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Se la ruota si impiglia nel groviglio
delle stesse filanti ed il cavallo
s'impenna tra la calca, se ti nevica
fra i capelli e le mani un lungo brivido
d'iridi trascorrenti o alzano i bambini
le flebili ocarine che salutano
il tuo viaggio e i lievi echi si sfaldano
giù dal ponte sul fiume
se si sfolla la strada e ti conduce
in un mondo soffiato entro una tremula
bolla d'aria e di luce dove il sole
saluta la tua grazia-hai ritrovato
forse la strada che tentò un istante
il piombo fuso a mezzanotte quando
finì l'anno tranquillo senza spari.

Ed ora vuoi sostare dove un filtro
fa spogli i suoni
e ne deriva i sorridenti ed acri
fumi che ti compongono il domani;
ora chiedi il paese dove gli onagri
mordano quadri di zucchero dalle tue mani
e i tozzi alberi spuntino germogli
miracolosi al becco dei pavoni.

(Oh, il tuo carnevale sarà più triste
stanotte anche del mio, chiusa fra i doni
tu per gli assenti: carri dalle tinte
di rosolio, fantocci ed archibugi,
palle di gomma, arnesi da cucina
lillipuziani: l'urna li segnava
a ognuno dei lontani amici l'ora
che il gennaio si schiuse e nel silenzio
si compì il sortilegio. È carnevale
o il dicembre s'indugia ancora? Penso
che se muovi la lancetta al piccolo
orologio che rechi al polso, tutto
arretrerà dentro un disfatto prisma
babelico di forme e di colori... )

E il natale verrà e il giorno dell'anno
che sfolla le caserme e ti riporta
gli amici spersi e questo carnevale
pur esso tornerà che ora ci sfugge
tra i muri che si fendono già. Chiedi
tu di fermare il tempo sul paese
che attorno si dilata? Le grandi ali
screziate ti sfiorano, le logge
sospingono all'aperto esili bambole
bionde, vive, le pale dei mulini
rotano fisse sulle pozze garrule.
Chiedi di trattenere le campane
d'argento sopra il borgo e il suono rauco
delle colombe? Chiedi tu i mattini
trepidi delle tue prode lontane?

Come tutto si fa strano e difficile
come tutto è impossibile, tu dici.
La tua vita è quaggiù dove rimbombano
le ruote dei carriaggi senza posa
e nulla torna se non forse
in questi disguidi del possibile.
Ritorna là fra i morti balocchi
ove è negato pur morire; e col tempo che ti batte
al polso e all'esistenza ti ridona,
tra le mura pesanti che non s'aprono
al gorgo degli umani affaticato,
torna alla via dove con te intristisco
quella che mi additò un piombo raggelato
alle mie, alle tue sere:
torna alle primavere che non fioriscono.
Se la ruota si impiglia nel groviglio
delle stesse filanti ed il cavallo
s'impenna tra la calca, se ti nevica
fra i capelli e le mani un lungo brivido
d'iridi trascorrenti o alzano i bambini
le flebili ocarine che salutano
il tuo viaggio e i lievi echi si sfaldano
giù dal ponte sul fiume
se si sfolla la strada e ti conduce
in un mondo soffiato entro una tremula
bolla d'aria e di luce dove il sole
saluta la tua grazia-hai ritrovato
forse la strada che tentò un istante
il piombo fuso a mezzanotte quando
finì l'anno tranquillo senza spari.

Ed ora vuoi sostare dove un filtro
fa spogli i suoni
e ne deriva i sorridenti ed acri
fumi che ti compongono il domani;
ora chiedi il paese dove gli onagri
mordano quadri di zucchero dalle tue mani
e i tozzi alberi spuntino germogli
miracolosi al becco dei pavoni.

(Oh, il tuo carnevale sarà più triste
stanotte anche del mio, chiusa fra i doni
tu per gli assenti: carri dalle tinte
di rosolio, fantocci ed archibugi,
palle di gomma, arnesi da cucina
lillipuziani: l'urna li segnava
a ognuno dei lontani amici l'ora
che il gennaio si schiuse e nel silenzio
si compì il sortilegio. È carnevale
o il dicembre s'indugia ancora? Penso
che se muovi la lancetta al piccolo
orologio che rechi al polso, tutto
arretrerà dentro un disfatto prisma
babelico di forme e di colori... )

E il natale verrà e il giorno dell'anno
che sfolla le caserme e ti riporta
gli amici spersi e questo carnevale
pur esso tornerà che ora ci sfugge
tra i muri che si fendono già. Chiedi
tu di fermare il tempo sul paese
che attorno si dilata? Le grandi ali
screziate ti sfiorano, le logge
sospingono all'aperto esili bambole
bionde, vive, le pale dei mulini
rotano fisse sulle pozze garrule.
Chiedi di trattenere le campane
d'argento sopra il borgo e il suono rauco
delle colombe? Chiedi tu i mattini
trepidi delle tue prode lontane?

Come tutto si fa strano e difficile
come tutto è impossibile, tu dici.
La tua vita è quaggiù dove rimbombano
le ruote dei carriaggi senza posa
e nulla torna se non forse
in questi disguidi del possibile.
Ritorna là fra i morti balocchi
ove è negato pur morire; e col tempo che ti batte
al polso e all'esistenza ti ridona,
tra le mura pesanti che non s'aprono
al gorgo degli umani affaticato,
torna alla via dove con te intristisco
quella che mi additò un piombo raggelato
alle mie, alle tue sere:
torna alle primavere che non fioriscono.
Se la ruota si impiglia nel groviglio
delle stesse filanti ed il cavallo
s'impenna tra la calca, se ti nevica
fra i capelli e le mani un lungo brivido
d'iridi trascorrenti o alzano i bambini
le flebili ocarine che salutano
il tuo viaggio e i lievi echi si sfaldano
giù dal ponte sul fiume
se si sfolla la strada e ti conduce
in un mondo soffiato entro una tremula
bolla d'aria e di luce dove il sole
saluta la tua grazia-hai ritrovato
forse la strada che tentò un istante
il piombo fuso a mezzanotte quando
finì l'anno tranquillo senza spari.

Ed ora vuoi sostare dove un filtro
fa spogli i suoni
e ne deriva i sorridenti ed acri
fumi che ti compongono il domani;
ora chiedi il paese dove gli onagri
mordano quadri di zucchero dalle tue mani
e i tozzi alberi spuntino germogli
miracolosi al becco dei pavoni.

(Oh, il tuo carnevale sarà più triste
stanotte anche del mio, chiusa fra i doni
tu per gli assenti: carri dalle tinte
di rosolio, fantocci ed archibugi,
palle di gomma, arnesi da cucina
lillipuziani: l'urna li segnava
a ognuno dei lontani amici l'ora
che il gennaio si schiuse e nel silenzio
si compì il sortilegio. È carnevale
o il dicembre s'indugia ancora? Penso
che se muovi la lancetta al piccolo
orologio che rechi al polso, tutto
arretrerà dentro un disfatto prisma
babelico di forme e di colori... )

E il natale verrà e il giorno dell'anno
che sfolla le caserme e ti riporta
gli amici spersi e questo carnevale
pur esso tornerà che ora ci sfugge
tra i muri che si fendono già. Chiedi
tu di fermare il tempo sul paese
che attorno si dilata? Le grandi ali
screziate ti sfiorano, le logge
sospingono all'aperto esili bambole
bionde, vive, le pale dei mulini
rotano fisse sulle pozze garrule.
Chiedi di trattenere le campane
d'argento sopra il borgo e il suono rauco
delle colombe? Chiedi tu i mattini
trepidi delle tue prode lontane?

Come tutto si fa strano e difficile
come tutto è impossibile, tu dici.
La tua vita è quaggiù dove rimbombano
le ruote dei carriaggi senza posa
e nulla torna se non forse
in questi disguidi del possibile.
Ritorna là fra i morti balocchi
ove è negato pur morire; e col tempo che ti batte
al polso e all'esistenza ti ridona,
tra le mura pesanti che non s'aprono
al gorgo degli umani affaticato,
torna alla via dove con te intristisco
quella che mi additò un piombo raggelato
alle mie, alle tue sere:
torna alle primavere che non fioriscono.
Kate Sims Jun 2011
I met an old woman on Leander Avenue
who told me, “Don’t breathe or the earth
will swallow you whole.” I
stayed very still and didn’t move.
A butterfly could have landed on my nose
but I sneezed so I may never know for sure.
After that I remembered that my generation
doesn’t have to follow their elders, so I
walked to the corner store.
I bought three candy bars that I would
never eat and tied my shoelaces on the front porch.

My neighbor watches old films. He calls them
Lumières, and sometimes invites me over.
I watch the hand-cranked film flicker
black and white over his screen.
A troupe of acrobats flip about and wave
the French flag, large women kneel and scrub
endless linens in the still river, the gardener
punishes the mischeivious boy. I smile every time
they look at the camera.

The slats in the blinds yawn widely
and seeing them, the melatonin strikes.
Flowing, forcing, endocrinal.
The wind whispers Greek words in my ear.
Helios, zoetrope, khaos.
The trees outside of my window
spell out foreign letters.
They only make sense one at a time.
I can’t spell a word but I speak and
realize I can still make a sound.
I fall asleep.

I never wake but dream
of exquisite lavender pillows doused
in holy water from the lips of a
spouting statue. A Carnevale clown waves
at me in the corner and takes off mask after
mask. Confetti rains softly from his eyelashes and he
quietly laughs into his palm. I want to hold your
hand but remember that I am just
a raindrop streaking down your car
window in a mountain spring storm. I
open my eyes.
Mateuš Conrad May 2022
chasing rabbits -

chasing rabbits:
slowly...
   reimagining standing
still on a treadmill.     (502)

she had to come round for about two hours today, my neighbour, she must have sniffed out that i was making pizza... i love making pizza slightly tipsy... i did the house chores and started writing this, abandoned it, now that i returned to it... well, what could have possibly changed? pristine ******* dough... ooh... what a lovely cushion of flour and water and sugar and a pinch of salt and: yrast... i love the smell... hmm mmm hmm... these hands make magic... the pizza sauce? compliments on that, of course... what did i add? oh... just a read pepper... some paprika: i wish i used some Kashmiri chilly powder... perhaps i had... garlic... onion... blitzed... sieved... twice... plum tomatoes... itch of the juice: clenched teeth saliva boiling: juicy... thinking: my tongue is a knife... now i'm going into the garden and drink a beer, or two... try finding the moo... ah ha ha: moo! moon! ah-woo! no... quiet right... one needs a forest to find the howl! but at least i can bark... when some fox penetrates the gardens and the dogs start barking... i'll bark too! free! free! free! so my neighbour likes my cooking... great! am i about to think: capitalistically?! start a pizzeria?! i like do: what tool is expected to do... because... i have "other" concerns"... the whole veneer of interacting with people is: what it is: a veneer... i have to entertain both the Jezebel and the Sophia... Sophia is difficult: since she's as abstract as Athena... it's not a lost libido: it's not impotence... it's... why would i want to ******* if you're going to spend my Saturday afternoon shopping for ******* curtains... or... whatever?! oi! Libra! come 'ere! this weigh-in weigh-out doesn't make sense... can you apply your corrective scrutiny to the "problem"? - i do make some fine pizza... no one's taking... fair enough... fair ******* doubly enough... more for me... more for oblivion... to which i answer: ah-men.

тo йeст щыт:
to jest szczyt...
diese ist der gipfel!

it only happened once...
discouraging: "discouraging" a circle
or omicron from being a circle
and becoming an ellipse: a 0... a zero...

"god" is not a moralist...
he's an existentialist...
          "he" he not not "he"...
only in English is the phenomenon
of a pronoun "problem" prevalent...
shrapnel-tongue:
               schrapnellzunge -
it's so unusual for anyone speaking
in the Slavic tongue(s) to overuse
the pronoun: iota as much as the English do...

it's like Knausgaard mentioned
about the Swedes... a people that haven't
been invaded by another people for a while...
no memory of subjugation...
the cultural Cyclops(es) of the world...

the English are pretty much the same...
they're being invaded: politely:
by their standards...
mosque after mosque reiterations...
the implosions of the greatest empire
the world has ever seen...

what?! i'm like Voltaire... i'm not native:
i write what i see...
this is not an invasion: this is not a polite invasion:
this is not an implosion of the lost
pride and empire?

once ol' Lizzie dies... it's not like...
however many popes and prime ministers she
died will have died...
tyrannical matriarchy...
          
well... if... "if"... john wallis "invented" the lemniscate:
a concept and a compact symbol:
all the same... back in 1655... ∞
who "invented" the number 8 or the letter B?

i know who invented the letter B...
******* with modern feminism and all that
came prior with the Sibyls and Carmenta:
*******: modern woman!
i get my ******* elsewhere...
among women that still want to have some
joy in life... who else?! prostitutes!
no ******! because: we're symbiotic:
hygienic minded people!
   ******* with your
       cluster-****-of-****-*****-scabs!
flaking away... flaking away...
wash... your... *******... hands!

once upon a time women held very
important positions in society...
now? microwave ovens shoved that dream
right up our ***** with 12" ****** sticking
out...
         of course i'm *******!
why wouldn't i be?

     bitter? no... i just enjoy the plethora of emotions
that come with rage and doubt as much
as those that some with the soothing:
mollusk tenderness: melting... ice-cream
of ooh-oops of love...
           but...
                            b-b-b-b-ut...
something's itching me: i just heard
a quake of thunder in the sky through the loud
music playing in my earphones...
i'm on the right track...
           if there's lightning but no thunder...
esp. in the night: i'm suspicious...
but if there's thunder and no lightning:
comfort music... i must be hungry...
i think i'll sacrifice a chicken tow-toe-into-the-night...

(towing, a)

       let's just say: "hypothetically":
"god" created the pristine man... the advocate...
the priest... the "somewhat" and some "other"...
as curator for the basis of ontology..

the rest?! mutations: self-generated prejudices...
the original plan was X...
but the plan morphed and became Z...
there's no point blaming a deity for a lack
of intervention: who would want to entertain
the idea of free will while at the same time
succumbing to a c.c.t.v. "state" (of existence)?

life without effort is not worth living:
but then again: carrying the burden that ought
to be shared equally: for others...
Somalis... the English and their *******
anti-racism mantra: fair enough!
you abolished the slave trade...
fair enough! but now the English are
getting culturally ***** by their lenience!
a people that haven't been subjected
to conquest for a long, long... long time...

they have become: complacent!
   too agreeable! trust-worthy pilots flying to:
**** knows where... not even the seagulls know...
perhaps only in London...
elsewhere perhaps they're as thick-as-custard...
but in my vicinity...
            
a bit like my facebook page...
the "people you may know"... what? stalkers?
why is this coming up?
this website used to be dead for me for a while...
now i'm getting this "issue" with:
"people you may know":
i never used a dating application, but it's starting
to feel like i'm using one...
i'm swiping right sieving through:

uriel darl, souad dharhi, aura huckerthman,
   andressa wangel, yus ningsih, el drema,
gülan meriç(ch), ramina amores, kristina jodzkiene,
angie biada, consuelo siouxe, sulistiawatisetya setya,
Xриcтинa Линчкo (christina linchko),
             unayah naya, goharik javahiryan,
Гaлинa Лaщeнкo (galina lashchenko),
    nilufar shermatova, cecile valeron mmaacv,
Kaтя Пaлий, nelu medina, maryati pujiman,
cida oliv, thaizth mendezt, katell seignoux,
lorena ramirez, taylla kamylla, keyza adelia putri,
kelly martins, emma ryan, carnevale chiara,
douce tusorapas, sonia de flaviis,
              carmen antonela, rosalia delgado,
delpine lafontaine -, cegail rapley,
            ariel alear, aghori aaleem,
                   florine fremont, mary HM,
dorota zarzycka, tayana zakh, megan barfield,
helena maria soares, jan lose, perrine kali-yoga,
annie zhou, angel mawar, sabrina muhlberger
(that's with an umlaut hovering above the "yew"),
sylvie lescan... ****'s sake the list is endless!

i'm bored of listing all the "friend" suggestions...
all of them: women!

don't blame me! blame the algorithm!
i've never seen these women!

     nope... life's not interesting enough to be
fully sober...
not even close... life's make more sense drinking
and typing typos: finding TY-POS...
i don't imply: drinking in your face...
on the street with other winos...
i mean: drinking alone, at night...
   listening to foxes... spotting a rat scuttling...
admiring the moon...
thinking: how does one not write
a Chinese haiku... how does one?

    i'd love to find a woman that could cook
better than me...
i truly: would love to...
keeping the chicken at best the highet
of 165 degrees Fahrenheit...
medium rare beef... hmm... debatable...
145 degrees Fahrenheit is probably my maximum...
****... i think we're questioning 125...

i'm yet to find a woman who's...
pedantic about:
not butchering a piece of beef steak twice...
i can't... butcher a piece of meat twice:
corrupt it with the Arabic tendency
to obscure the fresheness of blood...
and that: stale... yuck... sawdust...
beef overcooked... in the format of steak...
i can't butcher a beef twice:
we know... it's obvious...
the males are segregated for the meat
while the females are kept for the milk...
no irony...
                  
          it was preordained:
no point cowering away from the cruelty
by replacing authentic meat with
vegetable substitutes...
or... synthentic cat-food pseudo-proteins...
or bean-burgers...
i sometimes roam the fields in Essex
and see the horses...
well... aren't you the lucky ones?
shouldn't you be... extinct?!

                   shouldn't they? why would you
need a horse... when you have a bicycle...
when you have a car?!
so... why keep them?
i'd love to pet a horse...
i loved riding horses...
not ******* Lamborghini no
rich boy ******* Ferrari will ever compare
to riding a horse through a forest
at full gallop!

               not even if i were getting a blow-job
in a car... speeding... in those sort of cars...
no... nein nein nein nein!

i'm immune to envy of that sort...
i'm against society as such...
  what?!    Q = ?!
                 isn't the western tradition invested
in individualism?!
                                   q

why would i need a car when living
in London...
when... i can cycle around London and back
in about 5 hours...
take the train to Liverpool St. in about 30 minutes...
i don't have to:
a) think about paying for parking
b) ditto about paying for road tax
c) m.o.t.
d) e) f) g) and any imaginary points
you might conjure...

               now... you give me a horse?
the game changes... i'd love something larger
than the already Maine **** cat that could come
across as a poodle (no, not a puddle)
size-wise...
    i love the coyness of horses...
            they really do require you to become
patient with you...
unlike those ****** of dogs that can immediately
run up to strangers and blah blah tail wiggle
and: whatever...
cats... semi-, on the spectrum...
horses though... brooding *******...
they take oh so long to gain their trust...

i was roaming the fields, the forest at night...
blasted: beyond comparison...
i forgot my apple,
i forgot my cube of sugar...
came across a herd of them...
gave one of them my hand to...
nibble... it nibbled...
then retracted: are you mad!
you're implying i'm readily willing to
eat man-flesh?!
it buckled... glancing my forehead
with its hind hoofs...
"buckled"... no...
the ****** almost knocked me out...
because it started nibbling on my fingers
"thinking" i might have a treat
of an apple in my hand...
massive teeth... buck-tooth...
even more massive hoofs...
    
         i sort of wished he knocked me out...
the last "thing" i would have seen
was the moon...
and the sheen of lubrication
of quicksilver pouring over almost everything...
like a: liquidified mirror...
        just like that: like a liquidified mirror...

how long will this tyranny last?
    i want to be as old as Plato and be as exhausted
as Plato...
and still retaining my heterosexual flaovuring...
of that rancid old man...
until that time comes...
        at my peak: i want to play with my
yo-yo...
                all the women that are interested are
either single mums or married women...
young girls are uninteresting:
i'm not a predator... i'm a herder...
         young girls are boring...
"boring": i.e. unrelatable...
    the sexes have diverged beyond
compensation...
                          funny that:
i'd rather spend an evening with a bottle
of whiskey than with a woman...
with a bottle of whiskey and my own thoughts
than with a woman...
                     even i am struggling to comprehend
this anomaly...
      
why talk? when you can be left alone
foraging for new music?!
akin to keluar's - vitreum?
                        i get the romance part...
but... the plan part i don't get...
   the plan being: i work... i work... i have no socks...
i pretend to have underwear...
i work... i work... i do overtime...
i come back home and... and...
     who does the cooking?! i hate her cooking!
she always overcooks the pasta!
she under-seasons the sauce!
                she can't do **** with yeast!
i make my own pizza... i cook my own food...
i get the romance aspect being sold:
but... what's the plan?!

           she already has children by some
other ****-wit...
i get the romance bit... but... what's the plan?!
i can cough up: pretty much all of my earnings for
her and her *******... i can make concessions...
by then: there's the plan...
but there's no longer the romance...

by now:
do i really want more? than simply a bed to sleep in?
can life afford me
any emotional adventure?
do i want it?
              i like my own company
too much to let anyone share it with me...
not out of a feeling of superiority...
just out of necessity... almost god-like...

         habitually: i'm just not used to having
people increment the details of my personal life...
i like them: behind a membrane...
a niqab...
                 i don't care where you put them:
i just dont want them near me!
except for the children and the animals...
i could spend an eternity with these two
classifications...

                 one night with Sharon Stone...
when Sharon Stone was Sharon Stone
and when te 1980s where the 1980s...
she just reminds me of: Samantha....
kissing Milena..
            
                               i really miss these girls..
i hope they forget me
with a burning: sensation ...

history will not be kind to us...
we'll be a laughing-stock of the ages...
let us pass.... let us pass:
into the lava lamp of Hades.
Marco Bo Sep 2018
under this grey suburban sky
thunders rolling as rocks and drums
then silence in concrete transit spaces
although wild beats inside our veins
hunting scenes and escapes in vain

taste of honey and salt on your teeth
prey predators and carnival masks
smiles dreams feasts fire tears
running water
silence and lightning
remote storms
gentle breeze

essences and perfumes
tobacco leather cinnamon and ashes
smells of life
and skin

it's time to go home
home where we will recall
every flavor
every hug
every drop of dew
every smile and every single tear
their true meaning
and we will ask ourselves
why?
why have we ever parted from our heart?
................

sotto questo grigio cielo suburbano
tuoni che rotolano come pietre e tamburi
poi silenzio in spazi di transito di asfalto e cemento
anche se il selvatico batte nelle nostre vene
scene di caccia e fughe invano

sapore di miele e sale sui denti
prede predatori e maschere di carnevale
sorrisi sogni feste lacrime
acqua corrente
silenzio e fulmini
tempeste remote
e brezza leggera

essenze e profumi
tabacco cuoio cannella e cenere
odori di vita
e di pelle

è ora di tornare a casa
casa dove ricorderemo
ogni sapore
ogni abbraccio
ogni goccia di rugiada
ogni sorriso e ogni singola lacrima
il loro vero significato
e ci chiederemo
perché?
perché mai ci siamo separati dal nostro cuore?

— The End —