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 Dec 2024 Bardo
Charles Bukowski
ignore all possible concepts and possibilities ---
ignore Beethoven, the spider, the damnation of Faust ---
just make it, babe, make it:
a house  a car   a belly full of beans
pay your taxes
****
and if you can't ****
copulate.
make money but don't work too
hard --- make somebody else pay to
make it --- and
don't smoke too much but drink enough to
relax, and
stay off the streets
wipe your *** real good
use a lot of toilet paper
it's bad manners to let people know you **** or
could smell like it
if you weren't
careful
Child in warmth or cold.
War and homelessness
with Christmas
please no more
We all deserve light.

Children must be
warm and safe
Around the Christmas tree.
No more pain and fear.
Feeling safe.

Cold white winter night
sharing food
open presents
classic Christmas Eve.
That’s how it’s supposed to be.



Shell✨🐚
Wishing all of you a peaceful Christmas weekend and a blessed and safe time.
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Dr Peter Lim
I can't even be
my own leader
how could I ever
lead any other?
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Dr Peter Lim
Caveat
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Dr Peter Lim
Do not come my way
lest I lead you astray-

do not trust what I say
lest it might cause you dismay-

do not praise me
I might not be worthy-

do not be my friend
lest on me you can't depend-

do not grant me any favour
be able to reciprocate I might never-

lastly,  this I'll declare
turn away from me--go elsewhere!
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Terry O'Leary
I go to church each Sunday,
God warns ‘there’s much to fear,
the world is decomposing,
the final end is near’.

I go to church each Sunday
and taste the wine and bread,
though elsewhere on our globus
raw hunger reigns instead.

I go to church each Sunday,
hear preachers’ words rebuff
repentant pauper’s pleading
‘enough is not enough’.

I go to church each Sunday,
watch candles burning bright
although they don’t enlighten      
the demons of the night.

I go to church each Sunday
to wash away my sin,
while prophets make their profits
with wars that do us in.

I go to church each Sunday,
think thoughts incessantly
of all our planet’s peoples
denied equality.

I go to church each Sunday,  
sit peacefully in the nave
while folks afar seek, grieving,
throughout a boundless grave.

I go to church each Sunday
to view iconic forms
alive in lancet windows
that hide unholy storms.

I go to church each Sunday,
discharge the weekly tithe,
while others pay the piper
when Reaper whets his scythe.

I go to church each Sunday
regard the holy bell,
reflecting on the wastelands
where day and night they knell.

I go to church each Sunday,
hear persons of the cloth
disguise the hell hereafter
with wartime victory froth.

I go to church each Sunday,
half perched upon a pew;
with everything so hopeless,
what else can one but do?

I go to church each Sunday,
and gaze upon the steeple,
majestic as the rockets
that plunge on placid people.

I go to church each Sunday
to hear the choir’s song
keep time with banshees shrieking
within a world gone wrong.

I go to church each Sunday
(above, doves fly in flocks),
while far flung realms are flattened
beneath the wings of hawks.

I go to church each Sunday
and pray so oft for peace,
but still the death continues,
it never seems to cease.

I go to church each Sunday
to sing sad psalms of praise,
while distant drones are humming
o’er bodies burnt, ablaze.

I go to church each Sunday,
a quest to save my soul
’gainst warfare’s pride and plunder -
prayer never plays a role.

I go to church each Sunday
my errors to confess,
while countries keep on killing
and suffer no redress.

I go to church each Sunday
the future for to see -
a man-made Armageddon
that ends humanity.
Spurred on by and inspired by my pal M.G.
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Lizzie Bevis
Your touch ignites
          the morning sky,
With each kiss
          a thousand stars
                    reply.

Your Heartbeat
is my favourite song,
          the rhythm
I've searched
                    for all along.

Your eyes
hold secrets of the sea
          each glance
                    a promise
                              meant for me.

Your smile outshines
          the burning sun,
Two hearts beating
          and joined
                    as one.

Like honey
          dripping
                    from the moon,
Like roses
          blooming
                    out of tune.

Your love flows
          through my every vein,
with a sweet,
          intoxicating rush
                    of pain.

©️Lizzie Bevis
 Dec 2024 Bardo
guy scutellaro
the mystery of delicate petals unfurling
into forgiveness.

the forest of evergreens and silent flowers,

oh, tender heart, my love,
the gentle spirit when days are more gray.

walk with me through the riddle of
the silent and cold universe,

the sometimes warm and starry sky,
across clouds, the moonlit landscape
of mountains and snow.

run with me
naked under the flower moon.

she smiles, oh, that flower moon,
locks her arm in my arm,
hands me tiny purple flowers,

and says, it's only love.
 Dec 2024 Bardo
guy scutellaro
casts huge leaf shadows on dirt
and the mockingbird's mocking me.

"mockingbird,"
I put my hands in my pocket
and pretend a smile,
"some things you can't out run,
church bells and a wedding dress,
funeral processions and baptisms,
the cop car radio,

she was so beautiful in her wedding dress,"

I'm pointing my finger up at the mockingbird,
"so I'm a few steps ahead of you in heartache,

it was a toss of the dice,"I tell the bird,

"I threw a handful of rice."

"so don't look sad at me, bird.
everyone gets hurt."

and on her branch in the sycamore tree
the mockingbird's crying to me...

"I'm a few years ahead you...
Sweet One, lonely bird.

I've walked through fire,
stared into the wall of shadow and sorrow
into the cold silence of tomorrow.

I hear what you're telling me, Dear One,
loves been a little ******* you, too,

and there in illusion lies the danger
so please be kind, my friend,

the sorrows that never seem to fade away
become the grey, dark sea,
and sunlight through the Sycamore tree.
 Dec 2024 Bardo
Dr Peter Lim
Writing to me
is not escape
rather ideas
to shape

to do away
with dubiety
lacuna, uncertainty
in search of clarity-

I know the limit
of my ability
I'll not venture
beyond my boundary

but to persevere only
humbly and patiently-
I'll leave no legacy
in this my endless journey.
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