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"cleaner" poems
~*for M. both a living one, and imagined, too*~ 10/5/25 just woke up and began to work; the muses are cofuse-ed they think when head hits pillow. it is there then the~moment to refill my head with verses glorious, alas, alack, into the sub-subconscious furnace they go to melt, meld or even die iron of ironies; 90% of these words, were adrift in my head when I to bed, "for to be repaired" last night, and only came to be recalled @ 2:34 am when them muses and you guru, woke me to 'get outta bed', and you    who bids me sleep, this clashing arousal, starts engine's cylinders to begin live~composing, stoking and stroking, to awake, create, reassemble and uncover the poetic notions trans~versing my head one-day, someday they will depart, for cleaner, greener Champs-Élysées, where reborn poets speak all languages with equal fluency, eagerly awaiting my spouting in Hindi (already ✅), in Hebrew and any/all dialecticals this god earth ever mothered And there you have it, my FPOTD, dear m., SUNday 10/5  & writ in the city where I am alive in the Den of Writing, where the muses like to hang out with their old companion, until such time they will come to inhabit a younger, well rested, equally restless, a not-my-mine mind <nml>
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Oct 5, 2025
Oct 5, 2025 at 3:08 AM UTC
FPOTD: good mid-of night, my beautiful muses, living and imagined
Lady Macbeth washed her hands cleaner than Pontius Pilate with a new improved, bio-enzyme oxy-bursting, 99.9% germ-scouring recommended by dermato-logists scented with rose attar oils from Arabia and spermaceti soothing unguents from long dead whales. She’s going to the nail bar for a manicure and application of semi-permanent, diamond- tipped, acrylic base-coated in red blood enamel. She’ll scratch and etch rich tattoos on her husband’s back with every ****** he will shudder with pain and delight He’ll soon forget long, dark nights bewitched by ghosts and ambition. © M.L. Emmett
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Aug 10, 2015
Aug 10, 2015 at 2:55 AM UTC
Lady Macbeth
Gratified and mutilated upon the river I came I bathed in the water sopping,sponged and soaked cleaner than clean scrubbed to white bone bliss of cleanliness of purity in this one moment, Head under the water deeper and yet deeper blissfully clean I let go...
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Jul 25, 2013
Jul 25, 2013 at 9:21 AM UTC
Clean.
When clocks strike twelve and trainings end — lurk not, they say, in school at night. Age-old stories tell of how there’re things that throng in fluorescent light. In toilets silence screeches loud, for when school’s empty, they arise: Ghosts of pregnant girls lie wailing, with cleaner-uncle poltergeists. For now I sit on chilling white, resounding prayers in my mind; my heart racing with dire wish a friend of Casper’s I won’t find — Then eeeeeeek! Is that a door creaking? Perhaps it stemmed from my own mind, Hinges sing as they fly open! Thou who entered, oh be my kind! A thud thud thud as shoes traverse across the glinting marble floor; and louder, louder as they get much nearer to my sacred door! THEN SILENCE or so I wish! But a loud knock takes my breath away. The unlatched bolt lies there lazing HOW’D I FORGET TO LOCK TODAY? A hand thrusts in so hard and swift, door’s open ‘fore I can react! I’m facing now a girl my age, She bawls at me with little tact — Eyes bloodshot and tummy bloated, “YOU DISGUSTING PIG! HOW DARE YE?!” I dash out of the girls’ toilet before she tries to castrate me.
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Sep 6, 2014
Sep 6, 2014 at 12:19 PM UTC
COMEDIC TOILET GHOST POEM
Main Aur mere roommates aksar Yeh Baatain Karte Hain Ghar saaf hota to kaisa hota Main kitchen saaf karta, tum bathrooom dhote main hall saaf karta, tum balcony dekhte Log is baat pe hairaan hote aur us baat pe haste…. Main aur mere roommates, aksar Yeh Baatain Karte Hain Yeh hara bhara sink hai ya bartanon ki jang chidi hui hai Yeh colour full kitchen hai ya masalon se holi kheli hai Hai farsh ki nayi design ya doodh, beer se dhuli hui hain Yeh cellphone hai ya dhakkan, sleeping bag ya kisika aanchal, ye airfreshner ka naya flavour hai, ya trash bag se ati badboo Yeh pattiyon ki hai sarsarahut ke heater phirse kharab hua hai Yeh sonchta hain roommate kab se gum sum - Ke jab ke usko bhi yeh khabar hai Ke machar nahi hai, kaheen nahi hai magar uska dil hai ke kah raha hai machar yaheen hai, yaheen kaheen hai ! Toand ( pet ) ki ye haalat, meri bhi hai, uski bhi, dil mein ek tasvir idhar bhi hai, udhar bhi Karne ko bohot kuch hai magar kab kare hum Kab tak yoon hi is tarah rahe hum Dil kahta hai Safeway se koi vaccum cleaner la de ye Carpet jo jine ko zoonz raha hai, fikwa de Hum saaf rahe sakte hai, logon ko bata dain, Haan hum roommates hai – roommates hai – roommates hai Ab dil main yehi baaaat, idhar bhi hai udhar bhi.. Sab ko bata dain..
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Mar 10, 2014
Mar 10, 2014 at 11:38 AM UTC
Dedicated to all those who have shared an apartment or are still sharing an apartment
#Airborne  (Pt. III) (The soaring heart of Jonathan Livingston Seagull) Every ascent begins with exile. To rise is to lose the flock, yet find the wind waiting.. faithful, invisible,   unafraid to hold you. The breath that fills him is older than dust, borne through  the reckoning of one who first owned his own shadow.. Each atom refined, each word made Light. “To breathe is to bless,” Jonathan whispers, *“for every breath must leave the world cleaner than it arrived.”* His lungs remember Eden, and the sky bends to his remembering. Below, the drizzle hums its dull chorus.. the fat and the fed peck at comfort. Jonathan breaks from the circle, rising through their fog, his wings burning clean in the cold. “Fear not the thin air,” he calls, *“for only those who hunger for height will learn how mercy breathes.”* He learns the cost of air, the ache of height.. and in that thin solitude where only truth can breathe, he knows at last what it means to serve God with the evil impulse:    *not by hiding it,    but by turning it toward Light.* Before the Word becomes sound, it becomes breath. And before breath becomes air, it remembers its Source. This is the mystery of Jonathan.. the soul who learned that flight begins not in the sky, but in the heart that has faced its own eclipse   and has chosen to turn toward the Sun #
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Oct 12, 2025
Oct 12, 2025 at 10:48 AM UTC
Jonathan
the good book says one to tame another to handle the whip and groan at the horses as they pull the freedom carriage freedom from what? freedom from fields of wheat and grass freedom from dirt and potatoes freedom from the bite of the whip in the sweltering Georgia pits lord this good book isn’t very good at all these horses can pull their own but I am weak tamed invisible I am a pipe cleaner bent over and over until it snaps to quote I don’t want to live on this planet anymore I don’t want to live at all this is the sun breaking through this is the vain bee trying to pollinate this is my rose under glass quake if you must earth I have been shattered already
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Feb 25, 2016
Feb 25, 2016 at 11:41 AM UTC
rose under glass
Your house may be filled with clutter and it may not subside but the entire world is cleaner if you are clean inside
0
Aug 9, 2014
Aug 9, 2014 at 3:02 AM UTC
Clean
BACKGROUND. I was working at an international airport as a aircraft cleaner, this ment we went on to the planes to clean them before they went on there next flight. I was the supervisor of a team of 6 that night, so it was my job to go to the aircraft and talk with the number one, (the number one is the head hostess), she told us when we could board the aircraft. At the door I could see a young girl and a lady, sitting in the front row, I asked the number one if we could board, she told me they are waiting for a wheel chair for the young girl. The wheel chair did not turn up until after this story. This is what happened next. I will pick the story up after my question to the number one. THE SHORT STORY, OF A TRUE EVENT IN MY LIFE. I am standing on the aircraft by the young girl and the number one, when I heard the girl say. MOM! can I see the controls of the plane. I am not sure if the number one heard this, so I related to her. She told me she would ask the captain, and left to do so. I was alone with the girl and the lady, so I spoke to the lady. Hi i said, where have you come from? The lady answered, we have been to disney land. Wow or something like that I said, that must have been fun, the young girl spoke up. it was, I saw lot of things, Micky Mouse. I asked the girl her name. Samantha she said. At that the number one came back. And told us, as soon as the wheel chair is here, the captain say you can look at the flight deck. The young girl said, can I not go now? I needed to get my cleaning team on the aircraft! So I said to the number one. I will carry her to the flight deck if that is ok. It was agreed. So I picked up young Samantha, and carried her forward to the flight deck. number one and Lady behind me. The number one past me, to ask the captain, if this was ok, and it was. As we entered the captain said, hi my name is John. the young girl said hi my is Samantha, welcome sammy, said the captain. The co pilot stood up, to give Samantha his seat. The captain and Sammy talk about the instruments. The captain still had his head phones around his neck, What are those? Sammy asked. That is my contact with the flight controllers he said, can I have a go? Sammy said. The captain put on his head phone and asked the control tower, and she did have a go. Then the wheel chair turned up, and the captain was told by the number one. You must go now Sammy, thank you John she said, I picked her up from the co-pilots seat, thanked the captain, and the co-pilot on the way out, also the number one, and took the girl down the plane, Sammy then asked me. What is your name? Paul I said, she then said this to me. Thank you Paul I will remember that the rest of my life, at this the lady burst into tears, I placed Sammy in the wheel chair and walked with them to the exit. I asked the lady, why do you cry, she told me that Sammy was dyeing of cancer and he flight was for a cure and a trip to disneyland, but the cure, did not work, and Sammy might be dead within the year. I cried for about an hour!
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Nov 15, 2011
Nov 15, 2011 at 7:37 AM UTC
THIS IS A SHORT STORY, OF A TRUE EVENT IN MY LIFE. Not a Poem!
BACKGROUND. I was working at an international airport as a aircraft cleaner, this ment we went on to the planes to clean them before they went on there next flight. I was the supervisor of a team of 6 that night, so it was my job to go to the aircraft and talk with the number one, (the number one is the head hostess), she told us when we could board the aircraft. At the door I could see a young girl and a lady, sitting in the front row, I asked the number one if we could board, she told me they are waiting for a wheel chair for the young girl. The wheel chair did not turn up until after this story. This is what happened next. I will pick the story up after my question to the number one. THE SHORT STORY, OF A TRUE EVENT IN MY LIFE. I am standing on the aircraft by the young girl and the number one, when I heard the girl say. MOM! can I see the controls of the plane. I am not sure if the number one heard this, so I related to her. She told me she would ask the captain, and left to do so. I was alone with the girl and the lady, so I spoke to the lady. Hi i said, where have you come from? The lady answered, we have been to disney land. Wow or something like that I said, that must have been fun, the young girl spoke up. it was, I saw lot of things, Micky Mouse. I asked the girl her name. Samantha she said. At that the number one came back. And told us, as soon as the wheel chair is here, the captain say you can look at the flight deck. The young girl said, can I not go now? I needed to get my cleaning team on the aircraft! So I said to the number one. I will carry her to the flight deck if that is ok. It was agreed. So I picked up young Samantha, and carried her forward to the flight deck. number one and Lady behind me. The number one past me, to ask the captain, if this was ok, and it was. As we entered the captain said, hi my name is John. the young girl said hi my is Samantha, welcome sammy, said the captain. The co pilot stood up, to give Samantha his seat. The captain and Sammy talk about the instruments. The captain still had his head phones around his neck, What are those? Sammy asked. That is my contact with the flight controllers he said, can I have a go? Sammy said. The captain put on his head phone and asked the control tower, and she did have a go. Then the wheel chair turned up, and the captain was told by the number one. You must go now Sammy, thank you John she said, I picked her up from the co-pilots seat, thanked the captain, and the co-pilot on the way out, also the number one, and took the girl down the plane, Sammy then asked me. What is your name? Paul I said, she then said this to me. Thank you Paul I will remember that the rest of my life, at this the lady burst into tears, I placed Sammy in the wheel chair and walked with them to the exit. I asked the lady, why do you cry, she told me that Sammy was dyeing of cancer and he flight was for a cure and a trip to disneyland, but the cure, did not work, and Sammy might be dead within the year. I cried for about an hour!
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42
Which algorithm is going to understand me understand sentiment behind what I do It is coded for catching the patterns For them we are just there to generate the data to process What insights will they create about me when I'm just the outlier they will remove me to get cleaner results Generalise the problem that it won't cater to me technology is not the slave they make us dance to their tune We change, as much as they advance Develop worse habits change our routines from when we were in the more happier place to a place which comes with waves of sadness.
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Dec 17, 2018
Dec 17, 2018 at 12:48 PM UTC
Removed
MS Multiple Scleriosis Aka Miserable Self "Listen to your body" Says MS nurse Your mind keeps going Burning sensations intermittent Stabing and shooting in arms and legs Crawling in your head Numbness in your *** Forget fullness Wobbling  stumberling Fear Pregablin ***** Dampening your fuesed nerves Limping dragging "rest" Says MS nurse Mind keeps going Days are half days Taken up by sleep Fear Weakness Dropping Numbness "pace yourself " says MS nurse Mind keeps going job half done Delegate Let go "Use your alternative technology " Says MS nurse Mind keeps going Stick Mixer Steamer Robotic vacuum cleaner Hose Wheelchair Automatic car It's challenging Managing Self Be kinder to yourself Kindness rules
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Nov 12, 2016
Nov 12, 2016 at 6:38 AM UTC
It's challenging managing
i never used to understand why people hid their pop preferences like they might hide a **** room... or like: the toilet paper ran out, so i jumped into the shower story; what's with pop music in older people and getting the embarrassment sticker that says: HI, MY NAME IS JEFF AND I LIKE BRIE POP FROM SCANDINAVIA: nostalgic culmination? death growl dark metal: the frustration apparent throughout: frustrated amateur singers with their strained veiny necks... see that aorta? opera singers? are they even opening their mouths, or is this opera meets Roy Orbison? and by god, that's the case, people are ashamed to actually acknowledge their pop preferences... no wonder Patrick Bateman is fuelled by it... it's very much like that... pop's the foundation in you actually liking music... shame i love music more than women: keeps my sanity... 2 months apart and you can't hear a vacuum cleaner, maybe once a week... maybe... then the radio starts playing some vintage Roxette... Abba who? that's for those aged 40 and above... Roxette is my generation's equivalent. Roxette's masterpiece? Joyride: the entire album, yes, you'll listen to this album like some prog rock feast:           Joyride                 (      :     + italics                                     is the same as bold:           double emphasis                 ) ***** you will! Roxette's Joyride is the epitome of pop!
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Sep 2, 2016
Sep 2, 2016 at 7:36 PM UTC
Pop Music and ****
i never used to understand why people hid their pop preferences like they might hide a **** room... or like: the toilet paper ran out, so i jumped into the shower story; what's with pop music in older people and getting the embarrassment sticker that says: HI, MY NAME IS JEFF AND I LIKE BRIE POP FROM SCANDINAVIA: nostalgic culmination? death growl dark metal: the frustration apparent throughout: frustrated amateur singers with their strained veiny necks... see that aorta? opera singers? are they even opening their mouths, or is this opera meets Roy Orbison? and by god, that's the case, people are ashamed to actually acknowledge their pop preferences... no wonder Patrick Bateman is fuelled by it... it's very much like that... pop's the foundation in you actually liking music... shame i love music more than women: keeps my sanity... 2 months apart and you can't hear a vacuum cleaner, maybe once a week... maybe... then the radio starts playing some vintage Roxette... Abba who? that's for those aged 40 and above... Roxette is my generation's equivalent. Roxette's masterpiece? Joyride: the entire album, yes, you'll listen to this album like some prog rock feast:           Joyride                 (      :     + italics                                     is the same as bold:           double emphasis                 ) ***** you will! Roxette's Joyride is the epitome of pop!
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36
I am a Province, a State, a Municipality, and a Region. I am a Soldier, a Pilot, a Minister, and a Legion; I am a black man, a white man, a brown man, a woman, A French man, American, Canadian, and Roman. I am a rap artist, a singer, a slam poet and guitarist; I dabble in the dark arts accompanied by a Marxist. I'm a barista, a gas man, a secretary, and Tsarina, A King and a Queen and a janitorial cleaner. I am a "lover," a "hater," a "here now" and "there later," I am Luke Skywalker, yet at the same time, Lord Vader. I am a driver, a walker, a rider, a stalker, A conservative liberal and a well-learned straight-talker. I am a salesman and clerk, A criminal and a serf, The proud owner of a weapon that, while it kills, saves the Earth. I am a drinker and smoker, A consumer and broker, A bomb-maker, con-artist, Priest, and interloper. I am a Citizen. Religious and secular, Macrocosmic, molecular, Suit wearing, uncaring, emphatic, irregular, A "packie," a **** a Scrabble fan playing Yahtzee; A Jihadist, sadistic, addicted to Herodotus, History is repeated by the philosopher that thought of us. The eroticist literature towards which we've all lusted; It looks like the bullets machine-gun is busted. Indifferent, ecstatic, illicett, erratic, An infant, a senior, a young man with bad-lip, A black man, a white man, a brown man, a woman, A Jew and a Christian, a Muslim musician, A monarch, elitist, pro-abortion defeatist, An anarchist, Black Panther, and a rich plutocratic; I am a citizen, And as one, I'm elastic.
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Sep 12, 2011
Sep 12, 2011 at 1:35 PM UTC
I am a Citizen.
I am a Province, a State, a Municipality, and a Region. I am a Soldier, a Pilot, a Minister, and a Legion; I am a black man, a white man, a brown man, a woman, A French man, American, Canadian, and Roman. I am a rap artist, a singer, a slam poet and guitarist; I dabble in the dark arts accompanied by a Marxist. I'm a barista, a gas man, a secretary, and Tsarina, A King and a Queen and a janitorial cleaner. I am a "lover," a "hater," a "here now" and "there later," I am Luke Skywalker, yet at the same time, Lord Vader. I am a driver, a walker, a rider, a stalker, A conservative liberal and a well-learned straight-talker. I am a salesman and clerk, A criminal and a serf, The proud owner of a weapon that, while it kills, saves the Earth. I am a drinker and smoker, A consumer and broker, A bomb-maker, con-artist, Priest, and interloper. I am a Citizen. Religious and secular, Macrocosmic, molecular, Suit wearing, uncaring, emphatic, irregular, A "packie," a **** a Scrabble fan playing Yahtzee; A Jihadist, sadistic, addicted to Herodotus, History is repeated by the philosopher that thought of us. The eroticist literature towards which we've all lusted; It looks like the bullets machine-gun is busted. Indifferent, ecstatic, illicett, erratic, An infant, a senior, a young man with bad-lip, A black man, a white man, a brown man, a woman, A Jew and a Christian, a Muslim musician, A monarch, elitist, pro-abortion defeatist, An anarchist, Black Panther, and a rich plutocratic; I am a citizen, And as one, I'm elastic.
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36
I. They are sweeter then anyone who's cleaner. II. Mostly a little drunk maybe ****** I was sober and they said "Good on you" and "Why though" III. I have gotten a hundred more hugs and shared food and offers of a jacket to keep off the cold in a few hours with strangers who form this family then with my own family and many of my friends. IV. I felt so ********* safe there.
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Sep 27, 2014
Sep 27, 2014 at 2:45 AM UTC
Grunge Trash
They say that smell Is your strongest sense When tied to memory. That just a whiff of a smell Or even thought of a Smell can bring you back To a place and a time that You had previously Thought were left behind. For me the smell of Bleach is comfort, as my Nanny used it as a Standard, household Cleaner. I love that smell As well as of my favorite Dinner, mildew (reminds me of summers spent At camp, living out of a trunk) and My favorite flowers Each of these smells I Love to revisit time and Time again. One smell Though has embedded Itself in my memory and if I have my way, I’ll never Smell it again. Mom had Colon cancer most Of my time in High school. No clue on the stage But it was best not To Ask Surgeries, chemo, radiation, the Whole Nine Things seemed to be fine, Well, even great Until it took a turn My mom has never been Skinny; she is petite, but Normal Suddenly she looked like A holocaust victim She would get quiet Draw into herself For periods of time Another surgery. Fine She returned home And then something crept in That something was death And I’ll never know how I knew You just know. The smell of something Dying Isn’t pleasant It puts you on edge And turns your stomach Mom was confident That she was getting better The smell, that can’t Be described (dying tissue, pain Suffering) was glaring To me I never asked Mom or Dad If they could smell it Because the smell of Death Isn’t a sense that should Be shared I would just maintain that I didn’t think Something was right A day or so later Surgery. Fine. Home. Smell. Surgery. Fine. Home. Smell. Surgery. Fine. Home. After that last Surgery. The smell Left. But even now When I think back To that time That complicated time of Soccer games Chemotherapy Apply to college Surgeries The one thing in the Foreground Is That Smell Just a whiff of death Of human decay Of dying Of suffering And I’ve had my fill For a lifetime
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Sep 27, 2013
Sep 27, 2013 at 1:58 AM UTC
Smell of Death
They say that smell Is your strongest sense When tied to memory. That just a whiff of a smell Or even thought of a Smell can bring you back To a place and a time that You had previously Thought were left behind. For me the smell of Bleach is comfort, as my Nanny used it as a Standard, household Cleaner. I love that smell As well as of my favorite Dinner, mildew (reminds me of summers spent At camp, living out of a trunk) and My favorite flowers Each of these smells I Love to revisit time and Time again. One smell Though has embedded Itself in my memory and if I have my way, I’ll never Smell it again. Mom had Colon cancer most Of my time in High school. No clue on the stage But it was best not To Ask Surgeries, chemo, radiation, the Whole Nine Things seemed to be fine, Well, even great Until it took a turn My mom has never been Skinny; she is petite, but Normal Suddenly she looked like A holocaust victim She would get quiet Draw into herself For periods of time Another surgery. Fine She returned home And then something crept in That something was death And I’ll never know how I knew You just know. The smell of something Dying Isn’t pleasant It puts you on edge And turns your stomach Mom was confident That she was getting better The smell, that can’t Be described (dying tissue, pain Suffering) was glaring To me I never asked Mom or Dad If they could smell it Because the smell of Death Isn’t a sense that should Be shared I would just maintain that I didn’t think Something was right A day or so later Surgery. Fine. Home. Smell. Surgery. Fine. Home. Smell. Surgery. Fine. Home. After that last Surgery. The smell Left. But even now When I think back To that time That complicated time of Soccer games Chemotherapy Apply to college Surgeries The one thing in the Foreground Is That Smell Just a whiff of death Of human decay Of dying Of suffering And I’ve had my fill For a lifetime
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98
She says she doesn’t have the strength within herself to write poetry. Yes, her. The one who so often nourished me with song til my soul began to learn how to hunt for itself, whose word carried weight in leading me to pick my own instrument, albeit one of a different tone, as the key in keyboard became prominent for the first time and the sound of purposeful fingers upon it could be considered, only in the right light, synonymous to the plucking of strings, just as rooted in emotion. Yet she's the first to say that she herself can't do it. Thing is, I suppose we’re politely at odds on the matter. She favors poetry that’s sharper, with a cleaner cut, that’s message is immediate and jarring as a conduit running from soul through skin, or a loose-lipped diary finally freed from lock and key. And when she declared it, I started to consider what my poems seem to me: Blackberry bushes (but kinder, I hope) that snag and immerse just long enough to make me feel I’ve had an effect. I’ve used writing to expel my most gnarled feelings to any passerby who’s maybe felt the same. Like crying in a mirror: alarming, but oddly refreshing, and an indefinite reminder that our aches are never only our own. Still, I'm not sure why it blows my mind to hear that even the most glamorous hearts, who wear confidence as a summer breeze that's always in their favor and who inspire, from beau gestures to sleight of hand, are included in those who find themselves pacing back, back and forth, begging curbside at the dime store for a scrap of the same feed that convinces a heart to pump ink. But she says that any art that's enjoyed is worth it. So while she seeks out words that bare the bones, I’ll stay and make a meal of the marrow, hollowing them so that the poetry may have a rightful place to reverberate as hymns in a universal monastery. But hell, like I’m any old soul. I dress nicer than I otherwise would, turn to the mother who told me I don’t meet her lowest standards, and ask for a critique. All for the moment when she greets me at the door with a legendary G#. ...Now please, could you spare a dime?
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Jun 28, 2018
Jun 28, 2018 at 2:27 PM UTC
This Just In: No Showboat's Without a Few Leaks, Either
She says she doesn’t have the strength within herself to write poetry. Yes, her. The one who so often nourished me with song til my soul began to learn how to hunt for itself, whose word carried weight in leading me to pick my own instrument, albeit one of a different tone, as the key in keyboard became prominent for the first time and the sound of purposeful fingers upon it could be considered, only in the right light, synonymous to the plucking of strings, just as rooted in emotion. Yet she's the first to say that she herself can't do it. Thing is, I suppose we’re politely at odds on the matter. She favors poetry that’s sharper, with a cleaner cut, that’s message is immediate and jarring as a conduit running from soul through skin, or a loose-lipped diary finally freed from lock and key. And when she declared it, I started to consider what my poems seem to me: Blackberry bushes (but kinder, I hope) that snag and immerse just long enough to make me feel I’ve had an effect. I’ve used writing to expel my most gnarled feelings to any passerby who’s maybe felt the same. Like crying in a mirror: alarming, but oddly refreshing, and an indefinite reminder that our aches are never only our own. Still, I'm not sure why it blows my mind to hear that even the most glamorous hearts, who wear confidence as a summer breeze that's always in their favor and who inspire, from beau gestures to sleight of hand, are included in those who find themselves pacing back, back and forth, begging curbside at the dime store for a scrap of the same feed that convinces a heart to pump ink. But she says that any art that's enjoyed is worth it. So while she seeks out words that bare the bones, I’ll stay and make a meal of the marrow, hollowing them so that the poetry may have a rightful place to reverberate as hymns in a universal monastery. But hell, like I’m any old soul. I dress nicer than I otherwise would, turn to the mother who told me I don’t meet her lowest standards, and ask for a critique. All for the moment when she greets me at the door with a legendary G#. ...Now please, could you spare a dime?
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42
Hi. Do you care enough to hear me whine? I fear that you don’t see me collecting dust in the dim corner of your room. And while you stand and stare, completely absorbed by your own despair, I remain ready to serve you   and your meaningless life. I can clean your room, yet I can’t clean your mind of the false reality exemplified by your kind. We are similar though, you and I. Wasting our time amassing, acquiring, accumulating. Honestly, we’re mere specks of life, surrendering to realities constructed by our minds. Don’t you know that your beloved earthly pleasures are one and the same as the ******* that I collect? Hard-earned, elusive, temporal, disposable. Its laughable how ignorant you are; consumed by your own subliminal thoughts, leaving you searching for the remnants of what is and what is not. Can’t you see the fallacies present in your head? Gleaming yet blinding, salient yet obscure. Armed with benevolent promises that ultimately leave you for dead. Can’t you see that what you crave will inevitably **** you down to your grave? Incessantly coated with wondrous, tempting illusions that disguise its true nature--garbage. Garbage. Connect the dots, you fool. Can’t you see that you and I are one and the same?
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Aug 3, 2018
Aug 3, 2018 at 8:44 PM UTC
The Cleaner
What is going on with this ****** up superiority? Discriminating because I am some kind of cultural minority Acting like you trust me when the two of us are together But when your friends come around you run off to something better To all of society you pretend you're not smoking your **** When you roll your joint you're high just like me Eating dinner with your parents you talk like a ****** On the weekends, though, you give in to teenage urging If only you would take off that mask and see, That when it comes down to it you're no different than me. We breathe the same air, though yours may cost more And when we go to school we walk through the same doors Maybe your hair is more blond And your nails are a little cleaner, Or you play fancy sports, So you look a little leaner I don't have a credit card, or hang out at the country club I work for what I want And am proud of my pay stubs So, have some consideration, it's not really that tough We all know your life is easy, but some people have it rough. If only we could learn that empathy is the goal Maybe you could act like you actually have a soul.
0
Apr 5, 2014
Apr 5, 2014 at 11:11 PM UTC
Clever Rhymes About Adversity
an all purpose cleaner response to the how-ya-doing-question, as my vibe unmistakable; the hatred in the world directed at MY PEOPLE, is inexplicable, beyond reason, a hatred raw and pure in the tiny places we humans hide it, lest our ancient linkage to an unreasoned, embarrassing emotion, be revealed but now revealed it is reveled, as the freedom to despise is a valued thing is an ancient scar, now freshly wounded and the two thousand year old accumulated, callused, surrounding wafer thin, layered upon layer of tissue, wiped away in utter disbelief cleansed, a different kind of impure clean, “like” an ethnic cleansing, traceless, whisked away in a wink of moment, a goner. like hope, prior sentient optimism sentenced to life imprisonment and this sentence, and this very sentence! written finally understanding that it is a punishment far worse than the quick relief of death. c’mon, how about a few “fukk you jew” cri de coeur, heartfelt, genuine, pointless hate no, not I, no, not me, spare me the pithy comments, the pointless sympathy, glistening like evaporating water droplets before disappearing, I ask myself, not why they hate, why it persists, for this I understand and accept the foulness of what we are capable of is, beloved, as a secret pleasure, now secreted in torrents. no, I ask myself, why do I write poetry, for it is as pointless as the hatred directed at me, from birth, till death, and ever after, the humanity of poetry just another fraud another reason why this man cries in the bathroom,^ not from any shape of shame, because poetry is pointless in times of hatred, and now we know, recognize, it is always somewhere, nearby, always present and prescient, pointless hatred, itching to be pointed at me, makes for pointless poetry. To whom shall I point my poetry?
0
Nov 12, 2023
Nov 12, 2023 at 2:08 AM UTC
“raggedy^ around the edges” (jew hatred, pointless poetry)
an all purpose cleaner response to the how-ya-doing-question, as my vibe unmistakable; the hatred in the world directed at MY PEOPLE, is inexplicable, beyond reason, a hatred raw and pure in the tiny places we humans hide it, lest our ancient linkage to an unreasoned, embarrassing emotion, be revealed but now revealed it is reveled, as the freedom to despise is a valued thing is an ancient scar, now freshly wounded and the two thousand year old accumulated, callused, surrounding wafer thin, layered upon layer of tissue, wiped away in utter disbelief cleansed, a different kind of impure clean, “like” an ethnic cleansing, traceless, whisked away in a wink of moment, a goner. like hope, prior sentient optimism sentenced to life imprisonment and this sentence, and this very sentence! written finally understanding that it is a punishment far worse than the quick relief of death. c’mon, how about a few “fukk you jew” cri de coeur, heartfelt, genuine, pointless hate no, not I, no, not me, spare me the pithy comments, the pointless sympathy, glistening like evaporating water droplets before disappearing, I ask myself, not why they hate, why it persists, for this I understand and accept the foulness of what we are capable of is, beloved, as a secret pleasure, now secreted in torrents. no, I ask myself, why do I write poetry, for it is as pointless as the hatred directed at me, from birth, till death, and ever after, the humanity of poetry just another fraud another reason why this man cries in the bathroom,^ not from any shape of shame, because poetry is pointless in times of hatred, and now we know, recognize, it is always somewhere, nearby, always present and prescient, pointless hatred, itching to be pointed at me, makes for pointless poetry. To whom shall I point my poetry?
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Winter break my boyfriend and I Drive downtown. He buys incense lets me pick out my favorite smell. Coconut. We get in the car he lights a stick and hands it to me. The smoke flipping over in the air, rounding like winged bats. I breathe it in as he turns the car wheel. Twist the scents between my fingers, watch as the air fills with pipe cleaner smoke. Wiggling, Convulsing. The next week my Ex-boyfriend decides he loves me again. Pulls me over at a party, beckons me to sit on the stairs. He tells me he loves me through drunk tongue and I watch the wooden panels begin to twist and curve, tug at my tattered limbs until I am sitting. He pulls my arm towards him, asks me to love him again, asks me why I don’t. I think of the incense as he pulls me closer, the delicate flips of smoke, the moment only a smell can give you. I breathe in and can taste the coconut, he pulls me into him, the coconut smell, our two bodies, his lips singing to kiss mine, but I think of the coconut. Breathe in, twist my fingers, leave. ©DelaneyMiller
0
Mar 5, 2014
Mar 5, 2014 at 10:18 PM UTC
Coconut
Famine for future is a bright idea, It helps those who only earn 80c a day, The future is brighter, cleaner and nearer, So those who are doing it tough don't have to suffer, In countries like Ethiopia, Tonga and Ghana, They only get 1-2 meals a day, Their crops get ruined by drought, They don't even get one ripe banana, Help build a nest, the nest of love, that's what they do, They need help so I'm giving too.
0
Oct 15, 2012
Oct 15, 2012 at 5:37 AM UTC
40 Hour Famine
Your lunar crescent dips beside my tide, your moon glow lips, rippling, slips me into a deep, watery sleep. I am but a dancer beside you; your third eye glares into me: spectacular stars in twilight; swirls entrance like Starry Night in Van Gogh's day dreams. Come dream with me! Come cleaner than the day you were conceived. Show me the face that you had before you were born. Closer, we combine the forces of nature: sublime. We, in One Self unfold as the universe unfolds. Sweet trinity, holy inspiration, that those stars would gaze upon me, and I those stars.
0
Jan 19, 2015
Jan 19, 2015 at 7:00 PM UTC
Adoration
Writing is dangerous a sport With far too many muscles left to pull Not only in my body Writing is far few abstract-I cannot think in words and I cannot label-the day I put it into words it's labeled And that is dangerous a vote Thinking is much cleaner yes, for now They said that thoughts are safe yet I don't think obscenities in public And I don't feel obscenities in public Two sane thoughts a day(required by law) they say will keep the writers away from Fitzgerald's and Virginia's-Poe is still fair ground They said that diaries were safe, but we writers do not write in public But sports are played to audiences and votes need to be a-gotten and we writers express our condolences for the death of writing and the birth of Athleticism and Campaigns
0
Jun 11, 2014
Jun 11, 2014 at 12:41 AM UTC
An Ode to Athletes and Prom Queens
I wish they invented A sorrow cleaner That would **** up Pain and loneliness Into its vacuum So you would never Complain again About the shattered bits Of my heart That I left on your carpet The day we parted ways. F.Z.N
0
Sep 28, 2014
Sep 28, 2014 at 1:53 PM UTC
Sorrow Cleaner
I held out my hands. I placed a drop of soap on each palm and took hold of my ***** spoon and washed it with my hands, cupping and spooning it like my gentle hands were trying to make it croon. Like it were mated and flipped and slapped against threadbare slacks. That spoon is cleaning me, is washing my hands as I wash its tarnished feet, it is forgiving me. For the scalding soups and bitter ice cream, and not washing it but watching it grow crusted, disgusted. And while I swoon for my spoon, and grinning the spinning dizzy grin of Love, I remember, and give thanks for my feast. This spoon feeds me like a child on Mother God’s lap, and kisses me with life, with food. This soap, and my hands, and this bubbling love between my spoon and I, it is clean. My soul is more clean with my spoon. Cleaner than dog’s saliva licking at old wounds, but that’s alright, cause everybody knows ******* love scars, dog. And women love beautiful spoons, maybe because of its viscosity, or its gentle curvature, or the deep loving laugh it invokes, when it sits on my nose. My spoon communion left me with pruned hands, bright eyes, and a coy smile for what flowers in my mind may bloom.
0
Nov 8, 2012
Nov 8, 2012 at 2:31 AM UTC
Communion