy or Nick? I didn’t know and I still don’t know. What I do know, is this; the ball sank into the first cup of the triangle. Lori’s face went from cocky, to frustrated, from frustrated to relaxed, from that to a smile. One that I remember, and one, I won’t forget. Because all I want to do is forget, Take my memory and squeeze the bad **** out, twist the living **** out of it, and burn it with a match. Because she thinks I’m the one, Who did her wrong, but it wasn’t me. I put that on my integrity, even if my words don’t mean much to your ears: please listen. I was inebriated, 3/4ths of the time we chilled. So I didn’t know what was false and what was real. You can check my temperature, Because when you’re in my thoughts I get a fever And hey, I shouldn’t have made a pass on your roomie I should have thought before I texted, because now your trust in me has been affected. We’re not talking. I can keep apologizing for what happened, but you don’t want to listen to a broken record. I wish the bad memories would pass away and I guess they’re all in the past today. Look, I don’t have a time machine strong enough to change all the mistakes that I’ve made. But take this as a time capsule, this piece that I’m sharing. Like that piece we were sharing. The one that belonged to you. The one I wish I could kiss again, Because your lips touched it, And mine never touched yours.
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61
When's the last time we discussed your beauty? Taboo the way beautiful lays itself across the strength of a mans character but you are Stunningly, captivatingly beautiful & Its not your chiseled arms or your abs its you Its the way wait... Have I ever told you that you're beautiful? That your beauty keeps me talking how talking keeps me off track but in line and tracing circles around your eyebrows across your lips down your back Have I ever told you that you're my best friend? That there is a joy in seeing your face after a long day dinner tastes better on those days and I sleep more soundly Have I ever told you that you are worth it? That God loves you That he sent me to remind you that you're beautiful Have I ever described how comforting your laugh is? The way it tickles me and allows me to keep a pinch of it in my pocket to sprinkle on me and around me on days you are on my mind but not around me If I never have, then with these words I always will! Poems live forever and your beauty, well... Its timeless
0
Feb 10, 2016
Feb 10, 2016 at 3:11 PM UTC
Have I ever?
It was a throwback party Of the Bossa Nova Staying up late until The dance was over. The Latin beat pounding, The music was everything It was so happy sounding. Bossa Nova was king. It is the cousin to samba And in Brazil it is the way To party with your amigos Partying the night away. Dancing like the music Lives inside your soul. Much livelier than cha cha Twice as hot as rock and roll. It was a throwback party Of the Bossa Nova Staying up late until The dance was over. Time to wear **** clothing Girls in dresses up so high Men in calças they can dance in Oba! How the hours fly. Music, sometimes words And a strong and ***** beat Drive away the daily worries And put the rhythm in the feet. It was a throwback party Of the Bossa Nova Staying up late until The dance was over. The Latin beat pounding, The music was everything It was so happy sounding. Bossa Nova was king.
0
Dec 3, 2015
Dec 3, 2015 at 11:00 PM UTC
BOSSA NOVA PARTY