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Mateuš Conrad May 2020
a great absurdity of life
     comes in no lesser
form than...
         as it comes...
             when using
a knife and fork...
to eat a chicken thigh...
or a chicken drum-stick...
without
the joy of using the hands...

of the two households...
where a chicken was eaten
with a knife and fork...
and where a chicken was
eaten with bare hands...
profanity: when enough
meat remains on the bone
that a dog will gladly bite...

otherwise a household...
where even the ends of the bones
are bitten off for the livery
marrow...
or that grand delicacy of
a chicken's neck: you cannot find
more tender meat anywhere:
even if it is poached...
               esp. if it is poached...

    and sometimes a noun
is used as a verb...
to chicken out...
                  
no alternatives:
but a rephrasing... of...
comfortably numb can
become: comforted by numbness -
comforted by a numbing...
          -ing: herr gerund!
                         alternatively:
the chicken story...

apathy: is it truly to be devoid
of all pathology?
or... quiet simply:
to sweep under the rug...
i.e. that there are too many
pathologies to mind...
that apathy is
              a σ of pathology?
Cait May 2012
You are a gerund.
I am a verb.
Talking behind their backs
Will not solve our problems.
I opened the door and spoke.
I asked them to be quiet.
Standing behind me,
Like the mouse you are,
You pretended to want action.
I am action.

You are a gerund.
I am a verb.
Action leaps out of me
Like a plastic snake
On a loaded spring.
You were talking about a solution.
I wrote, I spoke,
I developed a plan.
Thinking about action,
Wishing and praying
For a conclusion was all
You came close to.
But stories are not written
Through inaction.
One well placed verb
Conquers a dozen nouns
And completes the sentence,
not the milk, you see, is too sweet,
thick, which will rhyme if i write,
for me.

thick like the wool that filled
breaches in the wall, saved the lives.

save some with shelter, needing shelter,
while others lean to watch the birds fly,
talk of the bell tower, and all the implications.

the man parked his car, tidily went to poundland,
bought cards.

sbm.

*notes verb
verb: condense; 3rd person present: condenses; past tense: condensed; past participle: condensed; gerund or present participle: condensing

1.
make (something) denser or more concentrated.
Twas accursed destiny
     since birth alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,

     viz zit ting older sibling counterattack
thirteen plus chronological gap
    eldest sister struck like diamondback
surrogate "mother" role

     assumed tubby exact
protectorate pseudo fullback
against cruel beastie boys
     bullying barbs

     comeuppance giveback
pummeling spongiform
     gray matter (yours truly)
     fisticuffs she didst highjack

proxy mothering
     kept corporeal essence intact
jilting nefarious nemesis aligned
     (maligning) and stalking,

     this fee-fi-fo-fum
     ordinary bean sized Jack
are runt (arrant) cowardly
     (non lion) nerdy lad owning a knack
courage lack this glum

     older married chap doth adumbrate
     satisfactory accomplishments lack
king, where crazy quilt aimless wandering
     described purposeless multitrack

thus, sympathetic
     to hue men/women nonblack
or decimated aborigines
     once populating Australian outback

existential nihilism would,
     undergirding hypothetical
     unwritten paperback
with little need to prevaricate,
     nor appear as quack

***, one measly **** sapiens,
     who accrued millennial palimpsest zeitgeist
     where, punctured
     disequilibreated psyche dust rack

asper protean (in utero)
     multitudinous setback
soundlessly resonating
     with concussive thwack

as this rickety ship of state
     (a haunted junk ket)
     unwanted emotional ballast to unpack
asseveration, asper assiduously

     preferably welcoming
     dry suction no vac
jar this pawn (knight wannabe
     in his bishop rick) torrid

     me psychological wrack
king within (castle keep)
     complex edifice shackled
     in dungeon with repast constituting.
Donall Dempsey Aug 2017
TRAPPED IN A TEASPOON

the -ing -ing of the bell
trapping him in
the continuous present

an eternal gerund
as if the moment could not be
escaped from

even the sky clouding
the trees( so to speak )
tree-ing

and he
he he he-ing
a prisoner of grammar

his face looking aback at him
from a highly ornate teaspoon
and he himself that distrotion

reality refusing
to boldly go
splitting the infinitive

the -ing -ing of the bell
a present that refused
to pass and become

the what had been
the now fearful of putting a toe
into a future it did not know

the very future that
awaited him
but could never happen

the moment
congealing
about him

trapped forever
in this forever
the spilled wine

staining both
his shirt
and time

the -ing -ing of the bell
the -ing -ing of the bell
the -ing -ing -ing of the bell
Breakdown during a funeral...
Mateuš Conrad Apr 2020
i could almost wish nothing of understanding
the noun: collateral...

         i will not bother with the definition,
although:
  something pledged as security for repayment
of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default...

why bother with the definition...
when you can simply skip the definition and
embroil / invest yourself
with the alt. to a definition...

     a synonym usually helps...
collateral the alt. of:
                   security, guarantee,
  pledge... bond... now that is much simpler...
isn't it?

but then coming across collateral
as... an adjective:
   hell... the grammatical terms...
i hope to simplify them...

noun: name... what something is called:
or put to inquiry / question:
the end of a curiosity...
        adjective: accessory... well...
   let's be flamboyant... once upon a time:
the brothers grimm tall tale of the adnoun...
in addition to:
     a dog... there would be something
beside the tail... hangs... leash...
                the barking and the growling...
in addition: to be attributed to it...
   a higher quality...
                              a woman's attire...
her dress... yes... her shoes... yes...
but a purse? is that... an adnoun of...
a woman's attire? lipstick...
     stockings...
                  we'd need the fundamentally
basic rubric of what constitutes
a woman's attire...
         back to the dog: a mad dog...
frothing at the snout...
                   a picture enchancer: detail = adjective
to tier: the coarse earth...
the tenderness of sky...
                
verb: a bit of a pickle...
   the synonyms are...
             deponent (and a rich history at that...
i always seem to concern myself with
history per se: etymology...
                                and whatever the world
owes someone like genghis khan...
is beside the matter, nor the ticking clock
and the glowing yawn of the universe...
            loquitur: he or she speaks...
                            not exatly loquor)...
           gerund (when a verb can act as a noun...
beside calling the tongue an oyster...
and limiting its capacity to waggle and utter
a speech... talking: but in sign language)...                
   (the) infinitive ( more or less a ditto of gerund)...
             participle....
   now we have something interesting...

an adjective and a noun... is a bit like...
a participle and a verb...
                    a mad dog... that sat all day and
all night... but mostly the nights...
and guarded the burning scribbling
                                   (b-oing-oing)...
              this is most certainly wrong...
                      the burning scribbles of... an ailing
mind that sat and contemplated a candle
come noon...

                        grammar... if it was only so much...
how grammar never enters
into philosophy books...
                       guarded the burning scribbling...
the burning scribble... the yearning scribble of
a burning candle...
i guess a noun can be a name...
but... you try to simplify a verb...
                          apart from the obvious examples:
eating... scheming, breathing... or out and
about in order to merely: walk...
               with that "said":
a noun is a name for - more or less fixed things
in our heads... a crow doesn't, necessarily,
have to croak... or fly... perch on a tree...
         a crow among... fixed things...
             inanimate objects... a candle a chair a bed...
that the chair cannot croak a crow's croak...
is beside the point: a wooden chair can creak!
which is just as well as a croak...
          
         a verb is therefore almost like a noun...
which it is... but it's a name / noun for "concerns"
of an animate dimension...
            a name given to transition periods of...
a beginning and end: and most likely a...
period return and... replica... again, again and again...
perpetuation...
a verb is motion... a noun is stasis...
all in all: it's still a name of a name: for a name...
that something requires naming...

an adverb through: unlike an adnoun (adjective)...
well: a mad dog looks very colourful indeed...
all adnouns are... compared to adverbs...
the accident implied: accidently these words...
          not because i planned to write them...
of that: i am very, sure....
                        the quali-fir...
                                        much ado about... nothing...
          is there a need for a cf. with a quanti-fire?
     there's the accidently:
in the "middle": "somewhere"...
               between... all          and some...
                         none...                                   nein...
- for if i were an english grammar parrot...
   if i learned english via the atypical inorganic route...
from a teacher... with grammar being
an inorganic fossil barge...
                a heap of bones and mountains' groans...
then i could fence with a philologist...
      - but since i, have learned grammar:
thrown into the deep-end... and since i came out
from the english pedagogy system without:
having learned a... centimetre of the worth of dirt
behind my fingernails after an afternoon spent
digging earth in the garden...
                                                of grammar...
it is less a topic of serious inquiry: more...
a triffle... a... curiosity: at best - at best it's a curiosity...
because i will not: parrot grammatical iron maidens
and watch these sentences be:
sentenced to a gramma-tical-zoo!

back to a previous "concern"...
collateral... notably outside of pledge, security etc.
when used...
  in that war-lingo of...
                   'collateral damage'...
     something... inevitable or... something more or less:
necessary?
    a "happenstance": a gamble?
  an oops of how champagne or lysergic acid
were discovered?!
          collateral damage: as a pledge
or as... additional / secondary: not wanted?
leftovers, yes?

       by collateral damage do the canibus bellum:
the dogs of war... say...
which version of collateral?
   and when was the last time two armies
honestly met: in a field...
akin to a chessboard... when was the last time
two armies honestly met:
faced each other:
             and by pawn i am right in supposing:
the infantry rather than: civilian...
unless of course... a pawn in chess is either
a civilian or... the infantry...
            when was the last time...
two armies - honestly met -
     and battled and sowed and reaped -
two crowns: without... collateral?
                 again: is it a guarantee in a "good" /
it's unavoidable... or in a "bad" / it's necessary...
way...

              whaterver this was:
let it just remain as that... an exercise in writing /
chicken scratching.
etchings are probably finer than carvings, i bet the latter are more country based, as in
rural.  wood blocks made from twenty years .
he has done me a service, how to be happy . no need to buy and sell,        we can  look
and enjoy..
the wax came later, as did the currant slice. neither resisted, the cake        one pound
ten pence.
i placed the white paper bag in the village                                                            recycling.
so very nice to me today too late, i have resigned.                                                 my self,
my work is honest.
i have turned it all upside down, and most of the crumbs are gone, with added blowings.
verb
verb: resist; 3rd person present: resists; past tense: resisted; past participle: resisted; gerund or present participle: resisting

    1.
    withstand the action or effect of.
    “antibodies help us to resist infection”

noun
noun: resist; plural noun: resists

    1.
    a resistant substance applied as a coating to protect a surface during a process, for example to prevent dye or glaze adhering.
    “new lithographic techniques require their own special resists”
    sbm.
Addendum to title:
Boyhood Digs in Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426

Oft times forced exposure therapy spelled rustling quiet
Pyrrhic punitive onslaughts noisome moody linkedin kicks
jarring inxs harbored grievances foo fighting essence
denoting cannibalized august boy aghast to confront reality
returning home meant compromising autonomy
acceptable collateral casting leftist strides rite
constituting timid steps circumscribing childhoods’ end,
comprising reluctant trudge treading toward adolescence
where wold wide webbed magic ride
rode ruff shod o’er carped hooked
synthetic threads re: fibrous veld
whence extolled impressive footprints
measured triangular wedges rung duff feet
expediently dragged churlish badinage afoot
stretching across Scottish tartan
Harris Tweed unwelcome matt despite frustrated parents
whose vitriol unleashed tough-love,
smacked regularly quasi planned
threatened ultimatums venomous viz witches
yawping against my brand
falling out of good graces,
though hatching escape merely fanned
actions hightail me to bedroom, a secure space,
not exceptionally grand
yet despite rapacious and relentless rage
against the sole son, who hand
did lee managed inciting wrath
of me papa and late mama,
this parcel of land, now entombs nostalgia
namely 324 level road, Collegeville,
Penna, 19426 make believe pal Joey and this creator
passively succumbed to withstand
invisible jetblue lobbing onslaught of slingshot barbs,
wharf fear to rely on self way past primetime,
which solo endeavor didst demand
absent belief, confidence and faith in innate survival skills,
hence countless admonitions recurred
razed quest qua pursed lips
those who begat their only male heir,
provoking predictable panned
da moan he hum in tandem
with concomitant wickedness akin to eland
caught in cross hairs getting pistol-whipped
with many barking explicit derogatory gerund formed
expletives, that did not dislodge this immobile body electric
defying logic, now in retrospect clueless why I suffered to withstand
incessant verbal, venal, and n’er vampire weakened blows
inexplicable, how this soulful, ruminating,
and tortured walking wounded blithely weathered turpitude  
though devoid of sense and sensibility, how no man iz an island
though at times incontinent, where jocund this bard for’er opened
Pandora’s box, but hindsight softened cleft pride and prejudice
whereat bulldozed site of once grand “Glen Elm” tears me up inside
fading memories refreshed, via priceless gift
from beloved younger sister
unwittingly mitigated hammer blows of pain to confront the void,
whence away from obliterated complex edifice grief felt ******!
Twas accursed destiny
since birth (maybe coded in
deoxyribonucleic acid  
since time immemorial) alas and alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,
one common Joe biden his time
for no particular
rhyme nor reason
revisiting mine days of yore,
when protectiveness courtesy
older sibling come
from behind ruthless counterattack.

All equivocation aside,
she/her thirteen plus months
and twelve days
constituted chronological senior gap
eldest sister struck like diamondback
against bullies who targeted me
as a poor defenseless “scape goat”
surrogate "mother" role
assumed tubby exact
protectorate viz pseudo fullback
against cruel foo fighting beastie boys
hurling black barbs
firing verbal slings and arrows.

Escapist exploits to cope
being brutalized, and traumatized
synonymous when Brian Williams,
(not the newscaster,
but neighborhood school chum,
who shared same namesake)
we imagined ourselves
courageous dauntless explorers
while toying with his beebee gun.

Mein kampf one after another
against relentless barrage of flak
comeuppance effected giveback
pummeling spongiform mine
now sixty plus shades gray matter
fisticuffs sister didst highjack
proxy mated mothering
kept corporeal essence intact
jilting nefarious nemesis aligned
jumpstarting, maligning, and stalking.

This fee-fi-fo-fum
bling ordinary bean sized Jack
err runt (arrant) cowardly
(fee lion) dorky and nerdy lad
owning nada knick knack
paddy whack give my dog a bone
a fide scaredy cat,
he/him an aging baby boomer
older married chap doth adumbrate

satisfactory accomplishments lack
king, where crazy
quilt aimless wandering
described purposeless multitrack
thus, sympathetic, and empathetic
to hue men/women nonblack
or decimated aborigines
once populating Australian outback
existential nihilism would,

undergirding hypothetical
unwritten paperback
with little need to prevaricate,
nor appear as quack
***, one measly **** sapiens,
who accrued millennial
palimpsest gestalt zeitgeist
where, punctured, and zapped
disequilibrium created

psyche dust rack
asper protean (in utero)
multitudinous setback
soundlessly resonating
with concussive thwack
as this rickety ship of state
(never confused as fêted junket)
unwanted emotional ballast to unpack
asseveration, asper assiduously

preferably welcoming
dry suction no vac
jarring this pawn (knight wannabe
in his bishop rick) torrid
me psychological wrack
king within (castle keep)
complex edifice shackled
in dungeon with repast constituting
present day long winded conversations,
where she volubly talk yakety yak.
V L Bennett Jul 2018
I am full up to here
inhabited, possessed
a vessel for imaginary beings
and things that never happened
silent voices whisper in my ear
my eyes dwell on imaginary landscapes
and I cannot rest

All the god-concatenated words
rattle and clatter inside me
they are not mine to control
I can only release them

Nouns skitter across my mind
verbs hunker down
in the shadows in the corners
A strong gerund is prying
open the locked door
My mouth
my fingers move

Spill out that which is inside
being emptied, I am refilled
Honey bees could distill the essence
into neatly stacked pages
I am not so accomplished
Whit dat tight till - say
yes, aye wool thank ewe
mooch at least for today
hoof fully (this Joe kerr)
can easily bide his time weigh
beef **** rammy cows come home.

Meantime India interim
lemme clover - reaching
far out on dam moost precarious limb,
bot do nut inspect me tub bark prim
and proper, nor procrastinate for tim
marrow, cause spontaneous whim

will lose heft, no matter how inane
poetic palaver could by then
elude ding me noggin to explain
nebulous jibber jabber hokey folderol
even confusing to a Great Dane

a dog (of course)
man's/woman's beast friend,
not hounding visa vis discovering
you improperly verb (bait him)
bone a fied with noun (sense)

barking up wrong tree
dangling modifier as gerund
faux paws and inquisitive,
nonetheless countenance do lend
sincere cachet gnome hatter compared

to average superficial **** sapien
said former doggone creature just thru
****** expression can mend
"broken" heart and soul,
which rhyming tangent did send

yours truly off scent, asper initial trend
actually truth be told, no paw tickle har
matter, I sought to sink teeth into,
but let babbling stream of consciousness wend,

where petty full extemporaneous tooting
oh my didgeridoo, which initially scares
the dickens out gills of hooting
blowfish until they recognize

this bloke juiced pooting
air thru a long wooden tube, be yule
then their piousness piqued to pisces,
gather together as if attending school
always mindful to follow

the goldenfish rule
i.e. aldi tom not erring,
floundering, and getting
tricked, royally suckered, and

hooked becoming gruel
resulting within tummy higher
up the feeding chain,
survival of dragnets cruel.

fission expedition for
salmon to hope fillet
enjoys almost done hook,
line and sinker - hooray,
sans to steal mental energy,
and precious time may

king another reason to be
persnickety and every ray
zen to be guarded, when
wading in cyber seas tay
king precautions, once
I return from Uruguay.
Understandable dear reader,
     how this scribe bull lime
me bloke omitted mention of
     one bedroom flat as
reason nigh rote this rhyme

Ma faux pas faw axe pseudo dent lee
home hitting minor specific
     detail, minor crime
asper that subject, sans
     inspection against gritty grime,

and issuing citation
     if ***** sundry safety
     transgressions heron hot in Prime  
tip top order, whence
     (looming appointed date

     management undertakes
     requisite edifice complex inspection
     unwittingly doth find
     mine anxiety increasing ferret time
at Highland Manor
     Apartments twill make
their nada so merry go rounds!)

Dum...dum...dum...dum...DUH -
     anxiety shot thru stratosphere upon
     good news notification aboot
a fortnight from this last
     Friday of August tooth

     house sand date teen,
     rankling the body
     electric sans this "FAKE" ole coot
which panic stricken state
     (as iterated above),

     where quiet listening affected
     (with eyes shut wide)
     Mozart's The Magic Flute
hearing such melodic notes
     while lying sue

     pine versus sitting
     upon me comfort
     ably numb glute
if attuned to said renown composer,
     whose name familiar

     'round the world wide web,
     where his person posthumously
     rings up substantial loot,
yet such rambling moot,
when priority must first

     and foremost doth attend,
asper tidying up
     apartment, cuz inspection
     just around the bend
thus also a prayer would be

     appreciated (by this atheist)
     and/or juiced an email friend
e'en keeping limitation,
     i.e. sharing trained,
     unwavering, vaunted, wishing,

     yearning for zesty gerund
forming relationship to
     the maximum reciprocity,
     thee world wide web doth lend
no...no...no...NOT focused

     on anything greater,
     than heartfelt succor, asper
     tear riff hick
     genuine fantastic Earthling
     my darned cruel blimey

     soc erratic angst to mend,
though married, tis
     resplendent dear people
     scattered far and wide
courtesy of the internet,

     one can ride
upon the information
     super highway with pride
minus prejudice and
     trusty Google as guide,
perhaps...even fostering,
     kickstarting, and ushering
     online groom and/or bartered bride.
Dum...dum...dum...dum...DUH -
     anxiety shot thru stratosphere upon
     good news notification aboot
a fortnight from this last
     Friday of August tooth

     house sand date teen,
     rankling the body
     electric sans this "FAKE" ole coot
which panic stricken state
     (as iterated above),

     where quiet listening affected
     (with eyes shut wide)
     Mozart's The Magic Flute
hearing such melodic notes
     while lying sue

     pine versus sitting
     upon me comfort
     ably numb glute
if attuned to said renown composer,
     whose name familiar

     'round the world wide web,
     where his person posthumously
     rings up substantial loot,
yet such rambling moot,
when priority must first

     and foremost doth attend,
asper tidying up
     apartment, cuz inspection
     just around the bend
thus also a prayer would be

     appreciated (by this atheist)
     and/or juiced an email friend
e'en keeping limitation,
     i.e. sharing trained,
     unwavering, vaunted, wishing,

     yearning for zesty gerund
forming relationship to
     the maximum reciprocity,
     thee world wide web doth lend
no...no...no...NOT focused

     on anything greater,
     than heartfelt succor, asper
     tear riff hick
     genuine fantastic Earthling
     my darned cruel blimey

     soc erratic angst to mend,
though married, tis
     resplendent dear people
     scattered far and wide
courtesy of the internet,

     one can ride
upon the information
     super highway with pride
minus prejudice and
     trusty Google as guide,
perhaps...even fostering,
     kickstarting, and ushering
     online groom and/or bartered bride.

— The End —