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"anthologies" poems
~ June 2023 HP Poet: Patty Mager Country: USA Question 1: Welcome to the HP Spotlight, Patty. Please tell us about your background? Patty M: "I was born an only child in a 3 generation household. I loved books, and playing imaginary games, and chasing my mom with really long nightcrawlers, my Grandpa raised in a washtub. I was a banker, and a financial banker for many years. I quit to do hospice for my Dad when he was to go into hospice. My husband had heart problems and my little Mom eventually got Cancer. So I nursed and loved them all. My Dad for a year, the others over an 8-year period. I saw the transition of each and the way each handled their ending, and I was there for them all. I consider that a special blessing." Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry? Patty M: "I always wrote, but I found a poetry site 20 years ago, and began to write seriously. I've been published in many anthologies both in the US and abroad. I was nominated for the coveted Pushcart Prize twice and I once had a three-page spread in our local newspaper. I came to HP in 2014 and I love this special place with amazingly wonderful poets who have become really great friends." Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you). Patty M: "Sometimes poems seem to write themselves, almost like automatic writing." Question 4: What does poetry mean to you? Patty M: "Poetry is spiritual, and a lifesaving rope that carries me through both good and the horrible times of my life." Question 5: Who are your favorite poets? Patty M: "My favorite Poets are: Sylvia Plath, Neruda, Billy Collins, Maya Angelou, Poe, Ginsberg, Anne Sexton, and Longfellow." Question 6: What other interests do you have? Patty M: "I love to cook, do crossword puzzles, read, and play card games like canasta, and spider solitaire. Being with family is my heaven." Carlo C. Gomez: “Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you, dear Patty! I learned a great deal about you!” Patty M: "Thank again Carlo. Thanks so much for all your help and kindness." Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Patty a little bit better. I indeed did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez (aka Mr. Timetable) We will post Spotlight #5 in July! ~
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Jun 1, 2023
Jun 1, 2023 at 5:56 PM UTC
HP Writers Spotlight: Patty M
~ June 2023 HP Poet: Patty Mager Country: USA Question 1: Welcome to the HP Spotlight, Patty. Please tell us about your background? Patty M: "I was born an only child in a 3 generation household. I loved books, and playing imaginary games, and chasing my mom with really long nightcrawlers, my Grandpa raised in a washtub. I was a banker, and a financial banker for many years. I quit to do hospice for my Dad when he was to go into hospice. My husband had heart problems and my little Mom eventually got Cancer. So I nursed and loved them all. My Dad for a year, the others over an 8-year period. I saw the transition of each and the way each handled their ending, and I was there for them all. I consider that a special blessing." Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry? Patty M: "I always wrote, but I found a poetry site 20 years ago, and began to write seriously. I've been published in many anthologies both in the US and abroad. I was nominated for the coveted Pushcart Prize twice and I once had a three-page spread in our local newspaper. I came to HP in 2014 and I love this special place with amazingly wonderful poets who have become really great friends." Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you). Patty M: "Sometimes poems seem to write themselves, almost like automatic writing." Question 4: What does poetry mean to you? Patty M: "Poetry is spiritual, and a lifesaving rope that carries me through both good and the horrible times of my life." Question 5: Who are your favorite poets? Patty M: "My favorite Poets are: Sylvia Plath, Neruda, Billy Collins, Maya Angelou, Poe, Ginsberg, Anne Sexton, and Longfellow." Question 6: What other interests do you have? Patty M: "I love to cook, do crossword puzzles, read, and play card games like canasta, and spider solitaire. Being with family is my heaven." Carlo C. Gomez: “Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you, dear Patty! I learned a great deal about you!” Patty M: "Thank again Carlo. Thanks so much for all your help and kindness." Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Patty a little bit better. I indeed did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez (aka Mr. Timetable) We will post Spotlight #5 in July! ~
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I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. I’m fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write. Without a sound, the city’s jacaranda petals fall effortlessly onto the ground. As they fall, I begin to realise that we are all living in a world where the minutes are working overtime. I’m reminded of the days when you and I devoted our time to the art of rhyme. I no longer know where you are in the city but I hope you’re doing just fine. I’m not where I want to be at this current moment but please give me time. It’s within our simplicity where I discovered how beautifully complex we are. Our circles might be smaller but our hearts are much bigger now. The circumference might have drastically changed but the love hasn’t.   It’s no mystery why my aura will always long for the company of yours. Even though I’ve got two left feet, I still want to slow dance to the rhythm of spring’s heartbeat. In the capital city, October skies glow with a shade of purple. Went from breaking up, breaking through to breaking new ground. So even though I’m hurting now I know I’ll eventually be safe and sound when summer comes around. These pages do not have enough space to describe how phenomenal we are. It has been a while since we’ve seen each other so where are you now? I value all you taught me about life and the importance of true friendship. The circumference might have changed but the love between us hasn’t. I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. I’m reminded of the days when you and I devoted our time to the art of rhyme. I no longer know where you are in the city but I hope you’re doing just fine. I’m fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write.
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Nov 1, 2015
Nov 1, 2015 at 8:25 AM UTC
October Skies
I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. I’m fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write. Without a sound, the city’s jacaranda petals fall effortlessly onto the ground. As they fall, I begin to realise that we are all living in a world where the minutes are working overtime. I’m reminded of the days when you and I devoted our time to the art of rhyme. I no longer know where you are in the city but I hope you’re doing just fine. I’m not where I want to be at this current moment but please give me time. It’s within our simplicity where I discovered how beautifully complex we are. Our circles might be smaller but our hearts are much bigger now. The circumference might have drastically changed but the love hasn’t.   It’s no mystery why my aura will always long for the company of yours. Even though I’ve got two left feet, I still want to slow dance to the rhythm of spring’s heartbeat. In the capital city, October skies glow with a shade of purple. Went from breaking up, breaking through to breaking new ground. So even though I’m hurting now I know I’ll eventually be safe and sound when summer comes around. These pages do not have enough space to describe how phenomenal we are. It has been a while since we’ve seen each other so where are you now? I value all you taught me about life and the importance of true friendship. The circumference might have changed but the love between us hasn’t. I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. I’m reminded of the days when you and I devoted our time to the art of rhyme. I no longer know where you are in the city but I hope you’re doing just fine. I’m fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write.
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23
I lived my half dictionary life before I could comprehend compulsory compromises. Collectors arise, disguises and devices beeping, chastising my blindness. Gather geography from Afghanistan and Myanmar graciously growing gold gilded gift horses, gleefully gloating about floating far away. My hoof beats above concrete match my heart’s defeat across borders and mountains embroidering cardboard cut-outs calling deserts, decorating front covers. Exhaling handcrafted letters for my missing half, half demanding highest caliber commanders and half commanding completion. Jade jays joyfully lay arrays of bouquets fragile flowers decay faraway in jawbones and jail cells. Begging farewells in a hotel’s lobby began my hobby, early morning coffee and carbon copies concurringly cocky around his dead body. Gang ciphers for cartels are Christmas bells hissing at collars, half dollars embellishing bar crawlers godfathers hollering at car haulers. Atrocities across cities attack, attachable atrophies audibly ambush arthritic anthologies. Anomalies begin apologies between apostrophes, advancing autonomy arousing ancient animosities. All eluding Antarctica, giant frozen crests, multi-coloured ice hidden in my illustrations anxious for my distant half. Friday cassettes and cigarettes deliberately making bets following “M”. Breaking bindings and finding “beta” in alphabet, may feasibly end in debt.
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Feb 17, 2013
Feb 17, 2013 at 1:51 PM UTC
Monday
this is for the Dreamers, Lovers, and Surgeons for the Hopeless Stargazer who immortalized his Subject with one hundred and eight sets of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter for ***** tight clad teenage boys who envied frisky fleas, struggling to make holy ungodly passions with cheap arguments and metaphysical pick up lines for Disillusioned City Dwellers, who, wandering lonely as clouds, stopped to quietly reflect upon wind-beaten moss-covered crags, and heard God’s whisper thunder from petals and blades of grass this is for the Dreamers, Lovers, and Surgeons for Bespectacled Slave Drivers who submersed idle minds in anthologies,  forcing them to **** neon yellow on dreams deferred and rivers;  slicing and dicing Grecian urns with red ball point pens; bruising and battering, in blue ball point, roads not taken; scalding supermarkets in California with pyroclastic flows of graphite   for those pushing to tear apart lines and letters, reconstructing ,deconstructing, agonizing, imaginizing, bullshitting, and brooding on to crisp white sheets in times new roman twelve point font for the Monsters and Lollipops that exist in the millimeters between a skull and a brain this is for the Dreamers, Lovers, and Surgeons slumbering beneath Restless Leaves Under the Moon
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Nov 29, 2012
Nov 29, 2012 at 10:39 AM UTC
Dreamers, Lovers, and Surgeons
A shadowy shop with Shelves that bend and buckle Under the weight of years. The dust of  the decade Lies undisturbed Volumes lined in motley ranks Anthologies, albums and almanacks Heaped in Precarious stacks. A few flaking pamphlets. Dream-like sepia images Dog-eared and damp Bulge from mildewed and Musty manilla. Some are excited by The acrid smell Of old books. Not sure that I am. A bargain box or a treasure chest Who cares. Festered and forgotten Between the yellowing pages of A railway timetable Lie someone's drawings. Quite clever. A little deranged, if you ask me. Nice colours But you wouldn't want them on your wall.
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Jan 15, 2010
Jan 15, 2010 at 11:16 PM UTC
Art for Art's Sake; Money for God's Sake
Our little collegetown is a jungle tonight, with the deafening, staticky drone of locusts constituting its own kind of warm gravity, sidewalks drenched and carpeted with a rotting mess of blood-red maple leaves, and thousands of spiders the size of human eyes, glaring down from the dead-center of their backlit, dew-drizzled webs. I always thought that I'd never be loved enough. In crafting anthologies on the angles of my favorite noses, I pretended I didn't want someone else’s protractor on my own, and prepared for a life sentence as the uncharted geometer, the invisible painter, the secret poet, the immortalizer, rather than the immortalized. I find myself, now, to be a poem–– your poem–– etched into the curvature of your jungle-green eyes. But walking home in our jungle tonight, I feel sick. Your ears distort my hesitant laughter into a dissonant, deafening euphoria, and when I lay my head on your heated chest, I can feel the blood gushing underneath your skin, surging through your veins, storming, drowning you, and I feel sick because all this love you pump for me-- all this love you are drowning in-- only rots in my guilty stomach... When my memory is watching me with her thousands of glaring eyes, she will always mourn the breaking of a beautiful heart.
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Oct 4, 2021
Oct 4, 2021 at 3:08 AM UTC
jungle love
#25 | 31 Poems for August 2016 A few months ago you didn't know that I could write or recite like that. My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines. If my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished then just know that I wrote from the heart. I know that love is a beautiful thing but sometimes I feel like its main intention is to tear me apart. So don’t be too surprised when I tell you that I’m slowly falling to pieces. The ocean in my muse’s eyes reminds me of the colour of the sky and how I want to dive into the depths of who she is. The world has made her feel like an abandoned church but in my eyes she’ll always be a cathedral. She will always be a cathedral and you can say hallelujah or amen to that. We are from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. Went from breaking up, breaking down, breaking through to finally breaking new ground. So even though I’m hurting now I know I’ll eventually be safe and sound when a new season comes around. I’m still fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write. Reading the lines on a woman’s skins is poetry and too many men are illiterate. So they will never truly understand the fact that liberty begins with literacy. My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines. Even if my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished I will always write from the heart.
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Aug 25, 2016
Aug 25, 2016 at 9:39 AM UTC
Notebook Masterpieces
#25 | 31 Poems for August 2016 A few months ago you didn't know that I could write or recite like that. My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines. If my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished then just know that I wrote from the heart. I know that love is a beautiful thing but sometimes I feel like its main intention is to tear me apart. So don’t be too surprised when I tell you that I’m slowly falling to pieces. The ocean in my muse’s eyes reminds me of the colour of the sky and how I want to dive into the depths of who she is. The world has made her feel like an abandoned church but in my eyes she’ll always be a cathedral. She will always be a cathedral and you can say hallelujah or amen to that. We are from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms. Went from breaking up, breaking down, breaking through to finally breaking new ground. So even though I’m hurting now I know I’ll eventually be safe and sound when a new season comes around. I’m still fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write. Reading the lines on a woman’s skins is poetry and too many men are illiterate. So they will never truly understand the fact that liberty begins with literacy. My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines. Even if my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished I will always write from the heart.
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17
Back in the day when I first started writing poetry I was writing just to pass the time Because at the time things weren't all too great and the pressure came crumbling What I wanted and hoped to gain from it was always there In the subconscious of my mind Though back then I wasn't thinking of it Because like many others I was just writing To relieve myself of years of emotional pain/abuse What I really wanted from writing poetry Wasn't just to write and never share with the world Wasn't just to revel within fits of insecurity and manipulation What I wanted from writing poetry was fame That's what it's always been about for me Though as I stated earlier I didn't know it at the time But it was always the fame, the power, the popularity, the respect, The admiration, the love etc... And in my opinion poetry did bring me a small amount of it though to others it may seem like a bit of a larger slice of it but compared to other poets I really wasn't doing **** lol but yet I received numerous accolades. MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2013 By Rating #13. "+ America Walking -" #45. "Passing Clouds" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2012 By Rating #12. "Wonderwicked" #13. "Download" #14. "Evergreen Suite" #15. "Pixel Juliet" #16. "Coffee Fashion" #28. "Vanilla Amour" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2011 By Rating #28. "When Two Poets Fall In Love Pt. 4" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2010 By Rating #41. "7 Years" #50 "Extraordinary" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2009 By Rating #5. "Spontaneous Desires" #13. "A Thousand Words Of Beauty Pt. 1" Today's Writing February 2011 Black History Month Writer Of The Month (Prior to defunction) People in different parts of the world using my poems in their videos, in their photo captions, on their blogs. Poetry featured in a few anthologies etc... Wrote and published my own poetry books Ran my own poetry club at my local library Hell, I even had subscriptions to about five different poetry/writing magazines at once with my subscription to POETRY magazine spanning nine years because I would by a ******* subscription every paycheck so I would never have to worry about renewing. I pretty much got what I desired but then I suddenly woke up and realized that I yes I do truly and badly want the fame but I want to obtain it through another medium. Poetry isn't my passion. Music is my passion. So stop ******* asking me if I'm still writing poetry! I don't and I don't ******* desire to write! **** off!
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Jul 24, 2020
Jul 24, 2020 at 1:51 AM UTC
Read All About It!
Back in the day when I first started writing poetry I was writing just to pass the time Because at the time things weren't all too great and the pressure came crumbling What I wanted and hoped to gain from it was always there In the subconscious of my mind Though back then I wasn't thinking of it Because like many others I was just writing To relieve myself of years of emotional pain/abuse What I really wanted from writing poetry Wasn't just to write and never share with the world Wasn't just to revel within fits of insecurity and manipulation What I wanted from writing poetry was fame That's what it's always been about for me Though as I stated earlier I didn't know it at the time But it was always the fame, the power, the popularity, the respect, The admiration, the love etc... And in my opinion poetry did bring me a small amount of it though to others it may seem like a bit of a larger slice of it but compared to other poets I really wasn't doing **** lol but yet I received numerous accolades. MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2013 By Rating #13. "+ America Walking -" #45. "Passing Clouds" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2012 By Rating #12. "Wonderwicked" #13. "Download" #14. "Evergreen Suite" #15. "Pixel Juliet" #16. "Coffee Fashion" #28. "Vanilla Amour" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2011 By Rating #28. "When Two Poets Fall In Love Pt. 4" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2010 By Rating #41. "7 Years" #50 "Extraordinary" MyPoetryForum Top 50 Poems Of 2009 By Rating #5. "Spontaneous Desires" #13. "A Thousand Words Of Beauty Pt. 1" Today's Writing February 2011 Black History Month Writer Of The Month (Prior to defunction) People in different parts of the world using my poems in their videos, in their photo captions, on their blogs. Poetry featured in a few anthologies etc... Wrote and published my own poetry books Ran my own poetry club at my local library Hell, I even had subscriptions to about five different poetry/writing magazines at once with my subscription to POETRY magazine spanning nine years because I would by a ******* subscription every paycheck so I would never have to worry about renewing. I pretty much got what I desired but then I suddenly woke up and realized that I yes I do truly and badly want the fame but I want to obtain it through another medium. Poetry isn't my passion. Music is my passion. So stop ******* asking me if I'm still writing poetry! I don't and I don't ******* desire to write! **** off!
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48
✿⊰✲⊱✿ Me and Paul waltz upon the marble floor with others. Each one of us gliding swirls of many colours, becoming rainbows that float in sync with the pianos, the flutes, the drums, the harps. The aurelian tunes fills me with nothing but joy, a smile never leaving my face as my skirts swirl - my body moving with the soul of the sound. Cleansing, emotive yet free. When the music is done, we all clap, cheer and bow. ✿⊰✲⊱✿ "And you said that you were not a dancer!" Queen Sue beams and embraces me like a sister which I return. After, I embrace both Kim and Yidna. "I never said I couldn't dance," I tease. "I just said I didn't." "Well, everyone can contest that!" Paul laughs. "I suppose you're right." "Just to confirm, Paul," Kim asks him. "All the shipments were successful in delivery?" He nods. "It was a smart move for everyone to send the gifts to me because I managed to keep it all down to five ships. So we didn't overcrowd her harbours. From what I hear, Donna was quite overwhelmed by it all. Everyone sent more that four crates of gifts each." "I do hope she enjoyed the anthologies I gave her!" Yidna beams. ✿⊰✲⊱✿ "I have no doubt she will," I chuckle. "So, is it just me or does all that dancing have us peckish?" "It's just you , I'm sure. I really hope you didn't starve yourself to make room for all the food again." "No!" I say. "Yes, our Sweet Queen did!" Ainhara pipes up as I playfully glare at her. "Traitor!" I huff as my handmaids giggle and Paul snickers.
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Aug 26, 2018
Aug 26, 2018 at 6:14 PM UTC
❀❁ тнє gαlα VIII (I OF IV) ❁❀
✿⊰✲⊱✿ Me and Paul waltz upon the marble floor with others. Each one of us gliding swirls of many colours, becoming rainbows that float in sync with the pianos, the flutes, the drums, the harps. The aurelian tunes fills me with nothing but joy, a smile never leaving my face as my skirts swirl - my body moving with the soul of the sound. Cleansing, emotive yet free. When the music is done, we all clap, cheer and bow. ✿⊰✲⊱✿ "And you said that you were not a dancer!" Queen Sue beams and embraces me like a sister which I return. After, I embrace both Kim and Yidna. "I never said I couldn't dance," I tease. "I just said I didn't." "Well, everyone can contest that!" Paul laughs. "I suppose you're right." "Just to confirm, Paul," Kim asks him. "All the shipments were successful in delivery?" He nods. "It was a smart move for everyone to send the gifts to me because I managed to keep it all down to five ships. So we didn't overcrowd her harbours. From what I hear, Donna was quite overwhelmed by it all. Everyone sent more that four crates of gifts each." "I do hope she enjoyed the anthologies I gave her!" Yidna beams. ✿⊰✲⊱✿ "I have no doubt she will," I chuckle. "So, is it just me or does all that dancing have us peckish?" "It's just you , I'm sure. I really hope you didn't starve yourself to make room for all the food again." "No!" I say. "Yes, our Sweet Queen did!" Ainhara pipes up as I playfully glare at her. "Traitor!" I huff as my handmaids giggle and Paul snickers.
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41
I want poetry to break out of it's underground cave Break out of the solitary lonely, locked cage. I want my poetry to be capable of inspiring change I want to illustrate beauty in a verse beautifully maimed I want to communicate the tender sudden pulse of a surface wound I want my poetry to be blueprints for change, in the world, or a room I want to connect the universal nerve of tremors and feelings I want to connect wires and vessels, shifting cells and ceilings I want to broadcast this current human condition, Rewiring like a revolutionary electrician I want to transcend my, and next time, With my poems added to anthologies And each of their lines Being recited by literary scholars and dedicated readers But I have accepted some poets are popular during their lifetimes Like Alice Cary, and Maya Angelou With acknowledged, renowned, printed Published Stanzas, and lines. I want to at the very least, be one of those who guard a hidden, folded.. [Rather than outdated, infamous, tattered and broken] ..genuis. Or maybe an answer to some past hanging question Found in the very letters in my words to The trademarked inflection Breathing a bashful verse that grew in this universe Or the next To strengthen roots of the beauty of language The older, the wiser, the more interpreted complex Not the unknown but claimed roots of American poetry And some May close the **** kindle. Or rip out the last page. After I die, I might return with bones live with rage. Because if nothing has happened, I will continue to say: I want my poetry to be capable of inspiring change. Because we are destroying a world we should be killing fighting to save. (Hopefully this shan't be said again from a grave.) Each person who has read solely to write one more page Take your weapons, inspire, engage None can lay bricks until a clear path is paved. iii.viii.xii
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Aug 3, 2012
Aug 3, 2012 at 6:41 AM UTC
List of Demands
I want poetry to break out of it's underground cave Break out of the solitary lonely, locked cage. I want my poetry to be capable of inspiring change I want to illustrate beauty in a verse beautifully maimed I want to communicate the tender sudden pulse of a surface wound I want my poetry to be blueprints for change, in the world, or a room I want to connect the universal nerve of tremors and feelings I want to connect wires and vessels, shifting cells and ceilings I want to broadcast this current human condition, Rewiring like a revolutionary electrician I want to transcend my, and next time, With my poems added to anthologies And each of their lines Being recited by literary scholars and dedicated readers But I have accepted some poets are popular during their lifetimes Like Alice Cary, and Maya Angelou With acknowledged, renowned, printed Published Stanzas, and lines. I want to at the very least, be one of those who guard a hidden, folded.. [Rather than outdated, infamous, tattered and broken] ..genuis. Or maybe an answer to some past hanging question Found in the very letters in my words to The trademarked inflection Breathing a bashful verse that grew in this universe Or the next To strengthen roots of the beauty of language The older, the wiser, the more interpreted complex Not the unknown but claimed roots of American poetry And some May close the **** kindle. Or rip out the last page. After I die, I might return with bones live with rage. Because if nothing has happened, I will continue to say: I want my poetry to be capable of inspiring change. Because we are destroying a world we should be killing fighting to save. (Hopefully this shan't be said again from a grave.) Each person who has read solely to write one more page Take your weapons, inspire, engage None can lay bricks until a clear path is paved. iii.viii.xii
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40
Step one is waking up and writing about your day. I want to talk about language, your mothers cheapest wine and worst blueberry jam staining all your best clothes with verses. Vignettes appearing all over the rented tuxedo from the wedding. Dark ink and oil separates in a margarita glass soaking into the cuts on your dry lips, dusting your hair and the spaces between each individual vertebrae. Syllables dripping from the tip of your nose and fingernails leave novels on the linoleum and books of sentence fragments on the hardwood. Poets bleed into cracks on fine china pooling into poems. Space heaters emit quotes from dead people I sign each word when the analogue clock ticks, each poem adding another minute to the day. I’m always hoping I can squeeze in a few more hours so I can watch the ****** orange sky with grass in my shirt, the Pixies mumbling in the background leaving lyrics trapped in my teeth. Anthologies of letters between man and his dog hidden onomatopoeias in every backyard. I'll write you 364 days of the year too many paragraphs to fill the barbecue. Burn through pages with paper matches making enough poems to last a decade. Transfer phrases into the soles of my shoes, I want to walk on water, the "W" curled up beside my baby toe. Every inch of the fabric we call skin, stamps and ink pads, turn everything to poetry. Despite seas of fog where breathing stops the words from forming in your throat, the only way to express is by experience and frantic fountain pens. Smoke on the balcony writes starry sonnets about the girl in your bed lining the waxing moon with poetry, a **** homage to Shakespeare himself. Serendipity; finding something good without looking for it. A feeling I have encountered keeping my breathing sporadic, rarely setting me on fire. Living Chinese finger traps burning blue poems on my palms splotching the back of my neck licking up my thigh and hips. Let me throw away my common sense, the final step of becoming a poet.
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Jan 26, 2013
Jan 26, 2013 at 10:59 PM UTC
Make galaxies stir
Step one is waking up and writing about your day. I want to talk about language, your mothers cheapest wine and worst blueberry jam staining all your best clothes with verses. Vignettes appearing all over the rented tuxedo from the wedding. Dark ink and oil separates in a margarita glass soaking into the cuts on your dry lips, dusting your hair and the spaces between each individual vertebrae. Syllables dripping from the tip of your nose and fingernails leave novels on the linoleum and books of sentence fragments on the hardwood. Poets bleed into cracks on fine china pooling into poems. Space heaters emit quotes from dead people I sign each word when the analogue clock ticks, each poem adding another minute to the day. I’m always hoping I can squeeze in a few more hours so I can watch the ****** orange sky with grass in my shirt, the Pixies mumbling in the background leaving lyrics trapped in my teeth. Anthologies of letters between man and his dog hidden onomatopoeias in every backyard. I'll write you 364 days of the year too many paragraphs to fill the barbecue. Burn through pages with paper matches making enough poems to last a decade. Transfer phrases into the soles of my shoes, I want to walk on water, the "W" curled up beside my baby toe. Every inch of the fabric we call skin, stamps and ink pads, turn everything to poetry. Despite seas of fog where breathing stops the words from forming in your throat, the only way to express is by experience and frantic fountain pens. Smoke on the balcony writes starry sonnets about the girl in your bed lining the waxing moon with poetry, a **** homage to Shakespeare himself. Serendipity; finding something good without looking for it. A feeling I have encountered keeping my breathing sporadic, rarely setting me on fire. Living Chinese finger traps burning blue poems on my palms splotching the back of my neck licking up my thigh and hips. Let me throw away my common sense, the final step of becoming a poet.
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59
I was gagging on poetry And nothing could help: I was gagging on poetry So they let me lay my head On Emily's desk And her inkwell spilled. I was gagging on poetry And they covered me up With Whitman's army blanket On which I promptly threw up. I was gagging on poetry And the Poet Laureate Sent me a get well bouquet Of forget me knots. I was gagging on poetry And all my poems Kept getting rejected For Selective Service. I was gagging on poetry And they performed The Heimlich maneuver And up came Twelve autobiographical Sketches of poets Thirteen anthologies Three missing manuscripts Two thesaurus books One rhyming dictionary And my good luck eraser.
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Mar 10, 2010
Mar 10, 2010 at 5:56 PM UTC
I Was Gagging on Poetry
Celebrate the invisible embrace. You will be quite alone, When the altruistic deed is done. Content your heart in silence. No choir will raise its voice To sing your praises. Consign your life to anonymity. History no longer needs Martyrs to fill anthologies. Comfort your dreams in oleander. Flowers are an appropriate caress, For love conferred in obscurity. Cultivate a flair for solitude. Isolation is the purifying fire That steels a damascene soul.
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Feb 27, 2012
Feb 27, 2012 at 11:34 AM UTC
Unacknowledged
It had been four months since I started reading his favorite poems aloud to crack through congested silence.   I memorized the way his nose crinkled up when I stuttered, his husky chuckle after I read one of his favorite lines, the smell of yellowed, dog-eared pages.   I got to know this man who had seemingly lost everything and was just waiting for his children to visit, his medications to be dropped off, to be with his wife once more. I wore his favorite burgundy scrubs; it was almost his birthday and I had a new book to add to his collection. They didn’t tell me before I walked in. It was bare: the room reeked of bleach, there were no sheets on the bed, his few belongings were stuffed in a cardboard box in the corner of the floor.   I sat on the mattress and wondered why his kids were not here   mourning or making arrangements, why I didn’t get to see the slight tug of his lips to form a smirk when I showed him the new Tennyson that would now just gather dust. He left me his anthologies in his will. November 30, 2014 4:41:38 PM*
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Dec 2, 2014
Dec 2, 2014 at 1:28 AM UTC
The English Professor
One way flights into the sky & let fate control the destination of my destiny. Sail the supple curves of the oceans waves and may the rocking motion rock me into an everlasting fantasy. Read about Baldwin's palpable endeavors, cover to cover and marvel at Sylvia Plath's anthologies that run shivers up and down my basketball-court of a spine.                                               Let Shakespeare educate me on love, heartbreak, tragedy and the reality of all stoicism and cynicism bestowed upon my naiveness.     Truth is, I don't know where I'm going, but whether it be the sky, the sea or within ink-stained papers, let them guide me to a place of genuine sincerity.
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Dec 26, 2013
Dec 26, 2013 at 12:11 AM UTC
Skies, Seas & Spines of Books
I imagine my death a lot. I am 28 years old With two poetry anthologies And a novel out Living in New York City with a Husband who doubles as a musician. No kids, Three dogs. I laugh so hard I combust into nothingness And my husband writes my memory Into a song. I am 19 years old And looking over the edge of a Casino building in Atlantic City. Just last week a man Flung himself down onto the ghost streets Because no one told him There’d be no gun in his game of roulette. He had to take matters into his own hands. The rain washed him into the ocean. I hope it does the same for me. I am 60 years old And living in the New Mexico desert Just outside of Roswell. I look up at the night sky and Hunt for UFOs. I am yelling at the clouds ‘Just take me already! Take these withered bones, Take this soft skin! Find me a new home! One where I fit in!’ I have a heart attack just as they come to collect me. I am 18 years old, A sad girl from New Jersey. A sad girl who grinds her teeth into stardust, Who plays with the frayed ends of existence, Who smiles with fury. I imagine my death a lot. But you see, I’m dying. I’m dying dying dying dying And you are too. There is no need for imagining.
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Apr 20, 2015
Apr 20, 2015 at 7:52 PM UTC
13/30 - April 13, 2015
“Lucratively tedious” is what I called him. That odd-ball collector of street-wise poets Bulking up the lost devil anthologies while Drowning black coffee with wordsmith stoics Ready to deal a winning hand at a moment’s notice. The carnal majesty of fever blizzard erotica, Stories penned with the sweat on oily skins. The curtains of neon phantasmagoria showcase psychosexual fiends and harlequins Sing away raw vocal cord fire while I’m dancing with Queens of glamorous sins. He had that red tail swinging in the rain She watched, the emissary of jaded seduction With pale skin and leather lips abundant Stroking hair full of snakes and destruction With a wardrobe fit for 1980s metal scenes As he in turn supplemented instruction. It’s those bedlam vices creeping through the creases Playing in our heads like a thousand movie reels Desired fantasies mutated into corrupted realities Shameful like the artificial chemicals we call meals Some things need to be ruined to be appreciated Just Like ol’ Lucy in her stiletto heels.
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Nov 16, 2014
Nov 16, 2014 at 3:13 AM UTC
Satan in High Heels
i've been asked to be in fancy anthologies, be in fancy magazines. to write freely on the page, fill it with words, light it up in flames. after all, everything i've learned to love, vanishes in the end.
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Apr 25, 2021
Apr 25, 2021 at 9:10 PM UTC
flame
When first we met our words with each Were laced with smile and touch.  Our eyes, Confessed and broke at the closing café And fused in joy and salt, opened up With long, arresting arms at our sides. You brought me to your toppled room, I counted a number of worn, weary  Books, various anthologies, travelogues  And philosophers, a few fierce Poets, Looking on, strategies for study,  All assembled, with great measure, It was an alternate version of my own Battle ground library.  Then, I was yours  But you were never mine.                                            Your stone,  Walled spirit encroached upon me  And I was unset to siege at the base  Of your winding turret and waged  With you a fortnight of five full years When you rushed forth on your crusades You left me, flung, far from the holy lands.
0
Jul 1, 2012
Jul 1, 2012 at 2:37 AM UTC
Siege of Love
in the shutter of my camera. in all the worn holes in my cardigans. in the smell of your cooking. in the sound of cutting strawberries. in the turning pages of all the anthologies. in the broken windows. in the crumbled sheets. in all the songs I hear. in the place where you used to sleep.
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May 8, 2011
May 8, 2011 at 9:13 AM UTC
I feel you
hello poetry, can you put me in the mood give me your sacred anthologies your oceans and rivers too human insight seems to fail in everyone I knew like painted sandcastles on a gravel beat a song lyric draped in Princeton blue don't hoard the cadavers from both of us this is one right you cannot undo licorice rope to tie the knot, in the coma you've slipped into
0
Oct 7, 2015
Oct 7, 2015 at 12:30 AM UTC
Untitled
As men, we respond. With sticks, in garments wet with black anthologies of life Which whistles out of us as thorns, and sticky eyes that point that way. Exact hours. Despite lust, from what has taken us before- to that androgynous triumph that brings Us tears as we undo our buttons. That rakes time over our backs with the needles of small Trumpets the teeth of ghosts, blood on the stems, awarded to brass ballerinas dancing on Wounds each quotient inside our breaths, terrified strips the branches from the everywhereness In front of what we can't see. Or open our eyes. Or follow our hands. The legs that we used to know. The pallid girl I called home, dusty eyelids with energies sharpened with the sweet water and gold Threads atop a haystack I burned in pyres of all the yesterdays. Once I was human, but not for my breaths or my volume or my sullied attitudes. Not for the denature of My rotten mood, or the noxious smells from some evil words, or noisome meat, or grueling and expired Thoughts. Unrolled canvases cauterized with the silks shreds in a suitcase beyond. A caption unread Intwined at the bow of her hip, or the hems that dotted her skin. Black and blue staled songs a father Sung so long ago. The hill rolled on as our bodies clung to satchels we hid, each watery step we steeped In the mud, culms fell and I didn't think, I haven't thought; everything I forgot approaches the tines of my Nose once aching thews overcame the moors I'd undone, there acarpous hues were pried into me. Everything I've seen, is a muse that disperses my lungs. Is the incantation of the thoughts I don't spake. Intwined in the fingers I shook, at the people that I Wanted to hate, I am steal the weight of their steps. This urgency, penury hides. The silt hasn't moved From the cenacle place. While cloffined the ashes stuck to my face. An eroteme I still uphold As if this rock inside of my chest, only wanes when I lay on her breast.
0
Nov 18, 2013
Nov 18, 2013 at 10:40 PM UTC
Diurnation
As men, we respond. With sticks, in garments wet with black anthologies of life Which whistles out of us as thorns, and sticky eyes that point that way. Exact hours. Despite lust, from what has taken us before- to that androgynous triumph that brings Us tears as we undo our buttons. That rakes time over our backs with the needles of small Trumpets the teeth of ghosts, blood on the stems, awarded to brass ballerinas dancing on Wounds each quotient inside our breaths, terrified strips the branches from the everywhereness In front of what we can't see. Or open our eyes. Or follow our hands. The legs that we used to know. The pallid girl I called home, dusty eyelids with energies sharpened with the sweet water and gold Threads atop a haystack I burned in pyres of all the yesterdays. Once I was human, but not for my breaths or my volume or my sullied attitudes. Not for the denature of My rotten mood, or the noxious smells from some evil words, or noisome meat, or grueling and expired Thoughts. Unrolled canvases cauterized with the silks shreds in a suitcase beyond. A caption unread Intwined at the bow of her hip, or the hems that dotted her skin. Black and blue staled songs a father Sung so long ago. The hill rolled on as our bodies clung to satchels we hid, each watery step we steeped In the mud, culms fell and I didn't think, I haven't thought; everything I forgot approaches the tines of my Nose once aching thews overcame the moors I'd undone, there acarpous hues were pried into me. Everything I've seen, is a muse that disperses my lungs. Is the incantation of the thoughts I don't spake. Intwined in the fingers I shook, at the people that I Wanted to hate, I am steal the weight of their steps. This urgency, penury hides. The silt hasn't moved From the cenacle place. While cloffined the ashes stuck to my face. An eroteme I still uphold As if this rock inside of my chest, only wanes when I lay on her breast.
Continue reading...
16
. When first we met our words with each Were laced with smile and touch.  Our eyes, Confessed and broke at the closing café And fused in joy and salt, opened up With long, arresting arms at our sides. You brought me to your toppled room, I counted a number of worn, weary Books, various anthologies, travelogues And philosophers, a few fierce Poets, Looking on, strategies for study, All assembled, with great measure, It was an alternate version of my own Battle ground library.  Then, I was yours But you were never mine.                                            Your stone, Walled spirit encroached upon me And I was unset to siege at the base Of your winding turret and waged With you a fortnight of five full years When you rushed forth on your crusades You left me, flung, far from the holy lands.
0
Apr 29, 2013
Apr 29, 2013 at 3:57 PM UTC
Siege of Love
Do you follow me... I've scattered thought across countless stages of unveiled catwalk Graced anthologies of rhyme Watched you watch me indulge in second guess Still ... reflection seldom circulates obscured from Elementary Fact is... words refrain as thoughts pile higher Each ode grows less incent from straining to dip our quills Leaning way beyond comfort to soak in crisper thoughts Our only regrets ... a shortage of counterintelligence ~~~
0
Jan 20, 2015
Jan 20, 2015 at 9:10 AM UTC
Scattered Thought