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"asbestos" poems
I am in a crate, the crate that was ours, full of white shirts and salad greens, the icebox knocking at our delectable knocks, and I wore movies in my eyes, and you wore eggs in your tunnel, and we played sheets, sheets, sheets all day, even in the bathtub like lunatics. But today I set the bed afire and smoke is filling the room, it is getting hot enough for the walls to melt, and the icebox, a gluey white tooth. I have on a mask in order to write my last words, and they are just for you, and I will place them in the icebox saved for ***** and tomatoes, and perhaps they will last. The dog will not. Her spots will fall off. The old letters will melt into a black bee. The night gowns are already shredding into paper, the yellow, the red, the purple. The bed -- well, the sheets have turned to gold -- hard, hard gold, and the mattress is being kissed into a stone. As for me, my dearest Foxxy, my poems to you may or may not reach the icebox and its hopeful eternity, for isn't yours enough? The one where you name my name right out in P.R.? If my toes weren't yielding to pitch I'd tell the whole story -- not just the sheet story but the belly-button story, the pried-eyelid story, the whiskey-sour-of-the-nipple story -- and shovel back our love where it belonged. Despite my asbestos gloves, the cough is filling me with black and a red powder seeps through my veins, our little crate goes down so publicly and without meaning it, you see, meaning a solo act, a cremation of the love, but instead we seem to be going down right in the middle of a Russian street, the flames making the sound of the horse being beaten and beaten, the whip is adoring its human triumph while the flies wait, blow by blow, straight from United Fruit, Inc.
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19.6k
Love Letter Written In A Burning Building
I am in a crate, the crate that was ours, full of white shirts and salad greens, the icebox knocking at our delectable knocks, and I wore movies in my eyes, and you wore eggs in your tunnel, and we played sheets, sheets, sheets all day, even in the bathtub like lunatics. But today I set the bed afire and smoke is filling the room, it is getting hot enough for the walls to melt, and the icebox, a gluey white tooth. I have on a mask in order to write my last words, and they are just for you, and I will place them in the icebox saved for ***** and tomatoes, and perhaps they will last. The dog will not. Her spots will fall off. The old letters will melt into a black bee. The night gowns are already shredding into paper, the yellow, the red, the purple. The bed -- well, the sheets have turned to gold -- hard, hard gold, and the mattress is being kissed into a stone. As for me, my dearest Foxxy, my poems to you may or may not reach the icebox and its hopeful eternity, for isn't yours enough? The one where you name my name right out in P.R.? If my toes weren't yielding to pitch I'd tell the whole story -- not just the sheet story but the belly-button story, the pried-eyelid story, the whiskey-sour-of-the-nipple story -- and shovel back our love where it belonged. Despite my asbestos gloves, the cough is filling me with black and a red powder seeps through my veins, our little crate goes down so publicly and without meaning it, you see, meaning a solo act, a cremation of the love, but instead we seem to be going down right in the middle of a Russian street, the flames making the sound of the horse being beaten and beaten, the whip is adoring its human triumph while the flies wait, blow by blow, straight from United Fruit, Inc.
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48
Somebody is shooting at something in our town -- A dull pom, pom in the Sunday street. Jealousy can open the blood, It can make black roses. Who are the shooting at? It is you the knives are out for At Waterloo, Waterloo, Napoleon, The **** of Elba on your short back, And the snow, marshaling its brilliant cutlery Mass after mass, saying Shh! Shh! These are chess people you play with, Still figures of ivory. The mud squirms with throats, Stepping stones for French bootsoles. The gilt and pink domes of Russia melt and float off In the furnace of greed. Clouds, clouds. So the swarm ***** and deserts Seventy feet up, in a black pine tree. It must be shot down. Pom! Pom! So dumb it thinks bullets are thunder. It thinks they are the voice of God Condoning the beak, the claw, the grin of the dog Yellow-haunched, a pack-dog, Grinning over its bone of ivory Like the pack, the pack, like everybody. The bees have got so far. Seventy feet high! Russia, Poland and Germany! The mild hills, the same old magenta Fields shrunk to a penny Spun into a river, the river crossed. The bees argue, in their black ball, A flying hedgehog, all prickles. The man with gray hands stands under the honeycomb Of their dream, the hived station Where trains, faithful to their steel arcs, Leave and arrive, and there is no end to the country. Pom! Pom! They fall Dismembered, to a tod of ivy. So much for the charioteers, the outriders, the Grand Army! A red tatter, Napoleon! The last badge of victory. The swarm is knocked into a cocked straw hat. Elba, Elba, bleb on the sea! The white busts of marshals, admirals, generals Worming themselves into niches. How instructive this is! The dumb, banded bodies Walking the plank draped with Mother France's upholstery Into a new mausoleum, An ivory palace, a crotch pine. The man with gray hands smiles -- The smile of a man of business, intensely practical. They are not hands at all But asbestos receptacles. Pom! Pom! 'They would have killed me.' Stings big as drawing pins! It seems bees have a notion of honor, A black intractable mind. Napoleon is pleased, he is pleased with everything. O Europe! O ton of honey!
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7.8k
The Swarm
Somebody is shooting at something in our town -- A dull pom, pom in the Sunday street. Jealousy can open the blood, It can make black roses. Who are the shooting at? It is you the knives are out for At Waterloo, Waterloo, Napoleon, The **** of Elba on your short back, And the snow, marshaling its brilliant cutlery Mass after mass, saying Shh! Shh! These are chess people you play with, Still figures of ivory. The mud squirms with throats, Stepping stones for French bootsoles. The gilt and pink domes of Russia melt and float off In the furnace of greed. Clouds, clouds. So the swarm ***** and deserts Seventy feet up, in a black pine tree. It must be shot down. Pom! Pom! So dumb it thinks bullets are thunder. It thinks they are the voice of God Condoning the beak, the claw, the grin of the dog Yellow-haunched, a pack-dog, Grinning over its bone of ivory Like the pack, the pack, like everybody. The bees have got so far. Seventy feet high! Russia, Poland and Germany! The mild hills, the same old magenta Fields shrunk to a penny Spun into a river, the river crossed. The bees argue, in their black ball, A flying hedgehog, all prickles. The man with gray hands stands under the honeycomb Of their dream, the hived station Where trains, faithful to their steel arcs, Leave and arrive, and there is no end to the country. Pom! Pom! They fall Dismembered, to a tod of ivy. So much for the charioteers, the outriders, the Grand Army! A red tatter, Napoleon! The last badge of victory. The swarm is knocked into a cocked straw hat. Elba, Elba, bleb on the sea! The white busts of marshals, admirals, generals Worming themselves into niches. How instructive this is! The dumb, banded bodies Walking the plank draped with Mother France's upholstery Into a new mausoleum, An ivory palace, a crotch pine. The man with gray hands smiles -- The smile of a man of business, intensely practical. They are not hands at all But asbestos receptacles. Pom! Pom! 'They would have killed me.' Stings big as drawing pins! It seems bees have a notion of honor, A black intractable mind. Napoleon is pleased, he is pleased with everything. O Europe! O ton of honey!
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60
When I say hero you look for Superman Flying through Metropolis or Batman slinking through Gotham’s shadows. And when I say heroine You can think only of needles Poking through skin like the shell of a beetle. When I say hero Everyone looks skyward for capes and spandex Or a symbol lighting up the clouds. But Clark Bruce and Peter can’t save you from yourself. These suit-clad saviors are fantasies. Fairytales put before us so we can have something to believe in when the ordinary people fail us. I have seen people around me, people I love, crumble like weakened plaster. And I have met people who were already lying in a pile of dust and debris at my feet. I’ve seen them **** asbestos into their lungs and draw tic tac toe on their arms in crimson I have seen someone become their own villain! But I have seen these people get up again, Pick up the pieces of their glass hearts, And glue them back together for the sake of their sanity. I have seen villains become heroes. These heroes, MY heroes are the ones with the scars on their wrists but no tags on their toes, the ones that heave into the porcelain bowl but still try to eat each day. These are my heroes. My heroes are the parents raising kids and battling demons old and new, the abuse victims who got out, or are stuck but still fighting. These…these are my heroes. Broken survivors, living despite everything that keeps them from wanting to, Despite all their scars and battle wounds they are alive and they are trying. The ones who are not saving others but saving themselves. These are heroes. Some people look down on the wounded, the broken, and the insecure like they were the cause of their own problems and refused the simple solutions of **** it up” and “get over it” because they were too lazy to get better. Don’t you dare tell me that they don’t want to fix this, That they don’t wake up each morning and wish With every fiber of their being that they could look into a mirror And finally, finally, love what they see. Don’t tell me that these people aren’t strong Because they go to bed each night with eyes red and raw from crying And they wake up with bags under their eyes but they. Keep. Going. **** your superheroes.
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Apr 2, 2013
Apr 2, 2013 at 8:32 AM UTC
Heroes
When I say hero you look for Superman Flying through Metropolis or Batman slinking through Gotham’s shadows. And when I say heroine You can think only of needles Poking through skin like the shell of a beetle. When I say hero Everyone looks skyward for capes and spandex Or a symbol lighting up the clouds. But Clark Bruce and Peter can’t save you from yourself. These suit-clad saviors are fantasies. Fairytales put before us so we can have something to believe in when the ordinary people fail us. I have seen people around me, people I love, crumble like weakened plaster. And I have met people who were already lying in a pile of dust and debris at my feet. I’ve seen them **** asbestos into their lungs and draw tic tac toe on their arms in crimson I have seen someone become their own villain! But I have seen these people get up again, Pick up the pieces of their glass hearts, And glue them back together for the sake of their sanity. I have seen villains become heroes. These heroes, MY heroes are the ones with the scars on their wrists but no tags on their toes, the ones that heave into the porcelain bowl but still try to eat each day. These are my heroes. My heroes are the parents raising kids and battling demons old and new, the abuse victims who got out, or are stuck but still fighting. These…these are my heroes. Broken survivors, living despite everything that keeps them from wanting to, Despite all their scars and battle wounds they are alive and they are trying. The ones who are not saving others but saving themselves. These are heroes. Some people look down on the wounded, the broken, and the insecure like they were the cause of their own problems and refused the simple solutions of **** it up” and “get over it” because they were too lazy to get better. Don’t you dare tell me that they don’t want to fix this, That they don’t wake up each morning and wish With every fiber of their being that they could look into a mirror And finally, finally, love what they see. Don’t tell me that these people aren’t strong Because they go to bed each night with eyes red and raw from crying And they wake up with bags under their eyes but they. Keep. Going. **** your superheroes.
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50
I’m thinking of the faded checkered pattern that has been smoothed away by time on the dark cloth seats of a Nissan Pathfinder                                           driving down Ryan Road on a hot day in June. My mother, in the front seat, singing along to a Spice Girls cassette.   I’m thinking: red, plastic, crab-shaped sandbox and                                       McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.   I’m thinking: light princess pink, seafoam green, and robin’s egg blue.   I’m thinking of a framed cheetah cross stitch, hanging on the wall of what                                       used to be our bedroom at my grandparent’s house. I’m thinking: Barbie doll houses and Hot Wheels and a cul-de-sac at                                                                                      the end of the street.   The sweet smell of cigar smoke.  The ice cold splash of the garden hose.  The pop of a bubble.  The sting of soap in the eye.  Dreams by The Cranberries.  As Long as You Love Me by The Backstreet Boys.  A HelloKitty boombox slowly spitting out vapor when the deck builders hit a power line while digging.  The deer in the backyard looking for corn.  The faded wood of a playset that was never really played on. My father: sitting alone on a splintered bench by the firepit at the edge of the woods, empty beer cans at his feet, chain smoking cigarettes, and humming along to a song that is stuck—forever stuck—on the tip of my tongue. I do not know if this happened.  I cannot ask him.   (I’m not sure if I would want to ask him.)   But I can make an educated inference that that line of fiction is really nonfiction.   A memory that feels like a phantom limb.                               Sounds like the sharp crinkle of static.                                                        Covered in a gossamer, dreamlike haze.   There is a distinct otherness to this memory, to who                                      I think I was before the trauma.   We are two different people.  A yin and a yang.  A day and a night.   The hermit crab is soft beneath its hard shell. The asbestos is not apparent within the insulation.   You cannot see the lead in the paint. The mold inside the fruit.
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May 5, 2021
May 5, 2021 at 2:46 AM UTC
Imagine This Poem as a 4x6 Walgreens Photo Print From a 2002 FujiFilm Disposable Camera
I’m thinking of the faded checkered pattern that has been smoothed away by time on the dark cloth seats of a Nissan Pathfinder                                           driving down Ryan Road on a hot day in June. My mother, in the front seat, singing along to a Spice Girls cassette.   I’m thinking: red, plastic, crab-shaped sandbox and                                       McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.   I’m thinking: light princess pink, seafoam green, and robin’s egg blue.   I’m thinking of a framed cheetah cross stitch, hanging on the wall of what                                       used to be our bedroom at my grandparent’s house. I’m thinking: Barbie doll houses and Hot Wheels and a cul-de-sac at                                                                                      the end of the street.   The sweet smell of cigar smoke.  The ice cold splash of the garden hose.  The pop of a bubble.  The sting of soap in the eye.  Dreams by The Cranberries.  As Long as You Love Me by The Backstreet Boys.  A HelloKitty boombox slowly spitting out vapor when the deck builders hit a power line while digging.  The deer in the backyard looking for corn.  The faded wood of a playset that was never really played on. My father: sitting alone on a splintered bench by the firepit at the edge of the woods, empty beer cans at his feet, chain smoking cigarettes, and humming along to a song that is stuck—forever stuck—on the tip of my tongue. I do not know if this happened.  I cannot ask him.   (I’m not sure if I would want to ask him.)   But I can make an educated inference that that line of fiction is really nonfiction.   A memory that feels like a phantom limb.                               Sounds like the sharp crinkle of static.                                                        Covered in a gossamer, dreamlike haze.   There is a distinct otherness to this memory, to who                                      I think I was before the trauma.   We are two different people.  A yin and a yang.  A day and a night.   The hermit crab is soft beneath its hard shell. The asbestos is not apparent within the insulation.   You cannot see the lead in the paint. The mold inside the fruit.
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27
Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see, And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be-- Dead and ****** and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth, With a record of unreason seldome paralleled on earth. While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth, From the coals that he'd preferred to the advantages of truth. He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote-- For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow: "Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow."
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2.5k
Weather
The demons live with me – They have their own blankets ready, So later we would go visit the creeks And they will push me to the water and let me suffocate, They will drown me in muds They will blind me so all I could see is dark. The demons live with me – They invite me to our special hideout, Decaying building and magical asbestos And they will prepare an empty room full of irons and knives, They will slit me with them They will kiss me with them 'till I become numb. The demons, the demons live with me – They will celebrate my birthday party, Their presents are bouquet of blights And they also give me flaming matches for me to light up an inferno, They will burn with me, laugh They will burn every sadness I felt. The demons live with me. They are inside, they are calling me. The demons, demons, demons, THESE DEMONS, Demons, d e m o n s are me.
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Oct 7, 2017
Oct 7, 2017 at 9:12 AM UTC
The Demons Live With Me
Oh, my Medusa That piercing, seductive stare Gets me so rock hard. "braullw nevae falls" That's 'braille never fails', Spelled by a blind man. Matsuo Basho Turns in his grave: first, five times then seven, then five. The dankest of **** Floats slowly into my lungs Oh wait...Asbestos. hahaha ye boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii yeyeyeyeye ye boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii hehe wyd
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Oct 19, 2017
Oct 19, 2017 at 10:30 AM UTC
A Collection of Dumb Haikus, Thanks
wandering across the splinters of squandered seasons the Hajj of the lost ones completes a broken circle returning with hope to burrow back into the safety of desecrated graveyards welcomed home to the embrace of a cadaverous cloak and the kiss of carrion smudged lips, Hajji's eye the decrepit visage of criminal depravity germination of this Arab Spring mocks us aromas of jasmine elude us emulsified concrete clogs our nostrils burning eyes filled with asbestos dust form grateful blinders to the ruination of reason betrayed arcane remnants of our life lay inert in the open ****** of fractured habitations amidst jumbled rubble the decaying carcasses of razed buildings boast grotesque sculptures of twisted rebar cradling artifacts of a past life pink hair curlers splashed with sickly blood grown mold scavenged bicycles limp on banished parts smashed skulls of dolls weep, her dismembered limb reaches for a lost child’s nursing hand the charred remains of a Persian rug maps the scale of a city’s deconstruction and a frayed regions disconsolation electric luxury flowing water the friendly bustle of the street bespeak expired memories foretelling an unimaginal future sectarian strife enforces  a communal solitary confinement in cold blood we willingly murdered compassion we butchered trust we euthanized our common humanity constructing buildings is easy rebuilding ourselves impossible Music Selection: Segovia, Capricho Arabe Oakland 5/13/14 jbm
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May 14, 2014
May 14, 2014 at 11:56 AM UTC
Return to Homs
Two inches was the measure, of young Stevies blunder, Digging out concrete, not knowing whats under. He felt a nugget, that wouldn't yield to the Pick, So he used the Jack-Hammer, until he got that "kick". Caught fire on the spot, looked at me, shocked, Died in flames, got a days pay docked. Cut the main cable, Fifty millimetres, metric, I know you hate to ask, but Friends aren't Electric. Dennis stepped back, pleased with his graft, Fell two hundred foot, down an unguarded shaft. Been on the Grinder, cutting out steels, So the Elevator boys could fix , their cogs and their wheels. Never said a word, no shout or no fuss, Dennis died like he lived, just one of us. Me and Baz on a roof, we knew was asbestos, Brittle like toffee, temperamental as Kate Moss, Had no crawling boards, so we tip-toed like burglars, Clinging on tightly, think Ivy on Pergola's. I heard the crack, leapt to the hip-tile, Baz clawed and scraped, resistance was futile. They spread out the sand, where Baz hit the deck, To mop up the blood, from a broken neck. Health and safety, if's and but's, Shoddy workmanship, taking short-cuts. We have no say, we try our best, Hard hats, harder boots and high-visibility vests, Are all that we leave, not Time-Shares or Merc's, Just daughters in tears, Dads not home from work.
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Jan 31, 2016
Jan 31, 2016 at 11:03 AM UTC
Death of a Tradesman
just a little bit o' asbestos unwrapped from 'round the pipes, yellow-green arsenic soap in the bucket to make me clean to eat... sump'n to munch on like crunchy lead paint chips and oh, how i love the smell o' greasy diesel dip - it reminds me of my last birthday when we ate my smoggy cake the kerosene ran dry that day and smoked us to the street our tummy aches that time forsake 'cause doctors cost real money. but, hey, no choice in winter - Obamacare or heat - couldn't type his site with frostbit nubs, no matter what the hype. life ain't free, so as fer me, i doctor fer myself hell, in 50 years i've seen nothin' yet some bourbon wouldn't fix. but never in this tidy place we come to call our poverty has ever lived the lovely stench of crisp, green, perfect money.
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Dec 28, 2013
Dec 28, 2013 at 10:30 AM UTC
Pollute Me Please...
Broken Needles and rusted gates, Treading over thorns and crushing glass in an apathetic state. At best toss the thrown rock will crash, Not without aggravating a storm of Asbestos. Iron-lacking in socially acceptable art etiquette. Climbing neglected buildings. One hand gripping a rusted ladder, The other, spray paint wielding. Battling for space between the wall and the vine. First time I don't feel misplaced, struggling for lines. My minds at ease, I have everything I need. A place to sit and think, A place where the space is occupied by two high school kids. Lighting candles that have merged With the unstable rotting wood of the table. Scratching their heart's words through bleeding pen nibs. Loose leaf pages scatter the ground, Not worthy of residency in my note book. Reunited with the fallen leaves. Reconciliation with my mind hook or by crook.
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Oct 29, 2013
Oct 29, 2013 at 8:39 AM UTC
Old Train Station
Our world was cemented fresh linoleum tile you always bent down to reach my voice, I was so sweet, I feel so vile. You tell her she reminds you of daisies and August sunshine I smell out the ***** of cinnamon, I am canine. Thought you were all mine. I know she's breathless as you shake the bed, dancing dyad, snowed with asbestos. And I could be edgeless sand myself down just for you. Polish every crevice, I am a god in a teenage body I could be edgeless like a marble cast of paresis settled upon your pew.
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May 9, 2021
May 9, 2021 at 2:31 AM UTC
Secrets
The skies hung heavy and black, casting a somber mood over the world below. It was as if the heavens themselves were burdened with the weight of yesterday's sorrows. The fields, once vibrant and alive, now wore a grey smile, a reflection of the tears shed in days gone by. As night fell, the symphony of crickets filled the air, their chorus echoing through the stillness. It was a quiet night, interrupted only by the gentle handover of the sun to the moon. The air carried a pleasant scent of dew, a reminder of the rest that awaited all living things. And amidst it all, the tiny footsteps of rain danced upon the asbestos roofing, a thief of nature sneaking into the sounds of peace. In the midst of this atmospheric symphony, a wooden kitchen door ticked with the passage of time. It creaked open and closed, its rusted iron hinges adding to the melody. The door seemed hinged in thought, attached by fears and darkness. It formed a latch, and night became its key, locking away the light and welcoming the shadows. As I stood there, my feet grew cold, chilled by the ice-like glass of my fragile character. A towel hung limply from the handle of the cupboard, a silent witness to my dry mouth and the skeletons of my past that haunted me, beyond my control. But amidst the darkness, comfort found its way to my side, persistently offering solace. It was a visitor, never truly staying, but always there when I needed it. In my mind, I set up a spare room, a sanctuary for fleeting moments of respite. And in those rare moments, a sparing thought would gently grace my mind, offering a glimmer of hope. Yet, even in the midst of this fragile peace, a shadow lurked behind me. She knew my name, intimately aware of the battles I fought within myself. The empty room, once a sanctuary, grew heavy with the weight of my inner demons. Like a fallen angel, I descended into the depths of my own despair, the falling rain mirroring the tears that stained my soul. And in a whisper, a secret was revealed in my ear: depression, depression, depression. And so, my depressing thoughts found me once again, enveloping me in their suffocating embrace. The world around me faded into the background as I became lost in the labyrinth of my own mind.
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Oct 21, 2023
Oct 21, 2023 at 1:58 PM UTC
Trapped
The skies hung heavy and black, casting a somber mood over the world below. It was as if the heavens themselves were burdened with the weight of yesterday's sorrows. The fields, once vibrant and alive, now wore a grey smile, a reflection of the tears shed in days gone by. As night fell, the symphony of crickets filled the air, their chorus echoing through the stillness. It was a quiet night, interrupted only by the gentle handover of the sun to the moon. The air carried a pleasant scent of dew, a reminder of the rest that awaited all living things. And amidst it all, the tiny footsteps of rain danced upon the asbestos roofing, a thief of nature sneaking into the sounds of peace. In the midst of this atmospheric symphony, a wooden kitchen door ticked with the passage of time. It creaked open and closed, its rusted iron hinges adding to the melody. The door seemed hinged in thought, attached by fears and darkness. It formed a latch, and night became its key, locking away the light and welcoming the shadows. As I stood there, my feet grew cold, chilled by the ice-like glass of my fragile character. A towel hung limply from the handle of the cupboard, a silent witness to my dry mouth and the skeletons of my past that haunted me, beyond my control. But amidst the darkness, comfort found its way to my side, persistently offering solace. It was a visitor, never truly staying, but always there when I needed it. In my mind, I set up a spare room, a sanctuary for fleeting moments of respite. And in those rare moments, a sparing thought would gently grace my mind, offering a glimmer of hope. Yet, even in the midst of this fragile peace, a shadow lurked behind me. She knew my name, intimately aware of the battles I fought within myself. The empty room, once a sanctuary, grew heavy with the weight of my inner demons. Like a fallen angel, I descended into the depths of my own despair, the falling rain mirroring the tears that stained my soul. And in a whisper, a secret was revealed in my ear: depression, depression, depression. And so, my depressing thoughts found me once again, enveloping me in their suffocating embrace. The world around me faded into the background as I became lost in the labyrinth of my own mind.
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51
I don't care who hears me anymore. I long to taste the sweet psychobabble, so I lick my lips and it drips out, splattering on the psychovirgin shoulders of innocent bystanders. I shrug. collateraldamage. The loonybin flies mumble around my face- growling with disgust at injustice and the moldy, grimy consciences laughing as they peer out dusty boxcar windows as the coaldust and asbestos poison the vessels to match the sour wine within. I stand, marble, cold, alone, except for sticky padding fly feet across my lips. The chill breeze of whispers and the snowflakes of their beady possum eyes fall dead as they hit my lifeless immortal marble. The deadgrey stone awaits with dread and ecstasy the day of apocalyptic fire when the Great marble pillars fall victim to the gravity of all sin, crushing the grimy greedy Watchers into pulp, quarry-blasted Michelangelo perfection. Sacrifice! the end of static immortality. the flies feast on the charred and vacant carnage
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Jul 11, 2012
Jul 11, 2012 at 5:49 PM UTC
Monument to the End
Coal dust + asbestos + Silicone pull J U G U L A R straighten larynx Plug my cord in. Run: digitized opalescent sky Terminate process heart exe. Cannot be found reboot reboot reboot sign up to facebook sign up to dumb luck sign up and sign off C:/prey C:/pray C:/pray that I don’t get swallowed by this machine that I don’t get swallowed by this 01101101 01100001 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100101
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Jul 21, 2015
Jul 21, 2015 at 5:53 PM UTC
Deconstruct
Where are all the carnival rides The Ferris wheel with bright lights The fairy floss and cherry cokes and the warm sultry nights The call of the racketeer encouraging all to take a chance Where's the monkey you carried just so we could hold hands Where are all the park benches that used to ring the pond Where are the acres of green grass where we sat as you sang me our song and where have all the ducks gone? Where has gone the soda shop, the big band dance halls and the local Ihop? There stands the apartment block where our little house once stood Where have all the children gone that we once watched from the stoop Where are the endless games of hide and seek and peek a boo Where's the night gone, the fires out Where is the heartbeat of our intimacy we shared in our bedroom? Its all there in the asbestos ceiling and in the plaster that is cracked it crinkles beneath fingers of cold cotton bed sheets sterile of comfort and it lacks the vibrancy of emotions from another lifetime Laying still, awaiting the ground It drifts like fog in an ageing mind
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Jun 30, 2014
Jun 30, 2014 at 4:29 AM UTC
Silent Hours
Asbestos infected living; I am the saddest girl on earth.
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Jan 17, 2012
Jan 17, 2012 at 8:54 PM UTC
Dorm Life (10 word poem)
Do you know, what's it like? To run, until the tendons, in your legs, crimp, like accordion bellows, held, in the grip, of a vice? ...Do you know, what it's like? When they smell the fear, from within... which adheres, to your skin, as it turns, to fright? ...Do you know, what it's like? Not even seconds, to hide? With the asbestos walls, exploding... your lungs, go off, like a bomb, and thrumming But the headlights, they just keep on coming? ...Do you know, what it's like? But you can't stop running, oh, hell no, Though the acid, drips, down the back, of your throat. And the panic, sticks, to your soul, like Velcro... But you try... ...Do you know, what it's like? And do you even want, or need, to survive it? When your fatigue, only gets them excited? When the kick and blur, of your legs, and curves, only registers, as enticement? Do you know, what it's like? Here comes the headlights around the bend, again, and it's do, or die. Do you think you could fight? You can't look, at the trunk, or you'll end up inside, it. It's fight, or you're ****** but what if they... have, a gun, or a knife? ...Do you know...what it's like...?
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Sep 4, 2025
Sep 4, 2025 at 7:49 AM UTC
[Do you know, what's it like] (TW)
out in the mountains, when my feet are pressed and purpled from pushing the world to roll her callused breast, then each breath, deservingly, funnels the friction into fire. but here our milk flesh thumbs flick the ridges of the flint and through trees we **** a Bic just to exhale flame again. oh-two deprived at altitude or getting high with all the dudes you’d count them as two trails that lead to the same place but that’s just what the map says. neurotransmitter math has sold, by weight, the dopamine wrapped like gods great gift in threads of nervous lace and you forget that different paths never summit the same if steep, or shallow, the peak can be epiphany pleasure or just good **** in green pill bottles, they trap the trees and plastic cages hang on me when the weight of our minds bends our necks towards the asbestos sky where porous plains of ceiling tile have us counting holes in the light so you see my disappointment, when you were too ****** or drunk or cold and said it would be better if we just went inside as we circled up the stairwell you stepped easily on plaster pieces of white ceiling that had fallen to concrete perhaps it is from fear that some can find a comfort having heavens built so brittle that they crumble within reach
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Dec 13, 2011
Dec 13, 2011 at 6:38 AM UTC
Heaven Asbestos
mining ceased overnight boom days were no more the conveyor belt stands idle buildings in disrepair infrastructure rusting away asbestos remnants piled high the landscape irreversibly scarred forever the town who relied so much on the mine slowly ebbed in vitality one by one the business houses were closed houses where the pit workers lived vacated for good the company saw lean times its ore seen to be hazardous health concerns were raised by the medical fraternity the carpet was pulled from under the company's feet its share value fell hard it then folded up in an ex-mining town a legacy remains a gigantic gaping hole poorly in need of remediation for miles around the mine's site the asbestos filaments float on the air and are carried well beyond by the wind miner's who ingested the asbestos into their lungs suffer diseases like Mesothelioma and other forms of cancers the town's prosperity whittled away the people have no industry to keep them sustained into the dust the boom turned overnight mining towns know well this plight Epilogue we hear of a resource being harvested from the earth yet where the mineral is mined there is the potential for a dearth the slogan of mining towns is that of boom or bust
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May 8, 2014
May 8, 2014 at 7:11 AM UTC
Boom Or Bust
The world is ending, the moon fell down Left a crater in the hearts of children whose parents were now just simply gone, Sent to the non-existent great beyond Moneys as worthless as amateur songs, In the end I guess the Earth won I'm adamant to admit, My brain's not a muscle, my mind is not strong You risk a kiss through my face-mask Meant to repel love and asbestos Well if I catch your flu I fear my life is no longer Your lifeless eyes are all I lust for Happy Biohazard We're Happy Is it wrong I think this is romantic? Everyone we know is dead my darling, My heart's undead I'll admit, what if we both got bit and there was one vaccine? Then there's NO vaccine. We'll ramble on about everything we miss Like electricity and Christmas On the bright side, hen February comes to town, I'll be the only Valentine you have around Happy Biohazard We're happy I like to forget this desert tan Drying the sun straight from the land I like to forget this worthless hand Claimed by your hard, stung in the sand I like to forget this broken heart, I will not eat, my deaths not far (Happy) You won't admit that things are better Packed up and living in this desert Well I'm gonna miss you when you're gone, but I won't write any grieving songs And I won't kiss the sky and hope you're there But I'll hold your gun and live your piercing stare i like to forget  sometimes That I'll miss you And your technicolor pastimes. We're happy.
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Apr 12, 2013
Apr 12, 2013 at 2:00 PM UTC
Happy Biohazard
Slogging through endless Whitman prose and I have to make little marks on the pages every 8 to 14 lines as my mind will not quit the wandering roam. Blanket paragraphs blend into infinite droll, never ending whine-fest of bull jazz…jazz singers fill the empty spaces between the lines of drivel. The dog barks on the veranda looking old and sad in the wind, The water trickles through a series of rusted and holey pipes… peeling asbestos laden lead paint tricks the mouths of children… a sick cat heaves near the Chesterfield. Finding myself no longer interested in freelance fodder, I real from one daydream to the next without enough pause to subconsciously journal… a subcutaneous oak shard gives a slight reddish bump to my well defined forearm, slight pressure sends nearly transparent **** screaming from its melanin tomb. The sliver remains diligent. The sliver holds its ground, The sliver has a new home, The sliver wants to die here, and never again travel the long lonesome forest road, The sliver shines silver in the sunlight, I shiver at the sight.
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Aug 3, 2015
Aug 3, 2015 at 5:16 PM UTC
Whitman Takes his Tole
Don’t cut all your food up before you eat it: Slice as you go. And don’t mix up your curry and rice first: Take some curry, add some rice… “But I can eat it all at once this way”. Cut your box hedge only once or twice per year. “That will let it grow six foot high instead of four though”. Do all your shopping at once. Plan ahead so you don’t have to nip out for things. “Hate shopping. Rather buy as and when.” Put your Geraniums in pots over winter. “I’ll need hell of a lot of pots! Will break the roots Digging them out Of that claggy soil.” Your Artex could have Asbestos in it: That could be dangerous. “I’m not about to drill into it And breathe in the dust am I?” What you don’t know when your car MOT and tax are due? “My garage knows and they look after me. But I checked them on the internet now. The garage is right.” You didn’t know you’d paid off your mortgage And you claimed for a moat? “I’m a politician”. Why do you put all that ******* on Facebook? “Because my friends Love my posts and say so.” You are supposed to… You shouldn’t… You should… You mustn’t… You Must! "People!" Paul Butters © PB 26\3\2018.
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Mar 26, 2018
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:19 AM UTC
People!