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"burial" poems
Old man, you surface seldom. Then you come in with the tide's coming When seas wash cold, foam- Capped: white hair, white beard, far-flung, A dragnet, rising, falling, as waves Crest and trough. Miles long Extend the radial sheaves Of your spread hair, in which wrinkling skeins Knotted, caught, survives The old myth of orgins Unimaginable. You float near As kneeled ice-mountains Of the north, to be steered clear Of, not fathomed. All obscurity Starts with a danger: Your dangers are many. I Cannot look much but your form suffers Some strange injury And seems to die: so vapors Ravel to clearness on the dawn sea. The muddy rumors Of your burial move me To half-believe: your reappearance Proves rumors shallow, For the archaic trenched lines Of your grained face shed time in runnels: Ages beat like rains On the unbeaten channels Of the ocean. Such sage humor and Durance are whirlpools To make away with the ground- Work of the earth and the sky's ridgepole. Waist down, you may wind One labyrinthine tangle To root deep among knuckles, shinbones, Skulls. Inscrutable, Below shoulders not once Seen by any man who kept his head, You defy questions; You defy godhood. I walk dry on your kingdom's border Exiled to no good. Your shelled bed I remember. Father, this thick air is murderous. I would breathe water.
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15.1k
Full Fathom Five
He often would ask us That, when he died, After playing so many To their last rest, If out of us any Should here abide, And it would not task us, We would with our lutes Play over him By his grave-brim The psalm he liked best— The one whose sense suits “Mount Ephraim”— And perhaps we should seem To him, in Death’s dream, Like the seraphim. As soon as I knew That his spirit was gone I thought this his due, And spoke thereupon. “I think”, said the vicar, “A read service quicker Than viols out-of-doors In these frosts and hoars. That old-fashioned way Requires a fine day, And it seems to me It had better not be.” Hence, that afternoon, Though never knew he That his wish could not be, To get through it faster They buried the master Without any tune. But ’twas said that, when At the dead of next night The vicar looked out, There struck on his ken Thronged roundabout, Where the frost was graying The headstoned grass, A band all in white Like the saints in church-glass, Singing and playing The ancient stave By the choirmaster’s grave. Such the tenor man told When he had grown old.
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12.7k
The Choirmaster’s Burial
What would I do for you?  There's lots of things, actually I would spontaneously start speaking Hungarian for you...but it probably would sound like nonsense and some Hungarian dude    Would be all like "Haver, nem beszél magyarul"         I would shrug, because                        I don't know Hungarian... But I'd still do it for you, if you wanted me to. I would fly us to ancient Mayan burial grounds, where we could    Learn all about a lost culture            We would run into a cursed                                     Mayan Chief, but he'd actually be pretty cool                          He would teach us how to do a rain dance,          Every once in awhile he'd look at you and say "kíichpan"       and I'd be like..."Dude, back off..."                        He's like 2000 years old...                                                               He's way too old for you. I would carve you an Ice Sculpture in your likeness         Taking care to make sure that every detail was perfect and reflected                        Your beauty                               In every possible way.      I'm not too good at Ice Sculpting, though, so it might just end up looking                            Like an oddly-shaped block of ice.       Sorry...             I hope you would like it anyway For you, I would count to infinity      Which might not sound like a feat, at first    But then I would count back to zero   I'm pretty sure no one's done that before....      I won't be able to do it all in one day So it might take awhile...                   Hope you don't mind waiting for me     I would write poetry every day for you             Because I know that I would never run out of things           To write about ....Well, maybe every 'other' day.
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Jan 2, 2012
Jan 2, 2012 at 2:55 PM UTC
What I would do
What would I do for you?  There's lots of things, actually I would spontaneously start speaking Hungarian for you...but it probably would sound like nonsense and some Hungarian dude    Would be all like "Haver, nem beszél magyarul"         I would shrug, because                        I don't know Hungarian... But I'd still do it for you, if you wanted me to. I would fly us to ancient Mayan burial grounds, where we could    Learn all about a lost culture            We would run into a cursed                                     Mayan Chief, but he'd actually be pretty cool                          He would teach us how to do a rain dance,          Every once in awhile he'd look at you and say "kíichpan"       and I'd be like..."Dude, back off..."                        He's like 2000 years old...                                                               He's way too old for you. I would carve you an Ice Sculpture in your likeness         Taking care to make sure that every detail was perfect and reflected                        Your beauty                               In every possible way.      I'm not too good at Ice Sculpting, though, so it might just end up looking                            Like an oddly-shaped block of ice.       Sorry...             I hope you would like it anyway For you, I would count to infinity      Which might not sound like a feat, at first    But then I would count back to zero   I'm pretty sure no one's done that before....      I won't be able to do it all in one day So it might take awhile...                   Hope you don't mind waiting for me     I would write poetry every day for you             Because I know that I would never run out of things           To write about ....Well, maybe every 'other' day.
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35
My brother, you quietly succumbed to death. Why do you defeat yourself I implore? For cruel injustice had done by poor health To rob of good of life you may explore. Despite our vigil you went just the same. In times of great wonders still suffered, With scientific breakthroughs, and what a shame. What possible way death can be differed? Sleep in peace in tranquility brother; Oh, leave this world to us, to concern, to think. Some lives toiled for many, some no other, Some only lives on merriment and drink. Here laid he in soil of red burial earth, And free of cares and rest for all it's worth.
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Jun 3, 2018
Jun 3, 2018 at 11:15 PM UTC
To My Brother; Sonnet # 4
Dear diabolic debutante / Spawn of the unfathomable abyss of blackness / Daughter of dreadful dead desire / Black-shrouded sinister sister of celestial gloom before whose imperious gaze the heavens fall silent / Whip-lash girl-child of the graves whose pallid visage kindles the myriad infernal fires / Autocratic vampiress of lunar doom whose winding-cloth enfolds the thousand horrors of blood-drenched nightmare / Thou that wanderest the cypress-crested hills of funereal necropolises / Whose icy glance cracks the ungraven tombstones of utter desolation / Empress of night and madness / Who stalks the locked and shadowed hallways of unhallowed thought / Whose burial-boat glides the still waters over Lethe’s silent depths to the unglimpsed isle of eternal mourning / Whose parapets tower above the fiefdoms of quotidian banality / Whose flying buttresses overlook the Stygian waters of the forgotten drowned denizens of damnation / Whose unshackled dungeons open to worlds of regal splendor / Whose spires pierce dark skies where oblivion buries the ruined cities of revelry under the drifting clouds of leaden time / Oh maiden of melancholic alchemy whose petrified passions transmute base metal into pure gold… May the gibbous moon of equinox shine its baleful eye upon you; may you tread in sacramental calm the winding starlit paths of somnolent cemeteries; may my unmixed metaphors unveil in delirium their parabolic mysteries before the smoldering altar of your uninterpretable allegory; may the favor of your scorn forever lay me out, embalmed, undead, on the cold stone of merciless reality. Behold: in cryptic script of spectral apparition, in tracery of coded illumination, amidst the dawning rays of torment I write thine unknown name on the threshold of daylight. And from within the mortared wall of self I speak forth from my sepulcher the Sibylline utterance, unsought, unheard, undreamt: JUST WANTED TO SAY ‘HI’ !
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Sep 10, 2015
Sep 10, 2015 at 9:15 PM UTC
Ω Gothic Postcard Ω
Dear diabolic debutante / Spawn of the unfathomable abyss of blackness / Daughter of dreadful dead desire / Black-shrouded sinister sister of celestial gloom before whose imperious gaze the heavens fall silent / Whip-lash girl-child of the graves whose pallid visage kindles the myriad infernal fires / Autocratic vampiress of lunar doom whose winding-cloth enfolds the thousand horrors of blood-drenched nightmare / Thou that wanderest the cypress-crested hills of funereal necropolises / Whose icy glance cracks the ungraven tombstones of utter desolation / Empress of night and madness / Who stalks the locked and shadowed hallways of unhallowed thought / Whose burial-boat glides the still waters over Lethe’s silent depths to the unglimpsed isle of eternal mourning / Whose parapets tower above the fiefdoms of quotidian banality / Whose flying buttresses overlook the Stygian waters of the forgotten drowned denizens of damnation / Whose unshackled dungeons open to worlds of regal splendor / Whose spires pierce dark skies where oblivion buries the ruined cities of revelry under the drifting clouds of leaden time / Oh maiden of melancholic alchemy whose petrified passions transmute base metal into pure gold… May the gibbous moon of equinox shine its baleful eye upon you; may you tread in sacramental calm the winding starlit paths of somnolent cemeteries; may my unmixed metaphors unveil in delirium their parabolic mysteries before the smoldering altar of your uninterpretable allegory; may the favor of your scorn forever lay me out, embalmed, undead, on the cold stone of merciless reality. Behold: in cryptic script of spectral apparition, in tracery of coded illumination, amidst the dawning rays of torment I write thine unknown name on the threshold of daylight. And from within the mortared wall of self I speak forth from my sepulcher the Sibylline utterance, unsought, unheard, undreamt: JUST WANTED TO SAY ‘HI’ !
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5
Hades, God of the dead King of the underworld And all of its shades The Unseen, Giver of Wealth Keeper of the hound Cerberus Brother, one of a grand trio With sisters of wonder The renowned wealthy one Judge of the dead Mighty ruler is he Keeper of mortal souls Great is he Upholder of the balance In the kingdom below Mortals, how they tremble At his sheer power His word is his command Strong is he, astounding among the gods God of peace for the deceased Upholder of funeral rites Defender of burial rights Due onto the dead Regal is he The all-receiver Blessed is the abundance Of wealth he bring Mysteries of the dark Oh great one Whom mortals hold Both honor and fear Whom many indeed revere Divinely dark Hands upon the earth Reaching far below To his realm, his domain Sacrifices to him, Offerings to the King Whom ride in chariot of gold Drawn by four horses immortal From his kingdom below The legends that did grow Carrier of the scepter To guide the shades With his power and mystery Thousands know his name The God Hades - Jay M October 5th, 2021
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Oct 5, 2021
Oct 5, 2021 at 1:28 PM UTC
Hades, King of the Underworld
Tongue in cheek I detest you Hand over foot Make a peep ***** And I promise I'll ****** you Bad tact I'm a cesspool Festering in the nestle of your daughter's well developing ******* Everyday I follow her home from school This unnerving pervert unearthing fervor making ya catatonic & giving your heart murmurs Nurture the thought It's just the tip (Of the iceberg) Gotta stir the paint before you make a mural Ma'am, I'll purloin your ham purse until my burial Don't be a sourpuss It's final I'm vile And I swear I'm not a ********* Want some candy?
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Mar 15, 2015
Mar 15, 2015 at 7:23 AM UTC
Creeper
how do you paint water, or clouds? I could read poetry for the brief, of my of remaining life, however brief, and never be satiated, of love, and streams of water, never stilled, always running in patterns that exist, but for milliseconds, admired by clouds born in, of, a moment of re-formation that is perpetuity long: unending shape shifting, like the freedom of flowing water currents, forming, reforming and unthinkable, nay, inconceivable that human eyes or their spoken words could capture their shiny white foamy essence But of love, that we can do, paint, design, recreate its endless loops of undulations, like the radiating circularity of a pebble dropped gently to its burial sight in a quiet pond. Humans know, understand and excel at clasping and grasping at the synapsing of human cells from differing bodies: the exogenous erogenous of human touch that like the clouds and the water, who could paint that, who capable of capturing said sensations that wrack and enliven the body with invisible interior chemical reactions. I cannot. Thankfully better men and women have treatised  their entreaties to the powers of the universe and been rewarded with the skilled delicacy of weaving human tapestries, the milliseconds of connectivity, eclectic and electrifying of different currents and differing amperage’s forming and reforming like water moving, just  like the clouds changing in response to the externalities of wind and gravity and all the forces of nature that encourage us to study and stare at these flows, hoping to entrance them into standing still for but a moment, and instead, mesmerizing us into standing motionless for hours in awe of their freedom. Love’s undulations too mesmerizing, and freezing us into place, or alternatively caucus to run endlessly arms extending, flying though not airborne, rocketing us upwards while feet never budging, but finding good wards, masterful metaphors to recreate and thus to share the fabulous mystery of this thing we know as love. 2:58AM Friday jul 22 (jewel 22) of the 23rd year of the 21st Century. O.L.P.
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Jul 21, 2023
Jul 21, 2023 at 3:05 AM UTC
How do you paint water, or clouds? Or write of love?
how do you paint water, or clouds? I could read poetry for the brief, of my of remaining life, however brief, and never be satiated, of love, and streams of water, never stilled, always running in patterns that exist, but for milliseconds, admired by clouds born in, of, a moment of re-formation that is perpetuity long: unending shape shifting, like the freedom of flowing water currents, forming, reforming and unthinkable, nay, inconceivable that human eyes or their spoken words could capture their shiny white foamy essence But of love, that we can do, paint, design, recreate its endless loops of undulations, like the radiating circularity of a pebble dropped gently to its burial sight in a quiet pond. Humans know, understand and excel at clasping and grasping at the synapsing of human cells from differing bodies: the exogenous erogenous of human touch that like the clouds and the water, who could paint that, who capable of capturing said sensations that wrack and enliven the body with invisible interior chemical reactions. I cannot. Thankfully better men and women have treatised  their entreaties to the powers of the universe and been rewarded with the skilled delicacy of weaving human tapestries, the milliseconds of connectivity, eclectic and electrifying of different currents and differing amperage’s forming and reforming like water moving, just  like the clouds changing in response to the externalities of wind and gravity and all the forces of nature that encourage us to study and stare at these flows, hoping to entrance them into standing still for but a moment, and instead, mesmerizing us into standing motionless for hours in awe of their freedom. Love’s undulations too mesmerizing, and freezing us into place, or alternatively caucus to run endlessly arms extending, flying though not airborne, rocketing us upwards while feet never budging, but finding good wards, masterful metaphors to recreate and thus to share the fabulous mystery of this thing we know as love. 2:58AM Friday jul 22 (jewel 22) of the 23rd year of the 21st Century. O.L.P.
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47
I wake to something in my throat g / r / o / w / i / n / g it is yearning, hunting, haunting it moves deeper, to darker caves it is in search of a final burial site it wants permanence inside of me
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Mar 29, 2019
Mar 29, 2019 at 8:36 AM UTC
D E E P E R
Lone walker, In the midst of the crowd his heart was always alone. Sank into the belly of tribulations, Unlike the missionary journey of Jonah he was vomited into more woes. Like how a beautiful mountain in a wilderness thirst for tourist So his heart was hungry for love. If loneliness is synonymous to poverty then he deserved this cross. Lone walker, He lonely walked on thorns, struggled with everything, sweated blood. He lived a life of trapped miners in a cave miles below fresh air. Lone walker, Rain of respite barely shower on his path. Sun bit his skin, dews often united with his tears, For there was no even a free den for him to rest his head. His days were worse than the trials of Job, For he had not even a wife to encourage him to curse God and give up the ghost. Like an eaglet without a falcon, he was accustomed to crying for his dying talents that was hidden too deep for any scout to discover. To him the world was empty and void of helpers Until a moment came when he decided to abort his worries, fears and his ugly past. In a flash he recalled the parable of the talents, In a speed of lightning he stood and put his hidden gift into use. I key my mind into the eyes of the reader of his biography, As I stood in the midst of his children offspring in his burial ceremony fit for kings, With the assurance that he is not walking alone to heaven or hell indeed And surely his once lonely heart would be filled with merriment and peace.
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Dec 21, 2013
Dec 21, 2013 at 6:47 PM UTC
Lone Walker.
This bed is like a coffin With a burial each night. I could tell you where it all went wrong But it wouldn't make it right. I'm never worth Remembering You each showed me that. With your pretentious self obsession Words that always fell flat. Each day is long and empty. I cannot find my way, So forgive me Graciously While I slowly fade away.
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May 8, 2017
May 8, 2017 at 9:03 AM UTC
Disarray
I will disappear in fog and night Subdued in sound sleep And surprise Blinding lights Overwhelming might They will spirit me away And charge me with my crimes They will call me many names Even some that I may claim But none will be my own Traitor or subversive Criminal or defendant Or maybe Even something worse But I refuse to swear allegiance To the police state And fealty to the men Clad in black I will not submit Nor ever kneel down Though they may lay me On the ground But they don't know That I stole into the great hall of Valhalla In deepest dark of night And took with me One of their mighty spears Usurped their valor And added it to my might Now they will have to carry me Proudly on my shield Though my burning bier Be but a lonely cell It will be my burial And tonight I will dine In the great hall of Valhalla That place that still lives on In the mind of men
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Jul 17, 2014
Jul 17, 2014 at 10:48 AM UTC
Valhalla (Edited)
whom do you trust solider, sailor, tinker, tailor.... what eyes see the meaning of the blind what tongues listen...which lies in the picturesque morning beauty spins its deceptions with golden hued sunlight weaves its hand puppet theatricals made of fleeting wisps of smiles kissing gestures weakly delivered     solider,  sailor,  tinker,  tailor...     they gather round the dead man     some come to mourn the lost     some come to rifle through his pockets     some come to silently wait for their own fate he sits in his worn chair in a pool of lamplight with a small hammer in hand his spectacles on bridge of his nose tapping tapping ever so gently the thin metal mask tinker...tailor...sailor...solider the uniform of his mind shifts according to his lie his tool is always the deceptions and misdirections a sly smile...firm handshake...a signature style 'to whom do you trust' is a phrase that troubles him her perfume lingers in the air years have buried the cold war but not its warriors not their handiwork      they dress the dead man for his burial      with his decorations and platitudes      with his shiny sword and neat uniform      with honors they lay him      with truths his secret they bury him      why did he do thus....to whom did he answer      to the tomb with his truths and lies      to the tomb he gathers the long coat and the umbrella walks out in london's chill spring night to a bridge and throws a small box into the river long years after the cold war died these men of shadows still play these keepers of the gate still watch for hannibal and his horde solider,  sailor,  tinker,  tailor whom do you trust
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Aug 1, 2014
Aug 1, 2014 at 11:03 AM UTC
solider, sailor, tinker....
whom do you trust solider, sailor, tinker, tailor.... what eyes see the meaning of the blind what tongues listen...which lies in the picturesque morning beauty spins its deceptions with golden hued sunlight weaves its hand puppet theatricals made of fleeting wisps of smiles kissing gestures weakly delivered     solider,  sailor,  tinker,  tailor...     they gather round the dead man     some come to mourn the lost     some come to rifle through his pockets     some come to silently wait for their own fate he sits in his worn chair in a pool of lamplight with a small hammer in hand his spectacles on bridge of his nose tapping tapping ever so gently the thin metal mask tinker...tailor...sailor...solider the uniform of his mind shifts according to his lie his tool is always the deceptions and misdirections a sly smile...firm handshake...a signature style 'to whom do you trust' is a phrase that troubles him her perfume lingers in the air years have buried the cold war but not its warriors not their handiwork      they dress the dead man for his burial      with his decorations and platitudes      with his shiny sword and neat uniform      with honors they lay him      with truths his secret they bury him      why did he do thus....to whom did he answer      to the tomb with his truths and lies      to the tomb he gathers the long coat and the umbrella walks out in london's chill spring night to a bridge and throws a small box into the river long years after the cold war died these men of shadows still play these keepers of the gate still watch for hannibal and his horde solider,  sailor,  tinker,  tailor whom do you trust
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46
A Hebrew Prayer from the Sabbath Morning Service THESE ARE THINGS that are limitless, of which a person enjoys the fruit of the world, while the principal remains in the world to come. They are: honoring one’s father and mother, engaging in deeds of compassion, arriving early for study, morning and evening, dealing graciously with guests,                                                        visiting the sick,                                                                               providing for the wedding couple, accompanying the dead for burial, being devoted in prayer, and making peace among people. But the study of Torah^ encompasses them all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I briefly considered editing, adding to, rephrasing this translation. But reconsidered almost immediately, and instead wrote this down. Among the things that are limitless perfect is this prayer.
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Jun 10, 2017
Jun 10, 2017 at 8:34 PM UTC
THESE ARE THINGS that are limitless
she has become my distant lover. my heels crave the cracked holiness of her cobblestone. old city, dome, wall, burial you are still circling at my feet. now i only feel at home when i am close to the ground. mimicking the comfort i found at her feet - Jerusalem
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Mar 2, 2015
Mar 2, 2015 at 11:31 AM UTC
homeland
If wishes could be measure, Clem would have reign in wealth, Before he had a date with death. Poverty battled with him with all pleasure. In the tribulation, all his gray eyes saw was a jubilating future. In my clan, the death are kings, Their testimony barely bear guilts, Tales of that of dove and angelic. In these imperfect world, they are made perfect and heroic. That of clem wasn't different, No hair suspected him of having a great for a kin, Who in death embraced him to a golden casket, in Italian suit, shoes and a cow killed. His burial got what he never begged for in hundred fold Hmm! A late beggar decorated more than a groom to a royal fold. As all gathered round his six feet for a final bye, The in prophesied happened, Clem breath resurrected and all flee, Even the priest, men, women and their kids. Clem awoke into a dream, Agitating against mankind and why array of fortune should perish with a beggar like him, While there are countless beings escaping death each dawn in perpetual poverty. Griefs stricken for his old him, He rose, undertook his golden casket, sold it and became a king.
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Dec 21, 2013
Dec 21, 2013 at 7:04 PM UTC
Perfect Resurrection
mean beam bottom ***** without reluctance. \\ air above \\ since forever baby boy: since forever liquid sparkler. he has sense & peanut butter jelly geography to his page. his romance is of the west. his eyes are of dandelions kicked & to the wind. he moves like ancient turtle migration. reaches feet to sidewalk \\ sand to depths \\ ride \\ night: velcro-tightened mind withstanding. party lights, ***** willows, retro punch, he is orpheus descending: with all the elements positioned just so. \\ jellyfish electric \\ he says he likes the loneliness. he says it’s the water. & so he moves \\ wills himself into the next measure. liquid resolute bits. so move \\ orca \\ curl of eye \\ so ride \\ black rollo wave \\ basilica \\ & \\ coral reaches below \\\\\ he likes to tell it, with warmed exaggeration. slow-motion buffalo stampede. ride the railroads free & easy. orange glowing bars of elsewhere. oscillating seal calls. oily portland hipsters howling on the beach. those juno cheeked rosy-red lips. somewhere, sister getting married. spring, summer, fall, winter, spring. africa girl on a branch of a tree of a forest, overlooking elephant burial grounds. color & white material: plantations, gas stations, diners, & sharks. this is the morning lunar \\ sweet blue beach of the old & awakening. he crawls out & into her breaks. her deep heights & bombora reef. the serotonin functions twice, exposed between thin tissues of warm-blooded neurochemistry. human, shown. he is as a raw page, blank, yet dipped \\ \\ so ride \\ bulbous waves of air mother agua \\ ride \\ & \\ ride \\ & brew by light these occurrences forever.
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Mar 28, 2014
Mar 28, 2014 at 4:41 AM UTC
the loneliness of the longboard surfer
mean beam bottom ***** without reluctance. \\ air above \\ since forever baby boy: since forever liquid sparkler. he has sense & peanut butter jelly geography to his page. his romance is of the west. his eyes are of dandelions kicked & to the wind. he moves like ancient turtle migration. reaches feet to sidewalk \\ sand to depths \\ ride \\ night: velcro-tightened mind withstanding. party lights, ***** willows, retro punch, he is orpheus descending: with all the elements positioned just so. \\ jellyfish electric \\ he says he likes the loneliness. he says it’s the water. & so he moves \\ wills himself into the next measure. liquid resolute bits. so move \\ orca \\ curl of eye \\ so ride \\ black rollo wave \\ basilica \\ & \\ coral reaches below \\\\\ he likes to tell it, with warmed exaggeration. slow-motion buffalo stampede. ride the railroads free & easy. orange glowing bars of elsewhere. oscillating seal calls. oily portland hipsters howling on the beach. those juno cheeked rosy-red lips. somewhere, sister getting married. spring, summer, fall, winter, spring. africa girl on a branch of a tree of a forest, overlooking elephant burial grounds. color & white material: plantations, gas stations, diners, & sharks. this is the morning lunar \\ sweet blue beach of the old & awakening. he crawls out & into her breaks. her deep heights & bombora reef. the serotonin functions twice, exposed between thin tissues of warm-blooded neurochemistry. human, shown. he is as a raw page, blank, yet dipped \\ \\ so ride \\ bulbous waves of air mother agua \\ ride \\ & \\ ride \\ & brew by light these occurrences forever.
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44
Singing birds are often better off caged, and maybe I’m no different. Maybe it’s safer, biting my tongue and shoving my hands deep in my pockets when the urge to delineate my woes shivers its way up my spine, shaking the rust from the back of my teeth and loosening the hinges on my jaw. I’m constantly reminded that the world outside my mind is far too dangerous, too brutal for my fragile thoughts, for my feeble words. But every now and then those words get the better of me. They convince me that their songs are worth hearing, that they’ll survive the hell that awaits them. Then, eager and hopeful, they jump off my teeth like a diving board, spreading their wings and gliding out into the world of the unknown, the world of wars waged to divide and battles fought to conquer. I watch as they hang suspended in the air, wings spread, small and beautiful against the ominous background, innocent if only for a fleeting moment. But, of course, beauty has no place here. I cringe as the shots ring out from all directions, as everyone around me opens fire upon my winged thoughts. I shut my eyes tightly against the firing of guns, arrows, cannons: delivering the message loud and clear that the airspace between me and the world is better left unclouded by my superfluous banter. I try not to watch as they drop from the sky, my unsuspecting words, but my eyes force themselves open. Wings broken, hearts still, they crash to the ground, silenced. I want to gather them one by one, my feathered thoughts, gently in my hands; I would take them somewhere safe and give them a proper burial, for they were once so near and dear to me. But I’m afraid of what lies in the battlefield. I’m afraid of the landmines and the barbed wire and the trenches. So I bow my head, refasten the locks on my sore, stiffened jaw, and turn my back on the carnage, on the dirt and grass and the haze and smoke. I turn from my defeated birds, form the bodies of my barely spoken words, and I leave them.
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Oct 31, 2012
Oct 31, 2012 at 3:19 AM UTC
Words of a Feather.
Singing birds are often better off caged, and maybe I’m no different. Maybe it’s safer, biting my tongue and shoving my hands deep in my pockets when the urge to delineate my woes shivers its way up my spine, shaking the rust from the back of my teeth and loosening the hinges on my jaw. I’m constantly reminded that the world outside my mind is far too dangerous, too brutal for my fragile thoughts, for my feeble words. But every now and then those words get the better of me. They convince me that their songs are worth hearing, that they’ll survive the hell that awaits them. Then, eager and hopeful, they jump off my teeth like a diving board, spreading their wings and gliding out into the world of the unknown, the world of wars waged to divide and battles fought to conquer. I watch as they hang suspended in the air, wings spread, small and beautiful against the ominous background, innocent if only for a fleeting moment. But, of course, beauty has no place here. I cringe as the shots ring out from all directions, as everyone around me opens fire upon my winged thoughts. I shut my eyes tightly against the firing of guns, arrows, cannons: delivering the message loud and clear that the airspace between me and the world is better left unclouded by my superfluous banter. I try not to watch as they drop from the sky, my unsuspecting words, but my eyes force themselves open. Wings broken, hearts still, they crash to the ground, silenced. I want to gather them one by one, my feathered thoughts, gently in my hands; I would take them somewhere safe and give them a proper burial, for they were once so near and dear to me. But I’m afraid of what lies in the battlefield. I’m afraid of the landmines and the barbed wire and the trenches. So I bow my head, refasten the locks on my sore, stiffened jaw, and turn my back on the carnage, on the dirt and grass and the haze and smoke. I turn from my defeated birds, form the bodies of my barely spoken words, and I leave them.
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3
One puts all nature into mourning, One lights her like a flaring sun — What whispers ‘Burial’ to the one Cries to the other, ‘Life and Morning.’ The unknown Hermes who assists The role of Midas to reverse, And makes me by a subtle curse The saddest of all alchemists — By him, my paradise to hell, And gold to **** is changed too well. The clouds are winding-sheets, and I, uncover corpses loved of old; and where the shores celestial die I carve vast tombs against the sky.
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Dec 2, 2013
Dec 2, 2013 at 6:13 AM UTC
The Alchemy of Sorrow - Charles Baudelaire
I like slandering your makeshift forceps. I hammer you down with watery *** and then spill the remainder on the couch. Yarg! A diamond’s worth at least a small intestine, and you are worth whatever’s left over after night has upended itself, poured sideways out of its shellacked crawlspace, and turned the basement sour. There are remnants of you in the park, some red stain by the baseball field where, if you’ll remember, you watched little leaguers build teamwork, and faint splotches on tree bark from your lactations which, if you’ll remember, happened every morning. I whisper your godforsaken name and am slapped in the head. The children cry when I smile. I cry when the children smile. Good heavens. I forbid you from not entering my corridor, even as I set up a barricade. I like my water scalding, my passion chilled, and I like you in easy-to- swallow doses. I like you in my eggs. Ditto the faucet, keyboard, the occasional lily, but do not mess with my pearls. I mumble of apodictic meadows while I sleep. What can I say? I do not mumble of unclogging your bathtub, which has a certain foul repute, and has grown heavy and ugly with your hair, which is everywhere, just as you are everywhere, and wherever, and so ********* hidden it’s not funny anymore, we stopped looking some millennia ago, after scouring the drainpipes, kicking down your doors, dissecting your mattress, speculating about your burial site, etcetera, and even so we have not been really looking all this time, have we, just blaring your name through the speakers, putting wrong numbers on our calling cards, leaving uncooked meat out on the back porch as if you were a raccoon, oh, or a lion, which you are not, or not quite, though, as the books say, you have honey in your stomach, and if you could but be ripped open we would taste and see.
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May 25, 2010
May 25, 2010 at 8:21 PM UTC
Sleep-deprived Birdcall (in the year in which the weather cancelled the subcommittee on the weather)
I like slandering your makeshift forceps. I hammer you down with watery *** and then spill the remainder on the couch. Yarg! A diamond’s worth at least a small intestine, and you are worth whatever’s left over after night has upended itself, poured sideways out of its shellacked crawlspace, and turned the basement sour. There are remnants of you in the park, some red stain by the baseball field where, if you’ll remember, you watched little leaguers build teamwork, and faint splotches on tree bark from your lactations which, if you’ll remember, happened every morning. I whisper your godforsaken name and am slapped in the head. The children cry when I smile. I cry when the children smile. Good heavens. I forbid you from not entering my corridor, even as I set up a barricade. I like my water scalding, my passion chilled, and I like you in easy-to- swallow doses. I like you in my eggs. Ditto the faucet, keyboard, the occasional lily, but do not mess with my pearls. I mumble of apodictic meadows while I sleep. What can I say? I do not mumble of unclogging your bathtub, which has a certain foul repute, and has grown heavy and ugly with your hair, which is everywhere, just as you are everywhere, and wherever, and so ********* hidden it’s not funny anymore, we stopped looking some millennia ago, after scouring the drainpipes, kicking down your doors, dissecting your mattress, speculating about your burial site, etcetera, and even so we have not been really looking all this time, have we, just blaring your name through the speakers, putting wrong numbers on our calling cards, leaving uncooked meat out on the back porch as if you were a raccoon, oh, or a lion, which you are not, or not quite, though, as the books say, you have honey in your stomach, and if you could but be ripped open we would taste and see.
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38
Amadou awakened with a start, it was Omar one of the guardians(security guards) of Yaldagou (the largest Hospital in the capital of Burkina Faso) knocking on the window of his taxi, Amadou had just settled down for the night after a long day in the heat and fumes that was Ouagadougou it was just after midnight on Sunday, he struggled to wake up rubbing the sleep from his eyes as Omar explained in Mori(local language), that there were two white people in need of his special service. After a quick explanation that someone had died in a private clinic nearby and the body needed to be transported to the morgue at Yaldagou,  he snapped out of his sleepiness and thought for a moment how much he could charge the rich white people, it was two days after Eid and as a strict Muslim he had been celebrating the holidays and now he had been offered an opportunity to supplement his taxi income, someone had to do it and it was an unsavory job and anyway on the few occasions he had done it, it had been lucrative, it might as well be him! Amadou thought to himself, if you had the misfortune to die in the day time there was a private service but in the night dignity went out the window and it was up to people like Amadou and a select bunch of taxi drivers with seats that could be configured to accommodate the corpses of the recently deceased to perform this service, so taxi 87 driven by Amadou would take this lady who had died from kidney and other ***** failures, after struggling for some days she eventually lost her battle and slipped into unconsciousness and finally died. Amadou finally settled on 10000 CFA(local currency) a fair price, after all the so-called professionals would charge 30000 CFA three times more and it was around Eid "Allah Akbar".   A quick "Thank you" to Omar for helping them and the two white people left with him for the short journey to the clinic, after the usual discussions the body was released and  transported to the morgue to join the other recently deceased waiting for burial in the morning, Amadou, rearranged the seating in his taxi after parking up in his favourite place under the trees of Yaldago it was just after one thirty, a good ninety mins work he thought to himself, yawned, and settled down to sleep a few more hours before dawn prayers. This was Africa and "someone had to do it" was his last thought.
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Nov 26, 2012
Nov 26, 2012 at 7:26 PM UTC
An unsavoury job - "someone had to do it"
Amadou awakened with a start, it was Omar one of the guardians(security guards) of Yaldagou (the largest Hospital in the capital of Burkina Faso) knocking on the window of his taxi, Amadou had just settled down for the night after a long day in the heat and fumes that was Ouagadougou it was just after midnight on Sunday, he struggled to wake up rubbing the sleep from his eyes as Omar explained in Mori(local language), that there were two white people in need of his special service. After a quick explanation that someone had died in a private clinic nearby and the body needed to be transported to the morgue at Yaldagou,  he snapped out of his sleepiness and thought for a moment how much he could charge the rich white people, it was two days after Eid and as a strict Muslim he had been celebrating the holidays and now he had been offered an opportunity to supplement his taxi income, someone had to do it and it was an unsavory job and anyway on the few occasions he had done it, it had been lucrative, it might as well be him! Amadou thought to himself, if you had the misfortune to die in the day time there was a private service but in the night dignity went out the window and it was up to people like Amadou and a select bunch of taxi drivers with seats that could be configured to accommodate the corpses of the recently deceased to perform this service, so taxi 87 driven by Amadou would take this lady who had died from kidney and other ***** failures, after struggling for some days she eventually lost her battle and slipped into unconsciousness and finally died. Amadou finally settled on 10000 CFA(local currency) a fair price, after all the so-called professionals would charge 30000 CFA three times more and it was around Eid "Allah Akbar".   A quick "Thank you" to Omar for helping them and the two white people left with him for the short journey to the clinic, after the usual discussions the body was released and  transported to the morgue to join the other recently deceased waiting for burial in the morning, Amadou, rearranged the seating in his taxi after parking up in his favourite place under the trees of Yaldago it was just after one thirty, a good ninety mins work he thought to himself, yawned, and settled down to sleep a few more hours before dawn prayers. This was Africa and "someone had to do it" was his last thought.
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7
Closely I observe myself from afar. My world transforms into a perplexed dream. Earth-toned hues shine brighter than any star. Perception composes a wary theme. Contorted tree limbs mock every movement. Eyes become filled with cotton candy clouds. Conversations are no longer fluent. Alone I walk in a burial shroud. I pinch my arm to make sure I’m not dead. Numb is the only sensation I feel. Broken shards of faith bear a tint of red. The face in the mirror doesn’t look real. Existence slowly crumbles into sand. I’m a stranger who roams this foreign land.
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Apr 7, 2013
Apr 7, 2013 at 9:42 PM UTC
Depersonalization (Sonnet)
There once was a boy named "Odd." And he was a very strange, indeed. People used to laugh at his name, so he decided to leave his gravestone bare of his burden. But now you see, when people pass over his burial site, they point and wonder with a backward smile and say, "How Odd and very strange, indeed?"
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Mar 31, 2013
Mar 31, 2013 at 2:22 PM UTC
Odd and strange
Translated by Przemyslaw Musialowski 11/3/2019 My homeland - dear land, where for the first time I saw the sun   and where I came to know God; Where my father, brothers and mother kind taught me prayers in my maternal tongue. My homeland - villages and cities, planted from the times of Piasts among Lechic fields; Rivers, forests, flowery leas and meadows, where larks sing their sweet songs of hope. My homeland - our forefathers' glory, Chrobry's Notched Sword and Cecora Mace, Knightly Spirit, noble and brave, bitter defeats and victories great. My homeland - quiet green fields for centuries trampled by hostile armies, burial mounds and sad graves that have covered our freedom defenders. My homeland - heroic spirit of the Polish people, that by miracle lives amid hunger and cold; - hope that always blooms in hearts, with work for the fathers, and song for the young! Maria Konopnicka (1842-1910)
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Nov 3, 2019
Nov 3, 2019 at 11:32 AM UTC
My homeland