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Andy Blackwell May 2016
rubicon hangover
sherbert lemon sunrise
butterscotch *******
with an afterbirth smile
pastiche or phantom
beautiful proportion
cutting mothers apron
the circle of time

location location
circumnavigation
stylised continuum
great britain is a lie
mass for the masses
blood on the carpet
thank you for not smoking
its a marvel we're alive

thirty thousand drowning
thirty fathoms counting
suffer little children
not in my back garden
slumber in a haven
sleeping with forbidden
waterfalls and gravestones
selfish over soil

war americana
revolutionara
helicopter complex
compliment our ego
nuclear disaster
what use is a master
fall out over fallout
tinnitus and drones

avalanche of feedback
pentatonic ***** slap
abstinent castrati
carry me away
shiver orchestration
gentle fornication
sexually vacant
naturally vague
An attempt at writing abstract poetry - I basically just chose words and phrases that leapt out at me and that sounded nice together and I'm really pleased with the acoustic result
zebra Feb 2019
I distance myself from me
away I move a million miles
beyond the homicidal floor of self
and its narrow dead sticky
fly paper walls

away from chatter castrati
and miraculous mirrors
away from vanity and horror
and the voices of shadow

I distance myself from me
I step from lunary worlds and big blue marble

and I have only
myself
a river of breaths
like transparent shaped hands
dominion of air
in a cage of bones
all petty fetters
Lawrence Hall Jul 2017
The White House Staff & Boys’ Choir

Gas-station shades, and identification
Dangling from their necks like nooses at rest
Ganymedes hoping to be noticed today
Dancing attendance upon the Throne of Games

Castrati commanded to tune their throats
Each secretly fearing he will be next
To be stripped of all for that walk of shame
Passes and pass codes passed on to others

Little Ken dolls flung about in childish glee,
While decorative generals nod and agree
A lapse - I almost always object to politics in poetry.   Mea culpa...
Bob B Oct 2016
Just because something's a tradition
Doesn't mean it's appropriate today.
As times change, so do traditions.
It's good that some are now passé.

Duels--for example--to "defend one's honor"
Were commonly practiced in the olden days.
In modern times people get
"Satisfaction" in other ways.

At one time eunuchs were numerous in China,
And many were employed in the Imperial Service.
Would you do that for a government job?
Yikes, the thought of it makes me nervous.

Castrati, too, were praised in the past
For childlike voices that were second to none.
But those whose voices deteriorated
Sadly lost out in more ways than one.

Years ago a widow in India
Threw herself on the funeral pyre
Of her dead husband. That practice is one
That people--thank goodness--no longer require.

What about animal sacrifice?
Let's hope it remains a thing of the past.
People should try a less harmful substitute:
Cut out chocolate; go on a fast.

Some wedding traditions are simple and harmless;
Brides wear something borrowed or blue.
Customs that don't deny us our rights
Or cause harm to others are ones to pursue.

The list of traditions could go on forever;
People feel they're a way to maintain
Our culture. But clearly certain customs
Are now outmoded or inhumane.

As long as we move with the times, we grow.
We learn from the past, but move ahead.
Moldy traditions that don't embrace
Love and compassion are better off dead.

- by Bob B
Walter Alter Sep 2023
It never melted for starters
the Magic Icicle could talk
it had humors jealousies aversions
deep rending tides of love
and week long fits of giggling
It had been crafted by Father Frost
The Emperor of the North
his breath could wreck a train
and send a picnic scattering
Billy never met the Frost King
who he heard was a ballroom dancer
fast on his feet tipita tapita
the dance finals were approaching
it was Billy's job to suss the opposition
his reports gave the Emperor
a step up on the competition
which was stiff as beaten egg whites
there were the castrati pair
Harley and Davidson
who were fast and supple
and could ignite a rattling ****
10 feet from the judges' candle
and rocket blurringly past them
like the jaguar under a jungle moon
there was Nip and Tuck
Edwardians from the pages of Lord Knackwit
they could anticipate every dip and swirl
and often stood quite still
then there were the Rubber Twins
Bobby Rubber and Loquatia Rubber
gliding ever gliding and then rebounding
in a ricochet ballet of Newtonian elasticity
with a certainty that will pirouette right over
your thin skinned inadequacies
undying in their devotion
to ******* and ropes and pulleys
and an elephant in a china shop agenda
while crickets rubbed their lanterns bright
and the night grew big as the Frog of Creation
hopping and hipping you along
on the dance floor of partial eternity
so loosen up and listen up
it's just that we really must
compare categories more often
actually hold them side by side
hold them up to death the little icon
in the corner of my screen
no way I'm going to click on it
it's going to have to click on me
and here we are at another frozen end
please accept your melting icicle statue
the Emperor's Sno Cone of Attention Award

From "Pageant of Naked Mischief" available on Amazon

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