Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Elizabeth Kelly Sep 2021
My words don’t have arms big enough to hold these great and growing feelings.
They stay in my insides
Crowding out
Grinding down the subtleties
That reside near the edges in the used to be,
that cushiony soft berm.

It was comfortable in here once

The Room for Interpretation,

now lost,
now over-full,
balloon-bright and tumbling one voice and many into and out of supremacy.

These great and growing feelings
and my insufficient words
that fall from me one-by-one into place,
the thudding truth in basic blue.
Kevin Feb 2017
i hear your screams
and unsung songs
above the flying tide
and in the foam
frothing free
you'll feel my earthly touch

dont push away
from the shore
with hands of grassy sand
reach out to me
with shades of blue
and striping dissonance

and when they mix
to form anew
place alone in time
you'll wonder where
the colors went and
how we learned to fly
spysgrandson Oct 2012
I challenged him
burly ******* captain
stubbled beard as coarse as sandpaper
standing there in muggy dusk
arms akimbo,
mama san starched uniform stained with swagger and sweat

two silver captain's bars ******* any of my brilliance or bravado
all he had to do was speaketh the words
“need those maps, head out at 2230 hours”
and that was a death sentence
which was commuted to life
if four decades since has been life

there are not words for the black
of moonless jungle
except nothingness and paralytic fear
and through that lightless, lifeless, abyssness
I crawled, crouched and crept along
sometimes as slowly as the minute hand on my watch

the silence, the silence, the silence
became my splintered cross
to carry to my place of crucifixion
at my Calvary Hill behind barbed wire, blue lead barrels and
fearful eyes

silence, silence, silence, black wordlessness
black soundlessness
punctuated by shallow precious breaths
and imagined slant-eyed demons
waiting behind each berm
to turn the timeless night into timelessness
of more black

should I chamber a round?
and follow its solitary sound
into the silent holy night
and shatter my own fragile fright?
would that end this knowing without knowing?
and answer the question,
“is this fear worse than the answer?”
since questions have answers but answers have nothing
the nothing of which I was sure I would become a part
in the silence, the silence, the silence
of the black canopied jungle
in Tay Ninh Province
in 1967

where I was sentenced to death but allowed to live
in silent, black wordlessness
sentenced to live
to wonder, after all these years of shivering fright and flickering light
did the captain become a human?
And was I really allowed to live?
This is inspired by, dedicated to, and based on the experiences of one of my closest friends, R S, one of my few brothers in arms. It is a true story of a life altering event. One of my experiences is woven into the poem as well. My friend had challenged the judgment of a captain who was likely incompetent. As retaliation, the captain sent my friend on a bogus mission, one alone through the jungle at night, and one that would probably lead to his death. The part relating to my experience is in the 6th stanza and describes my feelings/terror when I was afraid to chamber a round, thinking the enemy was so close he could hear me.
Nat Lipstadt May 2017
~

who knows the definition of a poet?
~
for my friend, S.Y,
who I will embrace with both hands,
both eyes, when he hands me a signed copy of a book
that answers the question


weighty subjects deserve your best work,
expressions of affection and introspection,
need careful reflection, a proper set up for the
tumult inevitable when delving in the unopened recesses
where the answers kept

so, of course, the writing commences well after 1:00am,
when the darkness of night clarifies the process,
for I work by day but live by night,
when summoning up my one tool no one can take away,
the joy, the relief, the spectacular exultation  of
rearranging the aleph bet in new ways,
when the quietude of reflection transports me
across the continents in visions of what will be

I don't know if I know the answer, perhaps, any answers,
but when this man demands
the ebb tides of soul to depart,
to make him stand alone on the shore of endings,
forcing  him to acknowledge his reckonings,
lonely, only humanity and frailties

I hear a voice gruff growling and me laughing-
"cut to the chase, make your point, get out of people’s way"

so in your honor, this simp fool who asks questions
no human has any business, the answers knowing,
will one last stanza grant and give and
yours to keep,
and commence countdown waiting for that day of welcoming

from the underground comes a chorus of voices,
in one voice but many languages, chanting:


all humans are poets
who acknowledge and freely confess that the
blood and stuff, the kisses and the touches of family and friends,
parent and child,
are the ***** and the egg,
the beginning and the circulation of the never ending,
the open entrance that penetrates the berm surrounding real life,
all these are the root and the stem and the blossoming,
of poetry writ large, for they who have these in their possess,
are surely by definition certainly

humans, poets


~
5/14/17 2:05am
all poets are human,
all humans are poems
Happy Birthday Steve!
LD Goodwin Feb 2013
I quickly pulled over on a dusty berm
like there was a local fruit stand there,
or someone selling tacos out of the back of their truck.

It was a Lamar, Colorado sunset.
Atomic Tangerine to Tea Rose to Vermilion.
Colors that spiked the emptiness in my soul.
Its voices praising the joining of Earth and Sky.
The ghosts of 10,000,000 Mother Earth Souls chanting in the evening wind.
Ancient drum circles in my head,
as the, even more ancient, Father Sun sets.

What were they trying to tell me, these chants?
It is as if they spoke of loneliness that had yet to come.
Inevitable loneliness that would engulf my every sense,
rearrange my life.
But even if I had the ears to hear their prophecy,
I couldn't change the events Mother Earth and Father Sun
had already set into motion.

I wept as the Sun melted out of sight,  

Not many Tennessee sunsets later
she left, and was out of my life,
never to return.
Harrogate, TN  2013
Brian Oarr Feb 2012
She's manifested today like a ghost
appearing from a haunted house.
Desertion is that inhabited manor
from which the voices in her head
urge her into exile, urge her phantom existence.
Sitting upon the berm overlooking
the beach and lighthouse of Coos Bay,
she wishes she could ride the setting
Pacific sun to New Guinea or beyond.
Below five athletic young women
contest the physics of a soccer ball,
imagining the red-white lighthouse a goal.
In other times she'd ask to join them,
but she must lose her personal history now,
remain hidden in plain sight.
The loneliness of this subsistence
a charnel house blackening her heart.
She's Amelia Earhart about to crash
the Yukon's heartbroken cry.
This poem is written for Anna Kanopka, who spent 10 years in exile hiding out in the Yukon Territory from the US Coast Guard.
Seán Mac Falls Feb 2015
.
In disused field is a blooming temple.
An ancient apple tree waiting eternal,
This stone bold sculpture was forged
With nimbus hands and windy eyes.
In hushed airs, Shiva dances to light,
Waves, sacred arms without swaying.

Bearded ones come to pay homage,
The solemn chickadees, the ranging
Sparrows, red robed robins— priestly                                                         ­   
Doves, all who see are one enveloped
In graces of the New World Bodhi tree,
Waiting for blossoms so dearly come.

Edge of boughs brim under heavens
Landing with mystic verges of spirit
Into the mind of the eyes of nature—
Kali-flowered ears of lichen are pale
Green in their devotions, pummeled
By seas of seasons, foggy to the fray.

Finches, yellow, reflecting in a star,
Devout wee lamas golden with halo,
Are kneeling above berm, this nobby
Trunk, stave, inside bodacious stupa
Bell who sings clear, without ringing,
Body of elder grace, wisdoms, ages.

In cast irreverence, seldom do crows
Visit, when they do there is menace
Of the Jinn, dark giants in the levels,
Mercifully, out of shame, they do not
Stay, black wings due, die in luminous
Day moon, rain soak sun, balmy mist.

On pilgrim journeys, whirlings, prayer
Wheels, guide shy flocks riding gnarl,
Indie goddess, to overreaching love,
By sores of hollow in the steps, open
To being, brindles of myriad meadow
In temple blossoms— numinous suns.

Of both earth and sky, shines a beauty,
Whose form is written in blistering bark,
The ciphers of tongue to Sanskrit leaves
And lost fruits, given over, unforbiddens,
Within old apple tree a great wilderness
And all the branch of wings are knowing.
JP Goss May 2014
Earthen roads spring alive with berm-gardens,
Thistles, and animals’ connive,
A country road the blows the dust
Off the porch, so that it’s just
Us.
When the time comes
that we arrive to claim the hills over there,
Command honey evenings
I, the colt, you, the mare
Transformed by winds, raw from the pastoral
Over-there,
It gives to us the boundless open dome
Free to graze
Free to roam
Where we shall know finally what it’s like to be home.

The homes, they spring by diving arms
Growing strong and respiring clouds
Of coaly waste
That eat the clarity of austere farms
And every life of put-upon
Denature, contorted as the victim-fawn,
Bloating with guts the hue of oil
Strewn by a semi’, in two drawn
An image that takes some getting used to.

And yet, this is only natural to be one with the aluminum blood
That runs in the veins of pale concrete to its beating heart
A healthy babe born of predation
A community called Animosity,
Where a life affirmed is a life denied
Though it be a bridge ‘cross chasms to prosperity,
Hold it close,
For they are deep and one United States wide.

The entrails rot on the city face, spelling out
“Payment,” on the pavement, the street
Maggots reeking, thriving in carrion
Smiling as they urge me, of course
Carry on,
That all will be well in time.

My beautiful mare turns from the hills
Her eyes now glow cinereal
How wretched she stands my side
Her heart now a mirror for how mine feels:
Drawing on love, the general kind.
Such life of hers
Such of mine
Betoken a passion, in its turn, an ill
Then to two ridges, shorn by pure will,
And still we congeal two passions to fill it
‘Till a fibrillating heart beats the color
Of ****.
Seán Mac Falls Oct 2015
.
In disused field is a blooming temple.
An ancient apple tree waiting eternal,
This stone bold sculpture was forged
With nimbus hands and windy eyes.
In hushed airs, Shiva dances to light,
Waves, sacred arms without swaying.

Bearded ones come to pay homage,
The solemn chickadees, the ranging
Sparrows, red robed robins— priestly
Doves, all who see are one enveloped
In graces of the New World Bodhi tree,
Waiting for blossoms so dearly come.

Edge of boughs brim under heavens
Landing with mystic verges of spirit
Into the mind of the eyes of nature—
Kali-flowered ears of lichen are pale
Green in their devotions, pummeled
By seas of seasons, foggy to the fray.

Finches, yellow, reflecting in a star,
Devout wee lamas golden with halo,
Are kneeling above berm, this nobby
Trunk, stave, inside bodacious stupa
Bell who sings clear, without ringing,
Body of elder grace, wisdoms, ages.

In cast irreverence, seldom do crows
Visit, when they do there is menace
Of the Jinn, dark giants in the levels,
Mercifully, out of shame, they do not
Stay, black wings due, die in luminous
Day moon, rain soak sun, balmy mist.

On pilgrim journeys, whirlings, prayer
Wheels, guide shy flocks riding gnarl,
Indie goddess, to overreaching love,
By sores of hollow in the steps, open
To being, brindles of myriad meadow
In temple blossoms— numinous suns.

Of both earth and sky, shines a beauty,
Whose form is written in blistering bark,
The ciphers of tongue to Sanskrit leaves
And lost fruits, given over, unforbiddens,
Within old apple tree a great wilderness
And all the branch of wings are knowing.
Seán Mac Falls Jul 2015
In disused field is a blooming temple.
An ancient apple tree waits eternal,
This stone bold sculpture was forged
With nimbus hands and windy eyes.
In hushed airs, Shiva dances to light,
Waves, sacred arms without swaying.

Bearded ones come to pay homage,
The solemn chickadees, the ranging
Sparrows, red robed robins— priestly                                                         ­    
Doves, all who see are one enveloped
In graces of the New World Bodhi tree,
Waiting for blossoms so dearly come.

Edge of boughs brim under heavens
Landing with mystic verges of spirit
Into the mind of the eyes of nature—
Kali-flowered ears of lichen are pale
Green in their devotions, pummeled
By seas of seasons, foggy to the fray.

Finches, yellow, reflecting in a star,
Devout wee lamas golden with halo,
Are kneeling above berm, this nobby
Trunk, stave, inside bodacious stupa
Bell who sings clear, without ringing,
Body of elder grace, wisdoms, ages.

In cast irreverence, seldom do crows
Visit, when they do there is menace
Of the Jinn, dark giants in the levels,
Mercifully, out of shame, they do not
Stay, black wings due, die in luminous
Day moon, rain soak sun, balmy mist.

On pilgrim journeys, whirlings, prayer
Wheels, guide shy flocks riding gnarl,
Indie goddess, to overreaching love,
By sores of hollow in the steps, open
To being, brindles of myriad meadow
In temple blossoms— numinous suns.

Of both earth and sky, shines a beauty,
Whose form is written in blistering bark,
The ciphers of tongue to Sanskrit leaves
And lost fruits, given over, unforbiddens,
Within old apple tree a great wilderness
And all the branch of wings are knowing.
hough aiming forward we are losing ground

hearts may be filled with hope but our hard fate

is to be weighed and valued pound by pound

as the remainders of a great estate

the counters' duty it is to collate

what goes to storage and what to the worm

what will be buried to build up the berm

and what parts of the fortune they might keep

those who are watching are the very firm

our place is taken and we have to sleep



so much of what is said is to confound

the ones whose task it is to count and rate

the complete measure within proper bound

they aren't allowed to lie nor to inflate

the tiny parcels into something great

but must agree the winner is the germ

that strikes the mighty hard as they might squirm

and into every corner seems to creep

it's certain victory we can't affirm

our place is taken and we have to sleep



we wanted to astonish and astound

win the reward of gold and silver plate

have banknotes piled up in a giant mound

cart off bright jewels in a well-made crate

these are not the conditions we instate

we find ourselves most rotten and infirm

unable now to generate a therm

nor over lowest bar ever to leap

our weakness any fool now could confirm

our place is taken and we have to sleep



prince you may rule us for a certain term

since none of us has power to reaffirm

just what we were nor what we had to keep

within our power nor underneath each derm

our place is taken and we have to sleep
Seán Mac Falls Dec 2016
.
In disused field is a blooming temple.
An ancient apple tree waiting eternal,
This stone bold sculpture was forged
With nimbus hands and windy eyes.
In hushed airs, Shiva dances to light,
Waves, sacred arms without swaying.

Bearded ones come to pay homage,
The solemn chickadees, the ranging
Sparrows, red robed robins— priestly
Doves, all who see are one enveloped
In graces of the New World Bodhi tree,
Waiting for blossoms so dearly come.

Edge of boughs brim under heavens
Landing with mystic verges of spirit
Into the mind of the eyes of nature—
Kali-flowered ears of lichen are pale
Green in their devotions, pummeled
By seas of seasons, foggy to the fray.

Finches, yellow, reflecting in a star,
Devout wee lamas golden with halo,
Are kneeling above berm, this nobby
Trunk, stave, inside bodacious stupa
Bell who sings clear, without ringing,
Body of elder grace, wisdoms, ages.

In cast irreverence, seldom do crows
Visit, when they do there is menace
Of the Jinn, dark giants in the levels,
Mercifully, out of shame, they do not
Stay, black wings due, die in luminous
Day moon, rain soak sun, balmy mist.

On pilgrim journeys, whirlings, prayer
Wheels, guide shy flocks riding gnarl,
Indie goddess, to overreaching love,
By sores of hollow in the steps, open
To being, brindles of myriad meadow
In temple blossoms— numinous suns.

Of both earth and sky, shines a beauty,
Whose form is written in blistering bark,
The ciphers of tongue to Sanskrit leaves
And lost fruits, given over, unforbiddens,
Within old apple tree a great wilderness
And all the branch of wings are knowing.
Chris Twyford Feb 2012
"The Walk..."

We spoke a bit -
in written thoughts
holding each our imagined hands.
and it was nice
and it was warm
and each felt the other's smile
and then we paused -
as the day intruded
the world  beckoned
and we moved on...

"The Walk..."

Would you be "a little girl" with me
or the young woman  
or the just what?  as we walked.  

Would you hold my hand,
run ahead,
mildly stroll along,
just walk beside?  

Would you pause - with me,
flow past me,
float hither and yon - lost
  in your own wonder and thoughts?

Stand close - arm entwining,
share a view, a look, gaze, stare...
perhaps smile?  

Would there be words?  
Silence?  
Would we listen to the world or place?
Would you listen - to me, to yourself?
Would we be a we *or
just a you and I -
or just a you or just I?  

If I saw your eyes it would mean you looked
  at me - looking at you...
and if I didn't would it be I didn't look,
or* you didn't look,
or each was afraid to look
or either just didn't want ...to see
  an other looking into a me.

"The Walk..."

Wandering the aisles -
so many choices
flavors, things... branded and nots
Drinks, bags of heaven
or perhaps late night "hells"
cans and bottles - shapes to fit every
whim - any whim...

An aisle of bread
loaf after loaf -
styles, flavors - bagged, protected
awaiting
  choice.

I used my change the last time -
at the checkout...
people got angry - waiting
the clerk looked with impatience
  and a huff...
I get hungry too... ya know?

"The Walk..."

"Amazing grace - how sweet the sound..."
one step then another and another
- feel your heartbeat -
another step - another...
its heavy but you CAN do it -
are doing it -
another step - another
- almost there, almost, almost...
another step... pause... breathe
turn in towards...
timing now...TIMING
lowering, lowering - there, the base is holding
release
straighten
breathe
"...that saved a wretch like me........."

"The Walk..."

It isn't as easy
to find
places
to just - wander at whim
pause as you want
hell, even WANT to pause AT
anymore - it seems.

You get these looks
from others
if they don't know you
and its THEIR world you're in
- intruding, trespassing,
- their sidewalk or path or berm.

Being a ghost
just isn't easy anymore...

"The Walk..."

... ... ...
and on.

Chris
feel free
John F McCullagh Jun 2012
It was a dry , sunny day in June.
that fact she would never forget.
It was the day she lost her partner
to a surfeit of regret.

She had taken their little daughter,
the product of donated *****,
to the nearby Hillside Park
and picnic'd on the side of a berm.

Jane had declined to come with them.
Jane was in one of her "moods".
Perhaps she shouldn't have left her,
but she thought Jane just needed to brood.

Jane was her beautiful partner
erratic, mercurial, bright.
Jane, who could light up the heavens
like a bolt from the blue in the night.

They returned to a silent apartment.
It was the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.
A red streak of blood in the bathroom
Her little girl started to scream.

A kind neighbor cared for her daughter
as she spoke to police in a fog.
The M.E.'s van came for the body.
Seeing Jane lifeless was odd.

Tomorrow, she must make arrangements.
She needn't bear this all alone.
It was time that she spoke with Jane's parents.
Softly weeping, she picked up the phone.
Our friends' daughter, who was in a committed gay relationship, committed suicide. She was a manic depressive who had gone off her meds.
Sherlock Dec 2010
Like Faberge, your surface delicate secrets keep. Your turn guards the only edges in a flash of auburn embers.

Frailty stay yourself; this is no time for tears. Uniform quality of essence pervades your spirit, inviting me to drink.

Your house turns not into itself, but outward at the coming waves, Cheshire in challenge.

Remain within those seams and coal your diamond be, but let the tailor trim and see all that we can be.

This feral jinx, having crested and crashed, lets not the berm erode. This knife is simply for cooking now.

Let the strums stroke nylon in tune, lulling this trenchant wit upon the step.

I’ll bake us both in bread and wrap this sullied soul in warm cotton thread.
Le Bricoleur means the handyman or jack of all trades in french.
Keith Ren Sep 2010
He walked up the beach,
stopping twice to balance stones.

He found a stretch with no passers-by and had no desire to create.
He thought himself shallow.

"Is it only for another's gaze that I do this?"

He approached the berm, and laid on the warm, uneven stones.
His mind was full, and so,
instead allowed the Sun to judge him.

Even with eyelids shut, could he not deflect It's brightness.

He awaits It's verdict still.
Sam Temple Oct 2017
~
Heaving rain soaked blue jeans
over fallen and rotted fir trees
I struggled to follow my uncle
and father through the forest.
They moved almost mythical,
never disturbing low hanging branches
or crushing limbs with an echo of snaps,
misty bodies weaving in and out of shadow.
For one moment I lost sight
as they slipped over an embankment
and slid down to the water’s edge.
A deep panic filled me
as I scrambled to catch up.
When I poked my head up over the berm
and saw them standing above the slide
a smiled passed my lips.
My father reached tobacco stained fingers
down the shaft of a wooden stake
and pulled a wire up from the murk.
Feeling tension on the line, he let out a whoop.
It was the first set on this creek
and already we had paid for dinner and gas.  /
TV Mar 2013
I sought a healing sanctuary,
just to take a stroll.
And near this berm, I took a turn,
down a grassy knoll.
at its base, inscribed in white
a sign profoundly true.
With one quick read, I saw the creed
Pertained to me and you.
Didactic text from this Buddhist,
The 14th Dali Lama.
When you’re caused harm, don’t be alarmed
Internalize the trauma.
I left a heart-shaped rock as homage
To shed my heart of stone.
And to pay my debt not to forget
Took a picture with my phone.
Now I have this picture always
To begin the hard process
Of letting go, albeit slow
And no longer bear these crosses.
true story
Whit Howland Sep 2019
broken glass
bottles
trash

strewn
brutal
flowers

runners
joggers
shiftless drifters

along
once an
industrial river

now
cold
dead pond with

lumbering barges
up down
pushing

rust
junk
sometimes coal

eerie
sad
in between

or

say
strangely
beautiful

brutal lunch
ladled
raw

on a big
steel
serving spoon

© Whit Howland 2019
A weird place between two states of existence. You are encouraged to view this with a cool detached eye.
Patrick Moloney May 2014
At my father’s grave
I stand on the berm
over his chest
his holes filled with dirt and time
a clear vantage point
for
peering into my holes.
The earth rising-constantly
strata filling
with generations
of fathers and sons.
Soldiers, plumbers, thieves
Estranged, beloved
Sharing
the same moon light on cool etched stone
night after night.
Epitaphs
at my head board:
Loving father,
provider
Dedicated son.
A breeze carries
a warmth
from that lower ground,
it’s a quiet wind,
so I can
sleep –
blanket half shorn
One leg in
one leg out.
The ground rises to meet me
daily
As I fall preparing
a spot
for my son to stand
compacting the dirt
in my holes
Derick Van Dusen Aug 2012
In the untimely event of my demise
Someone please pluck out my useless eyes.
Because when death comes to take its' tole,
I wish not to see that empty hole.

Dark and dingy musty earth,
rot and rancid smells at birth,
doth contend to trust not worth.
Bring forth out of filth and mire to purge mine nose of its' desire

Hear mine ears the worms that squirm,
below that massive earthen berm.
Cast out the sounds of pleading death,
take no more from lungs, my one last breath.

Feel the roots clawing through skin,
take not heed of where the've been.
Covered dirt to marrowed bones,
death waits for the to fill its' catacombs.

Taste of the thy wretched dung,
flick out of the thy evil tongue.
Speak not for grace in such a place,
where time has rendered the thy final resting place.
Cassie Mae May 2012
I couldn't wait to see you
and when I did
it was all I had to confirm.

The feeling I had to sift through
all those i had hid
buried under a berm.

What should I do
open up a bid
let you make me infirm?

If only you knew
it seems I have slid
into a situation in which I squirm.

It takes all I have not to call you.
© Cassie Mae Writings 2012
Lm Bernal Oct 2014
I can't seem to figure out how to
Anything that's is nothing well beyond most
I pant and sieve you winner spot through
Everything has this something spelt we yawn chose
Decide to make sense of the feelings that aren't solely emotional
Play victim place blame I hope everyone sees the tear reflect
Deep writhe create cents ****** and peeling at harm closely irrational
Days well spent laced claims I wrote every none these fear affects
But no more time for stupid plain and simple when the standards you set
Are above what you will ever expect
And but stop no wrong is what I get
Its routine after six days I mirror what shines
So full pastel and haze I hear her gut...spine
I've got saint nicks naughty list with a compendium of my flaws
But there can't be a haughty miss sin duh explain to them blood soaked paws

But here's where things take a twist like
Undear fair painstaked make lists finite
I'll save my breath with your three flaws and not try to reconstruct your paper walls
And then again
And then again
And then again
There we went again
Here we go again
The gloves are...not all the way on just like this love for you its finger nail deep beneath the skin I let you win as you insist that my love don't persist and that all I consist is of tryst and false bliss in my own mess but no no no my only miss I think I should finally take a hit squeeze and missdirect as you say I'm a control freak but to lazy to do anytimg palms cut string free so you win soak in the belief you are my hip o' critical to face and speak the worst...I meant words that need to be heard not now but first hide behind wrist in glass chains coated in tares deep within your hair warehouse of wearmse...and dig me into your earth's dirt and hurt and flirt and blurt to the berm about my error report and burst the urns of metamettled self respect and discontent with loves intent to forgive and pretense to pretend to fore get self right us depend, anci of persons all d. Out the door and through the neighbors hoody tighten the string to the is all cough n gusts of self pit e turn it team work out the probable it tee it off down the disk course of Mize pinnacle ought tomb ashes word-of cheek to sheet teeth to concrete but feelings abstracts don't Co interreaction for your lustrousity that pumps ***** like monuments of the dead and the villian played out to dyer for the story must always end so I contend bed time eternal lines destroy and maim-tain positive loss cause and affectional misdewreck it all forlorn the cause breath take a pause and paste the wasted hate pros claim mist true tha foul knitting grisly tails of fend ding in finite leadin breed of my sad is ticks fuel done relation to ships will captained with jacked spare old detales a resting develop mind with the plank tons under her toe like dancers on a soul


Happily ever
Wearms is a mixture of wares wear like erode and worms or wyverns or wyrms


And to place it you can optionally add where and we're and were


Dyer is mix of pyre dire dry fry dye die
A Whisky Darkly Aug 2015
I'm driving along the San Bernardino highway
it's hot
the sky is translucent brown
below me speeding past
are the clapboard and stucco houses
the untended palm trees
trash on the side of the pavement
brown weeds choking the berm
a city of lost hope
and strangled dreams
my exit is coming up
and I expect to find a disheveled man or two
standing on the side of the road
under the street signal
when the old man is not there selling flowers from plastic buckets
they always hold cardboard signs
with words written in black marker
though I never read them
all cardboard signs say something about god
I see many faces here
there is the one armed man
wearing matching red shorts, shirt and ***** ball cap
he has a ******* on his forehead
sunken eyes, unkempt beard, *****
he looks just like Charles Manson
crazed and desperate;
there is the young man listening to headphones, his bike against the fence;
and the aging cowboy leering under the brim of his leather hat
sometimes I see true desperation in the eyes of the lost
but none speak to me
like the young man with the distant stare
witnessing some tragedy
in the mist
his olive drab bedroll lays next to his feet
tied with a worn leather belt
his sign simply says "Oklahoma"
there's a vibe about him that says hope has sold him a little more of the highway
Sequoia Sawyer Mar 2016
Seraph and Ephedrine*
     or *colliding, and by ash


Blond rain, hot, braising a brunette burn.
The stage was taking turns when she turned up
beneath me; meek petite, turned out to be
a wishing well while I adored the ring-
song of another southern belle. "Fall in,"
our notes implored to me and I, delighted, did.

She astride, we twisted up in splendid
flow, the baby blue's and sultry auburn's
nightly sojourns. Tucked unknown inside
her chest's soft comfort, lazing, I'd wake up
and glow. Two autumn lovers racing spring's
escaping tide, colliding, and by ash besnowed.

Scottsdale found me prey in unbecoming
news of winter crimes. I learned of didoes,
sickening grit, soirees of summer scoring
lines and picking pits and nursing burns
and being crooked all the time. Upside-
downing and dying, still, I bided her decline.

Bushy tailed and bright eyed, I entertained
elides not all bright white inside. I climbed
Sioux Falls and foraged for seduction. Lit up
and afflicted? Fix: a sick and sordid
sort of wickedness, a Pyrrhic forfeit's burnishing
reduction. Spurred, I galvanized, ceased her ringside

and matured. I'd drift immersed in suffering,
so, and surface shown not shore or certain
earthen berm; soon I earned my sideburns,
emerging taciturn, eternally, to her. Beckons
chirped at first, then mewed, then roared, candid
advents went ignored, an epoch couped

with cruel and sober sword. I suppose
the years assuaged the ache enough to wring
my rage awake and tough; seeing the iodide
wraith herself, withered and rough and raked in
such concern, she saw me unperturbed
because I finally wasn't shamed how things had burned.

I was always proud of her suffering; her ruin in bedlam by design,
but burned-up notes and buried bedding didn't seem so tragic at the time.
I'm always seeking crituque.

This is a sestina that I've been working on for 10 years. It's still far from any good, I think; but I like it more every time I revisit it.
Jeanelle Averett Feb 2016
One Sunday a cragsman
Descended a cliff
In a dangerous place
When the winds came up stiff

With sand blinding his eyes
He let go off his grip
And in that one little second
He started to slip

In that one little second
In front of his eyes
A lifetime of wrong choices
Misconduct and lies

In that one little second
As he started to dive
Prayed to God that next Sunday
If he was alive

He would come out to church
Accept a new calling
If God would stretch forth his hand
To save him from falling

In that one little second
He promised he'd alter
The many bad habits
That caused him to falter

He prayed to God that he'd change
And stop his wrongdoing
If please God would re-schedule
His funeral and viewing

If please God would stretch forth
His omnipotent hand
He'd most quickly repent
With a soft place to land

Then his feed gained some ground
Where the earth was more firm
And he slid to a stop
On a thin piece of berm

With his prayers safely answered
On that lifesaving shelf
Said, 'never mind Lord;
I have saved me myself'

One more time he was grasping
At crumbling sod
He'd learned as we all must
None is saved without God

For all men are fallen
And a Savior's been sent
To lead them to safety
And help them repent

That old Prince of Darkness
Is the changeable wind
He's luring and coaxing
And blinding with sin

Just one little second
Is all that it takes
To fall from the edge
As result of mistakes

For the pathway to safety
Place your hand inside His
For seeking salvation
The only way that there is

He will lead them and guide them
Unharmed from the rim
But none of God's children
Are saved without Him!

— The End —