Dear Poet Friends, being fond of Art, I wanted to compose on
this topic for a long time in a simplified form! Egyptian Art and
Architecture influenced the Early Greeks, who in turn influenced the Romans and other civilizations! Initially Art and architecture, religion and culture, were all closely inter-related! Real distinction emerged with the Italian Renaissance. Here I have used only a portion of my personal notes. Hope you find this interesting to read! Sorry for the length! Kindly give Comments after you have managed to read the entire portion in your spare time. Thanks, -Raj

INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY
OF WESTERN ART IN VERSE:
          PART ONE
    * BY RAJ NANDY

INTRODUCTION
Art over the centuries has been variously defined,
But an all embracing definition is rather hard to find!
Ayn Rand defined Art as a recreation of reality according to
artist’s values, his view of existence, and choice;
Who recreates by a selective rearrangement of the elements
of reality, and not simply out of a void!
Study of Art History is a study of man’s creative evolution;
A progress of his wakened consciousness, and a restless
striving towards perfection!
The progress of his mind, taste and skill, which has gradually
evolved through past traditions;
Finding ultimate expression in his multi-faceted creations!
I commence this story from its earliest days, and mention those
Ancient Civilizations which influenced Art in many ways.
Art has been greatly influenced by religion, culture and history;
Therefore, knowing these aspects becomes necessary to
fully appreciate this Art Story!

PREHISTORIC STONE AGE ART:
Let us take a ride on the magic carpet of History, down
past millenniums to begin our Art Story;
Right into the ancient Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
Eras of the Stone Age,
When early humans left their creative imprints on rock
surfaces and on walls of caves!
Long before the evolution of any proper coherent speech
or communication,
In some 350 caves of France and Spain are seen paintings
of large wild animals like horses, antelopes and bison;
Bearing witness to the story of gradual human evolution!
The cave paintings of Chauvet, Cosquer, and Lascaux, date
between 8000 and 1700 BC,
Drawn by nameless and faceless people who emerged from
an inhospitable Ice Age;
Those nomadic tribes who were hunter-gatherers living in
pre-historic caves!
The Story of Art therefore begins before recorded History,
Pieced together by scholars with the help of science and
archeology!
During the Neolithic Period beginning around 8,000BC,
Ancient man became gradually sedentary, engaging in
agriculture and animal husbandry!
With these nomads settling down in small communities,
Art became mystical and monumental in range;
As seen in the megalithic (large stone) structures of the
famous Stonehenge!
This type of post and lintel structure is also found in ancient
Egyptian architecture, and later in Greece as its special
feature!
Art History spans the entire history of mankind,
Right from the pre-historic days, up to our modern times!
Man’s everlasting quest for immortality lies etched on
rocks and raised stone edifices, defying marauding Time!

MESOPOTAMIAN ART (3500-300BC) :
Let us now travel fast forward on our magic carpet to reach
the Fertile Crescent,
Where the Tigress and the Euphrates Rivers flow, to the
Ancient Civilization of the Sumerians! (3500-2300BC)
The birth of civilization has been traced to Southern
Mesopotamia, where the Sumerians built their first cities,
As the earliest River Valley Civilization around 3500 BC!
It was a period when writing got invented in its earliest
Cuneiform form;  (around 3400 BC)
When Patriarch Abraham established the worship of a Single
God, in a revolutionary religious reform! (Judaism)
Mesopotamian Civilization as the source of our earliest
surviving Art dates back to 3500BC;
When major civilizations like the Sumerian, Akkadian,
Babylonian, Hitties, Assyrian, and the Persians, in this
chronological sequence, contributed to Art History!
Mesopotamian Art in general glorified their powerful rulers
and their connection with divinity;
Reflected on their city gates, palace complexes and ziggurats,
are scenes of both victorious wars and their prosperity!
Art was then highly functional and repetitive; depicting
love of beauty, a sense of order, and power of hierarchy,
- in their sculptures and motifs.
However, no signatures were ever found bearing the name
of the Artist!
It is interesting to note that both the potter’s wheel and the
cart wheel, made their first appearance around 3500 BC
and 3200 BC respectively;
With the Sumerians contributing to art and culture, and the
progress of Human Civilization immensely!
(Ziggurats are semi-pyramid like structures with steps, a temple complex located in the center of all ancient Sumerian cities-states! Saragon the Great of Akkad from the North, defeated the Sumerians in the South, & united entire Mesopotamia around 2300 BC, for the first time in Mesopotamian History, & they ruled for 200 years.)

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART :(3000 BC -500BC)
Next we travel to an isolated area of north-east Africa,
Where the White Nile flows down from Lake Victoria.
The Nile enters Upper Egypt traveling through Sudan,
Is joined by the Blue Nile at Khartoum to become one!
Continues its flow north through Egypt Lower, flowing
into the Mediterranean as the World’s longest river!
Historian Herodotus had called Egypt ‘the gift of the Nile’;
Ancient Egypt became a rich treasure trove of art and
architecture for all times!
The Nile valley area was protected by the desert on its
east and the west;
In the north by the Mediterranean, and towards the
south by a rugged mountainous terrain!
Annual flooding of the Nile along with an effective
irrigational network,
Ensured Egypt’s prosperous stability, congenial for her
many innovative architectures and art works!
Egyptian Art got shaped by her geography, mythology
and her polytheistic religion;
Also by their preoccupation with after-life and belief in  
the immortal soul’s continuation;
Thus elaborate funeral rites were performed by priests for  
the body’s preservation by mummification! *
(’KA’= was a real astral twin or stellar double of an Individual, which continued to exist even after death, requiring the same sustenance as the humans, so food offerings were made in the coffins! ‘BA’= shaped like a human-headed bird, composed of non-physical attributes of an Individual. ‘BA’ collected the deceased’s personality after death from the mummified remains & united it with the ‘KA’, making a person complete; thereby making it possible for the person to be reborn as ‘AKH’ (Star), - in its ultimate unchanging form, to join Osiris in the ‘Happy Fields’! Since this journey to the next world was fraught with danger, magical funerary spells & rites were performed by the priests, with incantations from the ‘Book of the Dead’, inside the funeral chamber of the Pyramid!)

Art During Old, Middle, and New Kingdom Period:
Egyptian Art was concerned with ensuring continuity of the
universe, their Gods, the King and the people;
A projection into eternity a version of reality pure and free
from all earthly evil!
Therefore in ancient Egyptian society, conformity over
individuality was always encouraged;
Artists worked in groups with conservative adherence to
rules, order and form,
And all individual artistic initiatives strictly discouraged !
Their earliest pyramids the Mastaba, the Step, and the Bent
Pyramids were all prototypes;
While the Great Pyramid of Giza built for Pharaoh Kufu,
- was the first true pyramid which still survives!
Art comes down to us as ‘funerary art’ designed for the tombs,
Which was to accompany the royalty in their journey to an
afterlife, with its symbolic forms!
This symbolism is seen in their paintings, statues and architecture;
In vibrant color codes of their paintings as a special feature!
Where White was the symbol of purity, Black for death and night;
Green for vegetation or new life, Blue for water and the sky;
Red for life and victory, and Yellow like Gold as the flesh of the
Gods and also the Sun God ruling the sky!
Thanks to Jean-Francois Champollion’s translation of the Rosetta
Stone, (1822)
We are able to decipher many mysteries of the Ancient Egyptian
with the cracking of the Hieroglyphic Code!
Larger than life statues with poise and austere harmony at the
Luxor Temple complex survive;
Symbolic of the individual’s status, while creating zones of
strangeness for imagination to thrive!
(’Matsaba’= Egyptian for ‘bench’, referred to bench shaped pyramids;
“Step Pyramids” = were like benches placed one on top of the other in
a tapering form going up vertically!)

The Old Kingdom Period covers a five hundred years span
of Ancient Egyptian History, (2686-2181BC)
Known as the ‘Age of Pyramids’, with Pharaohs from the
Third to the Sixth Dynasty!
“The World fear Time, but Time fears only the Pyramids”,
- is an Ancient Egyptian Proverb;
Whose ‘heterogeneous structure’ made it earthquake
proof, making Time to reluctantly serve! #
Here we find formalized figures with long slender bodies,
idealized proportions and large staring eyes;
Where Kufu’s Great Pyramid of Giza raises its mighty head
as the highest, on the west bank of the Nile;
And the mighty Sphinx guard the entrance to those ancient
royal tombs, though defaced, still survive!
These pyramids were like Pharaoh’s getaways to eternity,
An insurance to an afterlife of peace and prosperity!
(# Pyramids with stone blocks of different sizes & shapes made them
Earthquake resistant; & use of pink granite in the inner chambers
made them erosion resistant against Time!)

The Middle Kingdom Period (2040-1650 BC) :
Following 150 years of civil disorder Theban ruler Mentuhotep
the Second, reunified Egypt and ruled up to Nubia, (Sudan)
And began the Classical Era when Block Statues appear,
indicating political stability;
When artisans worked with bronze and copper alloys, designing
exquisite jewelry!
Kings now preferred to be buried in secret tombs, Pyramids
having lost their appeal,
And work began on the west bank of the Nile, in the Valley of
Kings!
(Inside those rock cut ‘funerary temples’ on the East bank of the
Nile, opposite Ancient Kingdom of Thebes ; Pharaohs from the
Early and Late New Kingdom Periods were buried, including
Tutemkhamen.)

Early New Kingdom Period (1550 -1295 BC):
Between the Middle Kingdom and this Era, Art remained
static for almost a hundred years,
When the Hyksos from the Near East fought the weak Theban
Rulers!
In 1550 BC Theban Prince Ahmose reunited Egypt, and was
succeeded by able rulers, who ushered in the Golden Age!
Art works continued to maintain its basic traditional style,
With successive Kings from the 18th Dynasty consolidating
their kingdom’s wealth and power all the while!
But Egypt witnessed a change with an innovative style in Art,
When Amenhotep IV in 1353 BC became King, initiating a
fresh start!
This king changed his name to ‘Akhenaten’, the spirit of Aten,
-- ‘The disk of the Sun’;
Abandoned the pantheons of Gods with Aten as the ‘sole God’,
and a religious revolution had begun!
His new capital city of Amarna, 200 miles north of Thebes,
Got decorated with a new kind of art work to make it complete!
The statues now appear more realistic displaying emotions,
With fluidity of movement, unlike those rigid earlier creations!
The artistic talent of this Amarna Period gets best exemplified,
In the exquisite bust of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s Great Royal Wife!
Regarded as ‘icon of international beauty’, a great archeological
find ! **
(Discovered by a German team of Archeologists in 1912 at Amarna! This 19 inch long limestone Nefertiti statue weighs around 20 kg, now housed in Berlin Museum; comparable only to the artistic Golden Mask of Tutankhamen!)

King Tutankhamen (1336-1327 BC):
Akhenaten’s unpopular rule was short-lived, with those humiliated
Theban priests calling him the ‘Heretic King’!
A nine year old boy Tutankhamen (‘The living image of Amun’),
was next to succeed him!
King Tut restored the worship of Amun, in a back-lash against
Akhenaten;
Shifted the royal palace back to Thebes, with the religious center
at Karnak once again!
King Tut’s short ten year’s rule remained buried in 3000 year’s
of Egyptian History,
Till Howard Carter found his richly laden intact tomb, in the
Valley of the Kings! (1922)
King Tut’s priceless and exquisitely carved golden face mask,
reflected the exalted standard of art work;
Weighing ten kilos, inlaid with semi-precious stones, and eyes
made of obsidian and quarts!
With the King’s early death, the 18th Dynasty of Pharaohs came
to an abrupt end,
And the 19th and 20th Dynasties of the Late Kingdom Period
commenced!
The famous rock temple of Abu Simbel now got built, under the
warrior and builder Ramses II, one of Egypt’s greatest Kings!


Pharaoh Ramses-II of the Late Kingdom Period :
Here I sweep across centuries of Egyptian History, to mention
King Ramses-II’s contribution to our Art Story!
In Shelly’s famous poem titled “Ozymandias of Egypt” he is
immortalized; (Greeks called Ramses-II “Ozymandias”!)
And as the Pharaoh associated with Moses in the movie “The
Ten Commandments”, he is popularized!
Egyptian Art is intrinsically bound with its religion, pyramids,
hieroglyphs, and architecture;
With a concentrated focus on ‘afterlife’ as its special feature!
In 1270 BC young Ramses took over from Seti the First,
And his rule for a period of 66 long years did last!
As the third Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, he had ruled with a
firm hand;
Recovered lost territories from the Hittites and the Nubians,
- earlier captured Egyptian lands!
He enlarged the territories of Egypt ensuring prosperity and
stability;
Became renowned as the famous Warrior and Builder King
of Ancient Egyptian History!
Ramses-II had expanded most of the temples, as recorded in
the artistic motifs and hieroglyphic symbols;
Here a special mention must be made of the Temples of Luxor,
Karnak, and Abu Simbel !

Temples of Luxor and Karnak in Ancient Thebes:
Ancient Thebes was located on the eastern bank of the Nile,
where the modern City of Luxor stands;
Thebes was once the capital of the 11th and 18th Dynasties,
And the power and religious center of all Egyptian land!
Gets mentioned in the 9th Book of Homer’s ‘Iliad’ where “heaps
of precious ingots gleam, the hundred-gated Thebes”!
Excavation work began in Thebes during the late 19th century;
And the gradual unearthing of the Temples of Luxor and
Karnak, added a new dimension to Egypt’s Art Story!
It must be remembered always, that the Ancient Egyptians in
those early days,
Structured their temple architecture to the point of ‘Sacred Art’!
With their knowledge of astronomy and geometry, they
aligned their temples so perfectly,
That the light of the rising sun fell on the temple’s innermost
sanctuary! (Temple of Abu Simbel is a great example,)
Where the Egyptian priests, who were also the artists, healers,
mathematicians, astronomers and scribes;
In dimly lit incense-filled sanctuaries performed the sacred rites!
The temples symbolized the cross roads of the cosmos, where
the divine and the mortal met in perpetual harmony!
These divine scenes were integrated into the very fabric of the
Egyptian society through chants and rituals;
With cosmological symbols of magical hieroglyphs, which
priests alone could transcribe in those days!
(Thebes began to decline rapidly after Alexander the Great
established the port-city of Alexandria as Egypt’s new Capital
around 332 BC !)

Luxor Temple built by Amenhotep-III, was dedicated to God
Amun, his wife Mut and son Khonsu, - the Theban Triad;
Tutankhamen and Ramses-II expanding the temple during the
New Kingdom Period!
Creator God Amun became assimilated with the Sun God Re;
Was worshipped in Thebes, and in the cult centers of Luxor and
Karnak, - as Amun-Re!
The walls and columns of these cult temples were decorated
with carved and painted relief,
Depicting the interaction with Gods, and military exploits of
Egyptian Pharaohs and Kings!
The sun temple of Amenhotep-III at Luxor has many columns
resembling papyrus bundles,
Symbolic of the primeval marsh from where Creation was
believed to have unfolded !
A Sphinx Alley excavated between Luxor an

And it was one such day In autumn red

Your pretty face and my heart Pretty Bad

Before the morning I had this dream

“we walking on the city broad way

And you promise you gonna be holding together

And I thought lets stay  and it’s the best we both stay”



Taken down by the grace you had gifted

Surreal ,mystic without mistakes

We are alone just you and me

Air so magical I breathe

Piercing the silence are the echoes

Of Chandelier Ceiling  and pearls that twinkles

But its not gonna be that easy



We both sitting by side of window

Look the mountains the birds and night Sky

Those meant to be my Treasure because I have You

I have You…………I have You

And I Wish could Say to you

I love You ..Yeah I almost do..

-.A GIRLkeeps her password on her cellphone, while a WOMAN is confident enough to say “darling can you answer that for me?”!! -.A GIRL has pride after arguments, a WOMAN has heart & emotions. -.A GIRL tells her man all the things he does wrong, a WOMAN acknowledges her man’s hardwork!! -.A GIRL run on the streets & chill with her friends, while a WOMAN enjoys time with her man planning ahead for their future!! -.A GIRL exchange words with her man, a WOMAN keeps quite & listen to her man. -.A GIRL complains about spending too much time with her man, a WOMAN plans vacations & getaways because she is wise enough to notice tomorrow isn’t promised!! -.A GIRL tells her man he is cute, & a WOMAN tells her man he is handsome. -.A GIRL takes her man to the house, & a WOMAN takes her man home. -.A GIRL tells the whole world her heart is broken, & a WOMAN keeps her life in line, with tears in her eyes she still manages to say nah! I am fine. -.A GIRL will read this & think this is about her, & a WOMAN will read this & thoroughly acknowledge what she needs to fix in her relationship

Abandoned Love!
I thought our love was more than material things;
the fun times we had, laughing at each other silly jokes.
Sending you messages every three hours everyday!
I prayed for our love to last every minute of each day.
Finding excuses to be in each other’s presence;
The long hours on the phone,
the sneaky getaways on Saturdays to the movies
Our rebellious but clean acts!
I thought every ounce of it was real!
But then it happened!
Insecurities kicked in!

The want for material things took precedence over the love I had for you!
Through trying times, you had no remorse!
The skeleton exposed his dry bones!
The heart I thought was sacred, was just old wood waiting for a fire to catch!
Your heart turned to coals!
And your reflection on love was dark as evil!
Can't believe I placed my trust in the hands of the joker
And not the King!

I ask myself " What does it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul?"
The lost of loved ones and eternal life!
How could the lifeless have preference over the living!
That shows you are another heartless being.
'Greater love has no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends'
And I neglect this unfailing love!
For a bag of dry bones!
I took his love for granted; the Creator, the Father, the true lover of our souls for flesh!
I guess my playing small serves me right!
But his greatness made me new!
*Afroray

rainy days and getaways
I wish that I could've stayed
my heart is with you anyways

gloomy minds and darker times
like leaving you was such a crime
and now youre most of my life

shedding tears, bigger fears
of you never being here
because the future's hardly clear

faking smiles, wet floor tiles
thinking of our travelled miles
but our memories are neatly filed

wetter days and short getaways
wishing that we could have stayed
but my heart is with you anyways.

I miss the open highway
I’m besotted with quick getaways.
What other sensation can compare
to pulling G’s with wind-whipped hair?

When my foot’s on the throttle,
I feel unstoppable.
Faster, faster, no faster,
that’s the rush I’m after.

Where are we going?
There’s just no knowing,
and no matter where we roam,
the GPS will get us home.

One thing was guaranteed,
the speed limit would be exceeded.
I adored the wide open straightaways
and the feeling of a racing-day at Marseilles.

I remember in the Appalachian mountains
the plunging, snake-like, winding canyons
as the speedometer edged past ninety
how my escort, Charles, would glare at me.

I’d let off - a little - and laugh, I mean,
isn’t freedom the American dream?
To hear the growl of a V8 motor,
as it turns rural-roads into roller coasters.

We’ve been through so much together
We’ve witnessed history together
We saw the first moon landing
We saw the Vietnam War on TV
We protested the war in Washington, DC

Our lives have been spent with each other
Our long walks on the beach
Our romantic candlelight dinner
Our cruise vacation together
Our romantic getaways to the Caribbean

I told you when I met you
That I love you will all m heart
I told you that I want to be with you
Forever and I want to grow old with you
I told you that you complete me

When I look into your eyes
I see a world of possibilities
And a world of happiness and love
When I hug you my worries go away
When I kiss you I share my love with you

I know what we’re not perfect
I know we had fights
I know we wanted to **** each other
But in the end we came back to each other
Because I love you and I know you do too

I want to grow old with you
As our children have children
And as the world changes for the better
I want to keep on looking in those eyes
And I want to love you long time

I want to love you long time

I Am Very Refugee
We protest and communicate
We back off and disingenuously disjoint
“You have potential.”
He says as he smokes a joint.
“Where has that revolutionary spirit gone today?” It is victim to my apprehensions
I must suppress them.
I must suppress my apprehensions
And the electrifying feeling of anger surging up from my stomach; but never out
My anger is a fiery, vivified ball of red and black electricity surging,
Heaving,
Every bone and nerve ending coming close, to stumbling,
Burning out in the intoxicated hope of it all, but never touching
And the trippy glow, the burning fireworks climaxing perpetually never ends,
it is subdued without the chemical element to release my apprehensions, the doubting gone.
The wheels must turn; the machine keeps turning
Does it matter? NO!

The policeman looks at me and says: ‘’a ******* refugee. You don’t get to be angry at your host.”
It hit me.
I see activists
Typing , gathering, yelling,
Barely smiling,
Privileged

While excluding me, of course.

I wanted to scream:
Please consider me another fixture of your time here
I am the battle every day. I die every day.
I am searching for words to describe how you, citizens of the land, reject me
Much like the letters I will receive from the journals I send this to,
I want the marching, the marching,
walking in everyday and touching my feet in my black secondhand fake leather shoes
I want to march in and step in and feel the constraint of my blue ID
Telling me that this land isn’t mine
“How will you change your life, Islam?”
I ask  myself how am I spending my time?
rushing
fleeting
drinking
contemplating suicide
paranoid,

I am tired, scared, weak, flawed, human, a desperate refugee intertwined with the poor hopes and regulations of humanity, and I am dying,
You are dying!
I will die soon,
Go ahead! Smoke your oxycodone pills,
you are dead, you are dead, you are dead! You are all dead!
My father killed himself because of me and so I will blame the system.
You are dead, from the moment you confine yourself to the poor reality that there are just too many of us and that nothing will change!
So yes I will leave the protest.
I will sit within your dreary cubicles walls stained with the fabrics that I horrifically glance at, sneaking, beating the freedom,
Embracing constraints of social and financial necessity.

I
run, run, run, run,
screaming madly about our dissatisfaction and our satisfaction?

my anger is dulled;
nullified intricacy, blazing, twisting and winding its' way down my heart,
to the frayed edges of my perceptions, drowsing off into the last fixtures of the solidified realm
in which  I find myself; and eventually.

Can I  say something?

I am a refugee. I am so refugee, refugee, refugee, refugee.
The vast expanse of illusory getaways are the only thing for me.
There's nothing else but to escape this vast and dreary landscape of perpetual minutia, to escape my insanity.
Time stretches on and on, I am very tired.
Palestine still occupied.
Yes I’m screaming, screaming, till there is no me, and my voice will not reach you

I will never reach to you. I will never touch you, hold you, love you, I will never have the opportunity to feel the electric race of mindless sensation make right the ticking

A white friend asked me on twitter
“What’s  it like to be a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon?”
It means that you cannot do anything but carry on pathetically, with a drastic furthering of lust and selfishness, into your devotion. Psychopathy is more common than you'd think.

I want more to talk to you but there is reality, and the sea is not green
It is red.

The beach is cold and the sand sifts beneath your wait, it is tan.

Dear,
We are all comrades when it is our rights for which we ask. We are all comrades when it is basic rights for which we ask.

I don’t know if my words make sense because honestly they shouldn’t.

I am manic. I am loose. I am dangerous. I am high.
And I am terrified.

I miss having you around to say the little things you would say to me, to make it ok. Sweet little lies, perhaps. Perhaps not.

I miss your eyes, with that twinkle inside, with the exclamation points after them, with those crinkles on the edges, especially when you are all vulnerable and cuddly. Funny the weird details that come back up in your memories.

I miss interrupting and correcting you, in the rudest way possible.

I miss you correcting me and then I will pout and give you the saddest eyes and make you laugh at my childishness.

I miss how you looked and pointed at me 2 inches from my face on the bed, and declared, “i LIKE you”.

I miss watching Californication with you, propped up on pillows.

I miss eating junk food and beer while we watch cool youtube videos in the evenings or the mornings.

Or cracking up to a comedy skit.

Sitting with wine at 4am wolfing down tortilla chips, turning over existential ideas in our minds.

I miss you soaping my body in the shower and I miss soaping yours and I miss you making love to me everywhere we did.

On the counter In the closet Against the door On the couch In the shower On the toilet seat down On a mountain downhill Against trees in the forest In your childhood bedroom On the beach In a tent On a log bridge over a brook In the center of a woods clearing

I wanted you to Take me

everywhere.

I miss the forced cigarettes in the cold winter air, or the muggy summer

I miss our trips through this grubby city, trudging through autumn leaves and stopping in clothing stores and markets and city squares, staring at musicians and artists with admiration and jealousy, and bakeries to get your pastry fix and buying hats,pretending we’d last til the winter.

I miss our secret getaways and gossip sessions.

I miss painting and bleeding and dancing and crying and smoking and drinking and singing karaoke and slobbering and running and stopping and stalling and slumping and getting lost.

I miss fantasizing of alternative realities and cities undiscovered. I miss your wisdom-filled advise given to me, and my childlike prudity you brought out of me.

I miss shoving you playfully and skipping down a road together. I miss the smell of Doves men’s soap on your skin and the bristle of your chest hair- the just the right amount of – against mine, smooth.

It was a spectacular Love affair, one for the records for sure. How i miss playing with you>>> How i wish we can play All the time, and keep it quiet so that Reality cant hear us, wild and reckeless, and I’ll grow up on the side of all of it, and you too, if you can, But all the while leaving me behind with you in our eternal playroom, making love in all the ways we did…

One little Two little Three little Indians….

Don't get me wrong
I love the Bachelor
and the Bachelorette

The getaways
The fun dates
the good looking people

But is it that's what's wrong with dating today?

Instead of worthiness
We're in it for the pic
what looks best on instagram
while inside we yearn for contentedness

But restlessness is what we're given
got to keep up with the joneses
we're afraid to let ourselves feel
for people based on status

Is it a twilight zone scene
can't be because it's around
from the beginning
ancient royals doing the same
but now we're in a modern aristocracy

So I'll turn off the Bachelorette tonight
I don't need fancy
I need supportive
and sweet
In it for the long haul
and loves me wholly
Miss me with the fake love
and give me the real

Didn't learn much from school

but for a poker-face, how

not to **** in his trousers

and the surpassing value of quick getaways


'Twas losing that did the trick

especially that business of losing in love

I van detestable, desirous of love but

minus mandatory leveragables


Ends up instead, in a specimen jar

at his local sleep lab, filed under

'Good for REM Experiments'

and HAARPs started playing at night


Couldn't keep up with gollums

pimps or clockwork candymen

dispensing their oranger shade of pale

so he called up the creator of love


Himself ..... got the real deal

Seems the goodly church retailers

excommunicated him, for knowing too much

So, finally, he decides, to read and write

I see you from afar
Twinkling brightly like a star,
As your face lights up
Not from the coffee in your cup,
I can hear the pitter patter of your heart
Faster and faster from the start,
As your eyes lock
Tick tock,
Time stands still
Wonder how long till,
You're both in each other's arms
Exchanging kisses like collector's charms,
This sweet embrace
Who would have suspected this the case?
Two lover's hearts entwined
Love's response in kind,
No one the wiser to your wit
Practiced getaways like the perfect skit,
Each day the feeling growing strong
Learning each other like the words to your favorite song,
And soon I hope the perfect culmination
Will arrive to this incantation,
Live for each moment in this dreamy existence
As you live for each other without pretense...
© okpoet

I can’t remember exactly where or how it started off but i found myself on a beach that was coast to a massive ocean, perhaps the Atlantic . I was with clare and some other people I didn’t know, but it felt like I did know them. We were all running away from someone who was particularly dangerous to us for some reason. I think there was a bar or club we ran out of to get away that was also on the beach shoreline. It was a cloudy day and we all ran into the water. I had no idea how we’d escape when suddenly there was a silver Volkswagen bug car just floating there stationed in the shallow water waiting for us. It had no wheels, just floated there like a boat, and there was no top on the car so it was like a convertible . We all jumped into the car in great haste and I asked, “how are we gonna drive this thing?!” (as it was, after all, a car in an ocean). Clare said “we just start it.” She turned the key to the ignition and it rumbled to life just as a normal car would, and to drive it we just used the gas pedal and steering wheel to drive it full speed across the waters surface. It drove very smoothly without faltering. We needed to make it very far away, like sail from wherever we were to a country in Europe, like France. So I then fell asleep for days on end in the car so I wouldn’t have to be waiting for us to reach land. Once I woke up it was sunny and we were in a country that resembled Florida. We got off the car and left it floating in the water and went into an old abandoned house to pack up things for our next voyage. It was old inside the house with wooden plank walls where the sun shone through it’s cracks into the room. There we met up with several others who were making getaways just like us all across the continent, we were all trying to escape something but just didn’t know what. We were all very tanned and very *****, we were covered with ruddy sand and dirt and our skin was bronze like we’d spent days out in a desert. I really missed my parents as they were unaware of me leaving so I wrote them an imaginary letter in my head hoping they’d somehow read it that way, and would understand where I was and why I was leaving. I was worried sick about them for some reason. then everyone left our cottage to board the car boat and I was left back because I was having trouble deciding what coloured flip flops I wanted to pack in my bag . Simona was yelling at me to hurry up and I was looking at red, blue black and brown flipflops all mismatched under a table. I grabbed the brown ones and took off. We somehow made it across more bodies of water and under seaside cliffs, hills and mountains as we sought a place of refuge from this thing we were running from in our starting land. Then we made it on land and found a house in a city, and inside the house resembled my uncles’ house in Tecumseh. We all went into the basement where FUD was having band practise but they had no instruments and were just talking to people. Terry was bidding goodbye to a slutty gf who couldn’t keep her jeans on without showing her crack to the whole house. I fell asleep on a couch in the basement on a really comfy pillow. I awoke and everyone was leaving and Tyler was running around the basement making bad jokes. This time my mom was in the basement and she was either wanting to come along on our escape or begging me to stop going anywhere. I felt really awful about it but I can’t remember if she came with us or not. Suddenly we were all gone from the house and I was climbing an immense system of buildings and steel planks they use to build things in big cities. If i fell i would surely plummet to my death, but i was climbing so agile and nimbly and fast it was not a concern to me at all. It was dusk and the sunset was painting dark blue and reds and pinks and yellows across the sky. I was climbing 500 feet up in the air and behind me was jasmine from Aladdin. We were chasing this Asian man from the Disney movie mulan, he was the secretary character, with a long moustache and kimono outfit. He was really evil to us I guess. He eventually reached a big peak in the building system and was laughing at us below when a huge metal cross was being lifted up and down and delivering a crushing bang to the exact position he was sitting on. He couldn’t go anywhere as the end of the structured thing hit his legs, then missed, then hit his toe, and finally crushed him and he fell all the way down to his death. I was awestruck and still hanging 500ft in the air on this skeleton of a building and the sun was setting, and then I woke up with this so vivid in my head I had to write it down cause it was so real to me.

Tricky and sticky
hard to get out of
but easy to get ****** in

how do I tell the difference
are you love?

you are empty promises
you are the relationship with no labels
you are the late night getaways
the text messages I hide away

you are the heartbreak
you are what makes my knees shake
you make me tuck my morals away

as I dance among your lips
I feel the grip on my hip
my wrist held down tight
I blossom into the queen
of the night

Can't you see my body tremble?
Finding pleasure there
Finding love there
And my body
My heart remembers..
As I wait thirsty

Hungry for the next time
hungry for you

This is not love,
this is not what its like
this is not what I longed for every night
it's a trick but it feels right


It's a trick, right?

I thought after I had my own place,
I'd finally have girls in my bed,
the kind that read in coffee shops.

But after too many failed apartment getaways
and 2,346 miles of stories
that could brim a hundred journals,
I'm in my old room
with the same songs and
the same parents, with
the same questions
about the same girlfriends who
have new boyfriends
with new cars,
more money,
more testosterone.

But they won’t walk out of a job
with both middle fingers in the air,
towards the road.
It won’t even enter their minds.

You knew all of me during those rooftop getaways
Grasping hands we'd make haste for our Twilight Escape
Speckled leaves brushed our feet ascending luminescent latice
Night's warm caress nestled us near the edge of release
Nothing could heed our desire for the freedom that were we
Transported over quagmires where our souls could finally see

As broken as I am
Turning every situation left
As if love has left
And I’m trying to love yet
My heart is Harden
The possibilities of it being played with is endless
My mind says
So delicate my heart
Be gentle with my heart
I ask of you to kiss my mind
With your eyes and let your lips
Sync to the melodic getaways
Let it play out
Until the seasons repeat
Let it play out
Until forever more
That I want to give it to you
but I’m sensitive to every situation
Dealt with it all in the past
Not wanting to come across another project
Trying to piece my heart together
Simultaneously finding myself
Wondering
Why I could never get anything right
Look at the waves how wild they can become
Yet so soft sometimes
Underneath lies a larges amount of nothing more
But it depends how you look at it
There is free Hillary written all over my canvas
The pen ran dry
The words remain the same with vivid details
Safe me
Reflected on her eyes
My own eyes
Your voice calms the wild
Throughout the storms
So soft spoken you are
So driven with your art
So multi talented *** you
I’ll let you tell it
Synced in with the melodic getaways
The energy so fire yet water nor anything can put it out

Goes to the cemetery to see his father, sitting on long solar gloomy. From a snowy mountain peak bravely he attaches to his return, his spirit, part of the sleeping immaterial life; My daughter resting under his feet, returning to his waking body, from her home. This sees abandoned, comes directly addressing the courtyard, there is a tendency and sleeps the days he was not.
Miriam ...(In the dream) ... "Father yet I have you gone, sometimes you hear me come at night, slept more I thought you were not and you just saw it with my neighbors put your white shroud for your rest...
She Turns, kisses the earth and see the tower, climb the steep rocks without spilling any of his ancestors, in the cold stones seemed to portray their faces doubt. Heavy rocks taken from Migdal, from their own ancestors, as if each stone should appear the illusion of taking the petrified intra bodies. Reaches the top, and a gale brought Galilee praise in his voice came. Then interrupted a manly voice ... "From here started the silent sound that opened my ears to want your divine fire, as they came from Galilee, went to fetch a big challenge to Palmahim ... astral and spoke Jofat dominated by the silhouette of Miriam "
And the a woman of Magdala returned where his family, with his tower that never stopped jealous of her, because it was so high ... that everywhere is watching him... and thus the mayor twin towers built to accompany her and Jamal gave him work to generate music and accompany him in his last days with the burning heat on his forehead. Provided, Miriam take charge of covering the children with high structure, similar in nobility Miriam attentions.
Since then, would come as a faithful Jofat sent to tell what made this high tower in his heart, as if the glowing words premonition glad to Miriam. To Migdal Jofat had traveled with a caravaner, a week after Miriam left.

      Then arrived was found that was prey to night, from home to tavern and from there to the tower, where he went with his black veil, to comment to family getaways immolated in the Babylonian regime. I was telling her trapped perennial faults and virtues.
and this way Jofat tells us of his life, and that Palmahim saw her back by a circular faces that invite to help those in need.
Jofat...: What faces ... they ask me anything and not to do them living in your back ...!

Sherom and Moshe speak very distressed ... Sherom finally ends.  Sherom..: Jofat lived twenty years in Magdala Miriam beside the washing their hands as they that day at sea. She sheared his sheep and shepherding their flocks. Until one day came to the villa at night and found a body that assembled at the edge of the tower; He said fear approaching her name and sheep surrounding his body, knelt and prayed Jofat in silent, then climbed to the top floor and shouted to the wind ... "Wind will not see ... for once ... bring it." Jofat germinate saw her pale face in the sky and then disappeared falling to the mortuary ritual. To next day, the funeral fell into the strong blows striated by the Sirocco, right next to the red earth, in the rest of Afad.
    
Jofat fathered two children, one named Saul him and she Magdalena, some vicissitude by the people they lived. Jofat for many years lived in Magdala and her children went up to the lofty figure in spring to see her mother's face ... Miriam, coming down the Palmahim beach with a stick in his hand and a brown dress. Jofat behind them, saw the whole family of Migdal  live ...

Moshe and Sherom  embraced the gentleman outlaw who treated them kindly and paid them generously. The after going to their chores, returned where the Canaanites and told them he was called Hurián, son of the brother of Afad. Moments later, the colorful sky Inked his walk to the house of her father's brother. He came and saw Jofat, Magdalena and desserts Saul dined later prayed and asked the Lord, so that nothing is missing them and had a good year.

Hurian greets and sits silently beside him. Jofat takes the tools; Saul his staff for sheep and Magdalena stays at home to knead and milked the cows.  Hurian thought of taking his horse from Jordan to restart it left but a warm sea air caressed her face, staring putting their eyes on the tower.
Hurian ...: Jofat I stay ...!
Jofat approaches him and hugs him tightly, so does Saul leaving the cane. Magdalena in the window, smiled thanking above the illuminated tower.

" Although many centuries later Migdal was taken by Pompey in 63 b.C. and became a Roman province, never razed the supernatural Migdal’s  Twin Towers. Sand that a centurion and his military company entered the Migdal trying to desecrate the ancient tower; rich in precious metal objects, but jumped reddish sand in their faces. In addition, it is darkening leaving an asphyxiating atmosphere.

Few has lived with reddish sand ... Afad, which like a giant ant hills between excavates the desert mountains, throwing sand to the whimpering tower to hide her tears. So Sirocco ally with the early rain of blood, bathe the Roman heritage and sanctify the true legacy ... the soldiers and builders Migdal ...as well as The Kalebi...!.

it was like you were the drug and i was the addict
every second without you i was itching for more
for your hands on my skin, lips on my lips
our secret getaways behind an always closed door
you said i was yours, and that you really cared
your lips washed away every doubt i ever had
feeling your hand on my bare skin
made my mind hazy, but it was never bad
heated hours and whispers in my ear
sneaking kisses during class, i was your secret
holding hands when no one was watching
i really loved you, but i was your pet

I never really meant anything to you
Just a show-piece that you'd show off to your friends
So i guess i was fool all along to actually love you
All those promises you made were nothing more than an illusion
You just played me all along
Tell me…did u never ever have feelings for me?...
….not even for a single moment?
How easy it is for you to play with someone’s heart…
…one text and it’s done
Those love songs and poems I wrote for you now seem like useless S*
The candlelight dinners
The weekend getaways
…….it was all just a game to you
Takes a lot to be a heartless **** like you
But you know what I’m relieved
Separation has never tasted sweeter
The agony of separation has never been so serene
Darkness has descended
A new sun will rise again
Life was and will once again be beautiful

I have access to a million getaways
But I want to go to none of them today
What's the point of money
When you can't even be happy

I've heard a thousand songs
But none of them could write out what my heart longed
What's the point of these sounds
When you can't even hear your heart pound

I have a hundred followers on Twitter
But none of them know me any better
What's the point of the many stars above
When they can't even light up your path on earth

Start date: 5/16/17.
Your scent is intoxicating
It hurts how badly I crave you.
I want so badly to move away with you, leave everything behind, just go.
You're my favorite place
When I'm not with you all I do is bite my nails and wait until I'm with you again.
I know I break down quite a lot but I love you with every fiber of my being.
All I can write about is you and your sun kissed eyes
I will never, ever forget our first kiss.
You told me not to worry and for the first time ever I didn't
You're what makes life worth living.
Your smile is as calming as the sea
Not certain about anything really but I'm certain about you
You're my paradise
I can taste you in my coffee
You're the blood that flows through my dainty veins
There isn't a safe place in this world except your arms
I'm so incredibly in love with you
I just want to spend a whole day locked away uninterrupted with you
I love you so much that it physically hurts.
You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.
You fill me with warmth I could NEVER feel anywhere else
Everything that comes out of your mouth is an amazing story I get ****** into
You showed me that home is not a place, it is a person, and that person is you
Your eyes are the absolute sunshine of my life
I never knew what comfort was until I met you
It doesn't matter where we go as long as I'm with you
Let's melt into the bed sheets
I want to write about all the good you make me feel
I'd follow you without thinking twice
I know I have a temper and my emotions are off the wall but I love you with all that I have.
I wake up just to sleep with you
I don't wanna be if I can't be with you
Please feel my yearning for you and come back to me.
I love you so ******* much, it felt so good to hold you.
You're my world forever.
I just wanna do everything I can to make you feel okay.
I could write about you forever baby
You warm my heart and my soul
My goal is to kiss you more times than the ocean has kissed the sand
I can feel our souls connect everytime we touch
Your fingertips kiss me and I am home
We are such a strong flame
I'm never prepared for how fast time flies when we're together
You make my heart overflow
You make me smile literally constantly
I don't mind going to sleep because I know you'll be in my dreams
I love when you leave me hickies
Being next to you is the only way I can sleep without sleeping pills
I cannot even express in words the absolute happiness and warmth you bring me every second of the day
In love with the way your smile plants a blooming garden in me
You saw me on the floor and you picked me up with just your smile
Your perfect smile gets me drunk
Listening to you talk is like reading my favorite book
Days really do feel like weeks without you
When we got together, love songs finally made sense
Me & my heart talk about you 24/7
I want to spend every second with you
Nothing tastes as good as your lips
Your eyes stung me at first, maybe that's because you saw straight into my soul all at once.
I wanna sit on you and bite your lip
I can write a book about every adventure we've ever had
Running my fingers through your hair brings me so much happiness
You paint pictures inside of me I can't even describe
All I saw was black and white until you came along and made me see color
Your eyes light up my whole entire life
I found myself inside of you
you made all my dreams come true
I didn't think I could ever be this happy & then you came back into my life and I can't even remember how upset I used to be
His whispers caressed me softly
You're my every star
I could write about you until the end of time
I want you in every way always
The only thing that truly makes me feel awake is his presence
I can't get over how beautiful your soul is
Our pictures make me smile from ear to ear
Every little line in your lips is poetry in itself
You were the water that made my rose of a heart bloom
I've always loved you, always
You're the whole forest in my heart
I want to wrap my arms around you forever
I used to sit on the train tracks for hours, wishing for someone like you
I absolutely love your hickies, show the world I'm yours on my skin
I write I love you all over your body with every kiss I plant
You make me feel so full in this empty world
I dream of time pausing and us exploring the world together
I live for our little getaways
Our love is so precious
I need your cuddles always
If you can't get drunk together and blast Backstreet Boys he ain't the one (****)
All the love songs are always about you
You make my heart flutter
I was always so lost then I found my way with you
I dream about your perfect face every night
I feel like a literal zombie until I finally see you again
You are, always have been, and always will be my entire universe
You make me melt so much
Home is: you.
You’re the everlasting warmth I feel running through my cheeks
You’re always always always on my mind
You’re my inspiration
He’s the only one
All I can think about is you and how you make me feel like cotton candy on a warm afternoon
You’re the only thing that makes life bearable.
You make me forget about all the troubles I’m going through
The world is ours
You illuminate me
You make me feel like my soul is melting in the best way
I’d be yours in a million lifetimes
I fell for you before I even touched the ground
You make my world go round
I’m sorry but nothing exists without you
I want to give you everything you want.
I'm just a sack of skin and bones without you
Baby I love you to death
I have always been and always will be yours
I don't wanna eat I don't wanna sleep I just want to be in your arms and hear your heart beat.
You are the only thing that makes everything okay
I love you with my entire being
We both started crying because we didn’t know what we’d do without each other, and that was such a special moment.
Eyes for you and only you
I love you so much, you have no idea
Take my hand, you and me against the world.
Thinking about marrying you makes me cry every time.
He is my every single heart beat.

End date: 8/6/2018

Ever envisaged an island situated in the huge crater of a volcano?
That's Santorini - aptly fitting the description of a touristy soprano,
Fondly described by many as the supermodel of the Greek islands,
It's scenic location is as if crafted by Greek gods, in the uplands

As an archipelago of five volcanic islands, it is located in the Aegean sea,
The island is a head-turner for scenic beauty that makes one scream in glee,
Multicolored cliffs and whitewashed edifices add to the panoramic grace,
Candy-colored houses and paved paths lend to a milieu that's hard to replace

Adorned with black, red and white beaches, Santorini is a waterfilled crescent,
The much pleasing hue of the clear turquoise sea is a tribute to nature's accent,
Volcanic pebbles, spectacular rock formations lace into impressive lunar landscapes,
The breathtaking caldera and the island's geomorphology are sheer dreamscapes

The blue domes of Santorini that bedeck the Aegean Sea are iconic,
As picturesque architectural marvels, they are superlatively masonic,
Perched atop whitewashed churches, they are picture postcard perfect,
The vibrant blue hue contrasting the stark white buildings, seems so correct

Tourists throng the narrow streets and pathways to soak in the photogenic view,
The agonizing wait to gain access to vantage spots is forgotten while in the queue,
The spectacular sight is truly mesmerizing to leave us in a state of awesome wonder,
That it is an incredibly popular Instagrammer's delight, leaves little cause for wonder

Viewing the sunset from Oia is an unforgettable experience that tourists savor,
The energy of the sweeping panoramic landscape is so palpable that one must aver,
The fiery sun sinking into the sea within the caldera remains etched in memory,
Its' the exclamatory chatter of the crowd's praise that shakes one out of a reverie

A visit to the archaeological site of Akrotiri merits high recommendation,
As Greece's version of Italy's Pompeii, it is of noteworthy consideration,
The ruined city sadly buried by a volcanic eruption, holds a lot of history,
As home to the ancient Minoans, now an embellishment of Greek touristry

The ruins depict how people lived in two- and three-storey houses in 1500 BC,
Replete with balconies, underfloor heating, indoor toilets that one can still see,
Remnants of the city's painted frescoes and sculptures are a visual treat,
That such conceptual skills existed in the then Bronze age, is no mean feat

The quality of furniture and ceramic wares bears testimony to Akrotiri's prosperity,
That the people were able to make their own wine, is testament to their dexterity,
Visitors will be impressed by the acumen and farsightedness of the Minoan township,
That was so cruelly terminated by volcanic ash engulfing the town, ending in hardship

Oia's promenade stretches along the whole town with the caldera's breathtaking views,
Rows and rows of shops on either side flaunt souvenirs, boutiques with lots to choose,
Jostling crowds interspersed with multilingual chatter render a touch of street glamour,
As people flood the shopping streets post-sunset view, be prepared to overlook the clamor

The island's capital Fira, is perched on the Caldera's top edge, above sea level,
Stunning views of the Aegean Sea leave visitors awed and a just reason to revel,
Recommended daytime strolls in the scenic alleys fill one with joy and harmony,
An array of restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs adds spice to the nightlife cacophony

Greek islands are in a league of their own when it comes to planning exciting getaways,
Without bias, one can claim that Santorini tops the list with several visit takeaways,
Greece is also famous for it's gourmet food, friendly people and charming hospitality,
By the end of the visit, you realize the multifarious reasons for the island's popularity

youll take these thoughts and make them beautiful,
i know you will.
and all my worries, they;ll subside and my heart
wont feel the need to hide,
you'll take this smile and make it real,
i know you will,
like the way i light up
when you enter the room.
youll lift me to where i've never been
before.
We'll loom,
where we can't be found for days.
take another one of our getaways,
and never return.
hold me
and don't let me go,
until I learn.
<3

I am at battle,

have you noticed at all,

when walking down a hallway,

the barren expression that turns to a smile,

when interactions are needed.

It works for brief minutes,

like getaways,

a descending reality that never … lands,

keeps me suspended,

so I can survive,

so I can make it through the day.

Please don’t look for me alone,

let that peace remain a facade,

my marble castle,

my wax paper offering a translucent

image whom defines how I might need to appear;

satisfied,

content,

confident,

moving forward, always moving toward

the next goal,

that opportunity that allows my life

to have some identity.

Have I told anyone I am in a constant battle?

uncommon grows normal
routine with procedure
getaways, paradise, heaven
bare, void, blank
air occupies what was
take afoot inside
think comfort, warmth
ignited with flames
books of wisdom
books of happy
books of reflection
raveled with devouring famine
scorching heat searing
the leather casing
the thin sheets
the purpose of it all
all that's left
crumbled cracking at the seams
indistinguisable at corners
words left legible
smack dab middle
with colors reminiscent
pouring white milk
into black coffee
only this time
an odor intoxicating as gasoline

Most times I think I did something wrong
As I pretend to sleep
I only focus on
the shallow breaths that hold me
I am hollow.
Eyes closed as my teeth grind
Helpless, I am
And careless, you
When you're not around
I pick specs of you off the ground
Like a fiend
And what's left of you now
Staggering into the memories
when I know they'll float away
like sailboats and getaways
Piece by piece
Into the skyline
grey and weak
But clean and porous
The waste, the mess
And I’m keeping this
you and my collapsed lungs
Ill treasure my bleeding soul
As if I couldn’t feel anything
Anything at all
They’re all keepsakes
To remind me of
Cruel You and earth and
the cold universe
And it’s buckets and baggage
Ill lie underneath just to catch
Raindrops of grief
And glass slivers of rue
And they drown
And they stick me
And I’m empty and I’m bare
But I’m full of you
And your bastardly hopes
Up to the brim, I’m spilling out
But could you please spare me,
At least,
A poor excuse for a vacuous
Clenching, desperate mettle

Strapped in for another gizmo gobbled

This ones chemical complexion suggest strange times indeed

here we go again for midnight thirty

Familiar madness for these familiar strangers

Faces plastered with nonsense expression

A cosmic joke for these perpetual purveyors

A timeline choked for these mindful destroyers

Pills for the meat and it goes down empty

Calm and canned we feel the assembly line

Rubber traction and the mismatched membranes

Artificial sweetener for propulsion and I feel my cancer

Can we have a moment of silence for the speed demon?

He left as fast as he came

Holding no compromise or puzzles left for decoding

Productive in his vices with hysteria popped pupils

His tooth and claw method dug a primitive prison

Make some noise for these peaked characters

They play getaways well until corners consume jolly

Don't disturb what needs rearranging

it's original mess was my blue print for clarity

this clutter had a purpose but life caught its prize

Swift justice for the seeker

He lacked a library code so box car children ran his brain

Don't mistake this hindsight for enlightenment

Confusion can slip the noose and run circles in unkempt head space

Watch these scenes collapse from excess

they always do

Laugh with the rest on ***** crusted memory

Watch the cracks split from abuse

sometimes we can't help the momentum

Watch the sun retreat to shade as if overwhelmed by its own creations

I am Canadian. We are considered polite.
I will remain so here.
We are a socialist democracy.
You, a capitalist democracy.
Our Prime Minister makes mistakes.
He's comparatively young. He takes good council.
He speaks of what he knows,
And knows when not to speak.
He can be mean (depending), but never cruel.
He has great wealth, but neither flaunts nor hides it.
When he equivocates or lies, he knows it.

We have all the amenities of a capitalistic society,
With the security and comfort of our social pluralism.
Our youth enrol in a free and fine education.
We have no rich or poor school districts.
We have no security guards or metal detectors.

We are not an economic super power.
We do not influence worldly affairs with an itch or a sniffle.

Our Senate is powerless (enough said).
Authority and power lie in the multi-party system;
Each chooses its leader.
We don't vote for the Prime Minister,
But every four years (and many times less) we can vote one out.
And get this: sometimes the party changes horses midstream to rein in getaways.
A coup d'état is almost impossible,
Unless we get invaded for our fresh water.
We're not nuclear armed,  but when called, the Forces are tenacious.
We're not war mongers. We really do prefer peace.
Our former P.M. won a Nobel for coming up with the idea of a U.N. Peacekeeping Force. That's a real one.

We have serious problems like you. At times, the innocent and the guilty get hurt; that's never good.  And believe me, we support most of your political initiatives, domestic and foreign, and your peaceful demonstrations. We know pain too.

I know you love your country. And you have **** good reasons.
Most Canadians love you too, and we are very worried about our southern neighbours who treat us so well when we visit west of the St. Clair River.
We've helped you when you were in need; when your country was under attack. We are your good neighbours with good fences. We will always be there for you and whatever Democracy you choose.
Please, choose wisely.

Bless America

Welcoming the fresh, light grey fog that intakes us
We accelerate dramatically to undiscovered territory
Seeking new serene getaways

As we journey into a dense forest
Droplets of mist lightly inhabit the clear windshield
Adding a sense of desired instability to our excursion

The impenetrable multitudes of trees
Creates a natural protective canopy and habitat
For the numerous amounts of plants and wild life below

Autumn's pain on trees leaves
Illuminate the opaque moistness of the forest
Through colors so jubilant and bright

Aspen trees through strong wind
Compose whistling pleas and petitions
For our accompaniment a bit longer

Reaching our final destination
We spot roots of a pine on a *****
Tangled tentacles, latching the ground, keeping their bodies ***** toward the sky

Exiting the car we absorb the monumental landscape
Imprinting it in our minds
Hoping to secure it in our brains forever

Finding safety in the arms of the mountains
As they tenderly engulf our bodies and frantic minds,
Releasing the pressure and heartache of humanity