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Traci Sims Jul 2020
Chorus
And here's to you, Tucker Carlson
I loathe you more than you will ever know,
Please, please go.
What's that response, Tucker Carlson?
I'm a snowflake and I'm
Probably gay,
Hey, hey, hey...
Hey, hey, hey...

l.
I'd like to find the idiot
Who gave you your own show
Which *** was firmly kissed to get your job?
Roger Ailes is probably laughing from his couch in Hell,
He never dreamed that FOX could sink this low.

And now look at you, Tucker Carlson,
Ratings climbing higher every day,
(Sad to say),
Keep telling lies, Tucker Carlson,
You'll be president if they get their way,
Hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey.

ll.
Remember when Jon Stewart took you down?
It was at a "Crossfire" debate
It was epic, you got canceled,
That was just the start,
Everything you touch is second-rate.

Where have you gone, Bill O'Reilly?
The "No-Spin Zone" is calling out to you,
(Boo hoo hoo).
What's that again, Tucker Carlson?
Bill's a perv and you are here to stay,
Hey, hey, hey,
Hey, hey, hey.
This was fun (And hard) to write! plus, this poem only makes sense if you know:
Who Simon and Garfunkel are
Who Tucker Carlson is
What FOX news stands for
But I hope you read it anyway! Cheers!
Ken Pepiton Oct 2018
--- as a boy, I explored a hermit's lair
--- the hermit was not there, he'd left nothing but a tin box
--- of charcoal pills, a panacea for curiosity, I was told.

This old bearded fellow who lived at the foot o'thumb butte,
by the burro's water hole,
other side o'the hill from Doug McVicar's Jasper find

Tidal shorelines from my child hood
swirling through the softed rocks

Boulders on the bottom, roll on, crustal waves rise and fall

it all goes back to that 13,000 year mark
when Gobekli Tepi,
was in the building,
long long before
the Hopis were on the Pollen Way, leaving land marks on

Rocks risen above the desert floor

Some thing came from space, something very cold,
a snowball so big it tugged the ocean of magma
through the crust of the earth

nuclear glass, same time. nano diamonds

The younger dryas-

melt water pulse, fire from the sky, men could see that, with their own eyes.
and then they saw the clouds of witnesses

Rituals learned, the story heart seeps from mother to child,

at first touch some say.

Specialized touches were included in the 2.0s.
Holistic wuwu Randall Carlson laughs, why lie? Evidence, see.

What did you see when you passed through hell the first time?
Nothing, you kept your eyes shut.

Are you really
Experienced? That was the question. Ask the experts,
but some of them lie.
Never trust their clocks, that's wise. Time is too temporary to make
much difference
in the long run. Time, least of all powers in eternity. Chronos,
Chaos shattered him, and some story teller on a journey
saw the event
while his tongue was being tamed, a task no man can do.

Fire and Ice from heaven to earth,
whole peoples saw it,
with the eyes in their head

Hope is the key to the heart's lock on reality

The younger Dryad's oak burned,
Drought killed all the others, bugs killed the elms.

Ah spirit to spirit, compare. The heart of the world is weeping
for the ignorant eaters of poisoned poems and stagnant stories

speed kills when it comes to cosmic notes on rocks

patience, under stand the canopy of heaven can, filter
poison from those
stagnant stories's idle words, redemption draweth nigh,

count on it. Keep counting, patience finishes what she starts.

Sacred Geometry, scale invariance, I saw the Mississippi
Carve meandering ant canyons in the dirt
while watching the rain
Nothing's secret anymore, that's a reality that may be beyond

your thought. Textbook in stone. I know geometry Mr. P,

can I come in? She who builds, who destroys, who rebuilds, suggested
my bombs have a Nobel role,
in energizing

the ark
the earth is the ark, but you knew that already, right.

Acacia bush visions from a medium
of messaging the master builder,
who, you know, made this
happen, used to heal with ashes.

Healing war, study it no more, it is
possible man, alone, can imagine.

The Godhead? What's the big idea? You a heretic, Mr. P?

Come and see, leave the clock/phone.
---

This is big momma story, little clay doll with pointy feet
sticks in the dirt, stares at the fire,

the story mamma, shhh

Stands, and lifts her hands up high, pointing
all her fingers to the skies where ashes, glowing
rise,
like we can imagine the stars once scattered by God
and his sons's servants prepping

origins of human conflict taught
Tubalcain by fire light, while Jubal
Sang the very umph umph song from
Taj Mahal' 1970 with Jerry, Fillmore West,

A message to Garcia, from on high:
the imbecility of the average man—
the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it,
That, resist. It is evil.

Angels, imaginable, you know, mere messages, nothin more,

so great a cloud of witnesses
there was a times when  all
imaginations men were imagining heartily
were evil, altogether.

Enki left and went to the moon, or that's the story grandma's
sisters told me
when I was a little boy lost and found from time to time

The serpent on the staff, where's that story from?
Who says their mammy saw that happen.

Time, Hosts of Heaven, time is one of those.

Fan tasty taste, see, the truth is good.

Freedom, responsible freedom, take as granted,
intend good and go.
Seed of the Dream,
I planted that. It contained this fact,

we reap what we sow.

Ambi-Dios, ambit-ion with no hope for something just beyond
the best that I have ever done,
that'll make a child mean as hell, on the average,
according to the data Google smuggled into China
through those super phones,
unavailable in the USA, protected by the wielders
of destruction who eat the world up,
and drink its very blood.

the bread of shame, is fed to slaves to keep them in the queue,

BTW que-eee was the word I used for ****, when I was a child.
I took that word to school.
Nobody knew what it meant. I considered that cool
and kept my secret until just now.

I feel so free.

A builder sees a building and the builder in a single glance.
None may enter here lacking geometry, that's no secret now.
The cultivated Pythagorean mind, simple as pi.

'Cain't get to Romans eight, which is here, now, I think,
with out going beyond Hebrew six.

The measure of a man that is the angel. No comma,
just a jot, then this means that,
to the mind
listening for mystery in beauty found lying around.,
glistening in the sun.
The charcoal pills I found fifty three years ago, these wandering thoughts I found dancing the trail earlier this morning.
I cried
Until the night died
And morning came to rise*

© Melissa Carlson 2015
I know it was your time
And I know it had to be
But He took you too soon;
You meant so much to me.

I miss you.

I've been trying to remember,
and trying to forget
The memories we made together
The prayers that were said.

I miss you.

May they see You in me.

09/04/14
<3

© Melissa Carlson 2015
Lawrence Hall Feb 2023
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Logosophiamag.c­om
Hellopoetry.com
Fellowshipandfairydust.com

         The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Recognizes Tucker Carlson

                                      And only Tucker Carlson

The First Amendment defends everyone’s views
And does not surrender the nation to Fox News
Francie Lynch Jul 2021
I look forward to the re-enactments of historic moments in the pageant of The United States of America. [sic]

Gettysburg, Crossing the Delaware, The Moon Landing, Paul Revere's Ride, The March on Washington, The Storming of the Capital, The Clearing of Lafayette Plaza, The George Floyd ******, The Separation of Families, The Arizona Re-count, The Plot to Assassinate Democratic Governors, The Imprisonment of: Jared, Donny, Eric, Ivanka, Don, Carlson, Greene, Gaetz, Guilianni, Hannity, Conway, McVeigh, Barr [sic] (just to mention a few of the Founding ****-Ups.), the death of 650,000 people (the vast majority being innocent), The Pandemic of the Unvaxxed [sic]

After July 4, 2024, History may never be the same. See it now!
Why* do they appear so mystified?
As if every little thing must be justified
Moved to fit inside their small box
And look away when their key couldn't unlock
What they aimed to achieve
Does it ever make you giggle
When people call you fickle
But they're the ones whose eyes are fixed
On an object not quite literally applicable,
Something regarded as abstract, typically unseen
You see: I am a metaphor
And people stare at me.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
judy smith Apr 2015
Preparations are gearing up for the iD Dunedin Fashion Show, which this year opens with a tribute to Australasian style on Anzac weekend.

The 120m-long platform of Dunedin's railway station is again the venue for shows on April 24 and 25, which are preceded by the iD International Emerging Designer Awards on Thursday night at the Town Hall.

Saturday night is sold out and about 100 tickets are still available to Friday's show, organisers say.

Labels Carlson, Mild-Red and NOM*d, brands synonymous with Dunedin fashion, were in the original show in a local bar in 2000 and they're still show stalwarts.

Company of Strangers, Charmaine Reveley, DADA Vintage, Storm, Perriam, Deval, GG (from Shanghai), Liann Bellis, BEATS clothing, Jason Lingard and Jane Sutherland are also strutting their stuff this year.

The shows open with a section titled Together Alone, Revisited, put together by Doris De Pont, featuring garments by four New Zealand and three Australian designers shown at an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2009.

International guest judge Doris Raymond, the star of documentary series LA Frockstars, is also bringing some garments with her for the show.

The owner of vintage emporium The Way We Wore has a fabulous collection of outfits and she will talk about them at an event in the city on Friday.

Six fashion graduate designers from the Otago Polytechnic School of Design will also show their collections in the shows on Friday and Saturday night.

Garments made by the winner of the emerging designer awards are also in the show.

The finalists were selected from nearly 100 entries from seven countries and 14 fashion schools.

There's a strong showing from Australian schools, especially from Sydney, says judge Tanya Carlson.Read more here:www.marieaustralia.com/evening-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/short-formal-dresses
Lawrence Hall Feb 20
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

         A One-Line Dismissal of Tucker Carlson Isn’t a Poem, But…


                                   Democracy dies in dorkness
Tucker Carlson
Spencer Carlson Jan 2015
Hi my name is Spencer Carlson
And I swear to god that I'm an alien
And all my attempts to be human
Have only left me more isolated.
As the boy waits
To get drunk at the party scene
A nomadic nowhere man
Dreams of what life really could have been

And I'm
Sitting here listening
To silence waiting
For it to finally
Change it's key

And I would give anything
To hold you through the night and
Tell you that everything
Is gonna be alright but
My arms are tentacles
And my teeth are razor sharp
And every time I reached out to you
You always pushed me back into the dark

And I'm
Sitting here listening
To silence waiting
For it to finally
Change it's key

And I wish that I never knew
I wish that I never knew
What it takes for you
To forget the pain that's haunting
That’s haunting you

I dream to be the one
To save you from this hell but
Everybody else shows you
Ways to save yourself so
What does that make me?
I don't know I'll
Never be as good as a drug
So I will just go where

I'm
Sitting and Listening
To Silence waiting
For it to Finally
Change it's key

https://spencercarlson.bandcamp.com/track/alien
First track from my album "The Universe is Screaming
My tired eyes cry
My weary body lies
And why do my tears
Think they cannot dry?

Shaky hands and nervous throat
Exhausted heart, this stimulated soul
They ridiculously wait, day after day,
For a break from sorrow, a thing called hope.

How is it that I can live, but it is the hardest thing I ever did?

© Melissa Carlson 2016
She
i watched her lips part and smile form
i heard her laugh start and heart warm
her heart was sore and her jeans were ripped
her mouth sipped coffee from the mug she gripped

the pages from her book were bent,
they were stained where the coffee dripped
the pages from her book smelled like home
they reminded her of him

i watched her lips part as her feeble voice shook
tears filled her sorry eyes as she put away her book

she told me that she saw her life
as a page in a book she didn't intend to write


© Melissa Carlson 2015
beside your brother-in-law, they placed you in the ground. they buried you by my great grandparents in an unpopulated town. by early September, the grass was cold; but they made a spot for you, so they wouldn’t be alone. dressed in black, i took a step forward; i grasped some courage, then reached for a rose. there were tears in my eyes; there was hesitancy in my step. they lowered your coffin as i took a deep breath. i swear i tried; i tried to be strong. but i remember you healthy, and now you’re just gone. so here i am; i’m faced with a choice: cry quickly, move on, & live, or socialize and listen, & try to forgive. they’re all here, grandma, your friends and your family; they came. you have no idea how great an impact in these lives that which you have made. i didn’t tell you that i’d been halfway lying, about the mistakes that i’d made. i regret not sharing my poems with you. i’m sorry for the excuses i always made. i’m sorry that i didn’t just sit with you to visit and crochet; i tried too hard to be busy until it was just too late. and i live with that regret everyday. grandma, i miss you. i love you. i know where you are lain. your beautiful soul is flying with angels, but your body’s in this dying grave. unrelenting overthinking causes a heart to stop its beating, and this gut-wrenching under-eating has got to STOP. my stomach’s bleeding from the constant hunger to feel needed. to be heard & to live in peace…once more. because grandma, i went back to your grave on September 7th this year, but i could not find your site. and i started to cry as i wandered aimlessly; to try to lay down the letter to you that i started to write. they told me that you’re better off now, but i’m not so sure i can go on living like my heart didn’t get torn out. my hands shake as i hang my head in shame because i cannot bear the thought of someone looking at me and finally noticing that i am broken..and hurt. frankly, i ache inside because, though i was there when you were buried, i know not where you lie. i forgot to pay too much attention to the site of your grave. maybe it’s because i was afraid to admit that this would turn out to be a familiar place, a desperate space, an earth-shattering, sob-crying, soul-dying, terrifying thing! grandma, i am afraid. because this…this is where you are lain.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
My heart needs a lock;
Give my mind the key.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
irinia Sep 2022
Poetry is the weeping eye
it is the weeping shoulder
the weeping eye of the shoulder
it is the weeping hand
the weeping eye of the hand
it is the weeping soul
the weeping eye of the heel.
Oh, you friends,
poetry is not a tear
it is the weeping itself
the weeping of an uninvented eye
the tear of the eye
of the one who must be beautiful
of the one who must be happy.

by Nichita Stanescu, translated by Thomas Carlson and Vasile Poenaru
she feels words like pictures that move
reads books solitaire with the afternoon
coffee on her tongue
she turns the page
sets her cup down
and marks her place

in her mind she tries to find
a single place where thoughts subside
and try she may
to drown her lies
only thing wet
her lonely eyes

© Melissa Carlson 2015
the spiral takes place
in your heart
in your soul
and on your face

it'll knock you down
spit you out
twist your mind
and linger about

the spiral, what pain
the journey, the spaces
all these empty places
they leave you insane

unexpected interests
(un)desired love
unrelenting emotions
used to feeling numb

the affect is collateral
the hurting are told
handing out pieces
not meant to be sold

the spiral takes place
in your soul
and on the faces of the people
who see the pain you hold.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
stop comparing yourself to other people. please? you are just fine, you're beautiful and i accept you. you've got to stop calling each other names and labeling each other based on the things that have been said to you. let the past lie. you're perforating your dreams. they'll die and you'll have nothing left to go after. i don't care how long it takes to assure you that your worth isn't ever going to be defined by what's been said to you. you animate the wildest sides of me. you should believe in you because i believe in you and you should too. stay you, but be happy and trust in the One who loves you every single day. even though you are in the condition that you are in. you'll be perfectly okay.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
For those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
if tonight's your last
and yesterday's past
intimidates you or
relentlessly accuses you
of the things that
once enchanted you
and you take a slap in the face
you cut to the chase
there's no time to waste
but really you're stuck
you feel out of place
and the rhythm of the sorrow
drags into tomorrow
because you cannot forget
and there is abundant regret
draining from the scars
that you've tried to hide
that you've put aside
and in reality, your soul
IS TIRED
of waiting, of praying
of feeling like it's straying
you breathe, you sleep,
you live as if you
were not dying
you're still trying
TO BE OK
but you are broken and
you cannot cope
and all of your hope
has gone up in smoke
to where has your spirit flown?
LET GO
for the love of God, release
give it to the One you seek
to Him whom your eyes have not seen
in this moment, you are
FREED.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
I am not yet who I am supposed to be.

I have a past; I have regrets.
And there are words that I'd love to take back.

Shame can take me places I wish not to be.
Those things that I have done come creeping back to me.

I feel like a child who's lost and alone. I never feel safe, I never feel at home.

My eyes are blind, can this be? I feel like a prisoner who won't be set free.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
books are our friends
they will never betray
or fade away
they will not leave
or walk away
they are here to stay

© Melissa Carlson 2015
If I was to write a poem
On the story of my life
Words would fill those pages
As the stars steal the sky.*

© Melissa Carlson 2015
i want to be a child sometimes. i want to embrace life's experiences with an innocent smile and look upon others as though they were understood. i want to take back every sane thing i've said and just completely let go of everything that is keeping me from living my life as intense as i crave. because it's okay to not be okay. it is okay to want to change and be somebody else for a time; just promise me something:

don't let it overtake you, steal your soul, or trap your spirit.

you're beautiful, child, see the loveliness that rapidly grows. peace spreads like wildfire from your smile. joy is evident in your eyes; it demands to be seen.  pain, though felt, is NOT what defines you.  you have been remade, and i love you. i love you so very much.*


© Melissa Carlson 2015
Dear Grandma,

I love you. So much. And I smiled so big when I opened my e-mail and saw that you had already replied. I read your e-mail to my mom; we laughed and smiled together. I'm glad that you and Grandpa can laugh while reading my writing. It makes my heart glad to know that what I have to say makes a positive and impacting influence on my readers.

On being careful to not dispose of items...you are so right, and I thank you, ever dearly, for the amazing, experiential advice. It makes me think of times I've been upset and ripped out pages I had previously written, all because of some stupid thing somebody may have said to speak death over me.

I doubt that I'll ever really understand what certain people mean when what they have to say to others is all but joyful and/or uplifting in any way. God knows, though, praise Him. I've been trying my best to speak a lot of life into my heart and soul. I had been super busy, and as a result, I hadn't had enough time to really sit and ponder the way I sometimes, negatively, judged those around me. I silently speak death over them, in reality, and to me, that is one of my most disliked qualities. People should love other people. Now, I want to add in, as a side note, that SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE counts as speaking life, and not death. I wish more of us humans were blunt and honest with ourselves, as far as telling somebody the very raw and complete truth. Nobody is ever going to get anywhere by being compliant their whole life. I feel so strongly about this because when I am down and not doing well, it DOES NOT help me to be told things such as,

"You'll be alright. Everything will be perfectly okay."

Lots of times circumstances stink, and when they do, it sure doesn't help me to hear somebody whisper that it'll be okay. I just need to be told that whatever I got goin' on, just kinda ***** at the moment. And maybe it will for a long time. But someday, I'll be glad to have had that experience, no matter how bad it might have been at that time. That's what I wish somebody would say to everybody going through stuff. Everybody needs somebody who will be life in the middle of his or her sadness.

Anyways, that's really inspiring about Green Mill, and how you were inspired to write what would soon be the prologue to your book. I really appreciate that; thank you for sharing your experience with me. It made me feel like I was really there, by the lake. I could almost feel the soft, cool breeze blowing my stray hair around. I could almost hear the little waves softly crashing to the rocky "shore." I love it when that happens, when writing becomes something I feel, and not just something I do.

I am so glad that you are alive, Grandma (and Grandpa). You are quite swell, and I mean it. I love you both so much.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
is love a pat on the back;
                                                   a handshake exchanged?
                                                   is love a smile unseen;
                                                   a song to ease the pain?

                                                   is love meant to last on and on;
                                                   is it there to be true?
                                                   is it meant to stay strong;
                                                   is it for the soul who's blue?

                                                   is love so sincere as "i love you;"
                                                   is it as informal as "see you soon?"
                                                   is it misused or confused;
                                                   has it been very terribly abused?

                                                   if love has more than once abandoned you,
                                                   if love has more than one time rescued you,
                                                   if the one who said his love was true,
                                                   has not for long remembered you.

                                                   love is too casually thrown around;
                                                   and love is sometimes better left unfound.
                                                   the thing about love is that it's meant to last,                                                            ­                                                                 ­               
                                                   but so many times love loves too fast.
                                                   -mc//

© Melissa Carlson 2015
I feel so alone right now
I look through my empty eyes
Just clinging to anything, anyone
I'm so tired, the pull is getting stronger
Sleep is useless, I dream no more

I'm being pulled into The Black Hole
I can feel that familiar emptiness
It's here, I don't want to fight anymore
I can feel It surrounding me

I'm inside looking out at life
Do I want to give up my life
Should I call out to others for help
Can I reach out with my hands

Maybe I'm too deep by now
Maybe I'll turn away and just fall
Do I really believe anyone cares
I can't decide, it's too much

I can see people I used to call friends
Maybe if I jump, I can grab the edge
Then I call out to anyone at this time
You heard my cry and turned to me

You reached out your loving hands
You took hold of mine, I felt different
The Black Hole didn't want me to go
I wrapped my hands around yours

You pulled, It pulled back with force
I was starting back up to the light
I looked up into your pools of life
I could see unrequited love there to

My heart and soul were overflowing
I could feel the grip of The Black Hole
This time, I chose to fight for my life
You pulled and I kicked free

At first, I felt very vulnerable
You wrapped me in Your arms
There are no words but I hear you
I feel and hear you in my soul

My depression blinded me from You
I was so wracked with my own issues
I forgot to look for a reason to pray
I forgot Your promise to all of us

Your promise to always walk with us
Your promise to always listen to us
Your promise to always care for us
All we need to do is to be humble and Pray and You will forever be there

When you feel like you have no one
When you feel like your life has let you Down and you can see It coming
Turn away, clear your thoughts
Humble yourself, get down on your Knees and pray

If we don't ask for what we need
With your voice, God loves to hear us  
He can't help unless you give your     Whole heart and soul and trust Him

He has promised to help us fulfill our Lives when you believe in Him
Jesus Christ is our only way to eternal Life, to be with God and your family

Jesus Christ pulled me from my Black Hole, my life is not perfect, I still live With problems in my normal life
The difference is I added Jesus Christ And God         I Believe      I have Faith

Written by Julia L Carlson Vogel
Please do not copy and pass as your work.  
@Copyright Julia L Carlson Vogel
This is my story about my Black Hole of Depression and how I had help to get out. My divine intervention.
Connor Jul 2015
Starlight
                                           fluttering over
                               the great euphoric episode of
                                                Victoria!
Cosm­os being packaged in the mail,
on its way now from Britain,
Sitar dancer on the inner harbor
jingling end time tunes to the ears
of the grateful.
Today is WEIRD!
Everyone is shaking hands and waving from Summertime fields,
                                 laughs escape the rooftops,
                          Owls begin to wear brighter colors.
                                Near August, post three day
                                  Northwestern Monsoon
                                THUNDER    R a-T-T-linG
                                          Double Decker
                                          past romances
                              on highways approaching
                                        The BC capital!
Articles topic the Utopian evidence
of the current generation
nearing Post Capitalist society.
All peoples smile still!
(Wouldn't that be something?)
Telescopes discovered Kepler 452b!
Another world, very much like our
own (I wonder if I'll see it one day)
Round-frame black hole glasses
Enamel downtown in golden tint,
solidifying this happiness!
                            The day is a colorful child
                            bestowing chalk drawings
                                 upon the asphalt.
            His Years 'round the garbage corner now.
                     India crafts a crown of laurel
                           For the innocent youth!
Sin predates them by centuries and wars, ***** and outta-lucks, paycheck to paycheck psychological warfare with the Western planet!
             But they're predisposed to the silent decade of
                                   internal purity,
              that BIG BIBLE BOOK has granted em'
              A get outta hell free card for some
                                 ####   a-years.

(While Virginia Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel 2011 mind-flash nostalgia permeates in my adult brain.

While North Carolina Top Sail Atlantic
sea salt stings thru my nostrils,
body boarding few miles away from
boardwalks with a nighttime view of
Milky Way Forever! (Age 14)

While Seattle shimmers aluminum skyscraper lights, Emerald City Winter where outside my hotel window I focus on
the Space Needle distantly blinking
the spirit of
Edward E. Carlson and John Graham, Jr.
up up up to Dharmakaya!
That improv performance near Pike Place Market with Charisma, Julie N Severen! SPONTANEOUS WISECRACKS BEING PAID TO BE SPONTANEOUS WISECRACKS.

While Seminyak, Southeastern Orient, Is hailed with cloud-formt waterfalls, and I watch, containing the inexpressible joy of that particular moment. Mind relapsed to whispers of Dakini,
(Contentedness possible in adulthood after all!)

                                   Celestial energy rebounds
                 thru all entities on the sidewalk including myself.
                  delivering metaphysical felicity to all future loves
                   who find occasional joys in the cycle of living.
                         Who make more of themselves than
                                 tying their shoes to sleep.
please don't take to heart what that bully said to you when you were 14, when you were just learning to survive and he told you to die. and it's okay to cry. bend you might, but break not quite. you'll be alright.

tomorrow, if not tonight.

© Melissa Carlson 2015
irinia Sep 2022
Distance is the cog wheel
on the haunted axle of my hearing,
grinding fine the deadened mind
of that unborn god
waiting to be caught
by the earth's blue speed,
and carrying in a handled urn
the plucked heart - ours,
it's beating, it's heard, it's beating, it's heard,
a sphere in wild growth -
the roads are wet with tears,
memory frail and elastic,
a sling for stones, a gondola
drowned in childlike Venice's,
a tooth yanked from the cells with a string -
down the empty socket of Vesuvius. And you exist.

by Nichita Stanescu, translated by Thomas Carlson and Vasile Poenaru
Bob B Mar 2022
As Putin continues his ****** quest
To ravage Ukraine, we watch in shock
As innocent Ukrainian
Civilians are dying around the clock.

We have to constantly ask ourselves,
"Is all of this dying worth it to him?"
If this is part of his ongoing push
To expand his rule, the future looks grim.

Announcing phony accusations
Before the UN is part of his plan
To craftily legitimize
His propaganda as much as he can.

Of course, conspiracy theorists here
Are siding with Putin--our adversary.
Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson
Spouts pro-Putin commentary.

It's almost as though Carlson has
A means of direct communication
With Putin, whereby the two of them
Can further their mutual adulation.

And so they continue to throw spaghetti
Against the wall to see what sticks.
Watch the results as the two of them
Keep throwing lies into the mix.

As both Putin and Carlson peddle
Disinformation, people are dying.
How anyone can justify
Such senseless bloodshed is mystifying.

-by Bob b (3-13-22)
if
if you thought you were the only one
to be silent in a noisy place
if you saw yourself as helpless
in a situation you couldn't face

if the days are long but your nights are fast
if you don't know how much longer you will last
if sometimes you see yourself as less
if your life causes constant, unrelenting stress

if you realize that you deserve more (because you do)
come crawling to me, i want to comfort you
i want to sit with you and sing along to acoustic covers by Tyler Ward.
i want you to be silent or to scream loud lyrics to your favorite song.
if you need to list off all the reasons you think you're not pretty, i will (unwillingly) listen...shortly after refuting every vile lie you have just spoken over yourself. you are pretty. and you are brave.

if you must tell yourself to stick it out and be strong
if getting out of bed to face the world seems so wrong
if nothing makes sense and you see no light
if your routine is a process of holding on tight

if your scars are reminders of why you can't sleep,
if you feel so high yet you're in too deep
if your home is not a place
and freedom has no space
if you are not afraid.

if you need me, i will be right here. and if you do not, i am still here.


© Melissa Carlson 2015
i'll take a to-go cup
leave room for cream
let not the lid touch the counter
and a shot of caramel please.
i'll take the corner table
sit alone and read
no offense to your company
but i'd like you to leave.
with the sky to myself
and this coffee to-go
i'll write for a while
and then i'll go home.

© Melissa Carlson 2015

— The End —