"broadly" poems
It’s 6:15pm. Peter, Anna, Sophy and I are studying in the common room of our suite.
“We need to get serious,” Peter whispered, but there was no subject in the declaration, so I was left confused and uncommitted, “about getting serious,” he clarified.
“I’m not sure I can get serious about a guy who doesn’t separate whites and darks in the laundry,” I say, gently.
“No,” he said, shaking his head in brief vibration, “we need to get serious about DINNER.”
“Oh!” I said, maybe a little too relieved.
“Ha!” He chortled, “YOU overthink everything!” He said, nodding his head up and down to prove it was true. “And speaking of laundry,” he continued, seeing me start to open my mouth, “the other night YOU asked me if your pastel purple ******* should go with the whites or darks - so I must be an EXPERT!”
I laughed at the idea of his laundry expertise, sailing in from out of the purple like that, it was haywire. “Well,” I said, becoming introspective, “I didn’t know you’d hold onto that question like a grudge,” I said, in quiet, wounded accusation, “from now ON, maybe you should stay as far away from my ******* as possible.”
“What are you two grousing about NOW?” Anna asked, looking up from her computer. “You guys are like an old married couple.”
“True THAT.” Sophie said, like a judge right before knocking her gavel to finalize a ruling.
“We weren’t arguing!” I said, looking around confusedly. I looked at Peter, who was smiling broadly, “Were we?”
“Nope,” he said, wrapping his arm around me in a bearhug, “we were flirting.”
Sep 22, 2022
Sep 22, 2022 at 2:43 PM UTC
It lies in my skin,
It makes me who I am,
It makes me beautiful,
You saw and see me as lesser,
You look down at me with displeasure,
My big lips and *** were seen as ugly,
Now seen as a trend broadly,
My natural beauty has fallen in the category of fake,
My melanin aches,
My blackness sheds tears as my sense of beauty once hated,
Now brought into the public eye, now everyone all bums and lips inflated,
Something once that was seen as characteristics of my people,
Now a trend.
So sorry if I don’t follow a trend that is sickening,
But I won’t stop my smile from glistening,
Cause there are things you can’t take from us,
Our freedom, our pride, our melanin.
Jul 11, 2017
Jul 11, 2017 at 2:01 PM UTC
I have a flower, in a vase, sitting on my window sill
There are no other flowers on my window sill
Just a rose.
This rose is special,
It hasn't died since I picked it.
The life of this rose depends on me.
No other flowers can exist on my window sill,
No other flowers can fit in the vase.
Just that flower, in that vase, on my window sill.
Walking through a garden, I see another flower.
Better than the rose in some ways,
but not in others.
This flower is a lily.
My heart immediatly begins to tear in two.
So now I face a dilema.
Pick the lily, or let it die.
Keep the rose, or let it die.
Either way, one must die.
And I am stuck between two beauties.
I need a flower, in a vase, on my window sill.
So I delve deep.
I think broadly.
I remember something.
My favorite flower is an orchid.
I have a feeling my orchid is in a distant garden,
waiting to be picked --
by me.
This orchid will be
My flower, in my vase, on my window sill.
And so I can live with the outcome of the lily
or the rose
And I just hope they don't die
that someone else's favorite flower
is a lily
or a rose.
Because I know that something is going to happen
that will bring me closer to my favorite flower.
So I must be patient.
And just wait for
My perfect flower, in my perfect vase, on my window sill
Nov 1, 2012
Nov 1, 2012 at 2:08 PM UTC
Distance brings proportion. From here
the populated tiers
as much as players seem part of the show:
a constructed stage beast, three folds of Dante's rose,
or a Chinese military hat
cunningly chased with bodies.
"Falling from his chariot, a drunk man is unhurt
because his soul is intact. Not knowing his fall,
he is unastonished, he is invulnerable."
So, too, the "pure man"-"pure"
in the sense of undisturbed water.
"It is not necessary to seek out
a wasteland, swamp, or thicket."
The opposing pitcher's pertinent hesitations,
the sky, this meadow, Mantle's thick baked neck,
the old men who in the changing rosters see
a personal mutability,
green slats, wet stone are all to me
as when an emperor commands
a performance with a gesture of his eyes.
"No king on his throne has the joy of the dead,"
the skull told Chuang-tzu.
The thought of death is peppermint to you
when games begin with patriotic song
and a democratic sun beats broadly down.
The Inner Journey seems unjudgeably long
when small boys purchase cups of ice
and, distant as a paradise,
experts, passionate and deft,
hold motionless while Berra flies to left.
4.6k
he's terrified of her voice
that whips his eardrums like kashmir switches
and tickles his diaphragm until he convulses
in nervous laughter inside his head
the way it inquires broadly,
like an opera written in tornado sirens and megaphones
and the brightness of lighthouses,
for conversation he thought
had drowned long ago and only
reemerges as bubbles on the lake's surface
a boiling body popping deafeningly
with anxiety, and plumping
bravery pasta, which smells seductive,
which he loves...
he's just not hungry right now.
Oct 10, 2013
Oct 10, 2013 at 2:49 PM UTC
And as in Orion the old king-astronomer, —
says his Mistress
Rigel, or Betelguese, — the Earth's four quarters
showing four points of stars afar;
so, seem they
to terrestrial eyes, that broadly
sweep the upper
& lower
spheres as seen by the sun, by influence divine,
wheels through the Ecliptic; threading Cancer,
Leo, Pisces, and Aquarius; so,
by some mystic impulse am I moved,
to this fleet's progress through the groups
of swirling white-reefed Metazones
Aug 17, 2018
Aug 17, 2018 at 11:32 PM UTC
Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing
Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing
Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating
Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call'd--we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro' eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.
2.8k
i, the honey bee
travel broadly for sweet nectar
through meadows of honeysuckle
near springs framed with lilies
over hilltops swaying with poppies
i travel near
some days far
searching for my next sip
one that makes it worth the trip
my favorite place to go
is to the hive at night
nestled in the comb
knowing that my honey will provide you with delight
Sep 4, 2018
Sep 4, 2018 at 12:55 PM UTC
When the Lady calls
Darkness is sure to fall
Like tears on a coffin
She calls all too often
She'll beckon for you softly
Smile at you broadly
She sings oh so sweetly
Lady Death has come to meet me.
She wears her hair like a veil
with skin so soft and pale
Her physique; dainty and frail
Take heed of the bleakness,
Don't you dare assume the weakness
Of her seductive melody
the pitch intoxicates me.
Her kiss will steal your breath
beware the embrace of Lady Death.
Her eyes are a piercing blue
And they will pierce straight on through
the scraps that are left of you.
She lays beside me every night,
caresses me until the light
shines bright, in the early morning;
when she leaves me in mourning-
cloudy thoughts, demons scorning.
Lady Death is drawing near,
She whispers nothings in my ear.
She pulls me towards the hereafter
with charming words and soft laughter.
She comes for me in the moonlight,
bringing me comfort in the night.
Yet her heart is black as coal
She comes only for my soul,
To drag me in to the dark.
I fear soon I may embark
on the last adventure,
when it all becomes a blur,
when the light fades away
and I've reached my final day.
You can have my heart, Ms. Reaper;
We'll roam together, Soul keeper.
For the noose beckons every day,
Darkness is pulling me away.
Come ****** me up in my slumber;
Only you can disencumber
me of my eternal sorrow,
I want your kiss on the morrow.
My heart burns with desire
and Lady Death lit the fire.
Nov 20, 2017
Nov 20, 2017 at 5:36 PM UTC
Who’s to say how
He might come back for a second
inhumanely heaped-up helping,
if we grant that immensity
of our assumption He did come
kingly first into this inside-
out size from a do-you-miss-me-
yet’s mirthfully mythical realm
I have seen Him
lurking in a particle-board fine
finish on the thin outer membranes
of our estranged and better faces;
He’s Higgs-boson omnipresent,
but far too theoretical
for our broadly practical, turned-
away gazes to rediscover
There He is now
rising in the favela’s gap-
toothed grins with fabulously naughty
corners this glee-pawed grandpa twists
using cur jests his ***** charges
imagine as flightless quarrels
grey-hooded pigeons would gaggle
were they over-stuffed on golden grain
And there again
on a Calcutta mound’s cluttered
conic end, smog-like He slowly lifts
with the crust-gnawed, razor-wire crimps
of a soup-can’s unconsummated lid
as dainty fingers crawl in toward
a gelatinous glob still clinging
to the powerful pretense it’s meat
And there once more,
conceding oms, He restless flickers
at the margins of blocky beige
Beijing screens as crisply clicked clacks
circumnavigate the darkling
smooth patches and spit-spark a few
conscious drips to squiggle out from
the babble of noxious red seas
Emerged, this welp
won’t toddle off to dribble-stain
the dressy linens of a made-up
nanny’s well-mannered and ornate
evil; it will curl up instead,
a swaddled yawn with no yearn to
suckle under His real mother’s
gaping wide and grungy bloused best
Oct 20, 2010
Oct 20, 2010 at 11:04 AM UTC
She was stark naked
I could see her ****
And her boyfriend had
Quite the **** on him.
His meat should have
Made him quite proud
And the lady’s ****
For crying out loud
Were perky and prominent
And quite nice to see.
Both of them seemed
To be pointing at me.
And I seemed to be
Eagerly pointing back.
They both very obviously
Aware of that one fact.
She smiled openly
And the guy broadly winked.
I started asking myself
“Do you think? He did wink!”
So, I winked and smiled
And let them see my bone
And hoped this meant I
Would not be alone.
I hoped they’d invite me
To sit on their beach towel
To slather sunscreen on them
Like a human mortar trowel.
There are not many things
There are few better for me
Than hot mixed couples
Into some fun bisexuality.
I have games for both kinds
And genders of human beings
All based on the stimulus
Of what I’m feeling and seeing.
Generally a single man
Is not lucky at this scene
A common concept that I
Always found to be quite mean.
I understand about jealousy,
An emotion foreign to me
So, I usually keep my distance
And behave circumspectly.
But when I get the go-ahead
I never hesitate very long.
How could something this good
Be considered bad or wrong?
Feb 26, 2016
Feb 26, 2016 at 10:30 PM UTC
I forgot the sound of Grandpa’s voice, but not the rattle of the farm truck
I forgot the names of the workers, who smiled so broadly when he brought envelopes filled with money.
I forgot how to tie a fishing knot, but not the taste of the fried fish
I forgot the floorplan of the yellow house, but not the sadness that consumed it
I forgot about the stuff that I hid in the crawl space when we moved
I forgot most of the math after 10th grade, who needs SOHCAHTOA anyway?
I forgot my freshman locker combination, but not the rank smell of a high school locker room.
I also forgot the love that I once felt
because I’m sure that she’s forgotten me
Feb 8, 2017
Feb 8, 2017 at 2:56 PM UTC
A lovers diary
Yes I am a lover.
I have hearts pasted on my wall,
along with posters of cars and all.
I wake up in the morning to see a balloon heart hanging overhead.
And as the days progresses, hearts pop out of my mouth and my breath.
My perfume smells of soft delicious rose
and people say with my feelings I’m very verbose.
I like to talk about my heart and feelings,
and stuff every word I say with meaning.
On one meaningful occasion I was in the lawn,
when a lazing cat gave out a yawn.
I turn around right then to see,
The queen of love – Penelope.
She was the one all lovers wanted to be,
Me included. Once I told her “I worship thee!”
She stared at me like I was mad,
And said slowly, “Beauty is a fad.
Come know me, and you will see,
that I’m just another glowing bee.”
Saying this she walked on away,
With me staring broadly,
and my eyes in a sway.
Ahhh! How she looked at me!
with big brown eyes I could only see.
How she moved and she swayed in her grace as a cat,
And sat in her car like lounging on a mat.
What she said, was it true?
or was it just her words turning blue?
coz my mind was blank when she was talking to me.
didn’t seem to hear or tamper a beat.
That day and today.
it’s been a long time since then.
now she is walking towards me again.
But this time I don’t quiver or lose my breath,
as she walks up close after our eyes met.
She smiles at me “you’re a grown-up now”
I smirk back remembering how.
All those years have changed me.
I used to be the love struck teenager,
and felt like I was three.
Now I was big. black. n bold,
With biker gloves and chains made of gold.
My eyes saying I know secrets unsaid,
And if you say stuff I don’t like,
then take care of your head.
I no longer talk about my feelings,
or fill my words with meaning.
people don’t care about what I say,
Now all they do is cover their heads and pray.
No one asks me what’s that secret behind my eyes,
No one knows that I too pray when I hide.
But the one secret no one knows,
Is that I still have a red heart,
that flutters when the winds of love blow,
And how it turns warm and gives out a glow.
If someone would care to ask,
I would talk about my feelings.
Say everything out, of how I changed without meaning.
Jun 27, 2013
Jun 27, 2013 at 5:02 AM UTC
She evaluated,
assessed and condemned
the mind,
and slights of tongue
but never attempted
to glimpse
inside my heart
which always swelled and heaved.
Those early weekend mornings
spent alone
while they slept
and the sun climbed
broadly in the sky
were only safe because
of the proximity
of their souls,
her soul.
Maybe the outside
doesn't always reflect
what it can
or should
or doesn't show but feels
in vast measure
the way way a child feels
he's being carried.
Now idle winds blow
seething to be old
and free
of the minds own
burdensome choices
and rhetoric
about the ice
never again getting to melt.
Never being freed
to move from solid state
through flowability,
then wind its way
with out weight
down the road
toward yet another
chance at redemption.
Oct 9, 2010
Oct 9, 2010 at 3:45 AM UTC
Anne drew in a drag of thick, suede cigarette smoke
she turned to her lover on the pillow,
pivoting her jaw to face him
and muttered:
“I miss the way you used to
spank me, loudly proclaiming your passion
for my inner thigh and rubbing my ****
with your tongue.
I haven’t been happy
in a very long while. I sit here, each night,
waiting for you to tell me that I love you
but you hold it in, like a drag of thick, suede
cigarette smoke.”
Andrew turned to Anne and smiled broadly, saying:
“I’ve loved you since the moment I set eyes upon
you. I caught a glance of you gleaming in the moonlight
after we left the disco in separate cars, friends
surrounding everyone.
I told you then to call me, and you didn’t. But
I waited three days until I found you
at the coffee shop, alone, and said ‘hello’.”
Each sighed and dropped the pretense of knowing
what the other was seeing.
Then, they turned toward opposite directions and slowly fell
into themselves
Jun 25, 2012
Jun 25, 2012 at 9:33 PM UTC
It’s Sunday morning and we’re in the new, exciting, daylight savings time.
Peter and I are sitting next to each other on the big, red, corduroy couch in my suite’s common room.
All of my roommates are gone so we’re free to relax in our PJs. We’re quietly heads-down on our devices. When, suddenly, I realized, as I do every 10 minutes or so, that it’s Spring Break!
I side-eyed Peter who was reading something. Probably some interstellar statistical report whose roots were calculated in base 7. I slowly, so as not to divulge that anything was happening, lowered my iPad and set it aside.
Then I slowly, very slowly, begin invading his space - he doesn’t notice at first but I lean on him gradually harder and heavier. He looked at me, confused, but now I’m crawling onto his lap - rolling onto my back. He moves his laptop - holding it up and away with one hand.
“EXCUSE me,” I say, “I beg your pardon, couldn’t be helped.” I repeat about three times as I roll a complete 360° in his lap with glacial, disruptive slowness - making sure to elbow him gently in places and cover his face with hair.
As I climb off him, I jump up and start singing and dancing to this song I made up (with maximum arm flail):
*K k k k King kong song
I’m sing the king kong song
I’m dancing to the king kong song
Feel free to sing along.*
I point at him and sing, “I’m talking to YOU!”
*K k k k King kong song
You’re listening to the king kong song
Feel free to sing along
To the K k k King kong song!*
I stop, striking a pose like someone on a Broadway stage waiting for applause.
“YOU,” he says, are a complete NUT.” But he’s smiling, broadly, as I jump onto his lap and begin smothering him with kisses.
Mar 12, 2023
Mar 12, 2023 at 1:13 PM UTC
In my eerie little life
The buildings coated with graffiti
I saw the art in a new light
Because of someone interesting
A girl not much older than myself
Was arrested for an illegal mural
A painting of books upon a shelf
She signed to be seen by all
It wasn't hard for the police
To find the perpetrator
Her name in cursive for all to see
The name of this young decorator
I found her three days later
Painting again upon a fence
I asked why would she put her
Name for police then to trace?
She smiled broadly at me
And answered rather honestly
Because she simply refuses to be
"Living life anonymously."
Jul 15, 2015
Jul 15, 2015 at 1:22 PM UTC
Mercury , Mars or Neptune
Or were u driven to the moon ?
Oh dear , dear u are dearly missed
Alas u have no idea that I exist .
A single reality seems to be bitter than a thousand nightmares
All I can do is despair
Bae you know u were loved : truly , madly , deeply and broadly .
Those endless nights of endless pleasure
All seem to have come to an end
Tho U were right : it was just not ur thing
But we tried and cried and struggled to cling
For ur happiness we had to let go .
If princes rode white horses or black horses you rode a unicorn
A unicorn who took u in a different direction .
A direction meant to ice your cupcake
But dear u will still be loved , maybe not broadly but - truly , deeply and madly .
Oct 27, 2015
Oct 27, 2015 at 1:28 PM UTC
When winter came and snows took over,
I danced among the falling flakes.
I ambled freely like a rover,
Forgetful of the world at stake.
The days were short – I did not care.
The elegance of fiery ice…
With coloured thoughts enough to spare,
I painted wintry paradise.
The nights were long, the blessings counted…
The warmth of summer still with me.
I never took my love for granted,
It always felt like spring to me...
With blizzards gone and skies a-clearing,
I smiled broadly at the sun.
It smiled back – kind and endearing…
Twelve months and I were all but one.
Dec 6, 2017
Dec 6, 2017 at 7:47 AM UTC
and when you said
someone like stacy
was your cup of tea
with a glistening look
like you longed for her embrace
with the brightest grin
etched broadly on your face
i wondered what it would've been like
to be brewed to your taste
Dec 25, 2020
Dec 25, 2020 at 4:56 AM UTC
Classless
Don’t you know who you are? The face is not thine alone
You come from a long line your disregard forgets
Those who built your name for honor they fought and won
It was not placed in your hand to be squandered simple one
Your looks what waste when ignorance is there found
You took privilege and threw it to the ground
This noble name a standard once held now lost and bound
Take it to prison bars will train give voice to losses refrain others it will prove sound
Money poured out without discretion is not wealth
You show by action and deed your true health
Fixed by the stars in ancient realms they to wore a garland wreath
History could have been your guide waste all that is left to bequeath
Your story now a sad read just a marred edition
You have given the words to a sad rendition
Poor little rich girl you seem to keep with tradition
Wasted moments spell lost hours what a contradiction
We all have so few days they are precious and golden
A sacred trust that should make us always beholden
You defame the family name that richly lies broadly unfolded
Go back to you heritage their you will find the loss and know what you sold
Jan 7, 2012
Jan 7, 2012 at 1:40 PM UTC
May be I missed something…
Sitting lonely by the fireplace, in the rocking chair, just like the one he always wanted to have since childhood, and to sit just like that with such a serious face… thinking really widely and broadly about own… like Sherlock or Epicur… and with a glass of Merlot..
In the whole house just crackling of the fire and hissing of the conditioner… May be I missed something.. Said he, but now out loud to himself…
Something started vibrating, flashing with an idle melody through the dark silence of the house…
- Да.. answered he, in hope that it is some of the “close” people that remembered him in the New Years Eve..
- Hola! Puedo hablar a Sr. Miguel. Esta en el casa ahora?
- -Discúlpeme, está equivocado el número, señiorita…
- -Lo siento…
And she hang up the phone… wrong number… She needed somebody called Miguel…
hmm.. I should’ve said that I was Miguel. Then, shoud've reserved the table in a restaurant and asked her out… And when she woudn’t meet Miguel there, just before she starts leaving, accost her and tell:
-Hola, Senioritta. Me llamo Roberto. Esta muy bonita y estoy solo esta noche. Quiere beber algo comigo?
You don’t have to wonder that people treat a woman with such beauty like that. You’re not first, you’re not the last…
And she responded:
-Gracias y Mucho gusto Roberto. Me encantaria…
And then with projectors and street lights through bars and clubs until the dawn… and then it’s not lonely and very hot in your bed… and in the morning, a little bit ill and tired you ask her:
-Como te llamas?
-Maria…
That would be the last word you would hear from her.. and she gets dressed and gone, gone…
You’re lonely again.. inside just the fantasies and at front of you their reflections on the burning down fire…
Mar 22, 2010
Mar 22, 2010 at 8:29 PM UTC
Waking up when others, brothers and sisters,
finish the day, they go to bar, then the bus
mingle in the crowded fuss or get in their cars,
to go home slowly if it is far.
Alarm goes off, the
house to yourself,
sit in your ****** watching the news,
what you missed while you slept,
eat and dress, not in that order, as you
update your status, make your bed and the
bumpy mattress, pack your late night meal
ready, set as you go to your job on the border.
The patient drive, and you are not in that rush.
The hours nobody wants resemble people,
that nobody want to get near,
move through dark of shadowed hopes,
motives are suspect, call them creeple,
yes,
both the hours that move so slow,
and the bodies that hide, but can't diguise their intent.
You dictate the night, look left and right,
as people in a slowing stream return home,
their treasures packed away, receipts in hand,
passport ready for your command, to hand
it over.
There are those that "went for the drive, or to get a tank of gas"
Every one that passes though your gate,
despite the hour being late, smiles broadly,
as if to say,
nothing here to declare
go about your shift, oddly, questions
you do and ask these, late nighters to drive in
open the trunk, show you the receipts and
if they are in luck, they told the truth,
but
when they got to pay, they got to stay,
unhappiness empties their wallet,
then those three guys with mullets,
dare you to show them your gun; their laughter is like rusted metal lids, turning on a glass jar,
you being Canadian, don't have a gun.
You can still wish.
The night ends uneventful, your eyes
see the sun and know your day is done,
you will be home maybe to bed,
maybe stay awake, a chance you'll
given, you have four days off.
Night shift will ruin you later in life,
when those in the home will be able to
rest, you will be awake, no matter
what meds they make you take from the platter.
When the dark shadows close in, you have a job to do,
but where?, while
you won't
remember how or who.
Mar 26, 2014
Mar 26, 2014 at 9:28 PM UTC
My son is tall, smart and handsome, too
But he was never quite the romeo
Not until he scouted for a job
And met a girl from SanAntonio
Lindsay caught his eye and she looked his way
On OK Cupid, not oddly
And since that day his friends all say
Josh never smiled so broadly
Their journey, their story continues
From Texas to Palm Beach and back
How many times did they drive back and forth?
At last they can finally unpack
Angus, her dog, endured by her side
Today he witnessed every vow
Like him the guests wish them the best
Josh and Lindsay are married now
So lets celebrate their marriage
Raise your champagne glass or water
Dearest Josh and Lindsay, I love you both
My son-and now a daughter!
Oct 16, 2015
Oct 16, 2015 at 10:54 PM UTC