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"condos" poems
Some clichty folks don't know the facts, posin' and preenin' and puttin' on acts, stretchin' their backs. They move into condos up over the ranks, pawn their souls to the local banks. Buying big cars they can't afford, ridin' around town actin' bored. If they want to learn how to live life right they ought to study me on Saturday night. My job at the plant ain't the biggest bet, but I pay my bills and stay out of debt. I get my hair done for my own self's sake, so I don't have to pick and I don't have to rake. Take the church money out and head cross town to my friend girl's house where we plan our round. We meet our men and go to a joint where the music is blue and to the point. Folks write about me. They just can't see how I work all week at the factory. Then get spruced up and laugh and dance And turn away from worry with sassy glance. They accuse me of livin' from day to day, but who are they kiddin'? So are they. My life ain't heaven but it sure ain't hell. I'm not on top but I call it swell if I'm able to work and get paid right and have the luck to be Black on a Saturday night.
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7.2k
Weekend Glory
I hate it when dad comes home He is ***** and he has smelly feet Having spent long ours at construction site Smelly and filthy.. what a sight! I loath him, I look down on him When I walk pass the working site I turn my face, pretending he is out of sight I constantly accuse god, I said he isn't fair I want a different dad.. who drives a much better car goes to work wearing tie and suit The perfect dad I always think I should have... At school one day My best friend cried She was devastated Her rich dad left home left for good with a pretty woman... She has a house as big as a castle Fat bank accounts and pretty outfits Constantly travel around the world Houses, condos, hotels just name it where but she has no dad to cuddle anymore at night when she gets scared of storms and thunder I remember my dad's smelly feet instantly annoying.. disgusting.. frustrating.. This dad of mine I used to loath... But he works all day his sweat is his labor of love to bring food on the table... so we kids don't sleep hungry This dad of mine doesn't own expensive car has never been overseas has never worn a tailor made suit and but he loves us wholeheartedly... and always want to give only the best for us. This dad of mine whose smelly feet will annoy me forever but he loves his family truly and will never leave our side at anytime when we needed him most... I love you daddy All your perfect imperfections I am sorry................
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May 4, 2016
May 4, 2016 at 12:11 AM UTC
My daddy's smelly feet
They warned us not to worry, Just do our best in school; Those worldly professionals, Taught us work-to-rule. They did a few case studies On twins from day of birth; There's a fifty-fifty chance, A will be born first They are urban fighters, Of fire, crime and blame; They live in high rise condos, They return from foreign lands. They  wait over subway vents, Their hearts and heads are bent; They show-up in walk-ons, They go without for Lent. They fly in and out of space, They don't identify with race; They're picked up for vagrancy, They dance cautiously in the street. They volley warning shots Across our private dreams; They sign and seal a peace accord They're sincere to a degree. They contribute to the run-off, And spiked our holy water; They enlisted Moms and Dads, Then slaughtered sons and daughters. They made rings from ivory, And pale lamp shades from skin; They list dissipation As a personal sin. Then they did unholy things With wood and nails, then atoms; They tore at our goodly earth, Wreaked havoc with their mapping. They distilled our alcohol, Made smoking so appealing; Then they rang the tower bells, And preached we had no feelings. They dug deep for wishing wells, Grew stuff to **** our germs; They bestowed us rods and reels, And spades to dig our worms. They connected us Through wireless touch; They counseled us on loneliness, And the traps of busyness. They pronounce death is art When they hang it on a wall; Then blame it on our women, In a scene based on our fall. They're newsy opaque, In love or hate; They are the ambiguous, The they, them and all of us.
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Dec 15, 2018
Dec 15, 2018 at 10:31 AM UTC
The Ambiguous
They warned us not to worry, Just do our best in school; Those worldly professionals, Taught us work-to-rule. They did a few case studies On twins from day of birth; There's a fifty-fifty chance, A will be born first They are urban fighters, Of fire, crime and blame; They live in high rise condos, They return from foreign lands. They  wait over subway vents, Their hearts and heads are bent; They show-up in walk-ons, They go without for Lent. They fly in and out of space, They don't identify with race; They're picked up for vagrancy, They dance cautiously in the street. They volley warning shots Across our private dreams; They sign and seal a peace accord They're sincere to a degree. They contribute to the run-off, And spiked our holy water; They enlisted Moms and Dads, Then slaughtered sons and daughters. They made rings from ivory, And pale lamp shades from skin; They list dissipation As a personal sin. Then they did unholy things With wood and nails, then atoms; They tore at our goodly earth, Wreaked havoc with their mapping. They distilled our alcohol, Made smoking so appealing; Then they rang the tower bells, And preached we had no feelings. They dug deep for wishing wells, Grew stuff to **** our germs; They bestowed us rods and reels, And spades to dig our worms. They connected us Through wireless touch; They counseled us on loneliness, And the traps of busyness. They pronounce death is art When they hang it on a wall; Then blame it on our women, In a scene based on our fall. They're newsy opaque, In love or hate; They are the ambiguous, The they, them and all of us.
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56
RINZAI BOX Had to have a psych eval at the box factory a human resources workup to make sure I could handle work again making cardboard condos for little mammal prisoners of the pet trade who live on hot windowsills until someone comes to love them. I got too depressed once when I found tiny bunnies mewling in a dumpster their only refuge yes a box I had made you could tell it said assembled with care by Kevin and I missed a month of work and got written up for just being sad. The shrink diagnosed me a cognitive distorter a predictor of worst case scenarios but I disagreed since I saw the sad bunnies for real and he puffed up like a blowfish stammering you’re the patient I’m the man. Well I’ve been around the zendo so I challenged him smartypants answer this……. Do bunnies in boxes have Buddha nature? Irrational and pointless he said hmmmmm I said how do you know maybe you’re a narcissist on a psychobabble fugue echoing in a therapy box. But I have Buddha nature and I put that in the boxes I make and the Buddha bunnies go in the boxes and you here in your Buddha office are not separate just uniquely boxed   and the label on the bunnies' box says assembled with care by Buddha.
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Jan 30, 2012
Jan 30, 2012 at 12:46 AM UTC
RINZAI BOX
Your pillowcase Is still in my closet, Remember when you Let me borrow it? My fever sweat Soaked through mine And you were kind Enough to let Me use yours So I could be comfy, You constantly Took care of me, A monthly ordeal, Ordering meals Every night, Every morning The white hot light Of mourning Keeping me Yawning In my bed, I didn't leave For days, Where could I go? So confused and dazed Watching Dazed and Confused On infinite play On the tube With no attention paid, Cuz its your favorite movie, It got me lost In thoughts of Going to the premiere At the cinema Near The mall where You used to rack shirts, They're both gone now, Replaced with a Hertz, Some condos Of minimal worth, And a David's bridal Full of gowns I'll never see you wear, Cuz you disappeared Into a habit, A rabbit hole Smeared With ancient demons That appeared resolved, But in fact Were the reasons Your love dissolved, As well as the ambition To solve Life's questions, Your mission Became Obsessive Injections, Oh, my Jesse, I wish I Still had Your affection, But the reaper Has added You to his Collection Already, So I guess I'll hold Steady, And maybe He'll Take me Soon, Cuz I'm ******* Ready To sail To the Moon.
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Oct 2, 2012
Oct 2, 2012 at 12:48 AM UTC
--Jessica With The Solitary Dimple--
It’s 30… it’s 28 degrees outside, or so says the rust-cased thermometer on the balcony. The blizzard we’ve been expecting all week is a churning grey mist in the distance— it is easy to see from the balcony if I look through pine boughs. The woods expanding below our mountainside balcony are also home to several swanky condos; evergreens and birch all down the mountain, and a dusty snow falling in the valley below. We are all familiar with the reddened barn staring at us, perfectly opposite our balcony, commanding a small field on the little mountain across the dip of the valley. But the blizzard is swallowing the neighbor mountain in its snowy march towards the balcony. And the lazy, drifting flakes above the pines are shook into a frenzied dance. A group of skiers, lost and floundering in the white near the buildings lodged in the woods below understand that cold, chaotic feeling I know as the valley blurs in whitewash.
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Feb 1, 2010
Feb 1, 2010 at 9:20 PM UTC
The Blizzard
Nearly four decades ago, nearly half a century I walked Freedom Boulevard from a lonely bus stop and as I drove there the other day I saw a girl standing at one who could have been me, in memory -- frozen Would it still be there? One of my treasured childhood memories Still living, not someone's brand new home, or a bunch of Villas in a gated community, lost The land bleeds in California, but has started to scar over and forget the apple orchards across the street from The Barn, where I used to ride, and now the houses are at least covered in trees as nature tries to overtake the foreign, like in Cherenobyl The big red barn sitting atop a small hill, crammed with horse paddocks now that the little barns turned to condos. But it is still there. Like magic, frozen in time. The red barn, I walk in, it looks smaller than I remember but the ***** brown cobwebs still cover the cieling and I am nine years old again Before I knew the boundaries of my gender When I felt powerful, if neglected, strong and in charge Before I knew the bindings of my *** The limitations I felt strong, and as I stand here, I may as well be nine again, a single digit And my fear melts away, and the lessons learned about my place in the world evaporate I stand, and look around at the barn nearly unchanged and reclaim myself
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Aug 15, 2013
Aug 15, 2013 at 10:52 PM UTC
The Barn Revisited
My happiness comes from me ask my friends and the world around me blossoming in a spark of crimsony red moon glow on forethought walks through the shivering lenses of percept that trickle down our backs as we enlighten ourselves with all that is in between and unseen. It is as if our aged limbs were caressed into a symphony of leverages and their shapes. We cannot be cadavers. We are arms of cheer and picture jasper, adolescent googled-eyes gathers with virile fixations on our partners as we prey on the map lines subtly employing our eyes as we dart across each dimple, pimple, freckle, and gently worn rash lines. These are the dogs of our incessant barking. Idling for sincerity, as actors swiftly press Winter into us while our limbless diction presents our inadequacy Rd upon our ugly and I'll-tempered neighborly-things. Aliens of the afternoon, first floor agony and karmas standard for living in a reduced climate One. Wearing down the hooves, undulates from Pepperdine mark trails with breaking breads and twigs and bones. Undulates from another world, behoofed and bemoved, curdling their sappy reselling a of drat and unkindly remarks. And we have begun to wonder when evolution will kick-in. When will the military come for them at the doors and vacate is all from our nontoxic lie-shrouded apartment complexes, condos, and cabins. Slaughter numbers of letters and integers right out in the street; loonies in the town square and the moose are crying.
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Sep 17, 2016
Sep 17, 2016 at 9:52 PM UTC
Weighing Us Down, Down In The Weather
We sang: retro post-modern. With tattoos of Lynard Skynard And boats sailing At high mast. Mediocrity accepted as norm. We came rarely, For legal reasons. Religion stained our blood, And our ***** With pine smoke fragrance. Laughter, Few and like Stucco condos- Birds whispered secrets to life As we murdered each other with silence. Sun rise: Gleamed positivity with Bling chains of Christ. We danced while naked and alone, Another legality- And culture was processed in the blender of commerce- Black and white word puzzles plagued our lethargic minds. From triviality— Transience.
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Jan 11, 2010
Jan 11, 2010 at 7:03 AM UTC
Fast times in nostalgia land (Florida, USA)
Where were you when I was growing up? You were in college getting A's while I was getting D's in science class in the 5th grade. I remember asking if you wanted to draw with me and you never had the "time" 10 minutes out of your ******* busy day to spend with your CHILD. yeah, I understand bringing food to the table is important and your brain wasn't fully developed until 25 but, where were you? I loved that computer. Oh, AOL 5.0, talking to strangers, going into lesbian chats, looking at naked pictures of women. I appreciated when you paid attention to me when I would wear the same underwear and pants weeks straight. It was amazing that you noticed I never used to take my Ritalin and that I would hide it under my tongue and then stick it in a mug under my ****** twin bed. I've had 8 cats during my lifetime? Do you remember April that cat, that siamese cat, our 5 cats? What was up with having so many **** CATS? I loved watching nickolodeon and nick at nite. Cat dog all day with 5 kittens in our lovely apartment. LOVED having your now "husbands" nephew trying to have *** with me when I was like 11 and he was 18. The moths were fun.....fancied smelling like moth ***** during school! I loved taking baths only because we had no shower head. Filling up a plastic cup with water to be able to wash my hair was my favorite. I loved when you threw a hair dryer at me. Digging your stupid fake nails into my skin, not sure what I did "wrong" then but that was always the best treatment, CHILD. My favorite was when you helped with my homework. Loved when you threatened that you would "tie a rope around my neck" and that you hated me. Loved eating raviolis and getting 2 chicken sandwiches from Mcdonalds. Oh, 4 mini burgers and fries from Whitecastle after going to Marshalls was my favorite. That guy, that assyrian, iranian guy that owned Carvel and was 20 years older than you...I loved when he used to let me go outside alone the condos when I was 3. Loved when he'd force me to where overalls and ugly clothes in elementary school. Being forced to go to an Assyrian church every sunday was the best!
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Jan 9, 2013
Jan 9, 2013 at 5:07 PM UTC
Where were you? A Child and a CHILD.
Where were you when I was growing up? You were in college getting A's while I was getting D's in science class in the 5th grade. I remember asking if you wanted to draw with me and you never had the "time" 10 minutes out of your ******* busy day to spend with your CHILD. yeah, I understand bringing food to the table is important and your brain wasn't fully developed until 25 but, where were you? I loved that computer. Oh, AOL 5.0, talking to strangers, going into lesbian chats, looking at naked pictures of women. I appreciated when you paid attention to me when I would wear the same underwear and pants weeks straight. It was amazing that you noticed I never used to take my Ritalin and that I would hide it under my tongue and then stick it in a mug under my ****** twin bed. I've had 8 cats during my lifetime? Do you remember April that cat, that siamese cat, our 5 cats? What was up with having so many **** CATS? I loved watching nickolodeon and nick at nite. Cat dog all day with 5 kittens in our lovely apartment. LOVED having your now "husbands" nephew trying to have *** with me when I was like 11 and he was 18. The moths were fun.....fancied smelling like moth ***** during school! I loved taking baths only because we had no shower head. Filling up a plastic cup with water to be able to wash my hair was my favorite. I loved when you threw a hair dryer at me. Digging your stupid fake nails into my skin, not sure what I did "wrong" then but that was always the best treatment, CHILD. My favorite was when you helped with my homework. Loved when you threatened that you would "tie a rope around my neck" and that you hated me. Loved eating raviolis and getting 2 chicken sandwiches from Mcdonalds. Oh, 4 mini burgers and fries from Whitecastle after going to Marshalls was my favorite. That guy, that assyrian, iranian guy that owned Carvel and was 20 years older than you...I loved when he used to let me go outside alone the condos when I was 3. Loved when he'd force me to where overalls and ugly clothes in elementary school. Being forced to go to an Assyrian church every sunday was the best!
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22
When you die alone nobody beside you to see your heart erupts through your chest and a thousand tiny people crawl out. Some of them climb down the bedside and build condos in your carpet; others climb up the lamp and start hang gliding businesses. Still others make their way down the stairs and out into the garden where they ride on great snails’ backs singing wistful cowboy songs in memory of your greatness.
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May 3, 2013
May 3, 2013 at 7:25 AM UTC
YOUR GREATNESS
We laid in bed, bathing in muffled sunlight A golden stream seeped between the drapes Our Arms and legs tangled under love stained sheets -It was the morning of the New Year And so the sun rose slowly over the condos that barricade the shore We were not working, not buying, not selling, not talking, not thinking We were not planning not worrying not regretting not celebrating But embracing one and other, both physically and spiritually Her breath a weeping violin, her heart plucking an upright bass And as we shift, tossing and turning in a rain stick lullaby We were alive, in love. And that was all that mattered
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Jan 2, 2014
Jan 2, 2014 at 6:28 PM UTC
New Year
The whole condo is full of Doritos. It smells like a dentist's office, only without any pretense of dentistry. All assumptions aside, I plug my nose. Crunching under my feet, the cheese meadows spread the carpet's sprawl. Who'd live in this place? I compose myself, set my briefcase down, crunch through the living room. *Who knows?   This is ******* gross. Out of these condos   this one's the very worst.* A baby's cry   emanates through this urban pigsty.   I peer into a room and...baby toes? --   baby toes! -- peeking from mounds of crushed cheese!   Why do these crack heads keep having babies?
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Jul 27, 2013
Jul 27, 2013 at 6:37 PM UTC
A Social Worker Stumbles Onto an Unexpected Scene During a Round of Home Visits
Right in the middle of the busiest area of the Poconos, the group of condos sit in a large circle. The sky is dark, for it has been hidden from all possible sunlight by the many awnings and porches that join the different housing units. On one side of the condos the neon lights from the bar next door shine through the children’s windows, but the more occupied side the parking lot is lined with fast food restaurants- clumped together and riotous with large families that frequent them, juggling their small children and many diaper bags; and noisy cars speeding past with loud engines, pungent, murky exhaust spewing out of the back and police sirens constantly blaring down the street. In the parking lot encircled by the condos the tenant kids run around full of light yet somehow full of darkness at the same time. The older kids come out of the small houses to sit on the sidewalk in the evening, and the cracked sidewalks are covered with the faded chalk drawings left there by the youngsters earlier in the day, and with the sheets of crumbled up paper containing poetry no one would ever read, and with the old needles and discarded blunts of their parents who had left them there over the course of the day. There is one unit in particular, a unit with a broken door from the many men who had tried to force their way in, a unit with holes in every wall that were put there by flying fists and thrown objects that had missed their true target- the oldest daughter. In front of the many holes in the their smiles are fake and their hugs are forced.
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Nov 28, 2016
Nov 28, 2016 at 3:50 AM UTC
Hoplessness
Right in the middle of the busiest area of the Poconos, the group of condos sit in a large circle. The sky is dark, for it has been hidden from all possible sunlight by the many awnings and porches that join the different housing units. On one side of the condos the neon lights from the bar next door shine through the children’s windows, but the more occupied side the parking lot is lined with fast food restaurants- clumped together and riotous with large families that frequent them, juggling their small children and many diaper bags; and noisy cars speeding past with loud engines, pungent, murky exhaust spewing out of the back and police sirens constantly blaring down the street. In the parking lot encircled by the condos the tenant kids run around full of light yet somehow full of darkness at the same time. The older kids come out of the small houses to sit on the sidewalk in the evening, and the cracked sidewalks are covered with the faded chalk drawings left there by the youngsters earlier in the day, and with the sheets of crumbled up paper containing poetry no one would ever read, and with the old needles and discarded blunts of their parents who had left them there over the course of the day. There is one unit in particular, a unit with a broken door from the many men who had tried to force their way in, a unit with holes in every wall that were put there by flying fists and thrown objects that had missed their true target- the oldest daughter. In front of the many holes in the their smiles are fake and their hugs are forced.
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2
The rotten fruit shall be shaken --- W. H. Auden Do they somehow envision sainthood in the homeless or extol the virtue of the millions toiling for minimum wage; see themselves as the feudal overlords of trickle-down, their enormous profits banquet omelets for the common good? You know the politics whereof I speak, the Me, Myself and I of anachronistic yesterdays, the concave years of soup-kitchens supporting high-rise condos and batshit crazy presidential candidates admiring selfies.   I wonder if it's all because they can't reach ****** impotence and pharmaceuticals which fuel our economy? A nation moans from the exhaustion of despair with forgotten cityscapes of odorous blacks and blues.
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Oct 17, 2015
Oct 17, 2015 at 6:22 AM UTC
As the Days Decay
The ancient tacoma grainery, Stands in a corner of its own now. Tne dark tunnell still has leggs when she lets go. The dock street rail yard fills up the city like a loaf of hotnsteamy bread. Farther down our ambitious tycoon Stacks up condos, wheat pancakes, Is his breakfast of choice. They demolished the old elks club. Which sprung across the street like a walmart super store. Blue and yellow is workers vest perks and all.  Their members still grase for golfballs off the ten million dollar tees. There isnt much enjoyment, they'd rather drink. Last month my two foot clarks walked through the sliding dorrs hospitality. Wanting to see the high mountain of sucess, I looked for organic oats.   My minds to random. I inch up to the screen and see the faces of migrant workers, Hang like meat. After six months in america half the under employed, Are giving up. Deported with their children. My hope still goes out to the college students. And their first morgage of inflamatory dough. They all buy up every job still hoping for change. No marrijuana in public, Get away while the officers turn their backs, With their guns to pepper a face. In the taxing store. Im afraid we smoked heavilly. Love to the workers, Love to their vests. Everythings devoliping to quick. My new bike slices by cars of ritz crackers. Everthings been built to last. There nothing left to buil on, Only a few vacent lots that wait for tresspassers. One man dives through a trash can and isnt scared. He picks out a hamburger bun and eats his lunch.
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Oct 25, 2013
Oct 25, 2013 at 4:34 AM UTC
Bread second
The ancient tacoma grainery, Stands in a corner of its own now. Tne dark tunnell still has leggs when she lets go. The dock street rail yard fills up the city like a loaf of hotnsteamy bread. Farther down our ambitious tycoon Stacks up condos, wheat pancakes, Is his breakfast of choice. They demolished the old elks club. Which sprung across the street like a walmart super store. Blue and yellow is workers vest perks and all.  Their members still grase for golfballs off the ten million dollar tees. There isnt much enjoyment, they'd rather drink. Last month my two foot clarks walked through the sliding dorrs hospitality. Wanting to see the high mountain of sucess, I looked for organic oats.   My minds to random. I inch up to the screen and see the faces of migrant workers, Hang like meat. After six months in america half the under employed, Are giving up. Deported with their children. My hope still goes out to the college students. And their first morgage of inflamatory dough. They all buy up every job still hoping for change. No marrijuana in public, Get away while the officers turn their backs, With their guns to pepper a face. In the taxing store. Im afraid we smoked heavilly. Love to the workers, Love to their vests. Everythings devoliping to quick. My new bike slices by cars of ritz crackers. Everthings been built to last. There nothing left to buil on, Only a few vacent lots that wait for tresspassers. One man dives through a trash can and isnt scared. He picks out a hamburger bun and eats his lunch.
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42
By: Cedric McClester Don’t know what to say Other than fairwell Death has finally claimed Another venerable hotel Where everyone from Sid Vicious to Dee Dee Ramone At one time or another stayed And called it their home Requiem for the Chelsea May she rest in peace Now that all activity inside her Has finally ceased Closed for renovations See we’ve heard that before The death knell has been tolled She ain’t coming back no more Nevermore to open In its present incarnation Cos now the Chelsea’s history Despite the acclamations What the future holds Is anybody’s guess But if I’m forced to take one I’d say condos at best The Chelsea was a grand hotel Back there in the day Name me one musician Who didn’t book a stay The Chelsea was iconic What else can I say Except that it’s ironic That it went down that way Cedric McClester, Copyright (c) 2016.  All rights reserved.
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Mar 3, 2016
Mar 3, 2016 at 11:21 PM UTC
DEATH OF THE CHELSEA HOTEL
Found my slice of paradise on the southern coast today. Although I felt ill prepared at first: cycling in my climbing shoes (the only shoes I found tossed in my car), no helmet, and nothing but a large body of salt water at the end of the trail to quench my thirst for refreshment, perhaps what I was most unprepared for was this small patch of sand I stumbled across at the edge of the lagoon, much unlike the pristine white sandy beaches with ******** clad women that embody San Diego County, this slice of shoreline is squeezed by a motel parking lot to the north and tightly packed condos to the south and seems rugged and uncombed, like an abandoned lot the city had intended to develop before the recession but instead left it to sit, collecting seaweed and mangy seagulls. Slightly windy, home to an unwelcoming rip current, and the view of the freeway not far behind me, this was paradise. My unkempt paradise. Although a few scattered families littered the sand, who somehow felt like intruders to a secret jewel I had just discovered, I still felt that this was my new patch of sanity. I felt a strong urge to keep it a protected secret matched with a sense of pride in finding it and the desire to share this hidden sense of serenity with all my friends on the central coast; bring them here to christen it with the free-spirited energy I had unwillingly left behind. But instead I left that decision for another day, rolled out my yoga mat I had haphazardly strapped to my back, and started my Vinyasa flow with a view of the Pacific Ocean; a sputtering plane engine was my mental Sanskrit, the tide my metronome for breath. Even the stares of my fellow beach-dwellers wouldn’t deter me from this spot. I had left my mark near the lifeguard tower, a skinny path from my tires and a rectangular imprint of my mat that said: I'll be back. Perhaps what sealed the deal was the sign I passed as I pedaled away: Bicycle Friendly Community. Yep, maybe this could be a home away from SLO.
0
Nov 10, 2011
Nov 10, 2011 at 2:05 AM UTC
Paradise [Found]
Found my slice of paradise on the southern coast today. Although I felt ill prepared at first: cycling in my climbing shoes (the only shoes I found tossed in my car), no helmet, and nothing but a large body of salt water at the end of the trail to quench my thirst for refreshment, perhaps what I was most unprepared for was this small patch of sand I stumbled across at the edge of the lagoon, much unlike the pristine white sandy beaches with ******** clad women that embody San Diego County, this slice of shoreline is squeezed by a motel parking lot to the north and tightly packed condos to the south and seems rugged and uncombed, like an abandoned lot the city had intended to develop before the recession but instead left it to sit, collecting seaweed and mangy seagulls. Slightly windy, home to an unwelcoming rip current, and the view of the freeway not far behind me, this was paradise. My unkempt paradise. Although a few scattered families littered the sand, who somehow felt like intruders to a secret jewel I had just discovered, I still felt that this was my new patch of sanity. I felt a strong urge to keep it a protected secret matched with a sense of pride in finding it and the desire to share this hidden sense of serenity with all my friends on the central coast; bring them here to christen it with the free-spirited energy I had unwillingly left behind. But instead I left that decision for another day, rolled out my yoga mat I had haphazardly strapped to my back, and started my Vinyasa flow with a view of the Pacific Ocean; a sputtering plane engine was my mental Sanskrit, the tide my metronome for breath. Even the stares of my fellow beach-dwellers wouldn’t deter me from this spot. I had left my mark near the lifeguard tower, a skinny path from my tires and a rectangular imprint of my mat that said: I'll be back. Perhaps what sealed the deal was the sign I passed as I pedaled away: Bicycle Friendly Community. Yep, maybe this could be a home away from SLO.
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8
There is an immensity of life between us in the cracks of the tar lining the streets of the new and the up and coming in the cement foundations of pieces of history torn down to make way for condos in the luxury of the innocent in the opulence of the well versed (I was never brilliant or oblivious but I understood the weight of it still) and still there is life here in the filthy river water we use to cleanse ourselves of modern day idealism in the pedicured grass of the only wild space left in the city in the eyes of the people who go unnoticed for years in the hands of the business men devastating and deciding the price of our humanity we swarm we collect we nest in this hive we levitate and gravitate towards new heights and new highs vowing to go up and over up and over until we revert back to the way we once were nostalgia a pretty word for dissatisfaction tearing down walls only to romanticize their restriction ten years later we build up to break down to reenforce what we already know but yet there is a beyond and yet still there is more still there is life in the existential still there in the thoughts between sleep and waking still between the jump and the fall still and even still you take your forearm and run it along the curve of the earth surrounding this city this coal eating monster washed with the dreams of a thousand drunkards looking for some other body to call home and we call it home with the austere buildings and mirror images reflecting bricks and soot reflecting breath and sighs reflecting life and death and between it all there is so much life yes between us there is an immensity of life.
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Dec 15, 2015
Dec 15, 2015 at 12:23 PM UTC
nashville
There is an immensity of life between us in the cracks of the tar lining the streets of the new and the up and coming in the cement foundations of pieces of history torn down to make way for condos in the luxury of the innocent in the opulence of the well versed (I was never brilliant or oblivious but I understood the weight of it still) and still there is life here in the filthy river water we use to cleanse ourselves of modern day idealism in the pedicured grass of the only wild space left in the city in the eyes of the people who go unnoticed for years in the hands of the business men devastating and deciding the price of our humanity we swarm we collect we nest in this hive we levitate and gravitate towards new heights and new highs vowing to go up and over up and over until we revert back to the way we once were nostalgia a pretty word for dissatisfaction tearing down walls only to romanticize their restriction ten years later we build up to break down to reenforce what we already know but yet there is a beyond and yet still there is more still there is life in the existential still there in the thoughts between sleep and waking still between the jump and the fall still and even still you take your forearm and run it along the curve of the earth surrounding this city this coal eating monster washed with the dreams of a thousand drunkards looking for some other body to call home and we call it home with the austere buildings and mirror images reflecting bricks and soot reflecting breath and sighs reflecting life and death and between it all there is so much life yes between us there is an immensity of life.
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37
We look past meaning, still blinded and dreaming of riches, Which leads us toward track homes and condos, cruel chapels While the hapless live in the world’s mansion: the most open convent And what we don’t see is sometimes the crux of our content The streets offer a morose array of the discarded They, the wise and most wretched, who humbly suffer Are perhaps the truest, comely Christian-hearted men and women They bless the day as they pray to the ground Where cracks become twisted crucifixes upon which The most selfless are displayed for public derision. Ironic is the formula written with precision on the tome of our existence Iconic moments of pain bloom into the banks that loan out inspiration Each electron is one thousand eight hundred thirty-sixth of its proton And this proportion, though grandly and numbingly unimpressive Is the basis upon which we live and whir and spin as matter does Coincidence is a lie in the face of the certainties within what we cannot see For, though one decade separated the births of Crockett and Bowie And, though their names might conjure knives larger than pockets And hats, stolen from conquered bandit-faced creatures’ tail ends It was on the same 1836 day that they evolved from flesh into legend. Joy is a strange element that seems to come and go without a plot Yet some know how to wield their emotions with little thought As if joy and love were as a hammer worn neatly at the belt So, I yearn for one day to grasp a handle in a hand that has never felt The shape of certainties, once discerned as chance and circumstance And when the hammer falls, I hope it breaks a twisted crack into my heart I hope to, from my reflections, thus bereft, Find some perfection hidden deep in death As one might decipher, through foreign language, A light that warms within a sonnet In a way, I think my life depends upon it.
0
Feb 19, 2013
Feb 19, 2013 at 4:35 PM UTC
The Hammer
We look past meaning, still blinded and dreaming of riches, Which leads us toward track homes and condos, cruel chapels While the hapless live in the world’s mansion: the most open convent And what we don’t see is sometimes the crux of our content The streets offer a morose array of the discarded They, the wise and most wretched, who humbly suffer Are perhaps the truest, comely Christian-hearted men and women They bless the day as they pray to the ground Where cracks become twisted crucifixes upon which The most selfless are displayed for public derision. Ironic is the formula written with precision on the tome of our existence Iconic moments of pain bloom into the banks that loan out inspiration Each electron is one thousand eight hundred thirty-sixth of its proton And this proportion, though grandly and numbingly unimpressive Is the basis upon which we live and whir and spin as matter does Coincidence is a lie in the face of the certainties within what we cannot see For, though one decade separated the births of Crockett and Bowie And, though their names might conjure knives larger than pockets And hats, stolen from conquered bandit-faced creatures’ tail ends It was on the same 1836 day that they evolved from flesh into legend. Joy is a strange element that seems to come and go without a plot Yet some know how to wield their emotions with little thought As if joy and love were as a hammer worn neatly at the belt So, I yearn for one day to grasp a handle in a hand that has never felt The shape of certainties, once discerned as chance and circumstance And when the hammer falls, I hope it breaks a twisted crack into my heart I hope to, from my reflections, thus bereft, Find some perfection hidden deep in death As one might decipher, through foreign language, A light that warms within a sonnet In a way, I think my life depends upon it.
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31
Music bleeds out of the 12th story window The sidewalk is freckled with old chewing gum and stacks of cigarette butts The urban equivalent of leaves on a forest floor This side walk has been seen by many travelers thousands have walked its concrete skin Buried underneath subway trains travel like bullets carrying the cramped masses of morning commuters There's a man in a suit Sunglasses shield the world from his eyes Cellphone in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other Walking briskly in his Italian leather shoes Not noticing the man in the burgundy hat reaching deep within the trash can Chirping birds have been replaced with the honking of car horns and air brakes of city buses Towering trees have been replaced with towering condos, offices, and monuments of capitalism We're told when to cross the street and the rivers have been told where to drain The birds have been told where to nest We're told where we belong Within its neighborhoods
0
May 23, 2016
May 23, 2016 at 2:10 PM UTC
Walking In The Dystopian Utopia
There I stood amongst the crowd. Hundreds have gathered, like prairie dogs, we are still, with our eyes focused out past the rocks, and into the setting sun. The dolphins are rolling in the waves, and feeding on the snook. The earth is now cooled in the late evening breeze, and the sun begins its journey to the bottom of the ocean. The sky lights up with the most brilliant of colors, oranges, reds, pinks, and blues. All eyes look west, soaking up the picture. Against the crowd, I turn my back to the setting sun! I look away and into the eastern sky to see the clouds lit up just as brilliantly as the west, but there is more. The sun reflects off the condos showing their true colors, and the sandy shore is a fiery orange lined with birds after their final meals. It is the picture that most won’t see. It is the forgotten view. Just as beautiful as the west, but with our backs turned against it we often miss out. Most will look west in hopes of catching what every one else is looking for. The beauty of the sunset, But what is beauty? To me it is what most will not see. They want to see it, but they will miss out. Distracted by the obvious sunset, they forget to turn around. Beauty is intentionally turning around and looking at something for all it is worth. It is looking at something or someone for more than what the world looks for. It is seeing the whole picture. It is the uneven dimples of her smile. The sorrow in her eyes as we pass by the homeless. The gentleness of her fingertips pressed against mine, and how she tries to hide her little sneezes. Beauty is the way she looks as she brushes her teeth in the morning, and smiles at me through that foamy mouth. It is the words she whispers gently in my ears just before I fall asleep at night. I am turning my back to the falling sun in search of that true beauty. What will the east hold for me? I am looking, where are you?
0
Jan 18, 2010
Jan 18, 2010 at 1:18 PM UTC
What is Beauty?
There I stood amongst the crowd. Hundreds have gathered, like prairie dogs, we are still, with our eyes focused out past the rocks, and into the setting sun. The dolphins are rolling in the waves, and feeding on the snook. The earth is now cooled in the late evening breeze, and the sun begins its journey to the bottom of the ocean. The sky lights up with the most brilliant of colors, oranges, reds, pinks, and blues. All eyes look west, soaking up the picture. Against the crowd, I turn my back to the setting sun! I look away and into the eastern sky to see the clouds lit up just as brilliantly as the west, but there is more. The sun reflects off the condos showing their true colors, and the sandy shore is a fiery orange lined with birds after their final meals. It is the picture that most won’t see. It is the forgotten view. Just as beautiful as the west, but with our backs turned against it we often miss out. Most will look west in hopes of catching what every one else is looking for. The beauty of the sunset, But what is beauty? To me it is what most will not see. They want to see it, but they will miss out. Distracted by the obvious sunset, they forget to turn around. Beauty is intentionally turning around and looking at something for all it is worth. It is looking at something or someone for more than what the world looks for. It is seeing the whole picture. It is the uneven dimples of her smile. The sorrow in her eyes as we pass by the homeless. The gentleness of her fingertips pressed against mine, and how she tries to hide her little sneezes. Beauty is the way she looks as she brushes her teeth in the morning, and smiles at me through that foamy mouth. It is the words she whispers gently in my ears just before I fall asleep at night. I am turning my back to the falling sun in search of that true beauty. What will the east hold for me? I am looking, where are you?
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7
No (wo) man is an island But is it possible to be the Roaring ocean? Swallowing rocks with animosity And spitting out a Glittery product Of sandy turmoil No (wo)man is an island But is it possible to be the grey Black boulders? Among the edge Where the green lush ends And the midnight blue Sadness begins. Stagnant and indifferent To the wild hearted seagulls Perched and picking Pointing out the imperfections Of a jagged way of being No (wo)man is an island But is it possible to be the drifting Lofty limitless clouds A pertinent part of the  paradoxical ceiling Of the globe Floating and spreading Fluffy wings of idealism offering frustrating fantastical Dreamy substance To a crooked solidified world below No (wo)man is an island But is there just a small Glimmering possibility That if I wanted to be I could be an island Lone, and far away From these Destructive city slicker Emotions That stack on top of each other Like the condos neighboring my mind Crowding my consciousness
0
Mar 17, 2013
Mar 17, 2013 at 10:07 PM UTC
Human island
- Black squirrel carrying walnuts to her nest, wary of winter's triumph. - Stephen and John drinking coffee too late to notice it's time for bed. - Seven-forty, golden skies, power lines intersecting, delivery. - Going out of business, entire stock fifty percent off, buy more save more. - Houses are taken from the elderly and they are put in condos. - R C A cables, seven cents, an iPod wait to be "used" again. - "Do you still feel thirsty?" the man asks her as they set the table. - Listening to dub without step is dub at its best, one would believe! - Impatiently stabbing into the White-Out with a pen yields **** - On TV there's a documentary about its own history.
0
Aug 14, 2011
Aug 14, 2011 at 10:27 PM UTC
Ten American Sentences (8/14/11)