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Darbi Alise Howe Nov 2012
Crawling on all fours, traffic drags its bleeding body forward.  
Men with collars of lipstick tap tap tap their fingers against steering wheels.  
Time slows, cars inch, passing hands find cigarettes, cigarettes find fire.  
Tap ash tap finds tap pavement.  
This is the unobserved hiatus of daily routines, the dreaded stretch of heaven that separates from and to.  
During such moments of inertia
thoughts drift through open windows
forming a cloud for bargains, regrets, wishes, doubts, prayers, and curses to perform cotillion upon.  
Faster, faster, so quickly now, oh, change partners, switch lanes, spin, oh baby spin, fasterfasterfaster, until differentiation is impossible, until drivers become one with this steel river, until minds make their essential switch that makes home a bearable punishment.  

Someone has broken down.  
Do Not Stop.
They are shunned from the sweeping mob of machinery.  Necks swivel in uniform towards this abomination, how dare they, how DARE they outshine our misery.  Perspiration works its way down backs and pools into leather cracks.  

Will it ever end?
Do we want it to?  

Finally,
regrettably,
the final exit, the last few feet of purgatory.  
We descend into the next inferno where we leap through fiery hoops of interrogation—
yes no it was fine yes okay.  
We are exhausted.  
If only we would have stopped.  
If only we would have hit the brakes and remained in our haven of anxiety and lust and confusion and endless searching.  
Our love affair with traffic can only last so long.
    So we make solemn promises to ourselves to appreciate tomorrow’s,
    to run our fingers along the satin thighs of the freeway,
    to plant a rubber kiss upon the ground.  

How tap long tap until tap five?
Hannah Rose Apr 2019
L
e
  a
   k
    i
     n
      g

I n t o  

my ears

        s
       p
      i
     l
    l
   i
n
g

O  u   t

My lips

These

Words
Words words
Words words words
Words words
Words

That
h
u
r
t

Me

Because they

h
u
r
t

You

And

t
     e
          a
               r
                   s

f
a
l
l
  l

Fasterfasterfaster

Than I fell
For you

These
D E M O N S

In your

     Heart                 heart
Heart heart        heart heart
Heart heart heart heart heart
Heart heart heart heart heart
Heart heart heart heart heart
   Heart heart heart heart
        Heart heart heart
   Heart heart
      Heart

Are
SqUeEzIng
My  
        l
     u
  o
s

And i think

i love him i love him i love him i love him

but

how
can
He

love love love love love

someone else

When

He
C A N T
Even

Love love love love

h
  i
   m
     s
       e
         l
           f
             ?
Visual poem
elle Mar 2012
Notes; nice notes nagging at me. nice but not 'nough.
Chords; crystal clear in my ear. Clever but cutting.
Music; my marvelous melody. Each measure brings me muse. Making me move.

Feel        it       running       through      you
With      each      note,      each      rhythm ­     making      you      feel      more                         ­             alive
a          c         c       e      l    e    r   a   n do
Faster!                  Faster!       Faster!  Faster! FasterFasterFaster!
Feel  that?  That's  adrenaline!  That's  mus­ic  running  through  your  veins
Bringing you higher with each step. Breaking free.
                                                                ­
                                                                ­      This is what I live for.
                                                                ­      This one performance.
Everything else is nothing to me
                                                              ­ All my doubts have all                                                              ­    ...vanished
And I realize
All I'm doing is pressing a couple buttons and staring at black dots on paper and a man waving a wand
                                                            ­     But it's beautiful, sweet music.

It's.                                                    ­                                                                 ­                                                         Magic

— The End —