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"gouges" poems
Darkness dredges deep into the soul, tempest gouges out my stillness in manic vengeance, lightning in fiery wrath rips up the mind’s horizon. Thunderous sky roars in scaring rage. Panicked, stars went hiding in the pall of gloomy clouds. My soul too blackens out, O Shepherd, where are you this night?
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Sep 29, 2018
Sep 29, 2018 at 1:40 PM UTC
The shepherd
1 He'd love her and then the coldness of marriage took love away from him and the coldness turned into suspicion and then into an obsession: and she was an inconvenience he murdered her a Friday night suffocated her with her pillows it was easy; like Othello did but she was no Desdemona; and he heard her whisper with her last breath: "I'll have your eyes" he cut her up in manageable parts, and buried her below the floorboards in the study 2 It is a year later and he is at the computer and far below lies parts of his wife but now his wife is smiling she's on screen smiling like a Greek Goddess and he sits transfixed and she says: *"You are Oedipus, darling - I will have your eyes"* She is smiling He is willing Beside the printer are paperclips He undoes two She beckons; she smiles and she whispers that same deathbed whisper: "I'll have your eyes" And he is Oedipus Just paperclips will do He gouges one eye out And he gouges the other too It is easy She lies deep below below the floorboards; She need whisper no longer And he is become Oedipus, eyes gouged, blind like the Greek Homer
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Mar 4, 2012
Mar 4, 2012 at 7:34 PM UTC
Greek tragedy (a tale of horror)
Let me meet you in a marbled                                                  field of                                                            sand...                                                                                                       Though you bewitch me with clifftops hooded in emerald grass ...                                                  Though your sheep bleat loudly the marvel of your serenity...                                    Though you wait patiently beyond your lonely precipice,              I cannot endure the eons                                          raging against the cliffs of your security. Every passing year, the thunder of my broken waves gouges deeper into your wounded coastline. Every rock torn from your embrace, resounds the pain of our growing rift Every crumbling cliffs edge dissolves the beauty I held in reverie...                       I wound us in this way. Let me meet you in a secluded                                                      gentle                                                                 cove... There,     upon quieted sands, my waves will softly stroke your skin. There,     the lions will laugh in cacophonous delight at our simple joy. There,     our worlds will dance as pebbles tumble into diamond crystals. There, a child will listen woefully,                                  the sea song of our love. With eyes in contented darkness,          With a soul filled, overflowing                      With the power of bearing witness                                                                to this daily wonder. Each      breath brings her deeper into the burning core of her mind, Each      thought sparks the flame brighter Each      billowing blaze will enliven her roots, and                                                                                   she will bloom.            Then, her eyes will open to a shimmering world, glistening through tears of quiet understanding.                      Then, breath will guide the salt of our dance into her veins                                   Then,          she will dance to the song of our world. With arms wide as eyes,                she will embrace                       this treasured moment                                    With the divinity of her mortality. When the moment calms, she will walk solemnly through our shallows. When my waves pull home at her ankles, When the crystalline pebble shines brightly in her visage she will reach with focused surrender through my water for a memento of the love she feels so presently. In our slow dance, of Land and Sea,                our love bears its fruits in tiny treasures. In her little pocket,                              the diamond of our love will travel further into your heart than my waves ever could. In this way...                   you and I grow fonder                                                              with every passing day.
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Apr 21, 2016
Apr 21, 2016 at 11:05 PM UTC
Sea Song To a Daughter
Let me meet you in a marbled                                                  field of                                                            sand...                                                                                                       Though you bewitch me with clifftops hooded in emerald grass ...                                                  Though your sheep bleat loudly the marvel of your serenity...                                    Though you wait patiently beyond your lonely precipice,              I cannot endure the eons                                          raging against the cliffs of your security. Every passing year, the thunder of my broken waves gouges deeper into your wounded coastline. Every rock torn from your embrace, resounds the pain of our growing rift Every crumbling cliffs edge dissolves the beauty I held in reverie...                       I wound us in this way. Let me meet you in a secluded                                                      gentle                                                                 cove... There,     upon quieted sands, my waves will softly stroke your skin. There,     the lions will laugh in cacophonous delight at our simple joy. There,     our worlds will dance as pebbles tumble into diamond crystals. There, a child will listen woefully,                                  the sea song of our love. With eyes in contented darkness,          With a soul filled, overflowing                      With the power of bearing witness                                                                to this daily wonder. Each      breath brings her deeper into the burning core of her mind, Each      thought sparks the flame brighter Each      billowing blaze will enliven her roots, and                                                                                   she will bloom.            Then, her eyes will open to a shimmering world, glistening through tears of quiet understanding.                      Then, breath will guide the salt of our dance into her veins                                   Then,          she will dance to the song of our world. With arms wide as eyes,                she will embrace                       this treasured moment                                    With the divinity of her mortality. When the moment calms, she will walk solemnly through our shallows. When my waves pull home at her ankles, When the crystalline pebble shines brightly in her visage she will reach with focused surrender through my water for a memento of the love she feels so presently. In our slow dance, of Land and Sea,                our love bears its fruits in tiny treasures. In her little pocket,                              the diamond of our love will travel further into your heart than my waves ever could. In this way...                   you and I grow fonder                                                              with every passing day.
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66
I’m lying on my side, in bed, thinking of you. Spare a thought for me… But I know you aren’t. Beat the same tattoo on my skin, with your invisible caresses, touches; I’ll never know the patterns and marks are there, until my fingers start tracing gouges and craters… I’ll get to think of you every time I touch it, only making it deeper when you don’t think back to me. Don’t think about me. Like I do for you. I will have my one-sided love affair with your ghost. Because you left it small and afraid, in my care, when you were with me. As soon as your eyes began to know me. As soon as your lips got their first prize of many. It grew to such a true second you. Because though I may still spare such thousands of thoughts for you, I know you removed yourself from thinking about me. So how about I write this up, and you can think of me now.
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Sep 4, 2016
Sep 4, 2016 at 9:02 AM UTC
Love Affair With A Ghost
I tried to tint my hair red to light this night But it is dull and stringing out amidst my plant-stained fingers I tried to dissolve away the lines upon my skin to glow with luminosity But they are wedged deep and have left gouges of pin-pricks behind I tried to exhume the dead and the dry from my face to better breathe But instead it filmed over stinging and suffocates I tried to forget you in order to be free of this But I am not cleaned of you so easily.
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Apr 6, 2014
Apr 6, 2014 at 9:49 AM UTC
Cosmetikos
Like Oedipus I am losing my sight. LIke Judas I have done my wrong. Their punishment is over; the shame and disgrace of it are all used up. But as for me, look into my face and you will know that crimes dropped upon me as from a high building and although I cannot speak of them or explain the degrading details I have remembered much about Judas - about Judas, the old and the famous - that you overlooked. The story of his life is the story of mine. I have one glass eye. My nerves push against its painted surface but the other one waiting for judgement continues to see . . . Of course the New Testament is very small. Its mouth opens four times - as out-of-date as a prehistoric monster, yet somehow man-made held together by pullies like the stone jaw of a back-hoe. It gouges out the Judaic ground, taking its own backyard like a ****** daughter. And furthermore how did Judas come into it - that Judas Iscariot, belonging to the tribe of Reuben? He should have tried to lift him up there! His neck like an iron pole, hard as Newcastle, his heart as stiff as beeswax, his legs swollen and unmarked, his other limbs still growing. All of it heavy! That dead weight that would have been his fault . He should have known! In the first place who builds up such ugliness? I think of this man saying . . . Look! Here's the price to do it plus the cost of the raw materials and if it took him three or four days to do it, then, they'd understand. They figured it weighed enough to support a man. They said, fifteen stone is the approximate weight of a thief. Its ugliness is a matter of custom. If there was a mistake made then the Crucifix was constructed wrong . . . not from the quality of the pine, not from hanging a mirror, not from dropping the studding or the drill but from having an inspriation. But Judas was not a genius or under the auspices of an inspiration. I don't know whether it was gold or silver. I don't know why he betrayed him other than his motives, other than the avaricious and dishonest man. And then there were the forbidden crimes, those that were expressly foretold, and then overlooked and then forgotten except by me . . . Judas had a mother just as I had a mother. Oh! Honor and relish the facts! Do not think of the intense sensation I have as I tell you this but think only . . . Judas had a mother. His mother had a dream. Because of this dream he was altogether managed by fate and thus he ***** her. As a crime we hear little of this. Also he sold his God.
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2.6k
The Legend Of The One-Eyed Man
Like Oedipus I am losing my sight. LIke Judas I have done my wrong. Their punishment is over; the shame and disgrace of it are all used up. But as for me, look into my face and you will know that crimes dropped upon me as from a high building and although I cannot speak of them or explain the degrading details I have remembered much about Judas - about Judas, the old and the famous - that you overlooked. The story of his life is the story of mine. I have one glass eye. My nerves push against its painted surface but the other one waiting for judgement continues to see . . . Of course the New Testament is very small. Its mouth opens four times - as out-of-date as a prehistoric monster, yet somehow man-made held together by pullies like the stone jaw of a back-hoe. It gouges out the Judaic ground, taking its own backyard like a ****** daughter. And furthermore how did Judas come into it - that Judas Iscariot, belonging to the tribe of Reuben? He should have tried to lift him up there! His neck like an iron pole, hard as Newcastle, his heart as stiff as beeswax, his legs swollen and unmarked, his other limbs still growing. All of it heavy! That dead weight that would have been his fault . He should have known! In the first place who builds up such ugliness? I think of this man saying . . . Look! Here's the price to do it plus the cost of the raw materials and if it took him three or four days to do it, then, they'd understand. They figured it weighed enough to support a man. They said, fifteen stone is the approximate weight of a thief. Its ugliness is a matter of custom. If there was a mistake made then the Crucifix was constructed wrong . . . not from the quality of the pine, not from hanging a mirror, not from dropping the studding or the drill but from having an inspriation. But Judas was not a genius or under the auspices of an inspiration. I don't know whether it was gold or silver. I don't know why he betrayed him other than his motives, other than the avaricious and dishonest man. And then there were the forbidden crimes, those that were expressly foretold, and then overlooked and then forgotten except by me . . . Judas had a mother just as I had a mother. Oh! Honor and relish the facts! Do not think of the intense sensation I have as I tell you this but think only . . . Judas had a mother. His mother had a dream. Because of this dream he was altogether managed by fate and thus he ***** her. As a crime we hear little of this. Also he sold his God.
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85
REPUBLICANS Former South Carolina GOP leader kills dog to please God Rob Beschizza GERMANY Germany's top domestic spy advised far right xenophobic political party on how to avoid being billed as "extremists" Cory Doctorow RUSSIA Guy who pretends to ****** people for a living named Russian Goodwill ambassador Seamus Bellamy   BUSINESS We're going to be eating bugs really soon now, again Cory Doctorow POLICE Surveillance camera shows off-duty NYPD cop dropping a weapon near man he shot in the face Rob Beschizza SCHOLARSHIP When should the press pay attention to trolls, lies and disinformation? Cory Doctoro CORRUPTION Wells Fargo: we stole houses and we're being investigated for ***** low-income housing credits Cory Doctorow LATE STAGE CAPITALISM How Jpay gouges prisoners' families for "digital postage stamps" Cory Doctorow ALEX JONES Alex Jones is suing the parents of a Sandy Hook victim for $100,000 Gina Loukareas *** :(
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Aug 9, 2018
Aug 9, 2018 at 3:46 PM UTC
Nausea News
There is no cure for my self. I will sit up nights And read poetry aloud And cry harsh tears as my words fall away into the darkness. It is my nature. A voice of sorrow lives in me And it speaks, always. It murmurs beneath everything like a brook. It sweetens my days And swallows my nights. It is not without its merits But it is Painful. I am a sad person Always have been. I ache, and always will. Love soothes and frightens me But beneath it grief runs steady The only thing That is always there Heedless of any other turmoil. It presses into me- A small trickle, less than rainwater- But it has carved me deep over years Deep, deep, It has cut caves into me. It is the heart of me, the softness of the stone It is my weakness and the source of my life And I have hated it for as long as I have known it was there But it Doesn’t care: It only knows how to continue Not how to feel. It doesn’t stop for love Or for anger Or for joy. It gouges a path through all of them, A deep, steady drumbeat A persistent crawl And I am witness to its slow erosion of me. I watch with apprehension An unwilling subject A reluctant vessel- For I know that as gentle as it seems It has stripped away all this so far And will go on Until nothing remains.
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Nov 13, 2018
Nov 13, 2018 at 6:35 AM UTC
This Big Hush
Bernie frames the TV between his feet-- left hand remote, beer bottle balanced by his right— clicks through half-time shows, clicks like shooting a gun, a Fazer, a death-ray secret weapon, clicks just to do it, an idiot’s smile faint on his face. he sees only noise Emma tends her stamps, perched on the plain board chair she upholstered herself— its arms worn, warm, warmly welcoming— her back to her husband, her life as wife and mother coming to a languid close. she tastes some regret-- yet spicy with passion-- where life has had its way with her. The rug’s bright stew of colors can’t hide everything children spilled when they were young-- juices, milk, soup, sauce, tears; little dreams, tiny heartbreaks, minor crises ground into the weave; all the gooey pastries, cookie crumbs, blood and sweat and nightmares congealed into solemn patina-- I see protects it from time. These solid objects— stout, no-nonsense chair wearing gouges, marks, discolorations of use and years like badges; fat, chunky, cigarette-burned BarcaLounger, drunk from drink spilled on every surface, handle supple as a young girl’s wrist, swirling a territorial aura around its microscopic sphere of the universe; and the rug… unassuming, proletarian, handmade and honest, each scrap of fabric chosen by the weaver’s hand, now useful again, reveling in redemption— these solid objects invade, infuse, invigorate otherwise empty space, squeeze meaning from the world around them, same as the hand of the artist sculpts love from her heart to give them life. The children have moved away Old friends are dying every day Stamps no longer can be licked There is no way to interdict The Jets are losing again
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Feb 6, 2011
Feb 6, 2011 at 12:13 PM UTC
2 Chairs & a Rug
Bernie frames the TV between his feet-- left hand remote, beer bottle balanced by his right— clicks through half-time shows, clicks like shooting a gun, a Fazer, a death-ray secret weapon, clicks just to do it, an idiot’s smile faint on his face. he sees only noise Emma tends her stamps, perched on the plain board chair she upholstered herself— its arms worn, warm, warmly welcoming— her back to her husband, her life as wife and mother coming to a languid close. she tastes some regret-- yet spicy with passion-- where life has had its way with her. The rug’s bright stew of colors can’t hide everything children spilled when they were young-- juices, milk, soup, sauce, tears; little dreams, tiny heartbreaks, minor crises ground into the weave; all the gooey pastries, cookie crumbs, blood and sweat and nightmares congealed into solemn patina-- I see protects it from time. These solid objects— stout, no-nonsense chair wearing gouges, marks, discolorations of use and years like badges; fat, chunky, cigarette-burned BarcaLounger, drunk from drink spilled on every surface, handle supple as a young girl’s wrist, swirling a territorial aura around its microscopic sphere of the universe; and the rug… unassuming, proletarian, handmade and honest, each scrap of fabric chosen by the weaver’s hand, now useful again, reveling in redemption— these solid objects invade, infuse, invigorate otherwise empty space, squeeze meaning from the world around them, same as the hand of the artist sculpts love from her heart to give them life. The children have moved away Old friends are dying every day Stamps no longer can be licked There is no way to interdict The Jets are losing again
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71
If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you. I know this to be true, even if the abyss is not necessarily anything outside myself. The abyss is simply, The Abyss. It is not within me or without me, it is just being. And I do gaze into it. I don't really take this to mean that I will become like my hates or enemies, as I believe that I have always been what I hate- my own worst enemy. I take this to say that The Abyss, for however long I look into it, also looks into me. It leaves marks on my soul; deep gouges made with stained black talons. The Abyss is many things, and also nothing at the same time. It is darkness, that is a given, it is also The End. It is The Apocalypse, it is The End of Time. The Abyss is the complete-stop-of-everything. Some people even believe that the surging water-deep of a literal abyss is Hell itself, though I think I know better. The Abyss is not Hell, because when your soul is released from your vessel, and you of course have committed sin, you do not go to The Abyss. Your soul does not forever reside in the Nothingness of The Abyss, your soul does not belong to it unless it belongs to you. Even so, after looking into The Abyss for a long period of time, it is hard to shake the feeling of its eyes on you. It can linger for days, and the restless, dreamless state that those eyes leave you in is hard to leave behind. As someone who is constantly staring into The Abyss, I find that it never quite leaves me. It's almost as if The Abyss has left some part of it inside me, within my very being. I can't hope to root it out without never seeing into The Abyss ever again, and I don't imagine that will happen any time soon. The Abyss has been a... comfort to me. The promise of Nothingness, of simply Not Being, has always appealed to me. This existence of mine has not been an easy one, but it has been growing on me. Even with the promise of Nothingness, I think that I will try and stay Existing for as long as I can. Existing has its perks of course. I get to think and feel and experience, and part of that Feeling is Love, which I believe may be the most important one of all. What is there, without Love? That, I believe, is what The Abyss actually is. Lack of Love.
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Oct 22, 2019
Oct 22, 2019 at 3:32 PM UTC
The Abyss
If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you. I know this to be true, even if the abyss is not necessarily anything outside myself. The abyss is simply, The Abyss. It is not within me or without me, it is just being. And I do gaze into it. I don't really take this to mean that I will become like my hates or enemies, as I believe that I have always been what I hate- my own worst enemy. I take this to say that The Abyss, for however long I look into it, also looks into me. It leaves marks on my soul; deep gouges made with stained black talons. The Abyss is many things, and also nothing at the same time. It is darkness, that is a given, it is also The End. It is The Apocalypse, it is The End of Time. The Abyss is the complete-stop-of-everything. Some people even believe that the surging water-deep of a literal abyss is Hell itself, though I think I know better. The Abyss is not Hell, because when your soul is released from your vessel, and you of course have committed sin, you do not go to The Abyss. Your soul does not forever reside in the Nothingness of The Abyss, your soul does not belong to it unless it belongs to you. Even so, after looking into The Abyss for a long period of time, it is hard to shake the feeling of its eyes on you. It can linger for days, and the restless, dreamless state that those eyes leave you in is hard to leave behind. As someone who is constantly staring into The Abyss, I find that it never quite leaves me. It's almost as if The Abyss has left some part of it inside me, within my very being. I can't hope to root it out without never seeing into The Abyss ever again, and I don't imagine that will happen any time soon. The Abyss has been a... comfort to me. The promise of Nothingness, of simply Not Being, has always appealed to me. This existence of mine has not been an easy one, but it has been growing on me. Even with the promise of Nothingness, I think that I will try and stay Existing for as long as I can. Existing has its perks of course. I get to think and feel and experience, and part of that Feeling is Love, which I believe may be the most important one of all. What is there, without Love? That, I believe, is what The Abyss actually is. Lack of Love.
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2
Girls and ladies dream Of and desire A knight in shining armour, Gallantry and bravery to Sweep them from their feet To a happily ever after, But take it from One who knows, No knight that ever fought For his lady Had her back, Has armour shining pure, It takes sacrifice and Mental melee - sometimes brutal To maintain love in this desperate War called life, And no man did a hard day's work Nor fought in war and Came away unscathed and undirtied, A true knight's armour, Though burnished as best may be And glittering in the sun Has dents and gouges absent In a woman's dreams, Every mistake every failure Shows in his history and Cannot be polished out But that he polishes what remains Is testament to a true heart, And a man worth keeping
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Dec 30, 2023
Dec 30, 2023 at 4:54 PM UTC
True Knight
Hold me closer as I slip from your enclosed embrace I can't stand too close to you The fire is all consuming now You douse the flames with gas The cooling water long gone Your fingertips trail along my arms Leaving gouges Splinters of broken glass embedded deep within Blood trails and drips You are the cause of this. My hair is gone from the constant tugging Yanking the strands is a form of release Release from this inside pain. My heart melts Drips from my finger tips down to those forgotten puddles at our feet You splash in them without a care in the world.
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Nov 5, 2012
Nov 5, 2012 at 10:35 PM UTC
Suffocation
Jane holds the pencil in her hand She uses it to get the thoughts out of her head Now they won't come out Time for a new tactic She swings her clenched fist at her ear The squelch is felt more than heard Again and again she gouges the thoughts from her brain Thoughts pool dark red in her lap She finally shut them up Eyes closed Relaxed sigh Alone in her head again Jane fades out
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Jul 11, 2016
Jul 11, 2016 at 2:29 PM UTC
Jane's Brain
Send me a fire starter and foundation to cover the crispy skin of my forearm. I am sorry, I couldn't help it, I was so cold and desperate for heat. The firemen were too late. The steel walls surrounding me melted from The heat and my every regret was spilled in front of me. Underground tunnels make my black ink flow like the Nile, Washing my pages with black and erasing my written labyrinth. Send a raft so that I may not drown in my own madness. A signed envelope With a perfect message. Sleep when you write, you can dream that way, an exaggerated reality That murders your sense, drags you into a dusty cupboard and gouges out your eyes and ears. Three weeks later, a box shows up at your door. You reach inside and feel everything, smell the rotting flesh. You can not hear or see anything Because your parts used for perception are in your hand. Happy Birthday! From, your worst nightmare.
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Jan 8, 2014
Jan 8, 2014 at 10:06 AM UTC
Mail Order
Waters black; time Leads to chaos. Fallen soldiers and their Rotten Bullet wounds weep. Salt cauterizes gouges in The pretty skin of paper Dolls trying desperately To be strong. Impossible dreams of returning Scars And keeping the glow. Forgotten The dye seeped through The palms of everyone Who touches me. Nightmares drown (The happiness)? And fear is unfinished.
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Aug 28, 2014
Aug 28, 2014 at 8:50 AM UTC
Unfathomable
The looking-glass self Your stabs hit me exactly where you hope they would with such ferocity that gouges out all vanity and conceit. A knife ****** through the illusions of my bloated ego, An ugly distortion of an inner image through a plastic glass which finally crumpled with me looking at the looking-glass self.
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Nov 17, 2015
Nov 17, 2015 at 4:47 AM UTC
The looking-glass self
BRUSH Brush free the carpet of mud and fluff. Let’s brush off the hurtful comment too, that snide remark, those graceless words. We’re cleaning yet collecting, straightening up, taking out the dirt. Repositioning dust. Always temporary, never the same, brush, brush, to and fro, again – again - again. SCOOP The ice cream tub has one to make the portion fair for that ever-observant, pernickety child. When walking the dog, we scoop the **** carrying the plastic bag to the waiting wanting bin. Yet the all-important wooden scoop is made from a block of a 2 by 3, with chisel, gouge and a steady hand. This farmer’s friend, this open spoon, lives in darkness and under the lid of the deep grain bin, to feed white chickens. POKE Getting it out, placing it right – but much is trial & error. If it won’t go in, give it a poke . . . and it might. Nowadays it’s a software app to help you cheat at on-line games and , God forbid, an important tool in the tattooist’s bag – the hand poke, liner and shader with standard 8 – 32 thumb screws and completely autoclave able. CUT Hogwimpering drunk or ****** out of mind. Seventies slang for individual incapacitation. A cut can hurt, display the inner through incision in the outer. Reveals, opens up, allows a division from one to another. This cut of meat on the slab? For you, madam? I can cut it up nice and small for the baby to chew. RAKE Lying there in the long summer grass, it needs standing up, its teeth cleaned. When autumn comes it redeems itself, clearing the path, letting the lawn breath. In the hand of sculptor, ceramicist, modeller it fashions variously, cuts, pulls away, gouges, scrapes, a multi-purpose stick with two ends: of wrapped wire, of ribboned steel. LOOK To make sure it’s right: correct and straight, balanced, in proportion. The magnifier helps, the camera too, getting the angle, the position , the light gauged . . . with a little looking. You have to look, see? HIT Whatever needs placing firmly, needs fixing permanently, can do with a hit (or two). A nail with a hammer, a door with a foot, it could be a winner, and right on target, strike out the opposition, disable the enemy. A killer noun. I prefer the verb.
0
Jan 24, 2016
Jan 24, 2016 at 5:11 AM UTC
The Seven Archetypal Tasks
BRUSH Brush free the carpet of mud and fluff. Let’s brush off the hurtful comment too, that snide remark, those graceless words. We’re cleaning yet collecting, straightening up, taking out the dirt. Repositioning dust. Always temporary, never the same, brush, brush, to and fro, again – again - again. SCOOP The ice cream tub has one to make the portion fair for that ever-observant, pernickety child. When walking the dog, we scoop the **** carrying the plastic bag to the waiting wanting bin. Yet the all-important wooden scoop is made from a block of a 2 by 3, with chisel, gouge and a steady hand. This farmer’s friend, this open spoon, lives in darkness and under the lid of the deep grain bin, to feed white chickens. POKE Getting it out, placing it right – but much is trial & error. If it won’t go in, give it a poke . . . and it might. Nowadays it’s a software app to help you cheat at on-line games and , God forbid, an important tool in the tattooist’s bag – the hand poke, liner and shader with standard 8 – 32 thumb screws and completely autoclave able. CUT Hogwimpering drunk or ****** out of mind. Seventies slang for individual incapacitation. A cut can hurt, display the inner through incision in the outer. Reveals, opens up, allows a division from one to another. This cut of meat on the slab? For you, madam? I can cut it up nice and small for the baby to chew. RAKE Lying there in the long summer grass, it needs standing up, its teeth cleaned. When autumn comes it redeems itself, clearing the path, letting the lawn breath. In the hand of sculptor, ceramicist, modeller it fashions variously, cuts, pulls away, gouges, scrapes, a multi-purpose stick with two ends: of wrapped wire, of ribboned steel. LOOK To make sure it’s right: correct and straight, balanced, in proportion. The magnifier helps, the camera too, getting the angle, the position , the light gauged . . . with a little looking. You have to look, see? HIT Whatever needs placing firmly, needs fixing permanently, can do with a hit (or two). A nail with a hammer, a door with a foot, it could be a winner, and right on target, strike out the opposition, disable the enemy. A killer noun. I prefer the verb.
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90
Red spatter across green. Ants sing. Caterpillars pour eggnog. A tree is raised. Bug Christmas. Strands of Brown tinsel lead up. Carpeting a tan oval. Over the ridge, and onto a bridge. A deep, sunken hole on either side. Devoid. The crows have had their feast. Lower. Agape. A cave lined with whitish stones. Further, the slope continues down. Two mirrored hills. Gouges are ravines, creating flowing rivers. Down, the red till it touches green. Above, the sky is mesmerizing, drawing me in. White clouds transform. The sun is gone. Blotted out, but no rain. Deeper. A nearing roar. Below is celebration. Above the blades, severity. Paralyzed. You ran me over with a lawn mower and so the lawn was painted christmas.
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Dec 1, 2012
Dec 1, 2012 at 11:21 PM UTC
Insect Christmas
Before we read or speak or rest further, you owe promise to a favor– I want you to walk directly out of your door during the most lucid scene of day, or the most haunting moment of inner-night Walk until your feet come to a sudden instinctive halt Listen to clamor, or whatever surrounds you Lift all volumes of your puja quietude as a psalm Focus on humanities scrapings or the long graceful stroke of matriarchal firman in her most peculiar stage of cankered innocence Lecture the calamity of her fictionless plot and digest what the spiritually deaf cannot, and allow it to find what triggers you the hardest what gouges the prompts threadbare It may be the indifferent hiss of cars passing and it may be the expression plastering the jaw of all of that unprocessed energy ambling on by It may even be the weather spilt from her majesties archaic entrails Something will eventually do you in but it ultimately takes practice at varying degrees I've done it when I was awake I've done it in dreams Either way there's more mirrored in fragmented cohesion than it quite often seems
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Nov 25, 2012
Nov 25, 2012 at 9:22 PM UTC
All Educateable
A fool once said That “there is power and those too weak to seek it” As he burned upon the pyre of his own foolishness Blinded by willful ignorance as motherhood, The primeval weapon of life, Descended upon him like the sparrow pair Drive down the hawk And the mother car gouges The human hand that grabs at her kittens. Love carves open fools with Its power stretching back To when life first raged against the death Daring to take the newborn future of the world.
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Jun 13, 2020
Jun 13, 2020 at 7:03 PM UTC
The Most Fearsome Power Of All
In Memory of My Beginning We of fitter gun were harassed in our youth by the file, the use of which is an art. It’s not just rubbing the file back and forth. Every stroke should count and move you one step closer to a smooth, polished finish without gouges or abrasion marks. Just like growing up really; like life. Hence: At Arborfield, remember where we learned to use a file On a wicked lump of mild steel they gave us for our own? Reduce its size they told us, and that without a smile. So we set-to with hands that ached, stiff fingers and a groan. Two inches square it had to be within a 'thou' or two. Push fitted through an aperture, eight differing ways all told. And by miracle (craft) that metal was transformed by me and you With a Four Inch smooth and lots of chalk, and even though now old I recall as though I were still there, bent over at the bench, and still Unsure of what my life might be, what even I should dare With this feeler gauge and set square, scraper, tap and drill, The which to shape this wicked lump into the perfect square. The perfect square, what a hope; that shape for which we then aspired. Compelled, it's true reluctantly at times but which by none the less Were laid foundations for the lives we've subsequently had; And the which by some admired.
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Mar 8, 2019
Mar 8, 2019 at 7:28 PM UTC
Shaping Things to Come
Every third day of the third week in July for the last six years I would crawl out onto the hot, black shingled roof of our white and gray two story shuttered house and I would try to count the stars in the southern sky The course grains of each shingle would burn deep gouges into my knees and hands as if each shingle was punishing me for sitting on them. But I hadn't a care in the world For I had a reason and a purpose to be there You see, that third day was my day, that third week was my week.. It was all mine...the day I would lose myself into the universe As I nestled into my favorite spot, I leaned against the hard wood window frame, not caring for a second how I long i sat there. At that pristine moment, I just began to count the stars Each single star I counted, whether it be faded as the night or bright as the day,  was surrounded by complete darkness. A pitch black of nothing. Those were the lonely stars I saw and I breathed once again. Each single star i counted, was all alone and afraid in the vast deepness of space with nothing to embrace them except for my eyes and my casual memories and I breathed once again. This is my healing place. My escape from the life threatening complexities that invaded my inner being. I witnessed the thousands of morsels of light in the southern sky as if they were tiny demons millions of light years away, haunting and watching over me each and every night. For they can no longer touch me or break me apart. They will become the broken. I have found my place of solace on top of that hot, black shingled roof of our white and gray shuttered house. Many peaceful nights I counted the stars, only to lose to count after I reached one hundred. My eyes would glaze over with an undue purpose of peace and I breathed once again as I started to count the stars all over again.
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Jun 27, 2016
Jun 27, 2016 at 8:10 PM UTC
I Counted the Stars
Every third day of the third week in July for the last six years I would crawl out onto the hot, black shingled roof of our white and gray two story shuttered house and I would try to count the stars in the southern sky The course grains of each shingle would burn deep gouges into my knees and hands as if each shingle was punishing me for sitting on them. But I hadn't a care in the world For I had a reason and a purpose to be there You see, that third day was my day, that third week was my week.. It was all mine...the day I would lose myself into the universe As I nestled into my favorite spot, I leaned against the hard wood window frame, not caring for a second how I long i sat there. At that pristine moment, I just began to count the stars Each single star I counted, whether it be faded as the night or bright as the day,  was surrounded by complete darkness. A pitch black of nothing. Those were the lonely stars I saw and I breathed once again. Each single star i counted, was all alone and afraid in the vast deepness of space with nothing to embrace them except for my eyes and my casual memories and I breathed once again. This is my healing place. My escape from the life threatening complexities that invaded my inner being. I witnessed the thousands of morsels of light in the southern sky as if they were tiny demons millions of light years away, haunting and watching over me each and every night. For they can no longer touch me or break me apart. They will become the broken. I have found my place of solace on top of that hot, black shingled roof of our white and gray shuttered house. Many peaceful nights I counted the stars, only to lose to count after I reached one hundred. My eyes would glaze over with an undue purpose of peace and I breathed once again as I started to count the stars all over again.
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if you looked at my shoulders and my wrists and how broadly they are set how far from delicate and fragile or if you looked and the thickness of my waist and the heft of my weight i doubt you would expect me to be this breakable i certainly didnt the truth is i dont really know if i am im too afraid to let anyone close enough to try the last person who molded me in their hands like clay left gouges where my organs should be and a dozen half moon scars on my arms and i am afraid to let anyone touch me again even if they claim its to smooth out my cracks and gashes im trying to seal them up myself but i cant reach them all my arms are only so long and when i try to reach the deep ones the shallow ones crack open again i dont know if i was poured into the wrong mold or just made of the wrong clay maybe i just got broken and glued back together wrong i wonder if any of my pieces went missing
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Feb 13, 2013
Feb 13, 2013 at 7:35 PM UTC
mismatched
Outside the door of the butler Dudman Polly sticks up two fingers at him and mouths a string of four-letter words she strides off towards the kitchen where Mrs Gripe (the cook) is waiting for her Polly's thoughts are on George(master) and what Dudman said about her not having *** with him when he comes home from the place he is resting with shell-shock from the War or you will be fired she hears Dudman's voice in her ears as she climbs down the stairs and along the passage way she passes Susie near the kitchen entering the scullery where have you been? Susie says eyeing her never you mind Polly says and enters the kitchen where Gripe stands hands on her hips and gazing at her where you been? Been waiting for you Gripe says coldly Polly bites her tongue and goes to the sink and begins to peel the potatoes cat got your tongue? I said where have you been? Gripe says Mr Dudman wanted to see me about something but I am here now Polly says Gripe stares at her what about? Gripe says ask him Polly says peeling the potatoes with viciousness I am asking you Gripe says and I expect respect not rudeness girl Polly gouges out a potatoes eye and turns towards Gripe about something I do and mustn't do in future and I am sorry for being rude Polly says Gripe stares at her and Polly stares back about you and Master George? Gripe says Polly reddens and looks away and nods be discreet and careful if Master George wants you Gripe says quietly and turns away and puts a big saucepan on the stove silence comes and Polly peels on and wonders what George is doing now and maybe she thinks Gripe isn't always the big cow.
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Jun 19, 2016
Jun 19, 2016 at 1:16 AM UTC
THE BIG COW 1916.
Outside the door of the butler Dudman Polly sticks up two fingers at him and mouths a string of four-letter words she strides off towards the kitchen where Mrs Gripe (the cook) is waiting for her Polly's thoughts are on George(master) and what Dudman said about her not having *** with him when he comes home from the place he is resting with shell-shock from the War or you will be fired she hears Dudman's voice in her ears as she climbs down the stairs and along the passage way she passes Susie near the kitchen entering the scullery where have you been? Susie says eyeing her never you mind Polly says and enters the kitchen where Gripe stands hands on her hips and gazing at her where you been? Been waiting for you Gripe says coldly Polly bites her tongue and goes to the sink and begins to peel the potatoes cat got your tongue? I said where have you been? Gripe says Mr Dudman wanted to see me about something but I am here now Polly says Gripe stares at her what about? Gripe says ask him Polly says peeling the potatoes with viciousness I am asking you Gripe says and I expect respect not rudeness girl Polly gouges out a potatoes eye and turns towards Gripe about something I do and mustn't do in future and I am sorry for being rude Polly says Gripe stares at her and Polly stares back about you and Master George? Gripe says Polly reddens and looks away and nods be discreet and careful if Master George wants you Gripe says quietly and turns away and puts a big saucepan on the stove silence comes and Polly peels on and wonders what George is doing now and maybe she thinks Gripe isn't always the big cow.
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