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"cubicles" poems
Lord, she's so beautiful, but she's still my friend I've done everything I can to keep her safe from other men Which isn't saying much because this girl's so smart, but what I've tried to save is the innocence of her heart With every bad man in her life I just try to remain the same because I've worked so hard to have such a good name and be someone that's reliable, someone that she can trust, but on my side of the coin it's more than just lust I throw her off my scent by mentioning other girls Little does she know that she encompasses my world How can she not know that she's what I envision when I think of the perfect woman and provide the description? **** any girl alive that doesn't think they're beautiful! Their heads are in the clouds and their world's in cubicles One day very soon here I'll help her open her eyes and maybe she'll realize she's known the perfect guy
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Apr 30, 2014
Apr 30, 2014 at 4:43 PM UTC
Perfection in Imperfection
I was standing on a beach in pitch black when I realized I wasn't special. Your entire childhood, your dad tells you you're the smartest child he knows and your mom tells you that you have the kindest heart and your relatives tell you you're the most beautiful girl in the world, And it isn't until your heart has been broken by a boy who called you the one or your best friend has stopped talking to you for reasons you'll never fully understand that you realize the only loved ones telling you the truth were your brothers, who pointed out your flaws and tore apart everything you found beautiful and destroyed every ounce of pride you had. This is the only truth you can find. On a scale of the universe, no single star can be considered unique. You spend your whole life thinking how unprecedented you are and how different your life is from everyone else's And you're going to be different when you grow up, you're going to follow your dreams and live an amazing life and you're going to travel and have a one of a kind wedding and your children will have unique names, And one day you're in your dad's office and you see all these people in cubicles and you realize they all thought the same thing. You may be a star but the universe is infinite and there are billions of stars and no matter what your parents tell you, Trust your brothers.
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Mar 26, 2014
Mar 26, 2014 at 2:15 PM UTC
Trust Your Brothers
There's no health benefits to fasting: still. Your body responds in some paleo-way; calcium leaks from bones to balance lost ones escaping during the *** Always this homeostasis while peeing. A setpoint. There are those who fast because that is what's left to them, a prisoner in cell, on the street, sitting in cubicles feeling rightness with the same wrong skin as e's fellow mate. E does the daily pet cheats too, until e's tired of it all, until e wishes that there WAS a great fallen Leader to blame, or a giant green Tank to stand against rice's grain while holding defiant plastic shopping bags. When even violence has been taken away: still. We believe in peaceful God and fast, fast or set ourselves on fire because the concrete doesn't burn.
0
Feb 26, 2013
Feb 26, 2013 at 9:18 AM UTC
Fasting
Fever-flushed children and Broken bodies Litter hospital halls like so much Human refuse ….Wondering why their need for care is treated so tepidly by a Society which worships Profits Power and Prestige ….Waiting while they wallow in anguish as Privacy Paperwork and Payment are Debated by bureaucrats in cubicles ….Wanting to be refreshed and restored to some measure of usefulness ….But Free to Pursue Life on their terms in exchange for Silence Acceptance and Despair Huddling for warmth and in Fear of discovery they assemble in rag-tag formation having scaled formidable fences Seeking freedom from Poverty and oppression Searching for work of any sort ….No matter how Humiliating or Hard ….No matter the Cost or Conditions Disparaged and despised they labor in hope that their children will have a chance for success instead of suffering a similar fate …..But Free to Pursue Liberty in a land where their presence is Ignored if not Denied Unkempt in camouflage One-legged and Vacant-eyed he rolls his rickety wheelchair along grassy median with muted effort displaying cardboard sign childishly scripted in one weather-worn and gnarled hand while clutching a decapitated jug in the other Forgotten Forlorn, and Discarded veteran Victimized far more by country than foe ….But Free to Pursue Happiness while Begging on street corners as Upright citizens dispense Unwelcome opinions or Pocket change with equal Self-righteousness Life Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness…. Ideals that slowly incinerate on the Altar of Capitalism ….Songs forever lost in the Cacophony now Played on the Instrument of Politics
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Sep 21, 2016
Sep 21, 2016 at 7:17 PM UTC
Fiddling While Rome Burns
Fever-flushed children and Broken bodies Litter hospital halls like so much Human refuse ….Wondering why their need for care is treated so tepidly by a Society which worships Profits Power and Prestige ….Waiting while they wallow in anguish as Privacy Paperwork and Payment are Debated by bureaucrats in cubicles ….Wanting to be refreshed and restored to some measure of usefulness ….But Free to Pursue Life on their terms in exchange for Silence Acceptance and Despair Huddling for warmth and in Fear of discovery they assemble in rag-tag formation having scaled formidable fences Seeking freedom from Poverty and oppression Searching for work of any sort ….No matter how Humiliating or Hard ….No matter the Cost or Conditions Disparaged and despised they labor in hope that their children will have a chance for success instead of suffering a similar fate …..But Free to Pursue Liberty in a land where their presence is Ignored if not Denied Unkempt in camouflage One-legged and Vacant-eyed he rolls his rickety wheelchair along grassy median with muted effort displaying cardboard sign childishly scripted in one weather-worn and gnarled hand while clutching a decapitated jug in the other Forgotten Forlorn, and Discarded veteran Victimized far more by country than foe ….But Free to Pursue Happiness while Begging on street corners as Upright citizens dispense Unwelcome opinions or Pocket change with equal Self-righteousness Life Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness…. Ideals that slowly incinerate on the Altar of Capitalism ….Songs forever lost in the Cacophony now Played on the Instrument of Politics
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71
Blankets, pillows, a black dog, and a cell phone. Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Gmail, and Instagram. Shampoo, soap bar, toothbrush, toothpaste, temperature, and time. Shaving cream, razor, running water, advertisements, sensitivity, precision, and cuts. Burned tongue, empty stomach, loose tie, missing shirt buttons, beating the clock, wallet, briefcase, and car keys. Ballpoint pens, scented trees, fast food wrappers, loose change, lighters, citations, ***** clothes, CDs, and napkins. Red lights, pedestrians, homeless people, newspapers, billboards, pets on leashes, sewer grates, crosswalks, skyscrapers, and garbage. Faxes, printers, memorandums, break room, prestige, cubicles, customer service, paperweights, filing cabinets, stocks, and corporate. Wipers, streetlights, rain coats, dive bars, and home. Blankets, pillows, a black dog, and a cell phone.
0
May 4, 2014
May 4, 2014 at 1:43 PM UTC
Nine to Five Thoughts
Tortured people tell themselves the past never happened. They sit and reminisce about memories that they created. Their hands are brown and worn down, looking like a sibling of the ground that will eventually be a tomb for their bodies. The teeth are fake and so are the smiles. Hair falls off like rusty leaves brushed by a breeze, warning of the death of winter. Limbs turn into string, ******* hang, and guts grow; like pregnant, stray cats. Whenever they die, their houses will be eaten by their children, and not even a piece of gristle or a picture frame will be left. The house will be nothing but a sun-dried ribcage: a discarded postcard with the address marked out. The children will sit and talk of their parents, repressing the abuse and the inability to meet expectations. The children will work in sterile cubicles, thankful that their hands will not be stamped by calluses, yet knowing their fathers would not approve. The children will open up the dust-blanketed boxes and stare at old family pictures, not able to recognize the people who smile and have perfect posture. The children will lay in bed with their spouses and say, to no one in particular, 'Why was it never enough? What did I do? Was it me?' The children will be tortured by these words, by lives that weren't in technicolor, by the paranoia of being tolerated instead of liked, by the anxiety that a paid-off house and nice car couldn't alleviate, by themselves. The children will retire and will have realized that they worked their entire lives just to enjoy ten years. Their hair follicles will let go of strands and locks, like a dandelion being stripped by the wind. The enamel on their teeth will corrode and, before long, they will be thankful for the sensitivity of their teeth because the coldness of senior-citizen-discounted ice cream will be one of the few things they will be able to feel, let alone put a genuine smile on their face. They will sit on their recliners, stare at their keyboard-kissed fingers and tell themselves the past never happened. Because that's what tortured people do.
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Aug 27, 2015
Aug 27, 2015 at 10:01 AM UTC
Tortured People
Tortured people tell themselves the past never happened. They sit and reminisce about memories that they created. Their hands are brown and worn down, looking like a sibling of the ground that will eventually be a tomb for their bodies. The teeth are fake and so are the smiles. Hair falls off like rusty leaves brushed by a breeze, warning of the death of winter. Limbs turn into string, ******* hang, and guts grow; like pregnant, stray cats. Whenever they die, their houses will be eaten by their children, and not even a piece of gristle or a picture frame will be left. The house will be nothing but a sun-dried ribcage: a discarded postcard with the address marked out. The children will sit and talk of their parents, repressing the abuse and the inability to meet expectations. The children will work in sterile cubicles, thankful that their hands will not be stamped by calluses, yet knowing their fathers would not approve. The children will open up the dust-blanketed boxes and stare at old family pictures, not able to recognize the people who smile and have perfect posture. The children will lay in bed with their spouses and say, to no one in particular, 'Why was it never enough? What did I do? Was it me?' The children will be tortured by these words, by lives that weren't in technicolor, by the paranoia of being tolerated instead of liked, by the anxiety that a paid-off house and nice car couldn't alleviate, by themselves. The children will retire and will have realized that they worked their entire lives just to enjoy ten years. Their hair follicles will let go of strands and locks, like a dandelion being stripped by the wind. The enamel on their teeth will corrode and, before long, they will be thankful for the sensitivity of their teeth because the coldness of senior-citizen-discounted ice cream will be one of the few things they will be able to feel, let alone put a genuine smile on their face. They will sit on their recliners, stare at their keyboard-kissed fingers and tell themselves the past never happened. Because that's what tortured people do.
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29
An airplane crashes into an uncharted island and hundreds of people die in the burning debris, and somewhere a group of boys and girls are taking selfies as they stand next to a burning office building. Thousands of teenagers sit on the couch and eat ice cream until the buttons on their pants explode off. Kids light themselves on fires as if they were monks from the Tiananmen Square, trying to gain acceptance, their dreams of stardom translated through a series of YouTube comments. We can't afford books for college because the tuition is ridiculous, but these glossy tabloid magazines are only a few bucks; pick one to set the course of your life. Middle-aged people spend their lives indoors, away from the thirsty, hungry, withering children, and check how many likes did their photos receive on their smartphones. Pornographic images in front of our tired faces, our eyes locked to the screen and we do not blink as our memories become embedded with objectification. So we don't look up and see the chaos transpiring. Cat memes and colorful gifs hold our attention while our parents slave away at their boomerang-shaped desks, trapped in clustered cubicles. I saw a post on Facebook of a girl who was sexually assaulted at a house party and now her name was being hashtagged and kids were posing in photographs, laying on the floor, legs and arms sprawled out, left and right, trying to mimic the injustice. We swipe right to find our future hookups, but what if our future husbands and wives were on the left?   Society spends millions of dollars on drinks to numb our conscience, until our brain cells are wretched like the homeless guy on the street corner drinking liquor from a coffee mug. Israel and Palestine battle each other day after day while our generation gossips about Solange Knowles beating up Jay-Z with her patent leather purse as if that news conquers every other bit of information out there. The world will always be corrupt, but it suffers more from the apathy that belongs to us.
0
Jun 24, 2016
Jun 24, 2016 at 7:56 PM UTC
Clean each cell with a rag
An airplane crashes into an uncharted island and hundreds of people die in the burning debris, and somewhere a group of boys and girls are taking selfies as they stand next to a burning office building. Thousands of teenagers sit on the couch and eat ice cream until the buttons on their pants explode off. Kids light themselves on fires as if they were monks from the Tiananmen Square, trying to gain acceptance, their dreams of stardom translated through a series of YouTube comments. We can't afford books for college because the tuition is ridiculous, but these glossy tabloid magazines are only a few bucks; pick one to set the course of your life. Middle-aged people spend their lives indoors, away from the thirsty, hungry, withering children, and check how many likes did their photos receive on their smartphones. Pornographic images in front of our tired faces, our eyes locked to the screen and we do not blink as our memories become embedded with objectification. So we don't look up and see the chaos transpiring. Cat memes and colorful gifs hold our attention while our parents slave away at their boomerang-shaped desks, trapped in clustered cubicles. I saw a post on Facebook of a girl who was sexually assaulted at a house party and now her name was being hashtagged and kids were posing in photographs, laying on the floor, legs and arms sprawled out, left and right, trying to mimic the injustice. We swipe right to find our future hookups, but what if our future husbands and wives were on the left?   Society spends millions of dollars on drinks to numb our conscience, until our brain cells are wretched like the homeless guy on the street corner drinking liquor from a coffee mug. Israel and Palestine battle each other day after day while our generation gossips about Solange Knowles beating up Jay-Z with her patent leather purse as if that news conquers every other bit of information out there. The world will always be corrupt, but it suffers more from the apathy that belongs to us.
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13
There are some things you will never see. But you wish you could. You wish that there were other worlds Close enough to brush with your fingertips. You wish that others' dreams, their syntheses of sound, Would make sense to you. You do not live In this world of cubicles and blinking lights, And if you do, you live it a hundred thousand light years away, On the surface of some other planet. You're not ever going to grow up. All your life, You'll keep on imagining worlds beyond the one they swear is real. You must have your writing because you understand That life, even this one, is not linear. Life is not Birth to death, and in between survival. For now you are surviving. But you know there is so much more than that.
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Apr 21, 2012
Apr 21, 2012 at 2:08 AM UTC
Surviving
I lay on the ground below the curved hips of the hills at sunset The aperture of my eyes, my *** my eyes and the narrow escape of mind from body I am ten again and they’re calling me falsey “Big **** No bra!” Shoving them into the lockers of Holy Name’s pool My eyes? Brown. My hair? Brown My body? Invisible, lean and “Leave me alone! or I’ll punch your lights out!” Meanwhile, Mom is mortified but not cause I’m banned from the stupid pool All I want— is to run bare to the waist Ride my bike, maniacal   Be a bird Swipe ice from the milk truck Marvel over maggots in garbage Catch toads, caterpillars, pollywogs in jars Later, sell lemonade— get rich! …and pretend…pretend… till the litany of our names, hollered from the porch till the street lights come on…. ***** “This is for something you haven’t got yet” says the matron of the fitting room Bones in a bathing suit? What I haven’t got? or they haven’t got? will never get— in their worlds of curtained cubicles Cause of death: Strangulation by measuring tape! ***** In my plaid two-piece sunburned shoulders, wind-wild hair By sweat and the afternoon’s imaginings I built a fortress of sand and stones to endure forever…. But she— shook the blanket at the tide’s full reach Peppered the air with an epoch Clouds darkening the wind-torqued sea Finding my flip-flops, we—     trudged off…     into the changing… changing
0
Aug 24, 2016
Aug 24, 2016 at 9:45 PM UTC
Adolescent Afternoon
the filth of the alley is kind it is the dust of the office that coats the brick cubicles here stands the curved beauty presented and elegant as if carved to physical perfection she sways the men who pass hoping to tickle the primitive weakness that steeps within like a corporate jungle they compete for position to meet the daily quota among the urchins and minions they are the forbidden fruit they’re bouquet fills the air bringing suitors who choose the exceptional these retched sales are precise they’re instrument is physical product of flesh and pleasure the red light markets this reality teasing curious souls into the cubicles giving into the primitive weakness they leave them stripped and bare cradled by the alley covered by the filth the transaction filled she stands the curved beauty and begins this ritual again
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Apr 11, 2012
Apr 11, 2012 at 9:57 PM UTC
The office of a **********
you will forget the colour of my eyes and the way i turn to the back door instinctively, when i hear the click and how, unlike you all, i do not yell across the cubicles the way i crushed boxes for two hours, then and how i cry, too easily the six pack of strawberry milk (fresh from the fridge) that only i drank the smell of fish and chips that wafted through the office and- -you will forget my love, my loyalty, and soon enough, you will forget me. i don't want to forget. "don't want to?" no. i can't. i cannot forget the christmas decorations that must be down by now or the perpetually-unmanned front or stale, recycled, air-conditioned oxygen that tasted like bliss and lemon stained fish and chips, and salad that came out of a tub, and scalding heat against my palm and tears. i cannot forget the way she laughs like an orchestra of the wind beneath the branches or the way you shook my hand and made me feel like i belonged and how you, you, my love, you are bothering to go to the trouble of sending me registered mail so it doesn't get lost the way i do, in her eyes i cannot forget how you are different. special and how you refuse to take selfies that are glamorous because you have a sense of fun and the first time you ever saw me, drenched dedicated, yearning, and already in irrevocable love. i cannot forget the strike i scored with my eyes on a screen instead of a lane and the cookies, the vouchers, the games the screwdrivers, shoes, and sushi i cannot forget the goodbyes i never said in case i never say them, the next time i can that once upon a time- i belonged. i cannot forget beauty and goodness and strength and laughter and belonging and teasing and acceptance and loyalty and experience and diversity and determination and passion and teamwork and friendship and family and love. i cannot forget. because you will. you know what they say if nobody remembers something any longer did it really exist? when i was young and foolish i thought that was so ridiculous because it's happened- so it must exist mustn't it? and now i see why the philosophers say what they do and why people doubt. i am so afraid to forget because if i can, then others can (and will), as well. but as long as i remember (even if it fades from the collective remembrance) then it will always exist even if only in the land of memories and dreams upon our dreams where we can never set foot upon again.
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Jan 22, 2014
Jan 22, 2014 at 7:55 AM UTC
sweet strangers; this place blows, let's get outta here
you will forget the colour of my eyes and the way i turn to the back door instinctively, when i hear the click and how, unlike you all, i do not yell across the cubicles the way i crushed boxes for two hours, then and how i cry, too easily the six pack of strawberry milk (fresh from the fridge) that only i drank the smell of fish and chips that wafted through the office and- -you will forget my love, my loyalty, and soon enough, you will forget me. i don't want to forget. "don't want to?" no. i can't. i cannot forget the christmas decorations that must be down by now or the perpetually-unmanned front or stale, recycled, air-conditioned oxygen that tasted like bliss and lemon stained fish and chips, and salad that came out of a tub, and scalding heat against my palm and tears. i cannot forget the way she laughs like an orchestra of the wind beneath the branches or the way you shook my hand and made me feel like i belonged and how you, you, my love, you are bothering to go to the trouble of sending me registered mail so it doesn't get lost the way i do, in her eyes i cannot forget how you are different. special and how you refuse to take selfies that are glamorous because you have a sense of fun and the first time you ever saw me, drenched dedicated, yearning, and already in irrevocable love. i cannot forget the strike i scored with my eyes on a screen instead of a lane and the cookies, the vouchers, the games the screwdrivers, shoes, and sushi i cannot forget the goodbyes i never said in case i never say them, the next time i can that once upon a time- i belonged. i cannot forget beauty and goodness and strength and laughter and belonging and teasing and acceptance and loyalty and experience and diversity and determination and passion and teamwork and friendship and family and love. i cannot forget. because you will. you know what they say if nobody remembers something any longer did it really exist? when i was young and foolish i thought that was so ridiculous because it's happened- so it must exist mustn't it? and now i see why the philosophers say what they do and why people doubt. i am so afraid to forget because if i can, then others can (and will), as well. but as long as i remember (even if it fades from the collective remembrance) then it will always exist even if only in the land of memories and dreams upon our dreams where we can never set foot upon again.
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67
few new words, here. just the punk scene- feral, free. and the accompanying knowledge that others battle the tide, too, mouths as salty with sea water. others giving to become, dancing in the trenches, transported beyond classroom cubicles by the music of celestial fabrics, of me, of me meeting you, of whispers from the lips of God. we all set up shop there, use intermittent sunlight to grow and sell our bluebells, our quirky flower children. we all capture the poetry of moments, all maroons in cozy sanctuaries rich with the music of intuition, of loss of pride, and old book smells. How Much Time do i need for me, really? i want to sleep nights on Central Park benches. i want to buy a bookstore. i want to feel a horse between my thighs. i want to drape myself in Moroccan silks. Simple Solutions, i'd like you to meet Bureaucratic Barricades. is there real need for the two sides to every coin buried in bank vaults and sock drawers? but vessels to be filled. i want to reform the public education system. i want to become a nun. i want to be in the darkness with you. i want to see unicorns. just being (t)here, lost in idealism and the lines on my palms.
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Jun 24, 2012
Jun 24, 2012 at 7:00 PM UTC
Manifesto
in the backs of cabs that reek of stale ***** blue salt specks are dragged against their will to rest in the ridges of the floor mats. fluorescent confused cubicles of light flashing by- your mind fighting to make shapes out of the blur. it’s january, this is everyone’s mood. fingers folded into fists, stuffed into nylon pockets, catching your breath and watching the scenery swirl past like the entire horizon is made of melting wax. you’re replaying day old conversations, analyzing cryptic eye movements and body language of those people that strike you so suddenly. those strangers that have pushed and shoved every defense and nestled themselves into every fiber of your being. you sicken yourself with these sappy adolescent romantic bouts but they’re the only thing keeping you alive. you don’t know these people. you don’t even know yourself. the cab driver mumbles something over the radio and your attention is brought back to the present. he’s on the phone- that’s illegal. you’re a little concerned- your life does lie in the shivering hands of a stranger who boredly grasps and curves a wheel, after all. but you play it cool, you turn to nihilism- it’s easier this way. death is fine. the cab driver is passing your house while you’re swatting at questions. you uncomfortably raise your quiet voice for a few hesitant notes. “Here is fine!” you urge to the driver while a fumbling hand shakes down your pockets for a twenty. there’s your house- standing just as you left it through the white mystery patches on the back window. chock full of memories and problems and decay and warmth. everything seems to rest so calmly in the palms of the bittersweet. tell the stranger to have a goodnight. he returns the favor. everyone needs to hear these things- it’s january, after all.
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Apr 13, 2013
Apr 13, 2013 at 4:48 PM UTC
red ears / rustling coats
in the backs of cabs that reek of stale ***** blue salt specks are dragged against their will to rest in the ridges of the floor mats. fluorescent confused cubicles of light flashing by- your mind fighting to make shapes out of the blur. it’s january, this is everyone’s mood. fingers folded into fists, stuffed into nylon pockets, catching your breath and watching the scenery swirl past like the entire horizon is made of melting wax. you’re replaying day old conversations, analyzing cryptic eye movements and body language of those people that strike you so suddenly. those strangers that have pushed and shoved every defense and nestled themselves into every fiber of your being. you sicken yourself with these sappy adolescent romantic bouts but they’re the only thing keeping you alive. you don’t know these people. you don’t even know yourself. the cab driver mumbles something over the radio and your attention is brought back to the present. he’s on the phone- that’s illegal. you’re a little concerned- your life does lie in the shivering hands of a stranger who boredly grasps and curves a wheel, after all. but you play it cool, you turn to nihilism- it’s easier this way. death is fine. the cab driver is passing your house while you’re swatting at questions. you uncomfortably raise your quiet voice for a few hesitant notes. “Here is fine!” you urge to the driver while a fumbling hand shakes down your pockets for a twenty. there’s your house- standing just as you left it through the white mystery patches on the back window. chock full of memories and problems and decay and warmth. everything seems to rest so calmly in the palms of the bittersweet. tell the stranger to have a goodnight. he returns the favor. everyone needs to hear these things- it’s january, after all.
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34
“Where am I?” Have I been transferred to hospital during the night? I raise my head. Before me is a seemingly endless row of cubicles, each containing a bed upon which some person lies. Each person wearing a helmet and wired and piped into the back wall. To my right is the side-wall to my own cubicle. To my left an identical wall. Some male doctor is sitting next to me, to my right, and to my left there is a female nurse. Doctor: “Welcome back Paul.” Me: “Where am I?” Doctor: “Reality Paul.” Me: “Reality???” Memories of “The Matrix” and comical “Red Dwarf” flash across my mind. MMM. Yes, I’ve still got a mind. Nurse: “Relax Paul, everything will be all right. Doctor: “Paul, you just died from old age, very old age, in your sleep. Best way to go.” Me: “Really???” Doctor: “That’s right. You really bought it didn’t you. I’m sorry, but that was not Reality! This is. And you have not really died at all. In fact, Paul you are very much alive. Earth, The UK, London…they are all fabrications. All fiction. And all that history and science those experts told you, it was all wrong. Only this is real!” He gestures at everything around us as he speaks. But now he reaches for a dial on a console next to my bed. Doctor: “When we put you into ‘Earthworld’ Paul, all your memories of reality were temporarily erased. But now it’s time to debrief. Now it’s time for you to Remember The Truth…” And he turns the dial… Paul Butters
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Aug 31, 2015
Aug 31, 2015 at 4:15 AM UTC
Beyond Death
“Where am I?” Have I been transferred to hospital during the night? I raise my head. Before me is a seemingly endless row of cubicles, each containing a bed upon which some person lies. Each person wearing a helmet and wired and piped into the back wall. To my right is the side-wall to my own cubicle. To my left an identical wall. Some male doctor is sitting next to me, to my right, and to my left there is a female nurse. Doctor: “Welcome back Paul.” Me: “Where am I?” Doctor: “Reality Paul.” Me: “Reality???” Memories of “The Matrix” and comical “Red Dwarf” flash across my mind. MMM. Yes, I’ve still got a mind. Nurse: “Relax Paul, everything will be all right. Doctor: “Paul, you just died from old age, very old age, in your sleep. Best way to go.” Me: “Really???” Doctor: “That’s right. You really bought it didn’t you. I’m sorry, but that was not Reality! This is. And you have not really died at all. In fact, Paul you are very much alive. Earth, The UK, London…they are all fabrications. All fiction. And all that history and science those experts told you, it was all wrong. Only this is real!” He gestures at everything around us as he speaks. But now he reaches for a dial on a console next to my bed. Doctor: “When we put you into ‘Earthworld’ Paul, all your memories of reality were temporarily erased. But now it’s time to debrief. Now it’s time for you to Remember The Truth…” And he turns the dial… Paul Butters
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18
There is something to seeing small towns at night time. Unpopulated it seems and yet, there people are. Asleep, watching tv, dreaming or awake thinking of life, love, travel. The unfortunate ones occupied with work, loss, stress. You are there unbeknownst to them all, on the other side of so many man made giant cubicles out living your life.
0
Jul 27, 2014
Jul 27, 2014 at 4:23 AM UTC
Night Towns
You can’t see me, But I’m here at my desk, In a gray swivel chair, In a sea of cubicles. But you can’t see me. And you can’t see My colleagues Over the shoulder Concerned faces. Or their quiet looks Of sympathy. And you can’t hear me, Because you’re too busy, Screaming. And I know You’re scared. “My loved ones are being taken advantage of“ You say, But this is a one sided conversation. So I let you talk, And I let you end it. “Go **** yourself,” I say to a dead line. And I go out for pretzels and beer.
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Nov 15, 2011
Nov 15, 2011 at 12:30 AM UTC
To The ******* I Spoke To At Work
The memories are becoming extinct, her dust has become not so magical swept up in the corner of the dying tree that once housed the imagination of millions. People are forgetting how to get back to Neverland. Youth being torn out of their chests with the force of Grendel. Forts made of sheets and dining room chairs transform into blank cubicles with a broken fax machine. Another day in the life of the "wireless people", constantly living in our technological limbo. Second start to the left, straight on till' morning. But the second star is missing and morning never comes. People are forgetting how to get back to Neverland. Live fast, burn out... right?
0
Apr 14, 2015
Apr 14, 2015 at 11:45 AM UTC
Peter Pan Was a Liar
I’m the type of girl who will write you love poems in the middle of the night because I can’t sleep Because every time I close my eyes I imagine yours staring back at me, I can feel your arms wrapped around me, hand on my waist, skin to skin Instead of the screaming below The screaming of my parents, my brother’s cries for it to stop The screaming of demons I hold inside but my grip sometimes slips and I cry too So I think, instead, your voice inside my head I hold that hand, your hand in my memory so tightly because right now I want to bite my nails I want to bite down the cubicles and peel my skin down to the knuckles and keep in place so I cannot scream myself when red drips down my palm, across my wrist mimicking the shapes of veins Red. Red is blood, ribbons, hair. Flame. I think of candles and the ghost they leave behind That trailing scent of not-so-happy birthdays and old perfumed women with a failing sense of smell Smell is a powerful thing, almost a phantom of memories. Never in my life have I smelt sawdust and not thought of my father’s garage, his eyebrows pinched not in anger Whenever I wear your jacket, I am constantly breathing in the scent. Never am I not reminded of your bedsheets, my fingers through your hair, quietly listening to each other breathe I wish I could breathe that easy now, lay back straight rather than hunched over the white of a screen This position is starting to hurt; the way I’m sitting, where I’m at, my future direction I can't move without giving in to listen And I can’t leave without saying goodbye
0
Mar 19, 2014
Mar 19, 2014 at 8:03 PM UTC
Getaway
I’m the type of girl who will write you love poems in the middle of the night because I can’t sleep Because every time I close my eyes I imagine yours staring back at me, I can feel your arms wrapped around me, hand on my waist, skin to skin Instead of the screaming below The screaming of my parents, my brother’s cries for it to stop The screaming of demons I hold inside but my grip sometimes slips and I cry too So I think, instead, your voice inside my head I hold that hand, your hand in my memory so tightly because right now I want to bite my nails I want to bite down the cubicles and peel my skin down to the knuckles and keep in place so I cannot scream myself when red drips down my palm, across my wrist mimicking the shapes of veins Red. Red is blood, ribbons, hair. Flame. I think of candles and the ghost they leave behind That trailing scent of not-so-happy birthdays and old perfumed women with a failing sense of smell Smell is a powerful thing, almost a phantom of memories. Never in my life have I smelt sawdust and not thought of my father’s garage, his eyebrows pinched not in anger Whenever I wear your jacket, I am constantly breathing in the scent. Never am I not reminded of your bedsheets, my fingers through your hair, quietly listening to each other breathe I wish I could breathe that easy now, lay back straight rather than hunched over the white of a screen This position is starting to hurt; the way I’m sitting, where I’m at, my future direction I can't move without giving in to listen And I can’t leave without saying goodbye
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18
Cubicles are the best places to dream, to dream about us. In this boring location, you are totally encapsulated, hidden away, lost in a dreamy state & when the boss is not around, out enjoying their own life, I envision romantic evenings at chic restaurant locations, forgetting about the hustle & bustle with you. You sitting pretty across from me, wearing your most seductive dress & using your sweetest demeanor on me, to devour me with fine steak and Merlot.
0
Aug 29, 2014
Aug 29, 2014 at 3:49 PM UTC
Cubicle Thoughts of Us (Fine Steak and Merlot)
My father always taught me to pick my battles, physical or otherwise. To choose very wisely what exactly was, and was not, worth fighting for. Years later I still struggle. My eyes are black and swollen while my father sits back, laughing in his sales pitches and stock options, bartering cubicles for candy bars. "Keep it up, son" he says, "keep it up. You’ll win one, eventually. Keep blowing chances and closing doors, don't worry, you'll grow up eventually." Yet I’m still here. Street cornered with broken bones and gutted pride, late nights spent throwing fists at passing shadows.
0
Jan 24, 2013
Jan 24, 2013 at 1:34 AM UTC
Fighter
Marble black bark grow bed sheets of parchment attached by     strings. Spillage of pink arises from the abdomen. Fused clothing fibers substitute layers of bark......... The vivid aroma of rot and feasting maggots harmonize...............                                  A cadaver drilled by burrowing insects. Beetles, flies, pismires, and parallels. A carcass crammed with 200 seeds. Bulbous seeds in the nose. Deposited bulbs rooted in brain tissue. Thick specks of white nuzzle into flesh emerge. Squirm out of the cubicles.  Insects feasting simultaneously............ A figure emerges from the edge of perception. Routinely gorging the cadavers vital delicacies. Amid spouts of fainting spells....................... Grabbing lumps of brain matter. Shoveling it towards his gaping hole. Ravenously consuming the bland ashen chunks. Gripping the cranium and sipping the diluted *** Sliding two slippery marbles into his gullet. Then suddenly publicizing his medals amid his fangs. Deteriorating into slush immediately........ Piercing the stationary ticker with talons. Shortly guzzling the dense scarlet metallic droplets. Promptly the sticky liquid cerise matter slithered into his craw. Hurling the white speckled rims simultaneously in glee.  Than consuming the exterior synthetic.........     The corpse is convulsing..wheezing..........chest withering in pain. Man devours his own living corpse, neglecting to swallow his toes. A daily phenomenon……to devour yourself.   What of the toes? Looted by a motivated businessman the next day. “Oh the painstaking horror of humanities hunger,” the motivated businessman then asserted into thin air.
0
Sep 17, 2018
Sep 17, 2018 at 6:53 PM UTC
The Feast
Marble black bark grow bed sheets of parchment attached by     strings. Spillage of pink arises from the abdomen. Fused clothing fibers substitute layers of bark......... The vivid aroma of rot and feasting maggots harmonize...............                                  A cadaver drilled by burrowing insects. Beetles, flies, pismires, and parallels. A carcass crammed with 200 seeds. Bulbous seeds in the nose. Deposited bulbs rooted in brain tissue. Thick specks of white nuzzle into flesh emerge. Squirm out of the cubicles.  Insects feasting simultaneously............ A figure emerges from the edge of perception. Routinely gorging the cadavers vital delicacies. Amid spouts of fainting spells....................... Grabbing lumps of brain matter. Shoveling it towards his gaping hole. Ravenously consuming the bland ashen chunks. Gripping the cranium and sipping the diluted *** Sliding two slippery marbles into his gullet. Then suddenly publicizing his medals amid his fangs. Deteriorating into slush immediately........ Piercing the stationary ticker with talons. Shortly guzzling the dense scarlet metallic droplets. Promptly the sticky liquid cerise matter slithered into his craw. Hurling the white speckled rims simultaneously in glee.  Than consuming the exterior synthetic.........     The corpse is convulsing..wheezing..........chest withering in pain. Man devours his own living corpse, neglecting to swallow his toes. A daily phenomenon……to devour yourself.   What of the toes? Looted by a motivated businessman the next day. “Oh the painstaking horror of humanities hunger,” the motivated businessman then asserted into thin air.
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10
Rows and rows Brick by brick Cubicles and doors Everything is happening The moon is the same moon The sun is a shared one Every story is different Each room differs By oceans Vast interconnectedness The walls keep us together Appearing to keep us apart Feelings shared Never at the same time Or at the same thing Turning turning Spinning sputtering Smoothly now We eternally go
0
Jan 8, 2012
Jan 8, 2012 at 3:49 AM UTC
World
The planet it wobbles a lonely path On the background of distant stars So constant and locked into their relative places- They did seem so very happy. It leaves its solemn red footprint On the pitch black night The astronomer's eye is caught by a passer-by. Embarrassed at his distraction he turns back to his telescope And cannot see the faded mark it left behind Only the endless void And he raps his knuckles on the railing wondering what he had been looking for. And there is a glint of gold in the evening sky and blue smoke from a chimney-top And the sharp-dressed men and women in their black jackets Are too focused on the sidewalk Cracked, Beige-gray, It was recently cleaned for their viewing pleasure And it leads them to their cubicles and coffee-shops. And then their houses where they burn away the night in small silent hearths And awake again the next morning with each minute planned ahead Only to find out the schedule they had followed- and adhered to the entire day- Was not written for them or for anyone but just as another man's joke meant for nobody else to see The toil she felt in the armchair constructed, such a constant lock in place that she collapsed and they looked admiringly as she had worn herself out working hard at her job all day- And I looked at the map scrawled at my feet in a different man's handwriting "I'm lost," I said after a pause. "I do feel rather lost"
0
May 5, 2013
May 5, 2013 at 12:51 AM UTC
Stargazing
Crystalline gliding. Clippin' cuticles in cubicles & itching for a kaleidoscope dance with The Phantom sidling ridged in the ceiling's fold. Glazed eyes from a friend. honey crueler. Polymerization twists coffee sweats with briny tears & my pores breath the calcification. Beet red eyes sting like molten hiss & pollen still buries it's way deep   into the tree trunk, Bleeding like a sour calf just to stroke a coconut leaf in the musky village. I live inside a cantaloupe so I can't elope with status quo. Sipping puddles & licking groggy mud spots so the Queen calls me swamp belly. She looked like she was carved out of rice. bitten & frail steps with gentle linger teased soft grass in the concrete canal where the streets glistened with mustaches drenched in honey brown ale. His brain is a tickled cauliflower encased in Papier-mâché, Lima bean boogers & nicotine stained chestnut shells. Gears torque and crudely animate his sluggish form and peanut butter body. Diabetic eyes, that bark like a sloth & lay a thick layer of custard over their last nerve, intrigue mine own to stare into the vague emptiness.
0
Jul 25, 2014
Jul 25, 2014 at 3:31 AM UTC
Catalyst
Since I started full-time employment, I have been seeking out moments of release amongst the wreckage of the working day. Looking for that kind of place to meditate, somewhere to find a peaceful completion. I have turned my attention to toilet cubicles, scrawling verses over awkward thighs, ankles bound by the descent of my boxers; pockets of inspiration flourish as the by-product of Newcastle Brown Ale and work stress pollutes what's left of the open air. But I don't care. I never had a sense of smell. And there's ******** flying everywhere.
0
Mar 31, 2015
Mar 31, 2015 at 5:19 PM UTC
Toilet Poetry #1