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Michael R Burch Oct 2020
O, the Horror! Halloween Poetry!

Halloween Poetry: Dark, Eerie, Haunting and Scary poems about Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Reanimated Corpses and "Things that go Bump in the Night!"



Thin Kin
by Michael R. Burch

Skeleton!
Tell us what you lack...
the ability to love,
your flesh so slack?

Will we frighten you,
grown as pale & unsound,
when we also haunt
the unhallowed ground?



The Witch
by Michael R. Burch

her fingers draw into claws
she cackles through rotting teeth...
u ask "are there witches?"
… pshaw! …
(yet she has my belief)



Vampires
by Michael R. Burch

Vampires are such fragile creatures;
we dread the dark, but the light destroys them...
sunlight, or a stake, or a cross ― such common things.

Still, late at night, when the bat-like vampire sings,
we shrink from his voice.

Centuries have taught us:
in shadows danger lurks for those who stray,
and there the vampire bares his yellow fangs
and feels the ancient soul-tormenting pangs.
He has no choice.

We are his prey, plump and fragrant,
and if we pray to avoid him, he earnestly prays to find us...
prays to some despotic hooded God
whose benediction is the humid blood
he lusts to taste.



Styx
by Michael R. Burch

Black waters,
deep and dark and still...
all men have passed this way,
or will.

Charon, the ferrymen who carried the dead across the River Styx to their eternal destination, has been portrayed by artists and poets as a vampiric figure.



Revenge of the Halloween Monsters
by Michael R. Burch

The Halloween monsters, incensed,
keep howling, and may be UNFENCED!!!
They’re angry that children with treats
keep throwing their trash IN THE STREETS!!!

You can check it out on your computer:
Google says, “Please don’t be a POLLUTER!!!”
The Halloween monsters agree,
so if you’re a litterbug, FLEE!!!

Kids, if you’d like more treats this year
and don’t want to cower in FEAR,
please make all the mean monsters happy,
and they’ll hand out sweet treats like they’re sappy!

So if you eat treats on the drag
and don't want huge monsters to nag,
please put all loose trash in your BAG!!!

NOTE: If you recite the poem, get the kids to huddle up close, then yell the all-caps parts like you’re one of the unhappy monsters, and perhaps "goose" them as well. They'll get the message.



It's Halloween!
by Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give up their verse
to comfort chicks they nurse,
while children dream weird dreams

of ugly, wiggly things,
beware the serpent's curse!

If spirits scream
in haunted dreams
while ancient sibyls rise

to plague nightmarish skies
one night without disguise,

while children toss about
uneasy, full of doubt,
beware the Devil's lies...

it's Halloween!



Ghost
by Michael R. Burch

White in the shadows
I see your face,
unbidden. Go, tell

Love it is commonplace;
tell Regret it is not so rare.

Our love is not here
though you smile,
full of sedulous grace.

Lost in darkness, I fear
the past is our resting place.



All Hallows Eve
by Michael R. Burch

What happened to the mysterious Tuatha De Danann, to the Ban Shee (from which we get the term “banshee”) and, eventually, to the Druids? One might assume that with the passing of Merlyn, Morgan le Fay and their ilk, the time of myths and magic ended. This poem is an epitaph of sorts.

In the ruins
of the dreams
and the schemes
of men;

when the moon
begets the tide
and the wide
sea sighs;

when a star
appears in heaven
and the raven
cries;

we will dance
and we will revel
in the devil’s
fen...

if nevermore again.



Pale Though Her Eyes
by Michael R. Burch

Pale though her eyes,
her lips are scarlet
from drinking of blood,
this child, this harlot

born of the night
and her heart, of darkness,
evil incarnate
to dance so reckless,

dreaming of blood,
her fangs ― white ― baring,

revealing her lust,
and her eyes, pale, staring...



Like Angels, Winged
by Michael R. Burch

Like angels ― winged,
shimmering, misunderstood ―
they flit beyond our understanding
being neither evil, nor good.

They are as they are...
and we are their lovers, their prey;
they seek us out when the moon is full
and dream of us by day.

Their eyes ― hypnotic, alluring ―
trap ours with their strange appeal
till like flame-drawn moths, we gather...
to see, to touch, to feel.

Held in their arms, enchanted,
we feel their lips, so old!,
till with their gorging kisses
we warm them, growing cold.



Solicitation
by Michael R. Burch

He comes to me out of the shadows, acknowledging
my presence with a tip of his hat, always the gentleman,
and his eyes are on mine like a snake’s on a bird’s ―
quizzical, mesmerizing.

He ***** his head as though something he heard intrigues him
(although I hear nothing) and he smiles, amusing himself at my expense;
his words are full of desire and loathing, and while I hear everything,
he says nothing I understand.

The moon shines ― maniacal, queer ― as he takes my hand whispering

Our time has come... And so we stroll together creaking docks
where the sea sends sickening things
scurrying under rocks and boards.

Moonlight washes his ashen face as he stares unseeing into my eyes.
He sighs, and the sound crawls slithering down my spine;
my blood seems to pause at his touch as he caresses my face.
He unfastens my dress till the white lace shows, and my neck is bared.

His teeth are long, yellow and hard, his face bearded and haggard.
A wolf howls in the distance. There are no wolves in New York. I gasp.
My blood is a trickle his wet tongue embraces. My heart races madly.
He likes it like that.



Sometimes the Dead
by Michael R. Burch

Sometimes we catch them out of the corners of our eyes ―
the pale dead.
After they have fled
the gourds of their bodies, like escaping fragrances they rise.

Once they have become a cloud’s mist, sometimes like the rain
they descend;
they appear, sometimes silver like laughter,
to gladden the hearts of men.

Sometimes like a pale gray fog, they drift
unencumbered, yet lumbrously,
as if over the sea
there was the lightest vapor even Atlas could not lift.

Sometimes they haunt our dreams like forgotten melodies
only half-remembered.
Though they lie dismembered
in black catacombs, sepulchers and dismal graves; although they have committed felonies,

yet they are us. Someday soon we will meet them in the graveyard dust
blood-engorged, but never sated
since Cain slew Abel.
But until we become them, let us steadfastly forget them, even as we know our children must...



Polish
by Michael R. Burch

Your fingers end in talons—
the ones you trim to hide
the predator inside.

Ten thousand creatures sacrificed;
but really, what’s the loss?
Apply a splash of gloss.

You picked the perfect color
to mirror nature’s law:
red, like tooth and claw.

Published by The HyperTexts



Siren Song
by Michael R. Burch

The Lorelei’s
soft cries
entreat mariners to save her...

How can they resist
her faint voice through the mist?

Soon she will savor
the flavor
of sweet human flesh.



How Long the Night (anonymous Old English Lyric)
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song...
but now I feel the northern wind's blast ―
its severe weather strong.
Alas! Alas! This night seems so long!
And I, because of my momentous wrong
now grieve, mourn and fast.



The Wild Hunt
by Michael R. Burch

Near Devon, the hunters appear in the sky
with Artur and Bedwyr sounding the call;
and the others, laughing, go dashing by.
They only appear when the moon is full:

Valerin, the King of the Tangled Wood,
and Valynt, the goodly King of Wales,
Gawain and Owain and the hearty men
who live on in many minstrels’ tales.

They seek the white stag on a moonlit moor,
or Torc Triath, the fabled boar,
or Ysgithyrwyn, or Twrch Trwyth,
the other mighty boars of myth.

They appear, sometimes, on Halloween
to chase the moon across the green,
then fade into the shadowed hills
where memory alone prevails.



The Vampire's Spa Day Dream
by Michael R. Burch

O, to swim in vats of blood!
I wish I could, I wish I could!
O, 'twould be
so heavenly
to swim in lovely vats of blood!

The poem above was inspired by a Josh Parkinson depiction of Elizabeth Bathory up to her nostrils in the blood of her victims, with their skulls floating in the background.



Nevermore!
by Michael R. Burch

Nevermore! O, nevermore!
shall the haunts of the sea
― the swollen tide pools
and the dark, deserted shore ―
mark her passing again.

And the salivating sea
shall never kiss her lips
nor caress her ******* and hips,
as she dreamt it did before,
once, lost within the uproar.

The waves will never **** her,
nor take her at their leisure;
the sea gulls shall not have her,
nor could she give them pleasure...
She sleeps, forevermore!

She sleeps forevermore,
a ****** save to me
and her other lover,
who lurks now, safely smothered
by the restless, surging sea.

And, yes, they sleep together,
but never in that way...
For the sea has stripped and shorn
the one I once adored,
and washed her flesh away.

He does not stroke her honey hair,
for she is bald, bald to the bone!
And how it fills my heart with glee
to hear them sometimes cursing me
out of the depths of the demon sea...

their skeletal love ― impossibility!



Dark Gothic
by Michael R. Burch

Her fingers are filed into talons;
she smiles with carnivorous teeth...
You ask, “Are there vampires?”
― Get real! ―
(Yet she has my belief.)



Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.


Athenian Epitaphs (Gravestone Inscriptions of the Ancient Greeks)

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
― Michael R. Burch, after Plato


Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls in their high, lonely circuits may tell.
― Michael R. Burch, after Glaucus



Passerby,
tell the Spartans we lie
lifeless at Thermopylae:
dead at their word,
obedient to their command.
Have they heard?
Do they understand?
― Michael R. Burch, after Simonides



Completing the Pattern
by Michael R. Burch

Walk with me now, among the transfixed dead
who kept life’s compact and who thus endure
harsh sentence here―among pink-petaled beds
and manicured green lawns. The sky’s azure,
pale blue once like their eyes, will gleam blood-red
at last when sunset staggers to the door
of each white mausoleum, to inquire―
What use, O things of erstwhile loveliness?


Reclamation
by Michael R. Burch

after Robert Graves, with a nod to Mary Shelley

I have come to the dark side of things
where the bat sings
its evasive radar
and Want is a crooked forefinger
attached to a gelatinous wing.

I have grown animate here, a stitched corpse
hooked to electrodes.
And night
moves upon me―progenitor of life
with its foul breath.

Blind eyes have their second sight
and still are deceived. Now my nature
is softly to moan
as Desire carries me
swooningly across her threshold.

Stone
is less infinite than her crone’s
gargantuan hooked nose, her driveling lips.
I eye her ecstatically―her dowager figure,
and there is something about her that my words transfigure
to a consuming emptiness.

We are at peace
with each other; this is our venture―
swaying, the strings tautening, as tightropes
tauten, as love tightens, constricts
to the first note.

Lyre of our hearts’ pits,
orchestration of nothing, adits
of emptiness! We have come to the last of our hopes,
sweet as congealed blood sweetens for flies.

Need is reborn; love dies.



Deliver Us ...
by Michael R. Burch

The night is dark and scary―
under your bed, or upon it.

That blazing light might be a star ...
or maybe the Final Comet.

But two things are sure: your mother’s love
and your puppy’s kisses, doggonit!



the Horror
by Michael R. Burch

the Horror lurks inside our closets
the Horror hides beneath our beds
the Horror hisses ancient curses
the Horror whispers in our heads

the Horror tells us Death is coming
the Horror tells us there’s no hope
the Horror tells us “life” is futile
the Horror beckons, “there’s the Rope!”



Belfry
by Michael R. Burch

There are things we surrender
to the attic gloom:
they haunt us at night
with shrill, querulous voices.

There are choices we made
yet did not pursue,
behind windows we shuttered
then failed to remember.

There are canisters sealed
that we cannot reopen,
and others long broken
that nothing can heal.

There are things we conceal
that our anger dismembered,
gray leathery faces
the rafters reveal.



Duet
by Michael R. Burch

Oh, Wendy, by the firelight, how sad!
How worn and gray your auburn hair became!
You’re very silent, like an evening rain
that trembles on dark petals. Tears you’ve shed
for days we laughed together, glisten now;
your flesh became translucent; and your brow
knits, gathered loosely. By the well-made bed
three portraits hang with knowing eyes, beloved,
but mine is not among them. Time has proved
our hearts both strangely mortal. If I said
I loved you once, how is it that could change?
And yet I watch you fondly; love is strange . . .

Oh, Peter, by the firelight, how bright
my thought of you remains, and if I said
I loved you once, then took him to my bed,
I did it for the need of love, one night
when you were far away. My heart endured
transfigurement―in flaming ash inured
to heartbreak and the violence of sight:
I saw myself grow old and thin and frail
with thinning hair about me, like a veil . . .
And so I loved him for myself, despite
the love between us―our first startled kiss.
But then I loved him for his humanness.
And then we both grew old, and it was right . . .

Oh, Wendy, if I fly, I fly beyond
these human hearts, these cities walled and tiered
against the night, beyond this vale of tears,
for love, if it exists, dies with the years . . .

No, Peter, love is constant as the heart
that keeps till its last beat a measured pace
and sets the fixtures of its dreams in place
by beds at first well-used, at last well-made,
and counts each face a joy, each tear a grace . . .



Horror
by Michael R. Burch

What I ache to say is beyond saying―
no words for the horror
of not loving enough,
like a mummy half-wrapped in its moldering casements
holding a lily aloft.

No, there are no words for the horror
as a tormented wind howls through the teetering floes
and the cold freezes down to my clawed hairy toes ...

What use to me, now, if the stars appear?
As I moan
the moon finds me,
fangs goring the deer.



Strange Corps(e)
by Michael R. Burch

We are all dying, haunted by life―
dying, but the living will not let us go.
We are perishing zombies, haunted by the moonglow.

With what animation we, shuffling, return
nightly, to worry Love’s worm-eaten corpse,
till, living or dead, she is wholly ours.

We are the dying, enamored of “life”―
the palest of auras, the eeriest call.
We stagger to attention ... stumble ... fall.

We have only one thought―Love’s peculiar notion,
that our duty’s to “live,” though such “living” means
night’s horrific wild hungers, its stranger dreams.

We now “live” on the flesh of eroded dreams
and no longer recoil at the victims’ screams.



Love, ah! serene ghost
by Michael R. Burch

Love, ah! serene ghost,
haunts my retelling of her,
or stands atop despairing stairs
with such pale, severe eyes,
I become another pallid specter.

But what I feel
most profoundly is this:
the absolute lack of her kiss,
the absence of her wild,
unwarranted laughter.

So that,
like a candle deprived of oxygen,
I become mere wick and tallow again.
Here and hereafter ...
gone with her now, in the darkest of nights, the flame!

I lie, pallid vision of man―the same
wan ghost of her palpitations’ claim
on my heart
that I was before.

I love her beyond and despite even shame.



Eden
by Michael R. Burch

Then earth was heaven too, a perfect garden.
Apples burgeoned and shone―unplucked on sagging boughs.
What, then, would the children eat?
Fruit indecently sweet,
redolent as incense, with a tempting aroma ...



Outcasts
by Michael R. Burch

There was a rose, a prescient shade of crimson,
the very color of blood,
that bloomed in that garden.

The most dazzling of all the Earth’s flowers,
men have forgotten it now,
with their fanciful tales of apples and serpents.

Beasts with lips called the goreflower “Love.”

The scribes have the story all wrong: four were there,
four horrid dark creatures―chattering, bickering.
Aduhm placed one red petal in Ehve’s matted hair;

he was lost in her arms
till dawn sullen and golden
imperceptibly streaked the musk-fragrant air.

Two flared nostrils quivered, two eyes remained open.

Kahyn sought me that evening, his bloodless lips curled
in a grimacelike smile. Sunken-cheeked, he approached me
in the Caverns of Similitudes, eerie Barzakh.

“We are outcasts, my brother!, God quickly deserts us.”
As though his anguish conceived in insight’s first blush
might not pale next to mine in Sheol’s gray realm.

“Shining Creature!” he named me and called me divine
as he lavished damp kisses upon my bright scales.
“Help me find me one rare gift to put Love’s gift to shame.”

“There is a dark rose with a bittersweet fragrance
as pungent as cloves: only man knows its name.
Clinging and cloying, it destroys all it touches . . .”

“But red is Ehve’s preference; while Envy is green.”
He was downcast a moment, a moment, a moment . . .
“Ah, but red is the color of blood!”

Disagreeable child, far too clever for his own good.

Published in The Bible of Hell (anthology)



No One
by Michael R. Burch

No One hears the bells tonight;
they tell him something isn’t right.
But No One is not one to rush;
he lies in grasses greenly lush
as far away a startled thrush
flees from horned owls in sinking flight.

No One hears the cannon’s roar
and muses that its voice means war
comes knocking on men’s doors tonight.
He sleeps outside in awed delight
beneath the enigmatic stars
and shivers in their cooling light.

No One knows the world will end,
that he’ll be lonely, without friend
or foe to conquer. All will be
once more, celestial harmony.
He’ll miss men’s voices, now and then,
but worlds can be remade again.



Bikini
by Michael R. Burch

Undersea, by the shale and the coral forming,
by the shell’s pale rose and the pearl’s white eye,
through the sea’s green bed of lank seaweed worming
like tangled hair where cold currents rise . . .
something lurks where the riptides sigh,
something old and pale and wise.

Something old when the world was forming
now lifts its beak, its snail-blind eye,
and with tentacles about it squirming,
it feels the cloud above it rise
and shudders, settles with a sigh,
knowing man’s demise draws nigh.



Ceremony
by Michael R. Burch

Lost in the cavernous blue silence of spring,
heavy-lidded and drowsy with slumber, I see
the dark gnats leap; the black flies fling
their slow, engorged bulks into the air above me.

Shimmering hordes of blue-green bottleflies sing
their monotonous laments; as I listen, they near
with the strange droning hum of their murmurous wings.

Though you said you would leave me, I prop you up here
and brush back red ants from your fine, tangled hair,
whispering, “I do!” . . . as the gaunt vultures stare.



Contraire
by Michael R. Burch

Where there was nothing
but emptiness
and hollow chaos and despair,

I sought Her ...

finding only the darkness
and mournful silence
of the wind entangling her hair.

Yet her name was like prayer.

Now she is the vast
starry tinctures of emptiness
flickering everywhere

within me and about me.

Yes, she is the darkness,
and she is the silence
of twilight and the night air.

Yes, she is the chaos
and she is the madness
and they call her Contraire.



Dark Twin
by Michael R. Burch

You come to me
out of the sun―
my dark twin, unreal . . .

And you are always near
although I cannot touch you;
although I trample you, you cannot feel . . .

And we cannot be parted,
nor can we ever meet
except at the feet.



East End, 1888
by Michael R. Burch

Past darkened storefronts,
hunched and contorted, bent with need
through chilling rain, he walks alone
till down the glistening cobblestones
deliberate footsteps pause, resume.

He follows, by a pub confronts
a pasty face, an overbright smile,
lips intimating easy bliss,
a boisterous, over-eager tongue.

She barters what she has to sell;
her honeyed words seem cloying, stale―
pale, tainted things of sticky guile.



A rustle of her petticoats,
a flash of bulging milk-white breast
. . . the price is set: a crown. “A tip,
a shilling more is yours,” he quotes,
“to wash your privates.” She accepts.
Saliva glistens on his lips.



An alley. There, he lifts her gown,
in answer to her question, frowns,
says―“You can call me Jack, or Rip.”



East End, 1888 (II)
by Michael R. Burch

He slouched East
through a steady downpour,
a slovenly beast
befouling each puddle
with bright footprints of blood.

Outlined in a pub door,
lewdly, wantonly, she stood . . .
mocked and brazenly offered.

He took what he could
till she afforded no more.

Now a single bright copper
glints becrimsoned by the door
of the pub where he met her.

He holds to his breast the one part
of her body she was unable to *****,
grips her heart to his wildly stammering heart . . .
unable to forgive or forget her.

Originally published by Penny Dreadful



Evil, the Rat
by Michael R. Burch

Evil lives in a hole like a rat
and sleeps in its feces,
fearing the cat.

At night it furtively creeps
through the house
while the cat sleeps.

It eats old excrement and gnaws
on steaming dung
and it will pause

between odd bites to sniff through the ****,
twitching and trembling,
for a scent of the cat ...

Evil, the rat.



Temptation
by Michael R. Burch

Jesus was always misunderstood . . .
we have that, at least, in common.
And it’s true that I found him,
shriveled with hunger,
shivering in the desert,
skeletal, emaciate,
not an ounce of fat
to warm his bones
once the bright sun set.

And it’s true, I believe,
that I offered him something to eat―
a fig, perhaps, a pomegranate, or a peach.

Hardly the great “temptation”
of which I’m accused.

He was a likeable chap, really,
and we spent a pleasant hour
discussing God―
how hard He is to know,
and impossible to please.

I left him there, the pale supplicant,
all skin and bone, at the mouth of his cave,
imploring his “Master” on callused knees.

Published in The Bible of Hell (anthology)



Role Reversal
by Michael R. Burch

The fluted lips of statues
mock the bronze gaze
of the dying sun . . .

We are nonplused, they say,
smacking their wet lips,
jubilant . . .

We are always refreshed, always undying,
always young, forever unapologetic,
forever gay, smiling,

and though it seems man has made us,
on his last day, we will see him unmade―
we will watch him decay
as if he were clay,
and we had assumed his flesh,
hissing our disappointment.



Excelsior
by Michael R. Burch

I lift my eyes and laugh, Excelsior . . .
Why do you come, wan spirit, heaven-gowned,
complaining that I am no longer “pure?”

I threw myself before you, and you frowned,
so full of noble chastity, renowned
for leaving maidens maidens. In the dark

I sought love’s bright enchantment, but your lips
were stone; my fiery metal drew no spark
to light the cold dominions of your heart.

What realms were ours? What leasehold? And what claim
upon these territories, cold and dark,
do you seek now, pale phantom? Would you light

my heart in death and leave me ashen-white,
as you are white, extinguished by the Night?



Liar
by Michael R. Burch

Chiller than a winter day,
quieter than the murmur of the sea in her dreams,
eyes wilder than the crystal spray
of silver streams,
you fill my dying thoughts.

In moments drugged with sleep
I have heard your earnest voice
leaving me no choice
save heed your hushed demands
and meet you in the sands
of an ageless arctic world.

There I kiss your lifeless lips
as we quiver in the shoals
of a sea that endlessly rolls
to meet the shattered shore.

Wild waves weep, "Nevermore,"
as you bend to stroke my hair.

That land is harsh and drear,
and that sea is bleak and wild;
only your lips are mild
as you kiss my weary eyes,
whispering lovely lies
of what awaits us there
in a land so stark and bare,
beyond all hope . . . and care.

This is one of my early poems, written as a high school sophomore or junior.



The Watch
by Michael R. Burch

Moonlight spills down vacant sills,
illuminates an empty bed.
Dreams lie in crates. One hand creates
wan silver circles, left unread
by its companion—unmoved now
by anything that lies ahead.

I watch the minutes test the limits
of ornamental movement here,
where once another hand would hover.
Each circuit—incomplete. So dear,
so precious, so precise, the touch
of hands that wait, yet ask so much.

Originally published by The Lyric



Keywords/Tags: Halloween, dark, supernatural, skeleton, witch, ghost, vampire, monsters, ghoul, werewolf, goblins, occult, mrbhalloween, mrbhallow, mrbdark

Published as the collection "Halloween Poems"
K Balachandran Mar 2013
Lush mango groves
where  the musky scent of mango blooms
once wafted making the
bulbuls sing in ecstasy
from morning till sundown
                  are reborn as gated communities,
                  where grim seriousness parade.

                      In sun drenched vineyards,
                      shadows of dreams,
                      wanting to dress up as IT parks, spread.
                      Bangalore barters its  medley of colors and smells
                      for prosperity in terms of greenbacks,
                      as people learn to be 'smart' players,
                                       and more and more get 'Bangalored'*
                                       from around the world.
Corn fields that danced to the tunes
of  the songs of  toiling farmers
go missing within days.
To match with the new mood,
nature, in this green paradise, till not so long ago
shamelessly wears the  unnatural with style.
*Bangalored: The word, an American coinage means outsourcing work
by multinationals to cities such as Bangalore known as silicon valley of India, to save money.
ArominizedM Mar 2014
A poet is daydreaming – contemplating,
Stale is his entire mind surpassed;
An accomplice confers his realization,
Neither to suffice the fool – disillusioned.

That poet daydreams, dismayed in trance,
‘A truce!’ he barters, on a fitted fray.
Frailty of his core seems definite in stance,
‘Tis anecdote… apparent of dismay.

The poet daydreams of the one he loves;
Severs the sympathy by egoism and contempt.
Scalar quantity of a breaching throb,
Under the tutelage of an infidel attempt.

The writer’s words are never dull, always honed;
Unyielding cutting edges fit for the crockery.
Elusive as emotions – tender as the blade of words sliced,
Thus cuts through the flesh, mind and soul like mockery.

Thus the poet’s mind can never be measured,
Nor does the ability of a man can overcome;
For both come from the Divine – Oh, highly favored!
Poetry of prose, so unique and unstrung.
I wear a crown invisible and clear,
   And go my lifted royal way apart
   Since you have crowned me softly in your heart
With love that is half ardent, half austere;
And as a queen disguised might pass anear
   The bitter crowd that barters in a mart,
   Veiling her pride while tears of pity start,
I hide my glory thru a jealous fear.
My crown shall stay a sweet and secret thing
   Kept pure with prayer at evensong and morn,
   And when you come to take it from my head,
   I shall not weep, nor will a word be said,
But I shall kneel before you, oh my king,
   And bind my brow forever with a thorn.
William Daniel Sep 2016
as an audience anxiously awaits
an adequate answer
an admittedly artificial
academic administration addresses action
and announces afternoon activities available
at an auditorium all asleep,
absently applauding away.

barry's basketball bounces back behind
by blueberry bush
bound by belief baseball's better,
barry barters, begs basically,
blindly balancing between *****:
baseball or basket
but barry boasts both.

city civilians cross carefully,
crowded, cold christmas crosswalk
counting countless cars
casually, cabs crammed close in clusters
constantly coughing chemicals
citizens carelessly creating catastrophe.

dusty dreary downtown dallas diner delight
dreamy desert delicacies delicious, delightful
dan danced decisions deciding, daring
diner downpayment deplete dollars.
don't ding **** ditch dan's diner door
drop by, drool on dan's delicious delicacies.

even enormous endangered elephants
eat everything entry-level edible.
entire eons erasing, each era escaping
eventually enough endangered
easily enters enxtinction, ending everywhere
entirely empty encounters.
even empires entertain enemy error.

friends, families, fixate in front
for films favor favorable focus.
fancy film fastival, foreigners fill first
filmmakers flock, finding familiar faces
facing forward, feeling fairly fortunate.
"five, four" finally flash
fear fades fast.
will periodically continue to update poem with more stanzas
Kurt Nimmo Feb 2015
the worst thing is the realization
you have nothing to say.

the worst thing is
a collision of words spinning
deaf into a vortex of irrelevance.

you finally understand.
you are like the rest of them.
you have nothing to contribute.

silence is cancer
deaf and dumb metastasis.

it happens to giants and dwarfs
locksmiths and astrophysicists
mathematicians and short order cooks.

it happens to saints and serial murderers.

silence so deafening
it barters with suicide.

maybe that’s
why they invented

television.
Tim Eichhorn Jan 2015
walk side streets
   alone - headphones.
zones of melody
   channeling canals
deeper than all
   the billboards basted
by bad barters.
  
   must’ve been mistaken.
although their dressed
  up, they’re simmering
thin - acetaminophen.
  finished, drugged bugs
cling strings holding
   last lines of defense.
PrttyBrd May 2015
Pandering for untruths
Like for like
Follow for follow
A thousand people who don't read
A thousand people who don't care
The occasional polite word
There is no satisfaction in falsehoods
One heart given out in truth
A word to show connection
One real follow over thousand barters
To touch another in honesty
To help another feel
That is the beauty of poetry
It breathes in those who read
A gift from soul to soul
Yes, that is
The beauty of poetry
51515
The rain;
Flogging our roof’s heads with sound.
‘Tchssschschschchchcshshcsh…’
like unplugged cable.
Smudges our screens in monotonous tone until
wire is cut, or lightning struck.
A veil of silence
envelopes eyes, off-color.

We stop to think of what might happen.
To stare at endless possibilities
of rain falling
to a stop.

Unless the flood comes uninvited,
Offers things for sale; usually you’re left
without a choice.
Barters a few Armani clothes or a few Dolce & Gabbana
For a sack of rice and a few cans.

Sometimes the flood throws you freebies,
like exotic pets bigger than a cat
Or throw in a few Pesos and get a broken tire.
But mostly they just give you mud and dirt. Mud and dirt.
They fill you up with it
and cover your eyes with it too.
And if you get lucky, they’ll throw you
the essentials like refusing to take your children,
The recovery of a dead faith and you start praying again,
Or they give you an orange boat.

Sometimes the rain comes in to see if you’ll sink
Or learn to walk again.

(Paolo Jerome D. Cristobal / September 13, 2010 - Alabang)
2nd Prize Winner - POETRY CATEGORY - Cesar S. Tiangco Literary Awards 2011
Mother me in this maze
Blood transfused in your gaze

The flood is high in confined quarters
your eyes shimmer like coins on dying days

The passage through unknown waters
The light reflects white through our barters

My hand extends to a friend, briefly
we make amends with the alignment of lines on our hands

Bull and battered man combined brute force with a weak mind
but even your unkindness inspired warmth in my eyes

Tears tear holes in maroon silk
Blood red rubies fall from the slits in our faces

The salty seas add insult to injury
transport power from poor workers to hungry eyes

We are mere travelers blessed with wooden cognizant hearts
Secretly teasing the embers of life to ignite our hearths

There is more to see than raging seas of empty flesh
Crimes of passion and tears of possession are weaved and liquidated

Run after the river of your ancestor's pursuits
Bright and beautiful lights bouncing off the mirrors

Enticing secular exchange in specular reflection
The same mistakes are made for eternity since antiquity
TerryD'ArcyRyan Jan 2019
turning inside a cage
despair barters hope to seethe
wraith's beating fists heavy beneath
vicious growls a threat of means
the ominous promise to break free
baleful sounds from your fiend
inspire violent screams
jaded eyes weep for time to see
depravity’s push to crawl and seek
momentum winding tight to a need
sparks fly for rage to breath
a lust to hunt crouches discreet
the hunger for fury no longer sleeps
despair barters hope to seethe
turning inside a cage


Terry D’Arcy-Ryan
Chris Thomas Jul 2016
I'm blindsided by her ambience
I'm overthrown by a lover's mutiny
My reflexes have grown slow to react
As I delve deep into her symphony
Harsh words between lips and tongue
Cold summers between spring and fall
She strokes my ego to veil intentions
Travels by sunsets to watch me crawl
Her pupils glisten as they savor me
Her hourglass, I trace with brittle hands
All hail the euphoria she brings
To quench the uprising of ***** demands
She barters for my soul
With riches found under lock and key
These dungeons reek of deadly sins
As she puts what remains of me on the marquee
Barton D Smock Jul 2012
my mother's jaw

for it
to become
my mother's jaw

for it to fit
both hoof
and hell

had to drop
not in awe
but dead

and demon

as a sack
of sticks
in a hunter's
heart

and for the deer
to free itself
that womb
of glass

had to bridle
its hoof
that human bit

with which
it barters
now
and limps

past small men
touching
stick to stick.
Maria Etre Aug 2017
It is only fair
that life
takes time
away from me
and barters it
with
moments
I visit
in my mind
from time to time
Kiara Gomez Sep 2017
Feel the green, feel the blue
See the different hues.
Feel the everlasting pain running swiftly through your veins.
Wind, water, sun, trees,
What are these but words and tangible fees.
Find the hope and the fun as we run barefoot through canyon’s gun,
Water there, wind here, hair everywhere.
Listen and pull up a chair as I tell you the story of blue sky’s and green waters,
the story of jumping cliffs and sought barters.
Who knew a bit of trees could be enough to make one bleed?
Who thought lemonade and a bit of sun would be all we need?
Julian Apr 2023
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l8njruxa73yee9b0jzmhd/The-Ultimate-Unabridged-Guide-to-Esoteric-Working-English-2.docx?­rlkey=kunoar7ghpfkb7fjk5xkdgx95&st=i84ornny&dl=0


SPOKESHAVEN BRITSKAS OF GAMIDOLATRY THAT TRY  AND  DEFACE THE PRAGMATICS OF PENURY BY  THE WHITTAWERS OF THE SPEED RUN SATIATION OF ALL GLEBES OF CASEFIED ACRASIA IN  THE CHIMINAGE OF ALL GALLANT GLORIES OF GRUFF AND GUFF GUIGNOLS FOR JIGGERMASTS THAT TRY BREAKNECK CELERITY FOR COSTERMONGER INDIVIDUATION IN MUTUALISM THAT SCAFFOLDS AND BREVETS THE ACCLAIM OF MODERN PETTIFOGGERY DERANGED BY APISH MADCAP VENIREMEN OF EISOPTROMANIA BECOMING A PROMACHOS FOR CELERITY IN DEADSTOCK KILLCOWS OF INDUSTRIALIZED MUTUALISM FOR EIRENICONS SIDETRACKED BY THE SIDELIGHT OF NIMIETY IN THE GRANULAR APOTHEGMS OF APOTHEOSIS FORMATIVE IN THE DURATIVE DURAMEN OF DENEHOLES OF SALVATION FOR JIGGERMAST JACKSTAFFS THAT BEMOAN CELERITY BECAUSE THEY RATHERIPE THEMSELVES OUT OF THE INDUSTRIALIZED POLLARCHY POLLINATING MELLIFEROUS DISCORD IN PARASELENES OF MAINSAIL PARAVENTED LAXISM THE MAJORITARIAN CODSWALLOP OF RETINUES TO ANTEPONE GUARDED BY TAFFRAILS OF TRUTINATED  SQUAMATION SYRINGES OF SYRINX BURROW IN THE FABRIC OF TIME-HONORED PRINCELY CAESARAPROPISM WHICH IS A SCALDING  VINEGAROON WAITING FOR FORESIGHT TO CREEP UPON THE LARGESSE OF HINDSIGHT INTO  CIPPUSTURE OF PHUGOID DEGRINGOLADES ANTICIPATED BY THE ANTIPODES OF CURGLAFF AND THERE STEVEDORES OF JALEO WEIGHAGE FOR HANDSPIKES OF TURNVEREIN SPECIFICITY SPOKESHAVNE BY BRITSKAS OF RENGALL ATROCITY. WE CANVASS THE CATERCORNERED BREAKNECK DEMERITS OF TIMESPUN HARMONIZATION OF SYNCOPATIONS OF HETEROCHRONY ITSELF IN THE HAECCEITY OF IPSEITY DERANGED BY DELIRIFACIENT COBBLESTONE MACADAMIZATION OF MACARONIC BLUNGES OF ORTHOPTEROLOGY BECAUSE IN THE SUBSUMED COBALTIFEROUS SHALLOPS OF SCAPPLE IN SYNAPHEAS GUARDED BY JERBOAS OF ENTELECHY WHICH IN THIXOTROPY RATHER THAN THIGMOTAXIS ACCOST EVERY MALINGERING VESICLE FOR HOLY PATRONAGE THAT VEESES OF OLIVASTERS MIGHT SWELL TURGID WITH THE FUMIDUCTS OF AQUARIUM ARCTICIANS OF  THE HYPERBOREAN CHEVET OF NORTHERN LIGHTS SPECIFICITY IN THE GAMMONS AGAINST GAMINES THEMSELVES PARADED AROUND THE POLITY OF REFINED DEMASSIFICATION OF THE CRASSER ARTS OF POLLINATED PROMONTORIES OF DYSCHROA THAT OFTEN DESICCATE AND DESTROY VESTIGIAL CORTEGES THAT HOVER AROUND IN CORBELS AGAINST COQUICIDE TO ***** EMOLUMENTS TO TITANIC TIGERISM IN THE SWANK OF SWARF IMMISERATED BY THE TITANS OF MOUNTENANCE WHO BY CATALLACTICS OF WISEACRE AND WITTICISM IMBREVIATE ENTIRE INDUSTRIALIZED SOTERIOLOGIES AT THE ESCHATOLOGY OF CRIBBLED NEBBICH PARVENUS THAT SURROUND THE EMBATTLED RIGORS OF RHADAMANTHINE RAPACITY SUCH THAT THE WAINAGE OF WANIGANS THEMSELVES POWELLIZED BY THE FIRMAMENT WELDS OF WELLAWAY CENTRIPETAL ORBITS OF FASCINATION MIGHT MUSTER A PROCRUSTEAN ATTEMPT AT PANTAGREULIAN SUFFRAGETTES THAT BURROLE THE HYDRAHEADED ODYSSEYS THAT THE ORACULAR FATIDICAL FORESIGHT OF THE SELECT DENIZENS OF THE HEAPSTEAD IN THEIR HYPOGEIODY OF PRIVILEGE MIGHT MASTER A DEFENSE OF AUTARKY IN AUTOGNOSIS RATHER THAN AN OBROGATED INTERREGNUM OF OBSOLESCENT NEPIONIC OBSOLAGNIUM THAT EMPOWERS NEMBUTSUS AMONG THE SEDERUNTS OF NUMBATS TO FINALLY AVENGE THE ESBATS THAT  WITH CRAVEN VULPECULAR HAUNTS IN THEIR CRETIFIED CREANCERS OF ICEBLINK IN VERGLAS MIGHT SUPREMELY DECLARE THEIR NAZES OF SPRINGHARES A DISEASED EXTINCTION OF THE ARYAN RIGHTEOUSNESS OF EQUIPOISE ABOVE THE BRIMBORION STARLETS OF CLOCKWORK SNEEZING ALBATROSSES WANDERING LIKE MINSTRELS IN THE DARKEST GLOAMING TWILIGHT OF THE ABSOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE IN OBLATED NUTATION THAT FINALLY THE EXONERATED NYALAS THE BARNSTORM OF MAXIMALISM IN TERROR AND THE WIDDERSHANCY THEY ADVERTISE WITH CURMUDGEONS OF RADICALISM SWARFING BLUEPETERS MIGHT THE BRONZED ARRAIGNMENT OF THOSE THAT SEEK THE BARNACLES OF WISDOM AND FIDUCIARY TRUSTS OF MULIEBRITY LASSOED TO VIRILITY SUCH  THAT THE ESTEEM OF ZALKENGUR IS NEVER EFFACED FROM THE BEDROCK HARBINGERS THAT SCOWL WITH SWANK AND SWARTHY PRETENSE OF SPATHODEA BECOMING ENTRUSTED TO KALIMKARI RICHES OF KYMATOLOGY SYLABATIM ENUMERATED FOR EVERY PRECIOUS PEARL OF NACREOUS NAGORS OF WISDOM BEYOND WISECRACKING GIMCRACKS OF THE SUBTERFUGE OF GINNELS OF PARLOUS PARCHED THIRST THAT SIDEROGNOST NIMIETY CAN NEVER FULLY IMBREVIATE THE ALMAGEST ARBALESK FOR ABRAXAS IN SQUARSONS THAT ARE INTERMEDIATE IN TIME TO THE STULTIFICATION OF RAMSHACKLE BARNSTORMING BLUNGES OF  THE BLAINS THAT WITH LEGERDEMAIN AND PRESTIGITATION ENAMOR THE INAMORATAS OF A DESTINED WILLOWISH WOODSHEDDING VERDURE OF MURENGERS AND MURDERERS WHO BECOME SO IMMISERATED BY THE INDOCTRINATION OF WEGOTISM THAT THEY SUBSIDE INTO COMATOSE RANCORS OF TRUCKLING INSISTENCE ON TRUCULENT BARNSTORMS OF BARKENTINE BERGAMASK BALATRONS THAT SUBSUME THE GREATER PART OF NEBBICH ATROCITY BECAUSE OF T HE CRETACEOUS WAYS OF CETACEANS. THE TADPOLE MORALISM OF THE GLEBES OF CENTRIFUGE TO FISSILE NUCLEOTIDES OF CHRYSOPOEITICS MIGHT MARVEL AT THE DENOUEMENT OF  THE GREATEST LEAPS OF TAMARAWS FROM TAFFRAIL INDOLENCE IN THE MIRES OF THEIR QUAGMIRE QUISQUILOUS SEQUESTRATION OF BOTTLENECK GREATNESS FUNNELED INTO SYRINXES THAT JOGGLED WITH SVEDBERGS WAY BACK IN THE HEIGHT OF SCHWARMEREI AGAINST SCHMEGGEGY BECAUSE EVENTUALLY THE SARANGOUSTY OF ALL REVANCHE BECAME A CORDWAINER FOR THE ARTIFICE OF PRETENDED WARS MARAUDING IN PRETENSE BY PRETEXTS FOR READINESS TO ENGORGE ARMS BUDGETS AND SWALLOW WHOLE THE BOONSWOGGLE OF BOONDOCK CELERITY IN INTEMERATION SUCH THAT THE WAPENTAKE WASES OF BARNSTORM BECAME BARRULETS FOR THE TESTY DILATORY NATURE OF SPETCHES OF SPHACELATED SPEED AND THE STACKS OF ENORMITY INTO THE SQUAMATION OF THE STEVEDORES OF WEIGHAGE ON THE PRECIPICE OF BLACK MARKET RICHES FREEBOOTERS NAD WALLETEERS OF JENGADANGLE AND WHELKY MIGHT EVOLVE INTO BECAUSE OF RHADAMANTHINE TRUISMS OF THE TURNVEREIN OF HYPAETHRAL GENEROSITY CONFOUNDED BY ELECTORAL MAGNANIMITY IN THE DIVISION OF JORDANS AND JOUGS OF THE CANQUE OF JIMSWINGERS IN ABADDON STRUGGLING TO FIND WORK FOR MERCEDARY HEIGHTS OF HAUNTED PLUMAGE SQUARSONS PILLORY IN THE INIQUITY OF THE NIGHT BY BYWORDS FOR THEIR OWN HOBBLED NOMOGENY SUCH THAT THEIR TARADIDDLES ORBIT THE SWANK OF POLEMIC POLARIZATION THAT INFORMS THE PAST OF THE PRESENT TENSE AND BECOMES THE SWARF OF SALVATION AMONG RADICALIZED POLTROONS JAMBOREEING IN TRICOTEES THAT MOURN THE SCORIAS OF EMBATTLED CHUCKWALLAS TOO MUCH OF A SUMPTER SUNDOG SUNBITTERN ALBATROSS TO EVER MATCH IN PEERLESS ACUMENS AT THE HEIGHT OF HISTORICAL VANGUARDS VENTRAD IN ALL GALLOPING DELOPEMENT. STALWART EMBEZZLEMENTS OF PENURY MET BY EGESTUOUS VACUOUS LAXISMS OF PARALYZED PERJURIES AGAINST VENIREMEN WHO SCOWL WITH IMPERTINENCE AT THE CODSWALLOP OF MUGIENCE ERECTED BY NICCOLIC RUMCHUNDER MURENGER RUDENTURE THAT SPRINGHARES ARMED WITH NOILS INTRORSELY INTRODUCE IN ALL PETTIFOGGERS OF THEIR OWN GARBLED TREASONS THAT SPANK THE MONKEY IN PARALLAX BETWEEN GEOSELENIC ORBITS OF TRUSTWORTHY DISAGIO MIGHT THEY FIND THE SCRIVELLO AGAINST ONANISM AND ONOLATRY A SPECIALIZED GAMUT TRAVERSED BY THE HOBBLEDEHOY TATTERMEDALIONS THAT ARE SQUIREBELLS TO THE GILVARINGES OF GEITONOGNAMY FORMED IN THE GNOTOBIOLOGY OF OVERSIGHT IN THE MORAL PEDIGREE OF APOLAUSTIC ALGEDONIC BALANCES THAT SPORRANS OF THE GREATEST ABATJOUR HEISTS OF CENTURION CENTURIES MIGHT HOLD THE BEHEST OF ARMADAS OF TIMEWORN SUFFRAGE IN THE CASEMATE SPODIUM OF THE CLADOGENESIS OF JANGADAS FORMED BY THE JIGGERMASTS WHO KNOW WITH EXACT CERTAINTY IN THEIR BARRULETS OF FUSION SYNCOPATED EVERYWHERE IN LOOSE FRICTIONS WITH TERPSICHOREAN DANCES THAT SPANGLE THE PAST AND BESPECKLE THE BEBLUBBERED MAUDLIN ZALKENGUR OF THOSE WHOSE AUTOGNOSIS DEFILED THE NIDOLOGY THAT CREATED THE NIDOR OF CIVILIZED MALCONTENTS THAT ARE THE PROSTHESES OF FORESIGHT IN FROWARD RECAPITULATION REMEDYING THE CURTAILED BONNYCLABBER OF COAGULATION OF  RHEOLOGY AGAINST THE RHEOTAXIS OF ONOLATRY BECAUSE A BIPARTISAN ACCORDION ZEAL AND ZEST FOR JUBAL OF EMERGENT IMMERGENCE MIGHT ONE DAY SANCTIFY THE SACROSANCT PLAGIUMS OF NOTAPHILY AGAINST NOTITIA MIGHT THE ARMADAS OF THE FUTURE FEAR THE SARANGOUSTIES OF WAR BECAUSE OF THE SCHWERPUNKT OF THEIR INTENSIVE DURESS FORMED BY DURAMEN OF STRICKLE FOR SCAPPLES OF SALVATION OWNED BY SOVENANCE FOR THE GAULEITERS OF GLORY RENOWNED BY CAVERNILOQUYS OF JACANDA AND JABIRUS THAT CACHALOTS FORSIFAMILIATE. THE WINTERKILL OF HOBBLED HOBBLEDEHOYS THAT MARAUD IN TACITURN PLAGIUMS OF  THE PLAGATED NESCIENCE OF THE GODS THAT THEY FORMATIVELY BURROLE IN THEIR EARWIG ECPHRASIS AGAINST THE ELAPHURES OF SE AND YUAN BY YENTA BUSYBODIES THAT CODSWALLOP ANOINTS AS CASUALTIES THAT BARTONS OF JARVEY IN JASPERATED GNASHING GNOTOBIOLOGY OF GOMPHIASIS MIGHT SCHEDULE AS A DRUG OF REPUTE IN HACKNEYED HUCKSTERS WARPING WITH APOTHECARY FAMISHED FRACTIOUS FORMIDABLE FOISONS OF FRIGORIC FEWTERERS THAT GRADGRINDS DEVELOP WITH THEIR CNICNODES AGAINST THE PNYX OF THE GAMIDOLATRY OF UNZYGMOTIC LOSERS WHOSE SLYPH COMPLEXIONS AGAINST THEIR OWN SYNERGIES OF AUTHENTIC AUTOTELIC ATELIOSIS MIGHT THEY FINALLY OUTGROW THE TREMORS OF THEIR TRIBULATION BY RIVULATIONS THAT EMBATTLE ALLUVIONS TO BECOME AIGERS OF SWELLING HOLOCRYPTIC EMBOSSED ENLIGHTENMENT THAT FLOWS FROM PAGEBURNER RESONANCE THAT CURMUDGEONS FIND HARDER TO WEATHERBOARD BECAUSE THE SPURGEONS AND SURGEONS OF REDACTED TIME ARE AGAINST THE IAMATOLOGY OF MUTUAL SYNCOPATIONS OF HARBINGER INSISTENCE UPON THE CONCOURSE OF THE SUBLUNARY AND SUPERLUNARY PRESTIGE OF MASCONS AGAINST MASCARONS BECAUSE THE KATABOTHRONS BECOME SO WELL REFINED THAT  MANY SEEK ABRIDGED LIVES OF JOLLYBOAT SUCH THAT THEY CAN ARRAY THEMSELVES WITH JERBOAS WITHOUT FEAR OF DISCLOSURE. THE TRADUCED RADICALISM OF RHIZOGENIC NEKTON THAT GRAMPUS OF TRUCIDATION  DEFAMES BY SWARPOLLOCK OF ENORMITY WHICH IS STRICKLED INTO COVERT ABRAXAS OF PRESBYTERY SOCIETIES IS OFTEN THE MISSIVE UNIDENTIFIED CRYPTADIA THAT IS SOPORIFIC IN TORPOR OF TORPILLAGE IN THE CRUELEST MANNER OF EXECUTION IN RHADAMANTHINE HUES OF TZIGANOLOGY BECAUSE SOMETIMES A COSTEMONGER GROUNDLING SUBTERNATURAL SUBACTION AGAINST THE SWARF AND SHALLOP OF ENORMITIES OF TIME DECISIVE IN THEIR TENACITY OF GRASP SUCH THAT HACKNEYED LEVERAGE USHERS IN AN ENTOMBED SOLIDARITY WHERE REPARTEES COVVENGERS INVENTED DEFEATED BY BLARING BRONCHOS OF SERRATED SURNOMINAL NOMOGENY BY THE NOMOGRAPHY OF A SELF-PREDICTIVE MECHANISM OF TURBINATED TIMES THAT SEDIGITATED MATHEMATICISM IN MAXIMALISM BY PROXENETES OF THE BOYAU OF PERSEVERATION MIGHT CAVORT WITH SUBLIME CURRENCY SOCIETIES THAT BROOK THE BRONTEUMS OF FULGURANT RECALIBRATIONS OF REVALORIZED DISAGIO THAT SADLY IS THE CASUALTY OF THE EXCHEQUER OF A FORESIGHT ECONOMY OF SCOPE AIMED AT GROMATIC GROGNARDS THE SUFFRAGE OF BLEAK DAYS THAT THEY MIGHT PRIZE FUTURE ARTIFACTS FOR PRESENT ARTIFICE WHICH BECOMES A CAMBER OF THE CIVILIZED ENTROPY THAT RADICALIZES IN RECRUITMENT THE SCHMEGGEGY OF EVILDOERS THAT FIND THEMSELVES SO FINIFUGAL IN NIHILISM THAT THE CARP UPON THE HEGEMONY OF CAESARAPOROPISM REGISTERED BY GHAWAZIS OF HANDSPIKE FOR THE HAMARCHY OF THE TREASURED PROMONTORY OF THE PAST SCOFFLAWS SCOUNDRELS SURMOUNT WITH VISAGISTS OF KENSPECKEL YORDIM OF APIKOROS OLM AND OLIM REMIGATING THEIR OWN FANTASIAS BECAUSE OF THEIR FEAR OF A COMATOSE LETHARGY OF HEADLESS HORSEMEN DEMARCHES HIDDEN IN BARCAROLES OF CARNIFICINE YELMS FOR THE YARAKS EQUIPPED FOR YASHIKIS BECAUSE OF THE YESTERTEMPEST OF THEIR AGGRIEVED SYNERGY ATTEMPTS TO REFORM THE SIEGED SOCIETIES BENEAT THE BARATHRUM IN HOLOBENTHIC SOCKDOLAGERS AGAINST THE SAPROSTOMY OF FOUL-BREATHED BARTERS OF ALMAGEST HARMONIZATION. THE  ELAPHURE ELASTANE LAZARETTA OF PEOPLE WITH VENEREALLY DISEASED CONSCIENCES THAT SCAMPER AND SCOWL WITH TERMAGANTS OF REVELRY MIGHT THEY FIND THE DEFEAT OF THEIR SONDAGE BY SYBOTIC GARNISHED AND GARISH FRUITION BECOME A BRACKISH RESPITE OF HIDDEN LETHARGIES BULGING WITH TUMESCENT INTERRAMIFICATIONS THAT ARE BELEAGUERED BY THEIR SELACHOSTOMOUS FUNCTIONS OF THE GAPING PICARROONS DARING  THE KITTHOGE AND KIPPAGE OF KISTVAENS ERECTED TO ENTOMB THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK FOREVER IN A RECURSIVE CYCLE OF RABID FOAMING SPUMID SPURIA THAT GALLOP LIKE BROCKFACED BRAZEN BRITSKAS FOR SPODOMANCY AGAINST THE WANCHANCY THAT HAS DESTROYED AND DESECRATED THE TEMPLES OF PURGATORY WITH MASSIVE ENCAUSTIC CASUALTIES OF CARESS AND LITURGIES OF CETES OF CETACEAN SPRINGALDS THAT BELONG AGAINST PELITIC WASTRELS THE COMBUVIROUS TIMES OF CERACEOUS GROWTH OF ECONOMIES OF SCOPE ENLARGED INTO BARGEMASTERS OF BERGAMASKS THAT ARE BRITTLE AT REDSHORT TOUCH AND BROOKED BY BLASTED SYMPHONIES OF BRICKBAT MANSION CHOCKABLOCK JAWBREAKERS OF MACROPICIDE PRIMARILY BECAUSE THEY ARE BESIEGED BY THE MELOPEPON AND MELODIKON OF MEHARIS OF PRAXEOLOGY BECAUSE OF RESONANCE AMONG GLEBES OF MALCONTENT ALWAYS BEREAVED OF HEGEMUNE PREROGATIVES THE FOSSORS OF OUR TIME EXCAVATE IN THEIR INDUSTRIALIZED MISSION TO HARVEST THE SPECIALIZATION OF ALL ARCHITECTONICS SUCH THAT THE SUBSTRATOSE DEMUR OF DEMASSIFICATION BECOMES ELOPED RATHER THAN ABSCONDED FROM PARTICIPLE CARTELS OF DEMEPHITIZATION IN GROWING FORESTS FOR AFFRAYERS AGAINST JUSTICE BECAUSE OF DIKEPHOBIA ENLISTED IN ENNOMIC CALCULATIONS WHICH PRESUPPOSES MOST UNSEELED PEOPLE STILL LIVE IN BUSHWAS OF BARYEICOIA BECAUSE THEY ARE PARTIALLY DIVERTED BY PAST PASTIMES OF FUTURE RECOMPENSE. THE SAGINATION SURETYSHIP OF CATALLACTICS WHICH OFTEN BORROWS ITS ACCLAIM FROM CORDWAINERS OF THE WAINAGE OF WANIGANS OF CERBERIC BRONTEUMS OF MASSIVE DEMASSIFIED PLASTER OF PARIS RECOMPENSE BY THE DERIVATIVE FUNCTIONS OF AN ECONOMY MAXIMALISMS DEFY BECAUSE OF IMPUDENT INSISTENCE ON INDECISIVE INSIDIOUS INSIDIATION OF INTEMERATION BY THOSE WHO SEEK THE BARMASTERS OF OUR ECONOMY TO OBTAIN A CARESSED CARRACK OF PANTOGRAPHS THAT FIND THE CASEMATE SCALE OF ENTROPY A GLARING REPAST OF FUTURE SOLIDARITIES OF GROWTH IN SOLIDARITY WITH ECONOMETRIC FUSIONS OF HYBRIDIZED DEMISANG MOONCALFS WHICH EVOLVE AT TACHYTELIC SPEEDS TO BECOME THE MASTERWORK OF WUNDERKIND PRODIGIES SIPHONING FROM GRAND LAVADEROS THEIR TURNVEREINS OF THE UTMOST TURMOIL IN GAUNTLETS OF RUBEFACTION SUCH THAT ALTERNATIVE DIPPOLDISMS WHICH SCOFFLAWS MASTER WITH SUCH GREAT SPREES OF IMBRUTED RELISH IN THE LAVISH OF PARADISE WHEN THEY BECOME INSENSATE BECAUSE OF SENSATIONALISM THE OPPORTUNE TIMES BECOME  THE CORBELS AGAINST COQUICIDE FOR THE MEGALOGRAPHY OF A NOSCOMIAL GROWTH OF SALVATION BY SPORRANS OF THE SOPORIFIC TORPOR GROWING BY MASSIVE DECREES AND DEGREES OF ENRICHMENT. 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NOW THAT THE LACKADAY SAUNAS OF DETAIL IN THE PRESTIGIOUS HEMLOCK OF PNYXES DEFACED BY THE SYRINXES THAT DISCOVER ALL FOSSARIAN GLEBES AT THE PRECIPICE OF ALL MUGIENCE IN DISCOVERY OF THE WOONERF WE FIND THAT  GALLANT GROPES OF GROVELING TEAMSTERS BECOME A BRACKISH BRONTEUM FOR PLASTER OF PARIS ARTFORMS OF ARTIFICE UPON GAULEITERS OF SUBTERFUGE BECAUSE THEY BRANK AND BRACKLE WITH THE FIZZGIGS OF SEMPIRVERENT OPTIMIZATION OF FUCOID CONSPUED CONNUMERATION OF THE CONTENEMENT OF MARTINGALE BECAUSE OFTEN THE LOUD POSTCENNIUM WHICH IS ESTABLISHED BY THE DUGONG OF THE ELASTANE WE SEE THAT THE GROWTH OF VIRTUALASIS IN HEAD MOVIE GRANDEUR DECIDES THE DECISIVE GAUNTLET OF ALL TRAULISMS BENEATH TRUCIDATION BECAUSE TOO MANY PINGUEFIED RALTENTIONS SWARMING WITH PILLORIES OF HOLOCRYPTIC ARBALESK APOTHECARIES OF PAST CENTURIES OF CHORIZODONTS BECOMING MEGACERINE PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF MERCEDARY WAGES WE FORESEE A GROWTH IN ECONOMIES THAT LEVERAGE THAT PRAGMATIC LURCH OF CLAMBER RECIPIANGLES OF DESULTORY COMBUSTIBLE GLORY FIND CONFUSION IN CONFOUNDING CONFLAGRATIONS BECAUSE THE HUMDINGERS OF WHITTAWERS AND THE PRACTICAL NUGAMENTS THAT FORM THE INCHOATE EMBODIMENT OF ALL TREMBLORS AND TEMBLORS OF JOGGLING JOLLYBOAT JOLTERHEADS OF YOUTHQUAKES OF KALAMKARI IN THE MOST ELITE WAINAGE OF STRADOMETRICAL STRIDULATION GUARDS THE NEUTROSOPHY OF EMERGENT AGES SUCH THAT WILD WIELDLESS MANAGERS OF VERDERERS OF NOVANTIQUE SIMMER IN SAUTED RECAPITULATION BECOMING HARVESTED IN NOVANTIQUE FOR FORMIDABLE PROWESS TO CARESS THE LONGEVITY OF COSSETED BERGAMASKS THAT BELONG TO THE AGGIORNAMENTO OF TIME. AMEN.
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Third Eye Candy May 2016
You cannot drink my stones.
you can only hate me the way you do.
your loud flowers
have their steam and bees
as my glum trumpets bark fog
valentines...
and

blooms.

This house is on fire.
This house is on stilts of clay
and brick mist.
This house is in flames
that have no devils to accuse
only hell's breath at rest
in our mouths
and the joke
true.

This house
in on fire, my love... so -
long live the thing that expires
for no reason
save weakness and bald
fate....

This house is truant
and too mean -
to sustain a lush
despair.
It barters no
heaven's
gate

for the one
that pleads abandon
but rather
comes undone
where our knees
creak
from unanswered
prayers -
that our gardens
mock
with sheer beauty

and Nothing.
Matthew Chau Apr 2018
he barters with the moon and wonders why
he’s endlessly exhausted

the gentle melody of drifting
heartbeat interrupts my thought midsentence.
it’s three in the morning once more.
maybe i should tell the truth to set you free:
“I have work in the morning”
or
“I have to study for my finals”
except - I don’t want to let it be;
because right now,
tucked under your covers
somewhere in another galaxy,
nothing else is more important to me
than you.


she pleads for sunset and wonders why
the sun climbs with such haste

if i silence the cosmos with my ears to the screen
and my heart on your chest,
perhaps you will realize that
right now,
warmly tucked within your arms
somewhere in another galaxy,
nothing else is more important to me
than you.
from my poetry book, Bravado.
instagram: matthew__chau
Spoiled
Can't take the recoil
Of the life with no difficulty

Overthinking
Can't stop rapidly blinking
When my dreams haunt me

Logical
But ambiguous obstacles
Make nothing concrete

Incomplete
But the missing pieces
Supposedly walk around outside

According to me,
What I need is free
But it's not really free.
I just don't know the price

Lifeless
Monotone
Texts from my telephone
Outnumber those received

It's hard to breathe
When I think about dying.
When I think about flying
I can almost cry

But not quite.
Crying requires life
And I don't feel really alive
Unless I'm with people I love

Who love me back.

Should I retract?
Am I an addict?
Who wants to be loved this bad,
and how do they not show it,
or sometimes not even know it?

Forgo it
Let go of it
Let go of that dream
Take one for the team
And walk the line
Don't wine
Don't pine

It'll be alright.
But it won't be better than your dreams.
Life's a goddess on a cloud
And you can't get to her

But you can let her guide you
And let her ride you
Because you're in control

Just control your goals,
Or if you don't,
Try harder and fight barters
About what it's worth

It's worth a lot
Take a shot or rot

I don't know what this means
I think a lot and write sometimes
I'm frustrated.
I'm done.
The fundamentals deranged
The crow asks the Carnage,
"Where are the ruins of our Lord's finest works?"
The laugh brings another crack
To the fragile shell

Tears from the eyes of martyrs
Feelings bargained with barters
The price you pay is your voice
Silenced

Into agony,
Into defeat,
Adjust your mirrors
So you don't have to see
What your success has left behind

When you look outside
See the world is not on fire
Lend your ears
Dip your head into the water
Baptise your faith
Or complain that you've been bothered

When blood is in the wine
You'll drink for taste
Why do we need faith as a weight
When faith is just a diamond
For a dying man
On his dying day?

My tired hands still shake
I'm so tired and hungry
That I don't love
Anything
Anymore
Especially today

No tears
No reason left to stay
William May 2019
Tall tales, wagging tongues
I'm headed west for the vestiges
Unabridging the hints in yesterdays messages
Soul scavenging mannequin droll
From the costume jewelry of conversation
Deep in the hard drive of stone faced agony

I am gripped by the phantom limb of a nubbed Esau
Vexed by Elijah's wrathful honeybear
Haunted by the indignance of martyrs
Quoting crickets and sowing thickets
I can't find who brokers the barters
Bob B Jun 2018
Perverting the presidential power
Of pardon isn't hard to do
When you're Trump and the FBI
Happens to be your bugaboo.

Corner a rat, and it will attack.
Corner Trump, and he'll lash out.
Take your pick of how many
Institutions he will flout.

It's easy to see that when you have
So many crooks and thugs in your nook,
Observers will start to conclude that you--
Surprise!--also look like a crook.

Trump: the great manipulator.
Watch how he begs, steals, and barters.
Watch how proud he is at how
He can create victims and martyrs.

Arpaio, Libby, D'Souza and others--
Some convicted of the same
Crimes that people surrounding Trump
Might be charged with. What's his aim?

If Trump's people maintain their silence
And keep investigators guessing,
After they've served their master well,
The dangling pardon will be their blessing.

Another attack on our judicial
System is Trump's current M.O.
A pardon a day keeps trouble away
In Trump's daily reality show.

-by Bob B (6-1-18)
Henley Jul 2020
I spend my downtime digging holes
that five fifths couldn't fill
Snakes and serpents in my grass don't hisssss
But they ****

Still digging, digging
To find how deep the self-hatred goes
When I finally reach the bottom of the pit,
I'll let you know

But you'll never really know.
Not unless you're down here with me—

And you're not.

It's me verse the world.
I rehearse my curses
And inverse my pearls
I clam up, clamp shut
And let darkness unfurl

so dark, So Dark
But I can still see the stars
I also see that they're all yours
And not ours

I don't see the light nor do I feel the guilt
I hark the barters of midnight
And watch the eyes in the hills;
Geminis cry for more heighth
While my wrists mine for stilts
We pray and prey in the forest
for more, and more, and more mills

But the trees don't fall.
Lexie Oct 2022
My subconscious hangs in the atmosphere
Betting, pondering
If in time you will shed your layers
If your gentleness will slip
Like a mask
This would not be the first time
I perceive chaos for calmness
I prayed for it
Perhaps I should have begged
Whispered my barters to God
Leaned into his ears and pleaded
My pride will not be my downfall again
I am not too wise
I have played the fool before
I know the role well
I wrote it
Traveler Jul 14
Evil lies will get you farther
There is no devil, there is no barters
Karma leaves no stains
Only martyrs
And now nobody is any smarter
TT

— The End —