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"conch" poems
have you ever believed in something so blindly so genuinely that the moment you realize it isn't true, something inside you changes forever? i wanna tell you a story, see seldom do i ever go swimming in drinks deep enough to drown in but when i do i speak in tongues about things that none of my memories are allowed to talk about like that christmas at the isthmus where my girlfriend plucked a conch shell whiter than gods teeth out of the sand held it to her ear and stopped time that day she was a shade of blue the could've made the ocean sick see, she loved to play jokes when she held the sea shell to her ear she gasped, called my name and said "i want you to hear this" i said "yeah, right, everybody knows it's just the same old sea" she replied "no. not this one. this one is special. listen. theres music in this one" she handed me the shell like a promise she couldn't keep and i held it to my ear with all the potential of seeing shore after being stranded at sea for years only to hear a tired dirge of silence spill from its emptiness i guess she didn't know how desperately i wanted to hear it too because ever since something inside me snapped now sand pours out of every post card i open i hear seagulls in telephone static sometimes i have dreams where i bury my hands in every beach i've ever been on and exhume this graveyard of noise every time i try to sleep i spit up fishhooks and i guess i'm obsessed but maybe if i hold my ear to enough vacant things then i could have back the time stolen from me since it happened maybe they would get it if they knew what i wanted when i blow out birthday candles maybe they'll find me face down in a wishing well i watch eternal sunshine of the spotless mind every day pretending i can forget too because this sea sickness has followed me for years because yesterday i walked into a music shop and all the pianos broke but the only thing i can think to say is *do you know how bad a memory has to be that you fantasize about forgetting it?*
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Dec 16, 2014
Dec 16, 2014 at 1:03 PM UTC
measure
have you ever believed in something so blindly so genuinely that the moment you realize it isn't true, something inside you changes forever? i wanna tell you a story, see seldom do i ever go swimming in drinks deep enough to drown in but when i do i speak in tongues about things that none of my memories are allowed to talk about like that christmas at the isthmus where my girlfriend plucked a conch shell whiter than gods teeth out of the sand held it to her ear and stopped time that day she was a shade of blue the could've made the ocean sick see, she loved to play jokes when she held the sea shell to her ear she gasped, called my name and said "i want you to hear this" i said "yeah, right, everybody knows it's just the same old sea" she replied "no. not this one. this one is special. listen. theres music in this one" she handed me the shell like a promise she couldn't keep and i held it to my ear with all the potential of seeing shore after being stranded at sea for years only to hear a tired dirge of silence spill from its emptiness i guess she didn't know how desperately i wanted to hear it too because ever since something inside me snapped now sand pours out of every post card i open i hear seagulls in telephone static sometimes i have dreams where i bury my hands in every beach i've ever been on and exhume this graveyard of noise every time i try to sleep i spit up fishhooks and i guess i'm obsessed but maybe if i hold my ear to enough vacant things then i could have back the time stolen from me since it happened maybe they would get it if they knew what i wanted when i blow out birthday candles maybe they'll find me face down in a wishing well i watch eternal sunshine of the spotless mind every day pretending i can forget too because this sea sickness has followed me for years because yesterday i walked into a music shop and all the pianos broke but the only thing i can think to say is *do you know how bad a memory has to be that you fantasize about forgetting it?*
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84
Iguana of diamonds, Sand sea and sun, Little children in sight, Attractions of light, Natives of love, Decorative cities, what night. Island’s of the Bahamas beauty as can be, What more fun than playing with dolphins in the sea. Creative costumes, dancers so bright, The music dramatized, Feel the rush it’s a site. Nothing more beautiful than the island themselves, Well except the people willing to give help. Pineapples, peas and rice, pink sand, flamingoes, and some conch salad, Not forgetting the “KALIK,” cause’ “IT’S A BAHAMIAN TING”. Blue, Black and Aquamarine, was just described to you, All in the Islands Love. Come and enjoy the exciting experience too! My Bahama Land! ©
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Nov 4, 2010
Nov 4, 2010 at 7:33 AM UTC
Island
On a plateau by the seashore sits a naked goddess, a dryad or a naiad-- she laments a soft song of mechanical love. Bathing in the quiet night, the light, the diamond-bright stillness. She looks at me with sad eyes. On a conch-shell loveboat together we sail through snaky canals of the heart. Cool, lapping water drips from her long seaweed hair as she sings for me-- we go beneath the sea & look up at intangible starfish that mirror the stars of the surface.
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Sep 25, 2014
Sep 25, 2014 at 12:17 AM UTC
marijuana poem
Lost in his thoughts With her eyes closed Waking up from her fancy By the call of a pigeon With a message from him Conveying to meet him Near the river side Of the Gulmohar tree Hearing the trumpet of The evening conch With an acceptable smile Ready in his favourite Shining peach fruit dress Wide eyes with black kajal Long black hair decorated With magical fragrance Of buds of jasmine flowers Colourful bangles filling Her soft wheatish hands With musical bands Sitting under the flame tree Decorated with beautiful Orange-red Gulmohar petals Waiting for her beloved Lasting the wait till dawn But never did he come Flowing kajal with her tears Turning her to black cheeks Back to her despondency Like a broken soul Comes again the pigeon With a message on its body Written by human blood Dear, move on in your life I am, no more in this life Jasmines giving an odour Bangles becoming colourless Kajal, blurring her vision Falling down on the floor With her eyes closing !
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Jun 9, 2016
Jun 9, 2016 at 1:38 AM UTC
The Gulmohar
"Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold." - From an essay by W. B. Yeats Big heart, wide as a watermelon, but wise as birth, there is so much abundance in the people I have: Max, Lois, Joe, Louise, Joan, Marie, Dawn, Arlene, Father Dunne, and all in their short lives give to me repeatedly, in the way the sea places its many fingers on the shore, again and again and they know me, they help me unravel, they listen with ears made of conch shells, they speak back with the wine of the best region. They are my staff. They comfort me. They hear how the artery of my soul has been severed and soul is spurting out upon them, bleeding on them, messing up their clothes, dirtying their shoes. And God is filling me, though there are times of doubt as hollow as the Grand Canyon, still God is filling me. He is giving me the thoughts of dogs, the spider in its intricate web, the sun in all its amazement, and a slain ram that is the glory, the mystery of great cost, and my heart, which is very big, I promise it is very large, a monster of sorts, takes it all in-- all in comes the fury of love.
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The Big Heart
I wish I were stranded on a tropical island A tropical island with you You could make art from coconuts and starfish Yeah, coconuts and starfish might be a good place to start And I could build a crude instrument Out of a conch shell and driftwood And tightly roll a papaya leaf to use for a string Or two Then I could play and you could sing We wouldn't want for anything Serenading each other by the light of the moon... Every evening we could snuggle underneath the stars You could be Venus, I could be Mars We could lay our differences aside (except the good ones) I'm safe in you, you're safe in me, No need to hide I wish I were stranded on a tropical island A tropical island with you And we'd bake clams in the hot, hot sand Under the afternoon Sun And brew a crazy chowder using sea salt and kelp (help!) Then we'd make love on the beach as the water nips at our toes Under the setting sun when the day is done By a waterfall I'm calling you...
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Sep 30, 2013
Sep 30, 2013 at 11:08 PM UTC
On a Tropical Island
with well worked hands he pulls on the sea      like the hem of a pale skirt dancing 'round his lovers hips it's what she loves about him most the way that the tide ebbs and flows      with the rise and fall of his sun-stained chest seashells and gull feathers and bits of fishing net      woven into his hair like the threads of canvas sails aqueous thunder-head eyes look like they've seen the fall of every empire       and soon they'll witness the fall of ours he smells of salt-cured wood and the sun and it's the kind of smell you'll never forget nor properly describe he moves like magic like waves      lapping at the shoreline in the calm of dusk with an anxious tongue and an appetite that's never satisfied      he licks the wounds of any heart he's strong enough to bare the weight of any burden           of any trash barge or sea ferry ear pressed to his chest      like a conch-shaped vessle           the labor of his heart valves plays like sailor songs in an empty cabaret      nerve-wrackingly beautiful
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Jul 7, 2013
Jul 7, 2013 at 2:34 PM UTC
poseidon. (washing clean.)
1. A flower opens in the dawn. Drink the dew, dispel the night, feel the warming of a new light. We go under different names, but only one sun warms us. The rainbow is but the refraction of pure white light. 2. You are awash in me, that singing sea that gives me beauty without artifice, forgiveness without guilt and love without qualification. 3. One day while beachcombing I will come upon a magnificent conch and putting it to my ear I will hear your voice calling me through the honey of history. Then an urge will seize me and putting the conch to my lips I will sound a single sad note to carry the stream of my tears across the ocean.
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Feb 20, 2015
Feb 20, 2015 at 3:49 AM UTC
TRIPTYCH: HOPE, BOND, LOSS
You are the type of boy whose got saltwater in his bloodstream, bones like coral, and a heart made of driftwood – and at this point I’m just hoping someday you’ll wash up on my shore. I have seen the broken glass and beer bottle caps tucked in the folds of your sandy skin. I know how you left cuts on the feet of those who walked all over you. They were never sorry and you always were. Everyone else was too busy molding you into mangled and misshapen castles, only to stomp on them. Your soul was tangled in a mess of seaweeds and deep-sea debris. No one ever saw the brilliance of the sun's reflection in your smile that made you more dazzling than a million diamonds. But I noticed from the beginning that you were more than a temporary vacation spot or a convenient photo-op. and the shark-infested waters in your head shrank to puddles when you spoke to me in words like waves. To this day I can’t figure out what I did to deserve to be the only one you’ve ever allowed to explore your ocean floors, but I am grateful. I pressed my ear to your chest like it was the mouth of a conch shell, and heard the entirety of your ache without you saying a single thing. Violent storms churned in your belly at the hand of faceless puppeteers; made seasick by countless careless captains. But the sky cleared instantaneously the moment I came aboard. The same sun whose rays you’d always been wary of, now kiss your face the same way i wish to, taking utmost care not to burn. Your laughter is a school of fish filled with more colors than I can count and the sound of your sleeping breath is an ocean breeze. I am in love with the perfect shoreline curve of your mouth. Every day I find various buried treasures in your hidden coves and sunken ships, and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of discovering you. - m.f.
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Dec 1, 2013
Dec 1, 2013 at 11:14 PM UTC
For my Beach Baby
You are the type of boy whose got saltwater in his bloodstream, bones like coral, and a heart made of driftwood – and at this point I’m just hoping someday you’ll wash up on my shore. I have seen the broken glass and beer bottle caps tucked in the folds of your sandy skin. I know how you left cuts on the feet of those who walked all over you. They were never sorry and you always were. Everyone else was too busy molding you into mangled and misshapen castles, only to stomp on them. Your soul was tangled in a mess of seaweeds and deep-sea debris. No one ever saw the brilliance of the sun's reflection in your smile that made you more dazzling than a million diamonds. But I noticed from the beginning that you were more than a temporary vacation spot or a convenient photo-op. and the shark-infested waters in your head shrank to puddles when you spoke to me in words like waves. To this day I can’t figure out what I did to deserve to be the only one you’ve ever allowed to explore your ocean floors, but I am grateful. I pressed my ear to your chest like it was the mouth of a conch shell, and heard the entirety of your ache without you saying a single thing. Violent storms churned in your belly at the hand of faceless puppeteers; made seasick by countless careless captains. But the sky cleared instantaneously the moment I came aboard. The same sun whose rays you’d always been wary of, now kiss your face the same way i wish to, taking utmost care not to burn. Your laughter is a school of fish filled with more colors than I can count and the sound of your sleeping breath is an ocean breeze. I am in love with the perfect shoreline curve of your mouth. Every day I find various buried treasures in your hidden coves and sunken ships, and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of discovering you. - m.f.
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I whispered your name into the inner twisting curl of a conch shell, hoping an echo from saltier waves would carry it through shadow-rimmed currents until it flowed softly along the shore, like my breath settling across your neck
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Jun 15, 2015
Jun 15, 2015 at 10:46 AM UTC
Ocean Drying Softly
Jupiter Mars P Moon VENEZIA, "May" 19"th", 1910. Jupiter's foursquare blaze of gold and blue Rides on the moon, a lilac conch of pearl, As if the dread god, charioted anew Came conquering, his amazing disk awhirl To war down all the stars. I see him through The hair of this mine own Italian girl, Adela That bends her face on mine in the gondola! There is scarce a breath of wind on the lagoon. Life is absorbed in its beatitude, A meditative mage beneath the moon Ah! should we come, a delicate interlude, To Campo Santo that, this night of June, Heals for awhile the immitigable feud? Adela! Your breath ruffles my soul in the gondola! Through maze on maze of silent waterways, Guarded by lightless sentinel palaces, We glide; the soft plash of the oar, that sways Our life, like love does, laps --- no softer seas Swoon in the ***** of Pacific bays! We are in tune with the infinite ecstasies, Adela! Sway with me, sway with me in the gondola! They hold us in, these tangled sepulchres That guard such ghostly life. They tower above Our passage like the cliffs of death. There stirs No angel from the pinnacles thereof. All broods, all breeds. But immanent as Hers That reigns is this most silent crown of love Adela That broods on me, and is I, in the gondola. They twist, they twine, these white and black canals, Now stark with lamplight, now a reach of Styx. Even as out love - raging wild animals Suddenly hoisted on the crucifix To radiate seraphic coronals, Flowers, flowers - O let our light and darkness mix, Adela, Goddess and beast with me in the gondola! Come! though your hair be a cascade of fire, Your lips twin snakes, your tongue the lightning flash, Your teeth God's grip on life, your face His lyre, Your eyes His stars - come, let our Venus lash Our bodies with the whips of Her desire. Your bed's the world, your body the world-ash, Adela! Shall I give the word to the man of the gondola?
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Adela
Jupiter Mars P Moon VENEZIA, "May" 19"th", 1910. Jupiter's foursquare blaze of gold and blue Rides on the moon, a lilac conch of pearl, As if the dread god, charioted anew Came conquering, his amazing disk awhirl To war down all the stars. I see him through The hair of this mine own Italian girl, Adela That bends her face on mine in the gondola! There is scarce a breath of wind on the lagoon. Life is absorbed in its beatitude, A meditative mage beneath the moon Ah! should we come, a delicate interlude, To Campo Santo that, this night of June, Heals for awhile the immitigable feud? Adela! Your breath ruffles my soul in the gondola! Through maze on maze of silent waterways, Guarded by lightless sentinel palaces, We glide; the soft plash of the oar, that sways Our life, like love does, laps --- no softer seas Swoon in the ***** of Pacific bays! We are in tune with the infinite ecstasies, Adela! Sway with me, sway with me in the gondola! They hold us in, these tangled sepulchres That guard such ghostly life. They tower above Our passage like the cliffs of death. There stirs No angel from the pinnacles thereof. All broods, all breeds. But immanent as Hers That reigns is this most silent crown of love Adela That broods on me, and is I, in the gondola. They twist, they twine, these white and black canals, Now stark with lamplight, now a reach of Styx. Even as out love - raging wild animals Suddenly hoisted on the crucifix To radiate seraphic coronals, Flowers, flowers - O let our light and darkness mix, Adela, Goddess and beast with me in the gondola! Come! though your hair be a cascade of fire, Your lips twin snakes, your tongue the lightning flash, Your teeth God's grip on life, your face His lyre, Your eyes His stars - come, let our Venus lash Our bodies with the whips of Her desire. Your bed's the world, your body the world-ash, Adela! Shall I give the word to the man of the gondola?
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The shells lined up nicely. "At attention," the conch yelled. He was curled black, with boiled blue spikes. And so they stayed, in a perfect line against the wall, until the wave, washing ashore, it plucked three. One was an abalone, almost full grown, with five holes descending down its left side. A sheen of gold and silver out, murky indigo and forest green in. He lost grip first, and was pulled into an incoming breaker. The second was a conch. Chocolate and vanilla swirls coated the outer layers leading in to slight pink. Her name was Neapolitan. She was once an adult shell of the queen conch, washed ashore and set into a line by small hands, that were gentle and soft. Zander A soft voice called. Inhaled by the mouth of the ocean, exhaled into a bout of seaweed.   She was lost. The last, was a cowry shell. He was old, or at least he imagined so. This was not the first time he had washed ashore, nor had he figured, would it be the last. His back was ivory white with brown speckles, in such a pattern that he imagined himself to be, at times, a turtle. He had first felt and then saw reflections of himself in sea glass. He was gathered in a bucket and rubbed so that his design reverberated until he felt, every shimmer of himself. Knowing not what lay ahead, but understanding, he held no grip and went where the ocean led. It's getting dark Zander. The others gasped, in horror their screams rasped. "Save us. Plea...se he...l...p." As another wave crashed into the wall and stole four more, again, till all were cast away from the wall to be laden across the expanse of sand. Soft brown eyes stared, at the empty holes, where shells had been placed, as decorations to a most deserving sand castle. Turrets and towers, hard packed by child hands, with a red flag flapping to the sea breeze. *A crude skull was drawn, for it was a pirate fascination that encapsulated this year.* He had spent hours seeking and finding, the perfect art, to be the binding, to hold his wall against all defense, but all had fallen in the first wave of battle. "Oh well," he muttered. He would try again tomorrow.
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Jan 10, 2013
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:33 AM UTC
Zander's Sandcastle
The shells lined up nicely. "At attention," the conch yelled. He was curled black, with boiled blue spikes. And so they stayed, in a perfect line against the wall, until the wave, washing ashore, it plucked three. One was an abalone, almost full grown, with five holes descending down its left side. A sheen of gold and silver out, murky indigo and forest green in. He lost grip first, and was pulled into an incoming breaker. The second was a conch. Chocolate and vanilla swirls coated the outer layers leading in to slight pink. Her name was Neapolitan. She was once an adult shell of the queen conch, washed ashore and set into a line by small hands, that were gentle and soft. Zander A soft voice called. Inhaled by the mouth of the ocean, exhaled into a bout of seaweed.   She was lost. The last, was a cowry shell. He was old, or at least he imagined so. This was not the first time he had washed ashore, nor had he figured, would it be the last. His back was ivory white with brown speckles, in such a pattern that he imagined himself to be, at times, a turtle. He had first felt and then saw reflections of himself in sea glass. He was gathered in a bucket and rubbed so that his design reverberated until he felt, every shimmer of himself. Knowing not what lay ahead, but understanding, he held no grip and went where the ocean led. It's getting dark Zander. The others gasped, in horror their screams rasped. "Save us. Plea...se he...l...p." As another wave crashed into the wall and stole four more, again, till all were cast away from the wall to be laden across the expanse of sand. Soft brown eyes stared, at the empty holes, where shells had been placed, as decorations to a most deserving sand castle. Turrets and towers, hard packed by child hands, with a red flag flapping to the sea breeze. *A crude skull was drawn, for it was a pirate fascination that encapsulated this year.* He had spent hours seeking and finding, the perfect art, to be the binding, to hold his wall against all defense, but all had fallen in the first wave of battle. "Oh well," he muttered. He would try again tomorrow.
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63
The sky has turned a bluish grey. I hear the voices of the city - Words, music, traffic, train, And shrill laughter floating in the lane. The bells have begun to ring; An old woman Crouching in a corner of her terrace Blows the conch thrice. A white cat ambling by the road ***** its head to listen, But deeming the prayers and noise the same Continues in its search for game. On a fifth floor balcony, a girl watches The silhouettes of birds flying back home. She has her own music, The kind that shuts you out and sets you free. Temporarily. A train whistles in the distance Carrying lives afar and beyond. The evening grows dark, the moon rises, The wind lulls and blows; And life goes on…
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Sep 27, 2014
Sep 27, 2014 at 5:19 AM UTC
An Evening
I I am in Cardiff      Where foams pummel the jetty I am in Cardiff      Where crab skeletons blanch the beach I am in Cardiff      Where the Pilot Star became a conch I was in the ruse of age      Where the young kiss I was in Joshua Tree      Where the mind is thoughtless I am a grove's wilting I will be an unbearable urge And I am shivering in Santa Ana near Bristol and 1st II There is intent when the addict mutters -- Estranged in his unhappy gutters -- "Life is cheap and love is free." Hopelessness's epitome Sits naked beyond the wall. There is derision in the dealer's call -- Osmium-heat in an unimpeded fall -- "You can't change who you are." Greed could tear down a star To sculpt into a Cardiff shell. Warrant breeds within a child's yell. III I am in Cardiff      Where foams pummel the jetty I am in Cardiff      Where crab skeletons blanch the beach I am in Cardiff      Where the Pilot Star became a conch I was in the ruse of age      Where the young kiss I was in Joshua Tree      Where the mind is thoughtless I am a grove's wilting I will be an unbearable urge And I am shivering in Santa Ana near Bristol and 1st
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Dec 27, 2012
Dec 27, 2012 at 1:44 AM UTC
I am in Cardiff (2nd Draft)
All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echos, Cool as the pearled interior of a conch. Bells, hooves, of the high-stipping black goats woke us. Around our bed the baronial furniture Foundered through levels of light seagreen and strange. Not one leaf wrinkled in the clearing air. We dreamed how we were perfect, and we were. Against bare, whitewashed walls, the furniture Anchored itself, griffin-legged and darkly grained. Two of us in a place meant for ten more- Our footsteps multiplied in the shadowy chambers, Our voices fathomed a profounder sound: The walnut banquet table, the twelve chairs Mirrored the intricate gestures of two others. Heavy as a statuary, shapes not ours Performed a dumbshow in the polished wood, That cabinet without windows or doors: He lifts an arm to bring her close, but she Shies from his touch: his is an iron mood. Seeing her freeze, he turns his face away. They poise and grieve as in some old tragedy. Moon-blanched and implacable, he and she Would not be eased, released. Our each example Of temderness dove through their purgatory Like a planet, a stone, swallowed in a great darkness, Leaving no sparky track, setting up no ripple. Nightly we left them in their desert place. Lights out, they dogged us, sleepless and envious: We dreamed their arguments, their stricken voices. We might embrace, but those two never did, Come, so unlike us, to a stiff impasse, Burdened in such a way we seemed the lighter- Ourselves the haunters, and they, flesh and blood; As if, above love's ruinage, we were The heaven those two dreamed of, in despair.
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3.2k
The Other Two
All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echos, Cool as the pearled interior of a conch. Bells, hooves, of the high-stipping black goats woke us. Around our bed the baronial furniture Foundered through levels of light seagreen and strange. Not one leaf wrinkled in the clearing air. We dreamed how we were perfect, and we were. Against bare, whitewashed walls, the furniture Anchored itself, griffin-legged and darkly grained. Two of us in a place meant for ten more- Our footsteps multiplied in the shadowy chambers, Our voices fathomed a profounder sound: The walnut banquet table, the twelve chairs Mirrored the intricate gestures of two others. Heavy as a statuary, shapes not ours Performed a dumbshow in the polished wood, That cabinet without windows or doors: He lifts an arm to bring her close, but she Shies from his touch: his is an iron mood. Seeing her freeze, he turns his face away. They poise and grieve as in some old tragedy. Moon-blanched and implacable, he and she Would not be eased, released. Our each example Of temderness dove through their purgatory Like a planet, a stone, swallowed in a great darkness, Leaving no sparky track, setting up no ripple. Nightly we left them in their desert place. Lights out, they dogged us, sleepless and envious: We dreamed their arguments, their stricken voices. We might embrace, but those two never did, Come, so unlike us, to a stiff impasse, Burdened in such a way we seemed the lighter- Ourselves the haunters, and they, flesh and blood; As if, above love's ruinage, we were The heaven those two dreamed of, in despair.
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35
It's quite a feat, walking through the Graveyard of the Gods. Buddah takes his time playing majong Against Thor, his hammer near but at odds, While Yam keeps ear near conch Lest the Phoenicians hear his song And pray his way once more. They fight over the attention they receive, A whisper by the heralds Behind closed doors. A hint of what may have come before
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Feb 14, 2014
Feb 14, 2014 at 11:17 PM UTC
Graveyard
The rain falls softly on the sleeping city…. Cloaked in the blanket of a monsoon lull…. A few stray dogs scamper for shelter as the first storm of the season colours the dawn a deeper crimson….. The thunder rumbles from the north east…a deep slow sonorous sound coming from the underbellies of the moisture laden atmosphere….. The soft drizzle forms a hazy blanket of morning mist around the city…..already stirring with the first signs of life…. The resurrection of the everyday work-a-day world……. The musical tinkling of a bell echoes around as a pushcart brimming with flowers rushes down the street, hurrying to the market…fresh, preened and ready…to be sold to the highest bidder… The soft music of the approaching storm inspires a boatman, out on the holy river, to sing…… his voice echoes over the bass of the thunder……a plaintive pleasant humming……the nuances of the bhatiali fill up the empty cracks in the morning…… The rain deepens…………the drizzle expands into the monsoons first downpour… pitter-patter sings the rain, reverberating off a thousand tin roofs……the sky darkens……enveloping the dawn in its grey being….. Somewhere, someone tunes a harmonium…..clears a throat…a hand draws a curtain aside….. The peaceful reassurance of the daily azaan spreads out from the mosque…..calling the faithful to prayer….. The flower vendor…now setting up shop, attaching an extra strip of plastic sheet to fend off the rain…. Stops a moment and bows his head as the nearby tolling of a bell and the sound of a conch shell being blown announces the beginning of a new day in god’s abode…. A woman kneels down in a pew…..praying…..the calm of the church mirrored in her peaceful face….. The rain looks down at the city……..now, half awake…slowly stretching its limbs……..stirring from the depths of a restless rest…………awakening to the jangling of a bread earner’s faith…… The shower relents……..probably giving in to all the Monday morning groans and grumbles emanating from a city forced back into consciousness….. Finally, all that remains is the moisture on the flower vendor’s tarpaulin and the shadow of the boatman’s song on the rippled river…….
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May 4, 2013
May 4, 2013 at 11:23 AM UTC
Portraits of a rainy resurrection...
The rain falls softly on the sleeping city…. Cloaked in the blanket of a monsoon lull…. A few stray dogs scamper for shelter as the first storm of the season colours the dawn a deeper crimson….. The thunder rumbles from the north east…a deep slow sonorous sound coming from the underbellies of the moisture laden atmosphere….. The soft drizzle forms a hazy blanket of morning mist around the city…..already stirring with the first signs of life…. The resurrection of the everyday work-a-day world……. The musical tinkling of a bell echoes around as a pushcart brimming with flowers rushes down the street, hurrying to the market…fresh, preened and ready…to be sold to the highest bidder… The soft music of the approaching storm inspires a boatman, out on the holy river, to sing…… his voice echoes over the bass of the thunder……a plaintive pleasant humming……the nuances of the bhatiali fill up the empty cracks in the morning…… The rain deepens…………the drizzle expands into the monsoons first downpour… pitter-patter sings the rain, reverberating off a thousand tin roofs……the sky darkens……enveloping the dawn in its grey being….. Somewhere, someone tunes a harmonium…..clears a throat…a hand draws a curtain aside….. The peaceful reassurance of the daily azaan spreads out from the mosque…..calling the faithful to prayer….. The flower vendor…now setting up shop, attaching an extra strip of plastic sheet to fend off the rain…. Stops a moment and bows his head as the nearby tolling of a bell and the sound of a conch shell being blown announces the beginning of a new day in god’s abode…. A woman kneels down in a pew…..praying…..the calm of the church mirrored in her peaceful face….. The rain looks down at the city……..now, half awake…slowly stretching its limbs……..stirring from the depths of a restless rest…………awakening to the jangling of a bread earner’s faith…… The shower relents……..probably giving in to all the Monday morning groans and grumbles emanating from a city forced back into consciousness….. Finally, all that remains is the moisture on the flower vendor’s tarpaulin and the shadow of the boatman’s song on the rippled river…….
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i tried to write a poem a poem just for You but when i sought to find the words like hummingbirds, they flew! i tried to bake some cookies a dozen, just for You but before they hit the oven we'd shared the yummy goo i tried to paint a picture a picture just for You but the colors all ran out of line like sunlight through the dew i tried to plant a garden wildflowers, just for You but when i'd tilled and sown the soil too tall for me they grew! i tried to find a treasure a treasure just for You but when i looked inside the chest i found a gift from You i tried to tell a story a mystery, just for You but when i lost the villain's trail 'twas You who found the clue i tried to catch some fireflies green starlight, just for You but you smiled, and set the lightning free when i brought my lamp to You i tried to find the perfect shell a conch shell, just for You but all i found were little stars who tickled like You do! i tried to find an angel an angel just for You but when i told her who You were she said "you can't have two" i tried to catch a falling star a wish, made just for You but when i did, You said "My dear, all I've wished for is in you…" i tried to write a poem a poem just for You this time i found all the words to tell the world of You
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Jun 25, 2015
Jun 25, 2015 at 12:47 AM UTC
I Tried To Write A Poem...
That face is excruciatingly beautiful Blinding as platinum confetti For the new year of the soul She is my conch shell When I hear her, I hear me That body is hauntingly whole Strong as a steel gerder and just as smooth For the structure we are building She is my mirror When I see her, I see me Those hands are soft as silver Holding the pages of our life Strongly into the new book We will write together.
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Apr 28, 2015
Apr 28, 2015 at 5:37 PM UTC
Pressing Orchids
Its former tenant long since fled to wherever Mollusks go.. Its’ empty shell rests on my shelf For years that has been so. I took it down the other day, intending just to dust. A mote, or something, caused a tear. Was it perhaps, a thought of us? We walked along the Islands shore As old, practiced, couples do. We found this shell half buried And I rescued it for you. We had a fine collection On the shelf above our bed Until your former flame returned And you, like summer, fled. Triangles are eternal constructs pleasing to the mind But this one proved ephemeral being the romantic kind, I raise the Conch Shell to my lips And give a practiced blow. Its low sweet song a threnody For days of long ago
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Dec 17, 2011
Dec 17, 2011 at 10:34 PM UTC
The Conch Shell
The ogre that I am, I sit in my man-cave. It’s bathed in light from my TV and laptop. Each is a portal to our ugly world. Regulated crystal-city skyscrapers Form Giant’s Causeways. Aircraft eagle overhead Reminding me of vultures And 9\11. Cars beetling about the suburbs, Some Beetles, Ha Ha. River highways cascading cars. Ants rush everywhere, A seething nest. So many an ant, Holding a conch to the ear, Or staring mesmerised at that tiny screen. Yoda fingers his phone… And me I sit here, Metamorphosing metaphors For a while Before I visit Facebook Land Once again. Paul Butters
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Feb 17, 2016
Feb 17, 2016 at 5:40 AM UTC
Ugly Beauty
the human mind is like a shell the outer form remembered well hard and white with boney tips pink and smooth around its lip whorled within subconscious hides we cannot see the deep inside but place the conch to your heart's ear be very still and you will hear set it there and let it be you will perceive your mind's own sea SoulSurvivor (C) 4/8/2016
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Apr 8, 2016
Apr 8, 2016 at 10:56 AM UTC
conch
Pure in it's gleaming marble white a rare conch shell, well formed, with 'reverse turning spiral',* he holds, in both palms with reverence closer to his naked chest, where his beating caged heart tries to create echoes, as if it, in an unknown mysterious way, represents a myth entwine him with pure nature. An intriguing remains, retrieved, from the accumulated deep sea secrets, where still his memories vaguely roam in another life, as a creature of the deeps. The conch he is aware, hides tender notes that bridles air, water and fire, cosmic ripples prods him subtly to accelerate his quest, a swim towards the maelstrom of inner core, commingling with the music cosmos conducts every moment, with it's billion piece orchestra grand. She is a flame burning in clarified butter, his consort,her eyes reflect a concurrent spirit, both her palms she bring together ,makes a lotus thus and a red blooming lotus is nestled between palms. Her lotus speaks of  fecundity,from which flows love and life generations, descend find succor, in the gentle fragrance, and warmth, the lotus, protects, even at the midst of a freeze. Her eyes are blissfully half closed immersed in the fragrance wafting in the air spreading in waves far and wide.
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Feb 14, 2016
Feb 14, 2016 at 9:26 PM UTC
Portrait of a couple
Sweet sounds of waves softly lap On flecks of sun dipped copper sands With gentleness the water swirls In a kiss of frothy love on land Splash of oars on a cobalt sea While songs of sailors wane and fade Aboard the ships of destiny A cruise on an ocean's serenade The sea gull swoops, oh hear the cries Flap of wings fluttering the dock Ferries roll on routes of spice Midst the clap of waves on rocks Crests of water heave and ebb Touched by scales of coral scents Whispers born in the wind Sing of pirates, silk legends In murmurs 'twixt rippling waves Dreams float 'neath a setting sun Whisked like boats in a river's flow That sail across to meet oceans Love notes of romance in the waters Rhythm at feet, soaking wet Dancing waves stir the heart In a melody from the ocean's breath In cadence pleasant when tis dark On a night when moon and stars are laid When the sky shines with silver light The breeze plays music of mermaids Though now no storm, 'tis serene Soon the winds will ravage, rave On this quilt of aquamarine In a cacophony of thunderous rage But for now, 'tis the conch, the shell That sings those songs of the sea I close my eyes and drift away Swept by its magic and mysteries
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Oct 31, 2016
Oct 31, 2016 at 10:04 AM UTC
The Songs of the Seas
In Parsley, a Levantine munificence accreted together in Tabbouleh, herbage that covers fractured bedrock in a poultice of healing. Secreted within, lie igneous outpourings of bloodied tomatoes, those solid affections that had welled through an ocean floor as Neptune quelled Gaia's contractions, her waters seeking to burst beneath the wrinkled surface of a salty sea. She, an underbelly of sky, pregnant in the overwhelm of magma, sweating out her heart in fire, muted like a moon of Neptune, in his retrograde soliloquies, yet mirroring hers in icy resurfacings of skin. The God of the Sea, boils an amnion to hazy mists, how deep will his trident plunge to dislodge those Trojan ships of deceptions ? Yet, Triton blows a conch for Gaia, not for man's duelling and his warring tribes. He soothes her feverish gnashing of thighs labouring continents. Some fires burn in water, like desultory heartbeats moving the pace of rocks through the ocean floor, spiriting away to stranger places still, marking maps of memories in the beauty of a stillborn magma. The limestone they say is no blood relation to such alien fructification, those oceanic intruders, bleeding still, spilling secrets in reds and purples. The acid tears spilled in lemons merely neutralised in syllables, sedimented to a community of limestone, that possess no archaic remnants reminiscing through dead bones, an age of glory. Now beauty lies in herbage over once raucous magma and traces of a salty sea, freshness of life trailing her veins, in fragrance of Parsley
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Jun 24, 2021
Jun 24, 2021 at 7:15 AM UTC
A levantine Myth
In Parsley, a Levantine munificence accreted together in Tabbouleh, herbage that covers fractured bedrock in a poultice of healing. Secreted within, lie igneous outpourings of bloodied tomatoes, those solid affections that had welled through an ocean floor as Neptune quelled Gaia's contractions, her waters seeking to burst beneath the wrinkled surface of a salty sea. She, an underbelly of sky, pregnant in the overwhelm of magma, sweating out her heart in fire, muted like a moon of Neptune, in his retrograde soliloquies, yet mirroring hers in icy resurfacings of skin. The God of the Sea, boils an amnion to hazy mists, how deep will his trident plunge to dislodge those Trojan ships of deceptions ? Yet, Triton blows a conch for Gaia, not for man's duelling and his warring tribes. He soothes her feverish gnashing of thighs labouring continents. Some fires burn in water, like desultory heartbeats moving the pace of rocks through the ocean floor, spiriting away to stranger places still, marking maps of memories in the beauty of a stillborn magma. The limestone they say is no blood relation to such alien fructification, those oceanic intruders, bleeding still, spilling secrets in reds and purples. The acid tears spilled in lemons merely neutralised in syllables, sedimented to a community of limestone, that possess no archaic remnants reminiscing through dead bones, an age of glory. Now beauty lies in herbage over once raucous magma and traces of a salty sea, freshness of life trailing her veins, in fragrance of Parsley
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