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"gangly" poems
The Sunflower is awfully bigheaded For being so tall & gangly With fiery blooms, rough around the edges He’s quite a sight to see annually He looks down upon all the other flowers With his head so high in the sky This makes the other flowers jealous But they fail to realize the sunflower lives a lie Because the problem with the sunflower Is that he turns his back on the sun Creating the misconception That he does not need anyone But through the circadian rhythm His leaves continuously change Eluding the very revelation That the sunflower causes his own pain So as the sun begins to set The sunflower realizes what he’s done He faces the darkness with much regret Realizing he cannot live without the sun
0
Jun 26, 2014
Jun 26, 2014 at 3:17 PM UTC
Sunflower
She left Reno in a satin slip the color of hot coins pouring from slots, wearing chewed-up tennis shoes, mirrors multiplying her, the marquee burning out letter by letter, a hush pressed between her teeth as if saving the last note. I followed, a gangly shadow, mother’s voice in my ear: "life is not a freeway exit." But she was the exit. She drove west through a glittering throat. In Tonopah she was a waitress, red stains on her wrists, sleeves tugged low, coffee pouring thin as blood. In Barstow she was a sun-bleached Madonna, halo blistered, mouth lit in stained glass. At a gas station in Needles shimmering into a coyote’s shadow and slipped behind the pumps. Then movement along the fence, low, quick— gone again. Casinos blinked like electric relics. Truckers called her sugar, greedy hands counting her ribs as if she was the paycheck sweating in their fist, but she slipped away each time, her silhouette already moulting- a serpent skin, a smoke-trail, a saint’s shadow burning off the wall. By Malibu, the night had softened to velvet. The pier at Zuma leaned into the Pacific like a broken bridge. She sang to me— low, cracked— then let the slip fall. Her body cut into the dark tide, no disguise. I waded in after her, ankles bruised by rock. Water lit with jellyfish, each pulse a warning. I stopped where it deepened, felt the pull take hold. No exit left, just the Pacific’s mouth closing around her.
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Sep 1, 2025
Sep 1, 2025 at 8:08 PM UTC
Dust Madonna
I. Neptune’s Theater A rock spins through the universal tumbler and its warm blue pools calcify as turquoise Neptune in his cloudy blue bath bath builds a lace castle with his fingertips Sculpts a submerged eden of crimson and emerald where painted parrots chat up cardinals butterfly and angel fry sway with wave pulse and foliated coral fingers beckon from arched windows. Neptune’s children are flat and bright, spined and notched free yet entangled in lace mesh ecosystem beneath an array of bioluminescent stars as a gangly pretender watches and blows bubbles. II. Sapien Siege The hot acidic hand of death grasps the mesh rends and tangles the ecosystem shattered reef’s loosed children scream beneath planet’s stars. Butterflies impaled cyanide-swooning damsels mesh-tangled angels hauled heavenward coral to potash, corpses to coal. The pretender to the throne blinks rubs blurry lenses, kicks plastic fins and moves on to the next show Unseeing and unaware of the luminous filament in his wake. Self-appointed divinity, deus ex machina. ******************************************************************************************* Ann says: All of the animal and human characters in this poem (except Neptune and The Pretender) are named after coral reef fish. Coral reefs, one of the most diverse ecosystems, are expected to be largely extinct within one human generation. Deus ex machina is Latin for “God from the machine.” Copyright 2013 by Ann Marcaida.
0
Jan 23, 2013
Jan 23, 2013 at 3:43 PM UTC
Children of the Reef
Blueberry lemon juice Gangly goose Cruel brew moon Roam Soft lovely Mary Sailor Taylor Your lord, sinking sored Vagon Ford Virginia east coast roast Most test Chest, mess Darling Dublin Idaho, Ioawa Cine noir Lullaby Mistic bee Free my blue at the noon Moaning soon And the ring mostly seen Chase my word Siren fog Heaven myths Lick a lip
0
Nov 13, 2012
Nov 13, 2012 at 10:44 PM UTC
The Dublin gangly goose rooster trooper troop
You grew up on the side of the road, between sidewalk cracks, in backyards full of tall bahia grass, pushing aside their stems so you could find the sky. You grew up beneath the sun and out in the rain and under every booming thunderstorm an Alabama summer could throw your way. Dogs ran through you. Men, too, trampled you but you sprung back up, rumpled, but still bright, unbowing, even when they said you were just a gangly **** that no one would find beautiful. (I found you beautiful, because your face was the sun, and I find it everywhere.) You grew up. You had to grow up, grew white and fragile and one day the wind came for you and carried you away. Fly far.
0
Oct 18, 2011
Oct 18, 2011 at 6:21 PM UTC
Dandelion Girl
The oldest one has set the bar - Brown eyes, brown hair, natural tan, Teeth that look just the way teeth should with no aid from metal or NASA-patented plastics. Kappa Alpha Theta, college homecoming queen, Following in the footsteps of our parents, To someday hand out bottles of pills with her God-given smile and white coat to match. I know she's not perfect, but I like to pretend. Then there's me. Then the next youngest, Long brown hair, massive brown eyes, pale skin with the occasional freckle. Her awkward phase - back brace, teeth brace, allergies, inhaler, tall and gangly - paid off in the best way. She wears her high heels to high school and looks straight off the runway. She wears her pointe shoes and unfolds like a plant growing in fast-motion. She sits at the table and draws and eats nothing but carbs and still looks made of sticks. She wants to be a cartoonist, people tell her to be a model, a ballerina, Our mother insists she's far too brilliant. Then the baby. Thin blonde hair, blue-grey eyes with a ring on the outside, grey skin when she's tired. As Dad says: the printer ran out of ink. She's beautiful like the rest, of course, but she's not finished yet, still learning that her peers are generally wrong. She frets and worries, but she listens to the music I tell her to, and her expensive pockets have less and less rhinestones. I tell her not to hug me so much when I come home, But it's fine. I'm proud of her. Someday she'll stop screaming at our mother and realize what she has to look forward to.
0
Nov 10, 2012
Nov 10, 2012 at 1:39 PM UTC
i have more sisters than you do
The oldest one has set the bar - Brown eyes, brown hair, natural tan, Teeth that look just the way teeth should with no aid from metal or NASA-patented plastics. Kappa Alpha Theta, college homecoming queen, Following in the footsteps of our parents, To someday hand out bottles of pills with her God-given smile and white coat to match. I know she's not perfect, but I like to pretend. Then there's me. Then the next youngest, Long brown hair, massive brown eyes, pale skin with the occasional freckle. Her awkward phase - back brace, teeth brace, allergies, inhaler, tall and gangly - paid off in the best way. She wears her high heels to high school and looks straight off the runway. She wears her pointe shoes and unfolds like a plant growing in fast-motion. She sits at the table and draws and eats nothing but carbs and still looks made of sticks. She wants to be a cartoonist, people tell her to be a model, a ballerina, Our mother insists she's far too brilliant. Then the baby. Thin blonde hair, blue-grey eyes with a ring on the outside, grey skin when she's tired. As Dad says: the printer ran out of ink. She's beautiful like the rest, of course, but she's not finished yet, still learning that her peers are generally wrong. She frets and worries, but she listens to the music I tell her to, and her expensive pockets have less and less rhinestones. I tell her not to hug me so much when I come home, But it's fine. I'm proud of her. Someday she'll stop screaming at our mother and realize what she has to look forward to.
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27
Muelle de Binondo Street, Barangay San Nicolas, Old Manila. My dad's fate Will always be muddled With nostalgia: The mid-afternoon Traffic of fruit vendors, The toothless strains Of my grandfather's voice, Bouncing off The warehouse walls Like folding cardboard, The ceramic gallops of horse- Drawn kalesas taking him From school to My grandfather's offices, Every day and back, Up and down The cardboard box river To Tondo. There, he hurriedly Buys ten Asado buns From a stall across the Street from their School - a voracious Schoolboy Forever late for class, forever Putting on basketball jerseys Too wide for him, Basketball shorts too Short; body Always too gangly, Too long-limbed, wide eyed And fleet footed For his dreams to catch. He once could dunk. He is still a baby boomer - Scared of firecrackers, Weird penchant For popped collar shirts, Pointed shoes, and Sequins - he, was an avid Lover of stars - his old Dust-strewn bed posts Giving way, I imagine, To iron bars caging The luminous starry night, Floating high above The sewage And the freight trucks That weigh him so. They sang to him. In the tune of My mother's voice - The only album He ever possessed. Song set from His favorite band. "Apo Hiking Society." His favorite word, Was "leap." A disciple Of MJ, Dr. J, And Magic, Samboy, and Jawo, Icarus on hardwood And leaping From the free throw line. "Son," he once told me, "You gotta leap "If you wanna live." He was always afraid of heights. It wasn't until 41 that We made him ride a roller-coaster, That he had even seen a roller-coaster. "You gotta leap "If you wanna live." I think my favorite Memory of my dad Is still him wringing my fingers At Space Mountain with Eyes so tightly shut That we forgot Our fears, And screamed instead: So. This, Is how the stars look like When unbolted By folding cardboard, And iron bars.
0
Mar 22, 2015
Mar 22, 2015 at 9:32 AM UTC
Dad
Muelle de Binondo Street, Barangay San Nicolas, Old Manila. My dad's fate Will always be muddled With nostalgia: The mid-afternoon Traffic of fruit vendors, The toothless strains Of my grandfather's voice, Bouncing off The warehouse walls Like folding cardboard, The ceramic gallops of horse- Drawn kalesas taking him From school to My grandfather's offices, Every day and back, Up and down The cardboard box river To Tondo. There, he hurriedly Buys ten Asado buns From a stall across the Street from their School - a voracious Schoolboy Forever late for class, forever Putting on basketball jerseys Too wide for him, Basketball shorts too Short; body Always too gangly, Too long-limbed, wide eyed And fleet footed For his dreams to catch. He once could dunk. He is still a baby boomer - Scared of firecrackers, Weird penchant For popped collar shirts, Pointed shoes, and Sequins - he, was an avid Lover of stars - his old Dust-strewn bed posts Giving way, I imagine, To iron bars caging The luminous starry night, Floating high above The sewage And the freight trucks That weigh him so. They sang to him. In the tune of My mother's voice - The only album He ever possessed. Song set from His favorite band. "Apo Hiking Society." His favorite word, Was "leap." A disciple Of MJ, Dr. J, And Magic, Samboy, and Jawo, Icarus on hardwood And leaping From the free throw line. "Son," he once told me, "You gotta leap "If you wanna live." He was always afraid of heights. It wasn't until 41 that We made him ride a roller-coaster, That he had even seen a roller-coaster. "You gotta leap "If you wanna live." I think my favorite Memory of my dad Is still him wringing my fingers At Space Mountain with Eyes so tightly shut That we forgot Our fears, And screamed instead: So. This, Is how the stars look like When unbolted By folding cardboard, And iron bars.
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92
you cannot help but hate your body the gangly limbs the stomach that sticks out entirely too far the freckles that dot your face you ******* hate yourself every mirror you look at is a reminder of what a total piece of **** you are so when you start to float, it's a relief the feeling of not being you is something entirely new the arms that are not your arms legs that are not your legs eyes that you can't see through and better you aren't a ******* girl anymore this is always the worst part you can ******* deal with everything else you can but not that because you are not female and you know this except except you are the binders lying on the floor are telling you that you aren't actually they love that word actually shout it in the hallways and whisper in hushed conversations that they know you can hear actually the sensation of being ripped out of your own skin and then calm then you aren't you so you're happy you can't not be happy when you look like how you actually ******* feel the sensation of being ripped out of your own skin, then isn't bad because it's not your skin anymore it's that freaks' skin you're not a freak right?
0
Mar 22, 2014
Mar 22, 2014 at 12:53 AM UTC
Gender Dysphoria Blues
Clinging to the corner, The ceiling, The unused room upstairs, The dusty cellar basement; Lurking in the shadows, Cringing from the light. Retreating for now But returning later, Stronger, faster, Harder to ignore. Long, gangly, sickly; Short, stocky, powerful; Tiny, flitting, wispy; Huge, full, pervasive. Cunning, plotting, patient. Always there, Always watching, Always waiting.
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Sep 7, 2013
Sep 7, 2013 at 5:02 PM UTC
Temptation
I hate my hips. I hate how the friction between my thighs makes me feel I hate how the fat on my stomach goes outwards and not inwards. those are the worst days. the ones when my skinny-fat-gangly body is an odyssey all on it's own and my mother's home cooked meals become saturated oceans of salt in my stomach and make me become this uncontrollable monster that eats everything without mercy and ravages my refrigerator until my self pity becomes obvious in the mirror as my skinny-fat hips become more apparent and until I am left by myself, surrounded by tears that taste like fries that are much too salty and chicken that tastes all too much like diabetes. I hate my hips. I hate how they don't move to the familiar beat of the Spanish songs that always play in my house I hate how they are not big enough to grab people's attention but not small enough to please my ideals of beauty. my hips remind me that I am an outsider in my own culture, a family where you see the women's *** before you see her face and they remind me that I am not socially acceptable. I hate my hips. I hate my face. I hate how my forehead is large enough to be a canvas for the world and how my eyebrows are as transparent as a Dominican ocean I hate how my nose stretches when I grin and how my ears stick out like something someone didn't mean to place. I hate my face. I hate how when people look at me, they do not see the shape of my lips or my cheek bones or anything I love about myself all they see is a girl with hips too small and with a forehead to large and with everything wrong. I hate how I look. being confident is not an option being happy is only a facade and when my father tells me I am beautiful it takes everything in me to not tell him to stop lying. insecurity is not something you simply get over or something you can hide it is the small voice in your head that tells you that you are a mistake it marches all over your mind and sets your self-esteem to ashes. whenever I wake up in the morning there is a pressing weight on my chest and the feeling that I should live alone because all people will ever see is my appearance and whenever I brush my teeth I try my hardest to avoid the mirror but when I do look in the mirror and I see my reflection the bitter resentment towards who I am strikes me so hard that it slaps me into reality. I am me. There is nothing I can change about my bone structure or the large canvas on my face and I will have to live like this every day until I die. how can insecurity not be a problem?
0
Dec 22, 2015
Dec 22, 2015 at 8:10 PM UTC
An Open Letter To People Who Think Insecurity Is Not A Real Problem
I hate my hips. I hate how the friction between my thighs makes me feel I hate how the fat on my stomach goes outwards and not inwards. those are the worst days. the ones when my skinny-fat-gangly body is an odyssey all on it's own and my mother's home cooked meals become saturated oceans of salt in my stomach and make me become this uncontrollable monster that eats everything without mercy and ravages my refrigerator until my self pity becomes obvious in the mirror as my skinny-fat hips become more apparent and until I am left by myself, surrounded by tears that taste like fries that are much too salty and chicken that tastes all too much like diabetes. I hate my hips. I hate how they don't move to the familiar beat of the Spanish songs that always play in my house I hate how they are not big enough to grab people's attention but not small enough to please my ideals of beauty. my hips remind me that I am an outsider in my own culture, a family where you see the women's *** before you see her face and they remind me that I am not socially acceptable. I hate my hips. I hate my face. I hate how my forehead is large enough to be a canvas for the world and how my eyebrows are as transparent as a Dominican ocean I hate how my nose stretches when I grin and how my ears stick out like something someone didn't mean to place. I hate my face. I hate how when people look at me, they do not see the shape of my lips or my cheek bones or anything I love about myself all they see is a girl with hips too small and with a forehead to large and with everything wrong. I hate how I look. being confident is not an option being happy is only a facade and when my father tells me I am beautiful it takes everything in me to not tell him to stop lying. insecurity is not something you simply get over or something you can hide it is the small voice in your head that tells you that you are a mistake it marches all over your mind and sets your self-esteem to ashes. whenever I wake up in the morning there is a pressing weight on my chest and the feeling that I should live alone because all people will ever see is my appearance and whenever I brush my teeth I try my hardest to avoid the mirror but when I do look in the mirror and I see my reflection the bitter resentment towards who I am strikes me so hard that it slaps me into reality. I am me. There is nothing I can change about my bone structure or the large canvas on my face and I will have to live like this every day until I die. how can insecurity not be a problem?
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39
a darkness dances into the crevices where the squirrels once raised their young across the gangly branches; where the birds once perched and sung introducing the morning sky. the leaves, which once sheltered the ants from rain which poured upon their work. the lively and diverse ecosystem breaks as poison seeps into it, winding and choking long abandoned homes. the tree aches and sways as it succumbs to the crippling pain and collapses. termites begin upon their paths and worms and potato bugs harvest the soil although it was once so strong, it still hosts life to hundreds, even thousands. though through death and destruction, begins life anew, and a new type of beauty emerges.
0
Aug 6, 2013
Aug 6, 2013 at 11:53 PM UTC
A Broken Home
When I look at myself, I am not beautiful. My feet are twisted and gnarled like the wood of an old tree. My limbs are gangly and thin. My eyes are too large, My hair is too straight and too dark, And my ******* are too small. In the mirror each day, I cannot tell myself I am a radiant woman. But when the music starts, I shine. The notes hit me like rays of the setting sun, and every hue of grace and passion is splayed across The folds of my dress, The arch of my back, The curve of my ankle, The stretch of my throat. Each harmony, each crest and fall of sound and feeling Is a wave that breaks over me, And I am lost. I drown in emotion, in the distinct expression of self that only movement can allow, And in that moment, I forget beauty. I forget love and hatred and pain and joy, and as I forget I am freed. I forget because they no longer belong to me. I have given them to the melody, To the dance which draws them out of me like venom- The next move, fraught with the tension of 'goodbye forever', The next turn, spun by the unraveling of my heart, The next leap, lent weightless wings by the joy of a first kiss, The next slow reach carved from the desperation of 'it's all my fault'. As they leave me, they become me, crashing down on the audience I've also forgotten, burning the bright after-image of my soul into the shadows of theirs. I have never seen myself beautiful. I have never looked. I have forgotten to look. For when the music hits me, it turns me in on myself, and I can see nothing but my own spirit- a shower white hot of sparks- And the cascade of the notes in folds of velvet against my mind. I have never seen beautiful, but I have felt it. It feels like a smooth silk shoe and blisters on my feet, It feels like the trickle of sweat along my brow and the stab of muscle cramps in my legs, and the scrape of hairpins and sequins. It feels like breathlessness when the curtains open. It feels like the worn wooden stage upon which my heart may bleed all it wants. For it does, it gushes, and it is the ugliness of passion. It is terrifying, it is raw, it is light-starved and beaten, it is all I have. And when I get up on a stage, people call it beauty.
0
Dec 29, 2012
Dec 29, 2012 at 8:11 PM UTC
Swan
When I look at myself, I am not beautiful. My feet are twisted and gnarled like the wood of an old tree. My limbs are gangly and thin. My eyes are too large, My hair is too straight and too dark, And my ******* are too small. In the mirror each day, I cannot tell myself I am a radiant woman. But when the music starts, I shine. The notes hit me like rays of the setting sun, and every hue of grace and passion is splayed across The folds of my dress, The arch of my back, The curve of my ankle, The stretch of my throat. Each harmony, each crest and fall of sound and feeling Is a wave that breaks over me, And I am lost. I drown in emotion, in the distinct expression of self that only movement can allow, And in that moment, I forget beauty. I forget love and hatred and pain and joy, and as I forget I am freed. I forget because they no longer belong to me. I have given them to the melody, To the dance which draws them out of me like venom- The next move, fraught with the tension of 'goodbye forever', The next turn, spun by the unraveling of my heart, The next leap, lent weightless wings by the joy of a first kiss, The next slow reach carved from the desperation of 'it's all my fault'. As they leave me, they become me, crashing down on the audience I've also forgotten, burning the bright after-image of my soul into the shadows of theirs. I have never seen myself beautiful. I have never looked. I have forgotten to look. For when the music hits me, it turns me in on myself, and I can see nothing but my own spirit- a shower white hot of sparks- And the cascade of the notes in folds of velvet against my mind. I have never seen beautiful, but I have felt it. It feels like a smooth silk shoe and blisters on my feet, It feels like the trickle of sweat along my brow and the stab of muscle cramps in my legs, and the scrape of hairpins and sequins. It feels like breathlessness when the curtains open. It feels like the worn wooden stage upon which my heart may bleed all it wants. For it does, it gushes, and it is the ugliness of passion. It is terrifying, it is raw, it is light-starved and beaten, it is all I have. And when I get up on a stage, people call it beauty.
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39
*an Ode to Eppie I once had what I thought was a brilliant idea My friends listened dutifully without the eye roll the less loyal would have thrown in Before announcing that I am not allowed to name any children I end up having So I sure as **** better find a husband with an idea of what a name is I wanted a daughter named Epic Because I couldn’t imagine a bigger adventure than parenting And there was no way I was dealing with the torture of pregnancy To produce a child that was anything less than epic I wanted a daughter with the world laid out for her There would be no painful heart wrenching breakups for her No gangly awkward phase She would be the physical representation of the bond her father and I shared She would be love incarnated And I can’t imagine anything more epic than that I wanted a daughter named Epic Nicknamed Eppie Bambi told me that nickname was even worse than hers And I named her after a cartoon deer with a dead mother I guess they might have a point in this who name thing I wanted a daughter named Epiphany Because if I am ever (crazy) lucky enough to bring a girl into this world With my genes and the cruel ways of boys stacked against her I will sure as hell had some major epiphany If I am ever (stupid) blessed enough to have a daughter I want every moment with her to be a grand realization of my life This is who I am This moment is what I was made for Whether it’s picking her up after a scraped knee Advising her that Alphie only hit her because he likes her Or telling her that no, leggings are not pants She would be the reason I went through all of this The reason I got my heart broken by the world over and over again So that it could complete me I wanted a daughter named Epiphany Nicknamed Eppie “Like an EpiPen?” Fluffy (Patrick before I went about nicknaming) questioned “No, not like an Epinephrine auto injector at all.” Maybe naming isn't my forte I wanted a daughter named Epitome Because a name is more than a word A name is a decision I would make it clear that she was loved She would be the embodiment of every hope dream and wish I ever had Just by breathing each day I wanted my whole life to be leading up to the day I met her If I was ever going to give a new life She would be everything The epitome of my entire life I wanted a daughter named Epitome Nicknamed Eppie Laci (aka Frida) whose nickname could be interchangable with that of a stripper Laughed And decided that 'Emily' would be just fine for any daughter of mine
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Sep 17, 2013
Sep 17, 2013 at 1:17 AM UTC
I’m not allowed to name my own children
*an Ode to Eppie I once had what I thought was a brilliant idea My friends listened dutifully without the eye roll the less loyal would have thrown in Before announcing that I am not allowed to name any children I end up having So I sure as **** better find a husband with an idea of what a name is I wanted a daughter named Epic Because I couldn’t imagine a bigger adventure than parenting And there was no way I was dealing with the torture of pregnancy To produce a child that was anything less than epic I wanted a daughter with the world laid out for her There would be no painful heart wrenching breakups for her No gangly awkward phase She would be the physical representation of the bond her father and I shared She would be love incarnated And I can’t imagine anything more epic than that I wanted a daughter named Epic Nicknamed Eppie Bambi told me that nickname was even worse than hers And I named her after a cartoon deer with a dead mother I guess they might have a point in this who name thing I wanted a daughter named Epiphany Because if I am ever (crazy) lucky enough to bring a girl into this world With my genes and the cruel ways of boys stacked against her I will sure as hell had some major epiphany If I am ever (stupid) blessed enough to have a daughter I want every moment with her to be a grand realization of my life This is who I am This moment is what I was made for Whether it’s picking her up after a scraped knee Advising her that Alphie only hit her because he likes her Or telling her that no, leggings are not pants She would be the reason I went through all of this The reason I got my heart broken by the world over and over again So that it could complete me I wanted a daughter named Epiphany Nicknamed Eppie “Like an EpiPen?” Fluffy (Patrick before I went about nicknaming) questioned “No, not like an Epinephrine auto injector at all.” Maybe naming isn't my forte I wanted a daughter named Epitome Because a name is more than a word A name is a decision I would make it clear that she was loved She would be the embodiment of every hope dream and wish I ever had Just by breathing each day I wanted my whole life to be leading up to the day I met her If I was ever going to give a new life She would be everything The epitome of my entire life I wanted a daughter named Epitome Nicknamed Eppie Laci (aka Frida) whose nickname could be interchangable with that of a stripper Laughed And decided that 'Emily' would be just fine for any daughter of mine
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54
The white fluorescent lights buzz over my head, as if a method of determined annoyance. Studying is a truly lackluster operation Students methodically find ways to keep themselves distracted Looking around, trying to catch glimpses of how others are managing their time so well, a frantic approach to studying that I have single handedly mastered A very tan incongruous man, seats himself with the Miami Herald in hand His skin has a leathery texture He is a tall and gangly, strange looking man of at least 50 3 inch thick sideburns, red corduroy pants that reveal his mustard yellow socks and brown-black shoes Button-down shirt with the vertical stripes, sure to match every color with the rest of his outfit Off-white straw fedora hat with a forest green trimming, He sports a fabulous mustache, that puts every biker’s or Italian baker’s whiskers to shame. Something tells me he's not a student Seated across from me are two foreign women that are studying the English language. I know because they are the only ones talking, pushing my diversion from work a little further. The sky is turning grey outside the colossal library windows I’m hungry. That kid in the corner keeps staring at me. I have been here too long.
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Jan 25, 2010
Jan 25, 2010 at 4:28 AM UTC
The library
A flamingo in a bright back garden is grooming it’s feathers. What it sees from the shade cast by the statues of ancient Gods and facing an incarnation of the Buddha is a mystery. Balanced on one foot in a corner pond covered in dark green pads and innocent opulent white lilies it peers down towards the warm tiled floor. The limestone slabs are etched with chalk hearts like fortune cookies next to hopscotch and drawings of monsters and men. I am a scatter-brain, but I cannot feign an understanding of what this bird is looking at, and so fondly. Parched dead leaves not cleared from autumns past dwell below a dusty circular patio table mixed with used cat litter and fallen grapefruit that have dropped from the tree above. Though most of the colour is muted or bland there are infusions of vibrancy from the vermillion bed sheet to the violet bloom of clusters of flowers that pierce through the vines and corrugated iron. My garden at Giverney without a bridge in the centre of the picture, there are instead are two chairs. Comfortable chairs whose metallic legs and arms glisten in the light and whose black pleather fabric absorbs the heat of another wild day. The flamingo is a strange visitor to this garden that is mostly derelict and sparse, It’s gangly frame leaps out of the water ***** it’s wings and departs.
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Jun 12, 2013
Jun 12, 2013 at 7:49 PM UTC
A Curious Visitor
I hope the supple touch           Of all the women I have ever loved Cascades like rain           Over every inch of this Earth’s terrain Let the sunrise kiss from her crescent lips           Chase away the nights gangly grip Turning barren fields           To blooming bastions Of roots and seeds, nurtured into           The smile underneath a weeping willow tree Raise the bones of change           From their dusty graves of grief Discard your flesh and,           Bare to me only what lies beneath
0
Jul 2, 2021
Jul 2, 2021 at 11:06 PM UTC
Touch of a Woman
Enchanted on my face Public disgrace Red boils down Sheets a-torn Feet adorn Bare-less Bar-less ***** & Distaste Eyeliner and Cold sandwiches Cod Liver Oil and Pokemon Her eyebrows, they dance Symmetrical and killer Piercing my soul Dark brown dinners. The red mountain on the very tops of her skull Framed by lion's mane Beseeching eyes Full lips No kisses; birthmark of this Teenage...Ageing She's a fragrant fairy and I am a mountain top Towering over the gangly red No metal, yet no way to go ahead. "Nothing to be done" yet "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" Frankness is her subtlety Raw age Stark immaturity; pierced around a face of a lady of twenty. I'd offer you wine, but a girl like you would prefer a coffee Pick up this twenty, call me when you are thirty.
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Apr 9, 2014
Apr 9, 2014 at 12:10 AM UTC
The doe-eyed maiden in the bar.
he is not the kind of guy you would imagine growing old with, not because he wouldn't make a good father, quite the contrary, but because it's hard to wrap your mind around him not being young he smiles strangely sometimes, kind of an awkward perfect U shape, but it makes me laugh and sometimes I wonder if he does it on purpose his freckles are like stars, and sometimes I wish I could trace them with a soft finger, just to see if Orion or the Little Dipper will appear in the folds of his cheeks when he laughs, or remain hidden in the creases in his eyes and he'll say the strangest things, like he's got nothing to lose he gets passionate about things I don't give a **** about like calculus, permutations and **** as if he could calculate Life strap Life to a chair and torture out its confessions, brandishing a TI-Inspire his eyes glow sometimes, and he doesn't believe in oxymorons or paradoxes he counts cards at Blackjack, but he'll let me win because he knows how much of a sore loser I am, and he gives the best hugs in the world not because they're warm and make me feel like I'm flying but because of how awkward and gangly his arms feel, and how reluctant the embrace is, like he's holding something back and its the promise and awkwardness and realness of the hug that makes them so great.
0
Apr 14, 2011
Apr 14, 2011 at 2:50 PM UTC
my Blackjack hero
She stops before the glimmering mirror, falters and prepares. Gangly and awkward, Legs unfolding, leaning forward she drinks. A slender skyscraper gallops, sashaying. A wet bud uncurls and blooms. Winding, uncoiling, plucks a leaf. Enchanting daughter of heights: Embraced by the clouds, Smooching the stars. Towering sky-queen, ossicones her russet crown. Bronzed cloak, auburn jewels. From protuberant knees to shadowy lashes, a lofty leader, willowy wanderer.
0
Mar 24, 2015
Mar 24, 2015 at 1:40 PM UTC
The Giraffe: a gentle giant
mark of cain in my hemoglobin, i'm more open to repast on brains. to dine on flesh enmeshed in baseball parks and homes restrained by greed of the same. and the cry of the people takes great pains to refine the message of a blank stare. a blemish, stark with catacombs disarranged in harm honey. the ogre of pine. the amber pane where we bleed. we name nameless, by the by, to the finish. but not alone. up your petticoat with my blind cleaver. my Occam razor to your stain. a fine mess express in hateful art and boneless jade we feed on the frame of our reference. skylarking harmonious curves dismayed by their own mind. they confess it. at the statefair. replenished, they knish in falderal disengaged from honesty. the poker blind. where the eye staid. where we need. we need most ... tell ya why..... to diminish but not atone. and so it goes. i erode the continent. sneaky pete in the crease of all strange. itchy feet. maimed in false lies of the ripple. made fake to real love. unclaimed. a gangly part of broken promises made we retreat at last. with our last mimes. we undress. with savoir faire. distinguished in our dashery ill fated. calamity's bark. hard to define. where the mind misbehaved. we're complete most where the hole resides... to imprison but not hold.
0
Nov 8, 2012
Nov 8, 2012 at 10:29 AM UTC
I'll be the only ******* zombie, slaying zombies !
As zeptoseconds strike their matchsticks against brick walls, the pith of this waxy body gleams. Stiffly unsound in its granting, vitally huffing its gangly ghost. As heavy in sound as the weight of the world unmoved, trying the vault of heaven. Scaring birds across the parables of clouds, eyefuls are swept away by closed lids. Wedged between dreams to ooze honey fuzzy from the bee's buzz. Of freshly aired confessions that pre-box their black, after violently shaking the perfume from flowers to place upon.
0
May 9, 2017
May 9, 2017 at 12:28 PM UTC
Pre-box their Black
Or when the door opens are they just like Whoa! This is awesome! Every Single Time Not like they have to do long range plannin' Rotate the crops Or put up for Winter They have us for that 'sif they smelled the danger in big brains Growled Backed away This I think they thought Is it the pinnacle Let those big gangly doofuses Grow 'em They're suckers for a nuzzle an' let'm touch u Wah-woofin'-lah free food Don't think they ever imagined At the beginning They'd have us farming, canning and Manufacturing Gazillions o' fuzzy wuzzys to chew on Have us training to Ph.D. In case they get an owie prolly didn't anticipate satellite collars though Cats dominate the internet Dogs the medical Market My poetry could use their marketing prowess They even have us raising money to take better care of more of them You've seen those sad commercials As I prepare their dinner before my own I realize They've us instead of reason **** reason Bark ****** Bark Copyright@2018 Dennis Willis
0
Oct 23, 2018
Oct 23, 2018 at 7:19 PM UTC
Do Dogs Know There are Seasons?
Some say love is a kiss Pressed softly against your cheek Or perhaps a beautiful summer's Day, with sunny skies and green grass Maybe a pain in the chest Caused by love unrequited, Lost, or unatainable But why can't love be everything? A simple pinprick of emotion To a blade ****** and twisted in your heart A plastic grocery bag floating Heavily in an Ankh-Morporkian river A dandelion crushed by Children's running feet A single raindrop streaking down From the sky A baby giraffe stumbling to Her feet, gangly legs tangling up An awkward kiss, half shy But still enjoyed A hundred spears pointed towards The heart of one man, standing forward A broken butterfly wing Fluttering to the ground
0
Jan 19, 2013
Jan 19, 2013 at 11:54 AM UTC
what's love?
Hey you You with the crinkling eyes and the dancing laugh with the arms that ensare my waist to throw me against pure emerald mountain sides dripping with late spring rains the shucking of pine bark to twirl wooden towers down lilting slopes and the gangly limbs reaching towards the sky in an attempt to capture the clouds for the sole reason of dancing through their fluffiness you with the pure soul and poise fit enough for the queen if only you were anatomically different you would rule this world better than she honesty running through your laughing veins as you summit mountain after mountain pure glacial eyes darting to capture mine mischievious depths speaking of hidden love I know you so well. Even though our friendship has been 2 months 30 days long I know you better than I know myself My best best friend you called me as true as these wild trilliums we run past in an attempt to throw the other into the lake the fires which serve as a competitive twinkle in your eyes we are so free. You who contains the most pure soul pure intentions I have ever come across You are so loved You are so perfect in your innocence In the wise notes held in your fingertips you provide wings to leap with. I know there are waves trapped in your veins calling for your brilliant smile. I know when your head rests against my chest it is with the innocence of a child You are my best friend My comrade in arms My birch gatherer. and this love spreading through my limbs for your tired head and tumbling curls is hard to ignore. I know you are being called away a bright future awaits a familial expectation to fufill I'm just here to tell you I will be waiting In these mountains, these peaks roaming annd laughing and dancing waiting for the day my best friend realizes his happiness is more important than others expectations and I will be here as free as when you first found me ready for our adventures to begin Come fly with me.
0
Apr 30, 2016
Apr 30, 2016 at 8:44 PM UTC
A letter to my best friend
Hey you You with the crinkling eyes and the dancing laugh with the arms that ensare my waist to throw me against pure emerald mountain sides dripping with late spring rains the shucking of pine bark to twirl wooden towers down lilting slopes and the gangly limbs reaching towards the sky in an attempt to capture the clouds for the sole reason of dancing through their fluffiness you with the pure soul and poise fit enough for the queen if only you were anatomically different you would rule this world better than she honesty running through your laughing veins as you summit mountain after mountain pure glacial eyes darting to capture mine mischievious depths speaking of hidden love I know you so well. Even though our friendship has been 2 months 30 days long I know you better than I know myself My best best friend you called me as true as these wild trilliums we run past in an attempt to throw the other into the lake the fires which serve as a competitive twinkle in your eyes we are so free. You who contains the most pure soul pure intentions I have ever come across You are so loved You are so perfect in your innocence In the wise notes held in your fingertips you provide wings to leap with. I know there are waves trapped in your veins calling for your brilliant smile. I know when your head rests against my chest it is with the innocence of a child You are my best friend My comrade in arms My birch gatherer. and this love spreading through my limbs for your tired head and tumbling curls is hard to ignore. I know you are being called away a bright future awaits a familial expectation to fufill I'm just here to tell you I will be waiting In these mountains, these peaks roaming annd laughing and dancing waiting for the day my best friend realizes his happiness is more important than others expectations and I will be here as free as when you first found me ready for our adventures to begin Come fly with me.
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Open gangly arms are reaching Forward, to a magic gate Red and faded, painted beady dragon eyes. Little water house, you sing to me, Ears floating from my head Towards wispy cotton cattails. I crave a jaunt with ducklings In icy morning air, Even if the pond is softly frozen. Who lives in murky water? And sings early winter songs To a fragile gangly girl Who's prone to listen And respond? Palm-sized apples, bitter cores Losing noons to grape groves. I wished to be a raspberry ferry Floating downstream Forevermore.
0
Jan 15, 2021
Jan 15, 2021 at 2:01 PM UTC
Memory Place