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"gatherer" poems
I deal in death, the reaper stated. I am the debt collector, The gatherer of souls. I am the Grim I deal in life, the god replied. I am the light giver, The soul rescuer. I am god In neither death nor life, I deal, remarked Cupid. I merely facilitate. I neither give nor take, I barter only in Love. Take it or leave it. I am Cupid.
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Jun 14, 2014
Jun 14, 2014 at 5:29 PM UTC
The Reaper, The God, and Cupid.
There overtook me and drew me in To his down-hill, early-morning stride, And set me five miles on my road Better than if he had had me ride, A man with a swinging bag for load And half the bag wound round his hand. We talked like barking above the din Of water we walked along beside. And for my telling him where I’d been And where I lived in mountain land To be coming home the way I was, He told me a little about himself. He came from higher up in the pass Where the grist of the new-beginning brooks Is blocks split off the mountain mass— And hop. eless grist enough it looks Ever to grind to soil for grass. (The way it is will do for moss.) There he had built his stolen shack. It had to be a stolen shack Because of the fears of fire and logs That trouble the sleep of lumber folk: Visions of half the world burned black And the sun shrunken yellow in smoke. We know who when they come to town Bring berries under the wagon seat, Or a basket of eggs between their feet; What this man brought in a cotton sack Was gum, the gum of the mountain spruce. He showed me lumps of the scented stuff Like uncut jewels, dull and rough It comes to market golden brown; But turns to pink between the teeth. I told him this is a pleasant life To set your breast to the bark of trees That all your days are dim beneath, And reaching up with a little knife, To loose the resin and take it down And bring it to market when you please
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3.1k
The Gum-Gatherer
These days I am too cold My palms are at rest Down for the long winter My coordination and dexterity will hibernate And I'll cloak this poor body With anything I can An almost married woman Clings to the hems of my sleeves With thin fingers With scissors There to cut away the warm wool With wild eyes and a bitter mouth She gathers my coat in a basket Unravels all the careworn fibers To cast upon her empty loom As though she'd spun them Casts off newly sewn kisses Threadbare affection Muttering crossly about the weather And how the sun does not melt the snow She is only my friend when She can touch my bare wrists Give me white hot iron to hold And ask me if I'm warmer Only my friend when She can graze my skin in surprise Wrap my hands up with stiff yarn And ask me what burned them
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Nov 17, 2014
Nov 17, 2014 at 11:27 AM UTC
The Gatherer.
A long time ago Unicorns roamed the earth They were ugly And dumb And did not know fear Did not feel the need to use their horns for anything They were fat They smelled bad Like an open wounded staph infection They did not even taste good To other animals or humans But there was this boy who loved to watch them graze with his pet turtle Rusty He watched and listened The Unicorns did not neigh so much as they screamed high pitch and breathy Into each other’s mouths They made no sense It was beautiful to him that things that made no sense Could exist without reason And there be nothing wrong with that Rusty would walk around them A turtle’s pace And graze Occasionally bite at an ankle It made him feel strong To cause such a big animal pain And slink away unscathed No one will ever see the way such a proud turtle walks As the way Sparky did Head so high His neck did not look like ******** skin The boy also watched them die Watched as the men in his tribe led them to a nearby valley Where they would smash the unicorn’s head in with rocks The animals just stood there Not understanding what was being done to them The boy felt like a unicorn then When his father hit him He felt dumb Dumb in the heart Dumb in the brain Dumb in the body For continuing to stay The boy cried as the last unicorn died His father said that soon everyone would forget that something so ugly lived The boy understood So he went to nearby caves Where all the gay tribe boys go Because in hunter gatherer societies Boys who did not work were gay They did what makes them happy That is why it is called gay In the caves he would draw the unicorns He made them beautiful And intelligent With blood that healed wounds And horns that if stabbed you Would cause the most beautiful death When all this ugly is gone People will tell stories about us
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Aug 28, 2012
Aug 28, 2012 at 3:41 PM UTC
The Death Of The Last Unicorn
A long time ago Unicorns roamed the earth They were ugly And dumb And did not know fear Did not feel the need to use their horns for anything They were fat They smelled bad Like an open wounded staph infection They did not even taste good To other animals or humans But there was this boy who loved to watch them graze with his pet turtle Rusty He watched and listened The Unicorns did not neigh so much as they screamed high pitch and breathy Into each other’s mouths They made no sense It was beautiful to him that things that made no sense Could exist without reason And there be nothing wrong with that Rusty would walk around them A turtle’s pace And graze Occasionally bite at an ankle It made him feel strong To cause such a big animal pain And slink away unscathed No one will ever see the way such a proud turtle walks As the way Sparky did Head so high His neck did not look like ******** skin The boy also watched them die Watched as the men in his tribe led them to a nearby valley Where they would smash the unicorn’s head in with rocks The animals just stood there Not understanding what was being done to them The boy felt like a unicorn then When his father hit him He felt dumb Dumb in the heart Dumb in the brain Dumb in the body For continuing to stay The boy cried as the last unicorn died His father said that soon everyone would forget that something so ugly lived The boy understood So he went to nearby caves Where all the gay tribe boys go Because in hunter gatherer societies Boys who did not work were gay They did what makes them happy That is why it is called gay In the caves he would draw the unicorns He made them beautiful And intelligent With blood that healed wounds And horns that if stabbed you Would cause the most beautiful death When all this ugly is gone People will tell stories about us
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59
*A fruit gatherer by some chance, she is deeply immersed in this pursuit seeking out and gathering ripe fruits, hidden by the foliage, but her eyes search far beyond, sunny day, the impact of beauty all round,   moves her deeply and transforms her demeanor speaks of an  inner tranquility rare, and the light her eyes emit speaks all this indicate a deeper meaning to her act, much more than what meets the naked eyes. The verdant garden, flowers, ripe fruits, the fruit picking charmer herself, are the realities in front, if one doesn't look beyond and only see skin deep, it suits him well, what is the prompt of beauty, he does not know for sure, absorbed she is, and he sure is aware of being enticed by her fruits, as much as her, and he wants to be a fruit picker himself, we all are, for reasons only our inner selves fully know.*
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Jan 15, 2014
Jan 15, 2014 at 10:14 AM UTC
The Fruit Gatherer's Magic
A MOTHERS ROLE WITHIIN THE TRIBAL FAMILY She is a warrior in her own right Guardian Protector Of all that is hers The teacher of all things To her family The tribe The hunter and gatherer Out there in the front line With men gathering in the spoils of victory Over Buffalo and Bison With their child strapped In the papoose The Warrior mother Has no liking for material objects Her mind only set on what is really required Warmth, shelter, their blankets and clothing And all importantly the food for the family Is enough for this warrior mother She claims no fame There is no gain For she is part of the entire Tribal family This warrior mother Will never put herself above anyone else Will always be there for others in need This mother’s role Is the teacher of all that once was From generation to generation Stories to be told Legends of warriors Forefathers and foremothers Telling the stories Of how life can be Making the children ready For their own life’s Ventures Adventures And Histories © Helen Moule 1st May 2012
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May 6, 2012
May 6, 2012 at 2:37 PM UTC
A Mother's Role Within The Tribal Family
Foggy breeze through my fingertips when sunburnt days seem coveted in memory. When the columbines came back from the dead. Burnt up cities... The last glimpse of firefly lights grew dim behind me The trees sprouted everywhere like stardust The pillars I once worshipped in incense with amulets became faded ruins... The weathered walls texture were like sequins with no glimmer I escaped again to a place with green lakes and forrests of pines It's quieter up here in the mountains Like a shudder through the window I hear the old house moan all through the day and all through the night The sunlight pierces through the blinds illuminating his face which is already illuminated But you're my bumblebee that insignia- a honey gatherer If you subtract the intimacy out of *** Nothing's left, but hollow mechanical ******* Stealing the rythmn from the music Sturdy as a beam I lay Unable to grasp at anything It's just noise Sweaty day, shivering nights-juxtaposed It's like living on Mercury In decomposition like a basket of rotten lemons Past conversations crush their weight against my open ribs No parent teacher or friend told me how all consuming the sensation would be... Dazed eyes staring through disheveled blinds, I was dropping rose buds off the second floor balcony in the night They hit the scratchy asphalt like a gentle meteor shower Monotonous nights replay the same phases That moon... A face splashing from gibbous to crescent Waning on my malady Always stirring like a steady torch
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Mar 1, 2018
Mar 1, 2018 at 2:40 AM UTC
NEON
Foggy breeze through my fingertips when sunburnt days seem coveted in memory. When the columbines came back from the dead. Burnt up cities... The last glimpse of firefly lights grew dim behind me The trees sprouted everywhere like stardust The pillars I once worshipped in incense with amulets became faded ruins... The weathered walls texture were like sequins with no glimmer I escaped again to a place with green lakes and forrests of pines It's quieter up here in the mountains Like a shudder through the window I hear the old house moan all through the day and all through the night The sunlight pierces through the blinds illuminating his face which is already illuminated But you're my bumblebee that insignia- a honey gatherer If you subtract the intimacy out of *** Nothing's left, but hollow mechanical ******* Stealing the rythmn from the music Sturdy as a beam I lay Unable to grasp at anything It's just noise Sweaty day, shivering nights-juxtaposed It's like living on Mercury In decomposition like a basket of rotten lemons Past conversations crush their weight against my open ribs No parent teacher or friend told me how all consuming the sensation would be... Dazed eyes staring through disheveled blinds, I was dropping rose buds off the second floor balcony in the night They hit the scratchy asphalt like a gentle meteor shower Monotonous nights replay the same phases That moon... A face splashing from gibbous to crescent Waning on my malady Always stirring like a steady torch
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56
I had forgotten the way to the hut that I had traveled to so many times, so many days. So many moons, I would say. But no one marks moons anymore, except hunters. And I am not one of them. Nor a gatherer. I listen to old men tell how they felled the stags. I do not believe them. I am a wayfarer, to use the archaic words I used to love, the words I had forgotten, the words of time in eternity, the words of orange leaves on towering pin oaks, the words of circles of shadows settling on Gavarnie, of snowfall in the Pyrénées. Sever Spain from the Continent. I had lost the language of the ***** spray-painted sheep scampering over gray-bouldered cirques on mountaintops, boulders turning into mountains in the shadows, in the fog, in drifts of snow. There are no words for this now. Bleating sheep drown them out, and yapping dogs. There are no words for the radiance of transcendence. “Climb higher,” I hear them say. Higher into the haze of clouds. Cirque: circle, circus. Acrobatics on hillsides, balancing acts on rockslides, skimming streams in hard-toed boots. I had forgotten the way to the words, far behind me. I have come to a gate, a steep stile in shadow. No sheep can pass. Nothing looks familiar; nothing looks strange. I saunter in a cloud of unknowing. I had known the words: worn, smooth as stone unscuffed by hard-toed boots, slick as snowmelt. Slide from France into Spain. This is the path of Santiago de Compostela, the route of St. James, who said, “Do not be double-minded, brethren.” I cannot remember if I have been double-minded in my travels. I had forgotten the way. If the words do not come, which mind sees the threshold; which mind circles the fog? What passes, what begins when we travel? I do not look backward. The way lies ahead, waiting, wandering away from the words. Splotches of lichen sprout orange and green. “Go no higher for safety.” No higher. They do not mention exile or ecstasy or the straight path of radiance. The cirque circles my words in mountain shadows. I must unlearn the art of travel, adrift in broken fields of stone. I had forgotten the way to the hut. Rocks obscure the path. Light ensures the path leads upward. Nothing is lost. Words hold their weight. Stags dance above me in fog.
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Aug 14, 2018
Aug 14, 2018 at 3:19 PM UTC
Pyrénées
I had forgotten the way to the hut that I had traveled to so many times, so many days. So many moons, I would say. But no one marks moons anymore, except hunters. And I am not one of them. Nor a gatherer. I listen to old men tell how they felled the stags. I do not believe them. I am a wayfarer, to use the archaic words I used to love, the words I had forgotten, the words of time in eternity, the words of orange leaves on towering pin oaks, the words of circles of shadows settling on Gavarnie, of snowfall in the Pyrénées. Sever Spain from the Continent. I had lost the language of the ***** spray-painted sheep scampering over gray-bouldered cirques on mountaintops, boulders turning into mountains in the shadows, in the fog, in drifts of snow. There are no words for this now. Bleating sheep drown them out, and yapping dogs. There are no words for the radiance of transcendence. “Climb higher,” I hear them say. Higher into the haze of clouds. Cirque: circle, circus. Acrobatics on hillsides, balancing acts on rockslides, skimming streams in hard-toed boots. I had forgotten the way to the words, far behind me. I have come to a gate, a steep stile in shadow. No sheep can pass. Nothing looks familiar; nothing looks strange. I saunter in a cloud of unknowing. I had known the words: worn, smooth as stone unscuffed by hard-toed boots, slick as snowmelt. Slide from France into Spain. This is the path of Santiago de Compostela, the route of St. James, who said, “Do not be double-minded, brethren.” I cannot remember if I have been double-minded in my travels. I had forgotten the way. If the words do not come, which mind sees the threshold; which mind circles the fog? What passes, what begins when we travel? I do not look backward. The way lies ahead, waiting, wandering away from the words. Splotches of lichen sprout orange and green. “Go no higher for safety.” No higher. They do not mention exile or ecstasy or the straight path of radiance. The cirque circles my words in mountain shadows. I must unlearn the art of travel, adrift in broken fields of stone. I had forgotten the way to the hut. Rocks obscure the path. Light ensures the path leads upward. Nothing is lost. Words hold their weight. Stags dance above me in fog.
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19
I take comfort from the greasy food on my plate hunter gatherer instincts sated, my eyes search for campfire flickering flames and settle on the fish tank I am zoned replete in the cavern of my own space my day over I wait for the miracle of sunrise
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Nov 7, 2021
Nov 7, 2021 at 7:30 AM UTC
modern caveman
O indiginous tuber to Peru, Now in nations' daily stews, From the Polar South to Timbuktu, Ranked with rice, wheat and maize, Oh staple potatoe You grace our table. We plant seed spuds, Red, yellow or brown, Harvest the new ones, The remainder mound To thrive in leisure, As buried treasure. Heel the spud ***** Unearth your trove, A gatherer's surprise To woo true love. We slice, dice and mash, Roast, deep-fry and bake. It's not an egg, It'll never break.      ***Medium-rare, please.      And make mine a baked.      Oh, and don't forget the butter,      Oh, and sour-cream, just in case.”*** It hasn't got *** appeal, What you see is true, But make no mistake, I swear by what's holy in taste, It only has eyes for you. Pharmaceutically, It soothes, Burns, itches, puffy eyes, Migraines and headaches. Make a stamp, Make silver shine, Clean your windows with its brine. And potatoe muffins are simply divine. When blight strikes, When crops don't thrive, Many starve, Many have died. So, I raise this toast To the lofty Tuber, And I dedicate this Ode, To the one, The only: ***Mr. Potatoe, This bud's for you.***
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Jan 7, 2017
Jan 7, 2017 at 6:04 PM UTC
Potatode
*i've been to kenya, all that these "charity" adverts are fuelling is ignorance, they're presupposing all the african nations are like kindergarten, they're insulating them... it's like that: give a man fish or give him a fishing rod, i.e.: give a man money or give him a method creating & subsequently circulating wealth: these charitable companies are insulting african nations to be at a loss, they're only feeding european bureaucrats who are really the only worthwhile charitable pay-cheque givens, odds 4-5.* a retired lady selling poppies for a feeling committed suicide being hunted by ninety-nine charity organisations... charity organisations... start-ups akin to apps of cue: shaved face, young, eager ****** venom ****** statues of jealousy... all the bankers' wives have a tier system, the origin of charity companies (surely a wife can't be as pristine as her husband): first two don't count, third: modern art "collector", fifth: philanthropist, seventh: possessor of an O.B.E. and as one bemused englishman said: king arthur and the zimmerframe table of knights with walking sticks rather than swords: money made people lazy, less adventurous, let alone less tribal and communist, adventure just became predictable, tourism... the modern shopper is envious of the hunter gatherer... so envious he wants to look the part, but live as modern lazy allows... after all... all the gym sessions can't go to waste... got to run standing still: hey! don quixote! leave the windmills! check out the treadmills... you see a caveman anywhere in the sweaty parlours? i don't.
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Feb 1, 2016
Feb 1, 2016 at 7:31 PM UTC
the seven tiers of bored bankers' wives
*i've been to kenya, all that these "charity" adverts are fuelling is ignorance, they're presupposing all the african nations are like kindergarten, they're insulating them... it's like that: give a man fish or give him a fishing rod, i.e.: give a man money or give him a method creating & subsequently circulating wealth: these charitable companies are insulting african nations to be at a loss, they're only feeding european bureaucrats who are really the only worthwhile charitable pay-cheque givens, odds 4-5.* a retired lady selling poppies for a feeling committed suicide being hunted by ninety-nine charity organisations... charity organisations... start-ups akin to apps of cue: shaved face, young, eager ****** venom ****** statues of jealousy... all the bankers' wives have a tier system, the origin of charity companies (surely a wife can't be as pristine as her husband): first two don't count, third: modern art "collector", fifth: philanthropist, seventh: possessor of an O.B.E. and as one bemused englishman said: king arthur and the zimmerframe table of knights with walking sticks rather than swords: money made people lazy, less adventurous, let alone less tribal and communist, adventure just became predictable, tourism... the modern shopper is envious of the hunter gatherer... so envious he wants to look the part, but live as modern lazy allows... after all... all the gym sessions can't go to waste... got to run standing still: hey! don quixote! leave the windmills! check out the treadmills... you see a caveman anywhere in the sweaty parlours? i don't.
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47
when torn clouds bared blue holes the river brimmed with ecstasy. it had rained the whole day and she was bursting in seams to tell her side of the story from the many upon her shore's mangrove. how the tiger guards her treasures, prawns and ***** and honeys and woods, pounces from the saline thickness of the mist when dream of life is heavy on the gatherer and smell of death far gone forgotten rips the flesh cracks the skull open flows the blood as silent night carries the trophy for a bony rest till devoured by her floodwater. the river knows it too well the tiger is her lover and loyal sentinel.
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Jun 22, 2015
Jun 22, 2015 at 1:21 PM UTC
Man-eater
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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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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54
Talking Turkey gobble gobble gobble it may sound like giberish to you or sometimes called gobbledygook nonsensical in thought it's true the genesis of language was born here though at least it seems the northern mesopotamian birthplace the birthplace of our dreams the beginnings of modern man the farmer now the gatherer no longer communication skills needed more the thoughts so much stronger this bipedal ***** standing creature descendant of humanoids now gone move north out of Baghdad and learned to sing a song the music still playing in our ears lingers on from these Turkish rants poetry in another form words of the future cants Gomer LePoet....
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Apr 27, 2013
Apr 27, 2013 at 11:21 PM UTC
Talking Turkey
*In the crowded platform he sure was the dancing peacock in his heart was blowing a storm he feigned though looking at the station clock.* Not the clock he was eying that one lovely girl her face storm gatherer like her hair's black curl he blushed every time she would catch his eyes stealing her a look in indifference's disguise. He was within enjoying this farcical foreplay didn't know her train his was an hour away imagined she too was singling him out from the flock of men his contenders no doubt. Did a wispy smile float on her cherry lip few moments' encounter could it be that deep still in his wondrous thought the girl he did own on that absurd stage for her his love was grown. One could not tell what was going within her her eyes were they touched shone there a star was she too mindful of him held him once in gaze or her mind was too far away on a different page. The hour passed quick in the young man's trance between changing trains with the peacock's dance when chugged in her train flew away the butterfly the whistles of his train drowned his rending sigh.
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May 18, 2014
May 18, 2014 at 3:39 AM UTC
The Dancing Peacock
We all dreamed to be something when we grew up doctors, engineers, lawyers... but none a poet for even in youthful immaturity we knew being a poet wouldn't do the ones we happened to meet looked such impoverished! As now then too poets were honey gatherers seeking discerning minds one read one lit up face one sip of the nectar! Most of us never achieved what we dreamed to be it really didn't matter the doctor could be an engineer the engineer a lawyer *but maybe one of us in his heart of hearts wanted to be a poet pursued sunshine sank in darkness!*
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Nov 29, 2013
Nov 29, 2013 at 2:33 AM UTC
Honey Gatherer
I. This is a poet of the river lands, a lowdown man of the deepest depth of the valley, where gravity gathers the waters, the poisons, the trash, where light comes late and leaves early. From the window of his small room the lowdown poet looks out. He watches the river for ripples, flashes, signs of beings rising in the undersurface dark, or lightly swimming upon the flow, or, for a minnow, descending the deeps of the air to enter and shatter forever their momentary reflections, for the river is a place passing through a passing place. The poet, his window, and his poems are creatures of the shore that the river gnaws, dissolves, and carries away. He is a tree of a sort, rooted in the dark, aspiring to the light, dependent on both. His poems are leavings, sheddings, gathered from the light, as it has come, and offered to the dark, which he believes must shine with sight, with light, dark only to him. II. Times will come as they must, by necessity or his wish, when he leaves his enclosure and his window, his homescape of house and garden, barn and pasture, the incarnate life of his desire, thought, and daily work. His grazing animals look up to watch in silence as he departs. He sets out at times without even a path or any guidance other than knowledge of the place and himself as they were in time already past. He goes among trees, climbing again the one hill of his life. With his hand full of words he goes into the wordless, wording it barely in time as he passes. One by one he places words, balancing on each as on a small stone in the swift flow in his anxious patience until the next arrives, until he has come at last again into presentiment of the Real, the wholly real in its grand composure, for which as before he knows no word. And here again he must stop. Here by luck or grace he may find rest, which he has been seeking all along. Sometimes by the time’s flaws and his own, he fails. And then by luck or grace he will be given another day to try again, to go maybe yet farther before again he must stop. He is a gatherer of fragments, a cobbler of pieces. Piece by piece he tells a story without end, for in the time of this world no end can come. It is the story of eternity’s shining, much shadowed, much put off, in time. And time, however long, falls short. Wendell Berry's most recent books include It All Turns on Affection: The Jefferson Lecture and Other Essays, New Collected Poems, and A Place in Time, the newest volume in his Port William series.
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Jun 30, 2014
Jun 30, 2014 at 11:30 AM UTC
From Sabbaths 2013—by Wendell Berry
I. This is a poet of the river lands, a lowdown man of the deepest depth of the valley, where gravity gathers the waters, the poisons, the trash, where light comes late and leaves early. From the window of his small room the lowdown poet looks out. He watches the river for ripples, flashes, signs of beings rising in the undersurface dark, or lightly swimming upon the flow, or, for a minnow, descending the deeps of the air to enter and shatter forever their momentary reflections, for the river is a place passing through a passing place. The poet, his window, and his poems are creatures of the shore that the river gnaws, dissolves, and carries away. He is a tree of a sort, rooted in the dark, aspiring to the light, dependent on both. His poems are leavings, sheddings, gathered from the light, as it has come, and offered to the dark, which he believes must shine with sight, with light, dark only to him. II. Times will come as they must, by necessity or his wish, when he leaves his enclosure and his window, his homescape of house and garden, barn and pasture, the incarnate life of his desire, thought, and daily work. His grazing animals look up to watch in silence as he departs. He sets out at times without even a path or any guidance other than knowledge of the place and himself as they were in time already past. He goes among trees, climbing again the one hill of his life. With his hand full of words he goes into the wordless, wording it barely in time as he passes. One by one he places words, balancing on each as on a small stone in the swift flow in his anxious patience until the next arrives, until he has come at last again into presentiment of the Real, the wholly real in its grand composure, for which as before he knows no word. And here again he must stop. Here by luck or grace he may find rest, which he has been seeking all along. Sometimes by the time’s flaws and his own, he fails. And then by luck or grace he will be given another day to try again, to go maybe yet farther before again he must stop. He is a gatherer of fragments, a cobbler of pieces. Piece by piece he tells a story without end, for in the time of this world no end can come. It is the story of eternity’s shining, much shadowed, much put off, in time. And time, however long, falls short. Wendell Berry's most recent books include It All Turns on Affection: The Jefferson Lecture and Other Essays, New Collected Poems, and A Place in Time, the newest volume in his Port William series.
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67
The sun~poem also rises every evening… *A.P.U (as per usual): this testimony~phrase tilts me sideways, to relieve the condition, needy to be righted one must expel the belly kicking seedling, looking to be outed as a full fledged tree, a poem planted, a gatherer of insects, giving shade, perhaps shedding fruit the sun bids adieu, self~same~centrifuge of our solar system, is indeed alway rising somewhere, though the light of our naked eyes weak, incapable of trajectory bending, to follow its course’s curvature, nonetheless, we know it but struggle to believe just as we struggle to complete, compare, and compose replanted words in your heart, words that trigger, are the notions inherent, of a center, rarely eclipsed, that never ceases to offer up nouveau hope in each of the days, a placenta to fret you blood and oxygen, once purposed, discarded into darkness,* b u t **the words rise again, offering what you seek, diurnally, need, to find within them, for my child, is now our child**…
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May 12, 2024
May 12, 2024 at 9:22 AM UTC
The sun~poem also rises every evening
Father! Father, I’ll join you! I’ve brought you wreaths of orchids and daisies to compensate for lost time. O Father, I am lost without you! No sense of direction have I. Left to wander empty fields with an equally empty mind And expected to get somewhere with it. How are the cold grounds treating you? Is Death an ugly, tortured thing? Oh, He never would answer this question for me. Him. Father, Father, Father – it was He! He cannot be forgiven. He cannot be loved. And yet… Ah, He’s given me no reason to stall. I’ll make haste! This was not my plan, but without you, I have none. It makes sense to come with you and follow in your footsteps, which are still freshly pressed in soil. You were right Father and I was right to listen to you. I heeded. He only wanted my body. He said himself that he was not worthy. Why do I conceit of Him still? He is gone. He has left me. Or have I left Him? O Father, it does not matter, does it? What’s past is past, and soon I will pass as well. To fall from a tree as if to fall from heaven. An angel in mermaid’s clothing. Let my fin soak in the waters as I sing like sirens do. And I shall summon Death upon myself, like any self-slaughtering siren would. And as I went through this phase, I will go through life in song. Father, I am coming. You won’t have to wait very long. They will watch me in my unconscious state And wonder if I left it when my spirit left me. I am unconscious with you gone. I will make sure they will see me as I glide and continue to sing strong. They will not come for me – I am already too far gone. They will have but one thing to say: “Alas, then she is drowned.” And drowned will I be.
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Aug 31, 2010
Aug 31, 2010 at 8:31 PM UTC
The Song of the Nettle Gatherer
Father! Father, I’ll join you! I’ve brought you wreaths of orchids and daisies to compensate for lost time. O Father, I am lost without you! No sense of direction have I. Left to wander empty fields with an equally empty mind And expected to get somewhere with it. How are the cold grounds treating you? Is Death an ugly, tortured thing? Oh, He never would answer this question for me. Him. Father, Father, Father – it was He! He cannot be forgiven. He cannot be loved. And yet… Ah, He’s given me no reason to stall. I’ll make haste! This was not my plan, but without you, I have none. It makes sense to come with you and follow in your footsteps, which are still freshly pressed in soil. You were right Father and I was right to listen to you. I heeded. He only wanted my body. He said himself that he was not worthy. Why do I conceit of Him still? He is gone. He has left me. Or have I left Him? O Father, it does not matter, does it? What’s past is past, and soon I will pass as well. To fall from a tree as if to fall from heaven. An angel in mermaid’s clothing. Let my fin soak in the waters as I sing like sirens do. And I shall summon Death upon myself, like any self-slaughtering siren would. And as I went through this phase, I will go through life in song. Father, I am coming. You won’t have to wait very long. They will watch me in my unconscious state And wonder if I left it when my spirit left me. I am unconscious with you gone. I will make sure they will see me as I glide and continue to sing strong. They will not come for me – I am already too far gone. They will have but one thing to say: “Alas, then she is drowned.” And drowned will I be.
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symbol of contemporary life packaged, preserved, instructions on the side. simplicity of modern day, pop stamped symmetrical; hunter gatherer. collect them into rows italian chopped tomatoes best before date, barcode. tin can still bites, like bramble thorns, to repel against harvest. boxed up comfortable living adding edge to expectancy countering convenience.
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May 14, 2018
May 14, 2018 at 6:09 PM UTC
Tin Can
Death is a ****** who never misses. He stalks us all, calmly awaiting the proper moment, takes perfect aim, fires, and thinks we are gone. Looking anxiously over your shoulder will not avail. Death is patience incarnate. He is a gatherer, ceaselessly collecting, eternally foraging, and when he finds us he slips us into his bag and thinks we are gone. Death is a messenger delivering the telegram that says our time is up. He reads it to us and thinks we are gone. Death is a conductor who calls a stop, sees us off the train and thinks we are gone. But death is mistaken. Death is certain, but it is not final. The world we touched is changed forever by our journey in it, however brief or long. Something of us remains in a child, a garden, a painting, a poem, a kiss, a caress, a gasping ****** Our hearts stop beating, but breath does not depart. It floats in clouds of atoms that we were. Those we leave behind have only to inhale and once again we are with them, and within them. Bodies die; love never does. Each life, sacred and eternal, inspires Creation. We are never truly gone.
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Jan 5, 2017
Jan 5, 2017 at 7:12 AM UTC
Death Is...
This is Horatio's elegy, He and the mousetrap had synergy, That's the end of mouse energy, Alas, Horatio is no more, That fur friend predator, He ran into the mousetrap's door, Alas, Horatio is no more! How to embellish this ode? I'm in hunter-gatherer mode, Shall I serve him up for lunch? Nuke him for tasty munch? Eat it skin on for nutrients, Now I know what Nigella meant, No, Horatio wasn't pregnant, Now I have a fur friend remnant, That little mouse predator, Of mice I am no amator, Alas, Horatio is no more!!
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Mar 5, 2016
Mar 5, 2016 at 10:31 PM UTC
GOD'S PLAN---THE SEQUEL!
Coaxed, Stoaked, Citer of circumspect alley ways, Ponderer of all circumference!!! A lost shadow to a drawn out stage!! Incurable nausea plants itself beneathe thine nose, Beneathe thy finest thine Rose!!! Thou fallen cut down trunk, Thou Intel gatherer of recordings of political junk!!! Thy mafiatic hardened heart's department hath closed for many seasons, For many reasons thou art down and out again!!! Old adversary, Oldened friend!!!! Undergraduate of no sporty coup'e, No tripped up loop to sway thine interfacial structure!!! No loving, all clutter, you inhale as you breathe, Thou daytime innocent, Thou nightly thief!!!!
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Jun 18, 2015
Jun 18, 2015 at 9:01 PM UTC
राजी कर लिया, stoked ( coaxed, stoked) hindi tongue
Acuity's sweetheart, without a peep what whole to picture, reflect you. Black hole gone white...you consume all put to you. Unwavering stare ad nauseam--great gatherer of last nerves. Your only sentiment, an unnerving one. As per second guess, images donned their reality within your confines...their dead end of your wide open. Grey skies of luminous latency, frozen lakes, serrated knives, sentient fog--smack of you. Timeless conversation piece on reserve for what thing may look into you. How can something so crystal clear, be so cut off? Your desensitization was fashioned darkly--that pained slip...that recoil of what you reflect. More final than the wall hang you, as to eclipse. You belong shut in a dark, musty closet, or the cobweb corner of an attic. Clearly...you do not merit the light of day...it's fire to brush...O Great Teacher!
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Feb 13, 2015
Feb 13, 2015 at 10:51 AM UTC
Mirror, Provocateur
I line up all the things I like about you. I space them evenly Precisely Accurately I shoot them with a harpoon, A gun, A sling shot. Then I smash them. I burn them. I bury them. They beckon me to go about collecting them once more.
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Mar 28, 2013
Mar 28, 2013 at 11:37 PM UTC
Hunter Gatherer