"henry" poems
"bakit si Limahong at hindi si Komrad Mao? sapagkat ang paglisan sa sariling ina upang sumuso sa bukal na buhay ng ibang dibdib ay isang pailalim na pamimirata. at sa daigdig, ang mga limahong ay matatagpuan sa lahat ng lahi at sa lahat ng kulay. kapag pinag-usapan si Limahong, bawat kinapal na nakatapak sa lupang hindi niya kakulay ay dapat paghinalaan" - Edgardo M. Reyes, SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG
bakit ang piratang tsino na si Limahong at hindi ang rebolusyunaryong si Komrad Mao ang napadpad dito sa ating dalampasigan? bakit ang mga piratang tulad ni Limahong ang dumami at lumaganap sa bansang Pilipinas?
oo, laganap ang mga pirata sa ating bayan, pinirata nila ang ating kabuhayan. matagal na nilang hawak ang ating ekonomiya. kahit saan mo ibaling ang iyong paningin ang mukha ng mga kapitalistang tsino ang lagi **** makikita. lahat sila kamukha ni Limahong. sila ang mga bagong pirata.
kung si Komrad Mao sana ang dito ay sumalta, malamang mga Sosyalista tayo ngayon. hindi sana tayo inaalipin ng mga ganid na Kapitalista. siguro sinlakas na rin tayo ngayon ng tsina. malamang walang tiwaling pulitiko na nagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan. walang mga gunggong na pinagsasamantalahan ang taong bayan. walang mayaman na mang-aapi sa masang naghihirap. walang kolonyal na kaisipan na iiral, hindi sana tayo lumuluhod sa mga dayuhan. walang magtatatwa ng sariling wika at manghahamak ng sariling kultura. wala sanang maka-dayuhan na paghanga. wala sanang taksil sa sariling lipi. sapagkat lahat ng mga duming ito ay lilinisin at gagawing dalisay ng Cultural Revolution.
bakit si Limahong at hindi si Komrad Mao? bakit si Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, John Gokongwei, Andrew Tan ang mga panginoon at naghahari sa bansang ito? bakit tayo inaalipin ng mga dayuhang ito? putang ina, inaalipin at inaapi tayo dito sa loob ng sarili nating bayan. bakit sila ang nagpapatakbo sa buhay at bansa natin?
bakit si Limahong at hindi si Komrad Mao? bakit ang diwang pirata at hindi ang binhi ng kalayaan ang lumaganap dito sa atin? bakit kapitalismo at hindi sosyalismo ang namayani? bakit tayo mga alipin at hindi malaya?
bakit si Limahong at hindi si Komrad Mao? nakakalungkot isipin na natulad tayo sa South Africa kung saan inalipin ng mga puting dayuhan ang mga katutubong itim. ang Pilipinas ba ang katumbas ng Gaza Strip dito sa South East Asia?
bakit si Limahong at hindi si Komrad Mao? bakit tayo pumapayag na ginaganito tayo? wala silang karapatan na babuyin tayo at hindi sila ang dapat na nakikinabang sa yaman natin.
Nov 26, 2017
Nov 26, 2017 at 11:00 PM UTC
FROM the time of the early radishes
To the time of the standing corn
Sleepy Henry Hackerman hoes.
There are laws in the village against weeds.
The law says a **** is wrong and shall be killed.
The weeds say life is a white and lovely thing
And the weeds come on and on in irrepressible regiments.
Sleepy Henry Hackerman hoes; and the village law uttering a ban on weeds is unchangeable law.
11.9k
Canoodling his significant other,
Our man Henry was loathe to discover:
The **** had run dry,
But rather than cry,
He decided to go get the butter.
Jun 24, 2015
Jun 24, 2015 at 2:57 PM UTC
Every now and then
I go deep inside my mind
Just to have a little rest
And see what I can find
I don't go in there often
It dark and I must say
That sometimes I'm afraid
That I may lose my way
There's a little corner café
Where Groucho sits alone
Stan Laurel sits there writing gags
And Greta Garbo sits and moans
Sinatra sings for all of them
John Lennon talks to God
Brian Jones gives swimming lessons
There's Liz Taylor and Mike Todd
Over in the distance
At a table in the corner
Hemmingway sells movie scripts
To mogul man Jack Warner
Elvis does a hip shake
Ruth and Gherig playing catch
Bud and Lou do Who's on First
Humphrey Bogart lights a match
Charles Dickens playing darts
A red balloon comes floating by
Andy Warhol sits with Nico
Where German pop songs go to die
Marilyn and James Dean
Sit quietly talking on the stairs
John Kennedy and his brother Bob
Just pretend that they are both not there
Chico plays piano and
Harpo with his harp
Bad jokes float around the room
being told by silent stars
Phil Everly and Phil Ramone
They're new here so they're woozy
Sit talking of the songs they'll miss
Rick Nelson sings of Susie
You see it is a mad mad place
in my head when I may wander
I don't go in too deep
And I've met Henry Fonda
There's images, and icons
Family, and friends
on a little street inside my head
That's a circle with no ends
Jan 27, 2014
Jan 27, 2014 at 11:53 AM UTC
What has become of me?
I've turned into such
a reprobate.
Watching **** and
neglecting writing.
I think of Nin and
Henry Miller, turning
lust and clitoral
stimulation into
****** literature.
And here I am...
*** stains on my
laptop, and looking
sadly at the miniature
bust of Shakespeare on
my writing desk.
Even he looks disgusted.
Feb 12, 2022
Feb 12, 2022 at 7:52 AM UTC
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, and find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
― Henry David Thoreau
Nalulungkot ako dahil nasayang ang buhay mo. Huli na ang lahat nasa dapit hapon kana, palubog na ang araw mo, wala na itong umagang darating pa. Nalulungkot ako dahil nagpadaig ka, tinalo ka ng lungkot at kinain ka ng sistema. Pati tuloy ang sining (photography) na iyong minahal ay tinalikuran mo. Nalulungkot ako dahil alam kong kahit nagkaganyan ka ay marunong kang magmahal, na kahit kelan hindi mo ako sinaktan, na lagi kang nand’yan kapag kailangan kita. Bakit kaba kasi nagkaganyan?
Nalulungkot ako dahil sinayang mo ang panahon para lang alagaan ang galit na nakatanim d’yan sa dibdib mo. Niyakap mo na parang unan ang kalungkutan, sana ay itinakwil mo ito. Nalulungkot ako dahil naging rebelde ka hindi lang sa iyong sarili kundi pati dun sa mga taong nagmamahal at nagmamalasakit sa’yo. Sinaktan mo sila na handang umagapay sayo. Nalulungkot ako dahil lumikha ka ng sarili **** bangin, isang malalim na hukay kung saan ikaw ngayon ay nakabaon.
Nalulungkot ako dahil hindi pinakinggan ng diyos ang mga dasal ko para iligtas ka, ang mapagmahal at mahabagin na diyos ay walang awang pinabayaan ka. Nasayang lang ang aking mga pagsamo sa kanya. Paano ka n’ya aagawin sa apoy ng Impeyerno kung dito pa lang sa lupa ay pinabayaan kana? Nalulungkot ako dahil kapos ang aking pang-unawa at pagmamahal. Nalulungkot ako dahil wala akong nagawa para suklian ang mga kabutihan mo sakin.
Nalulungkot ako at pumapatak ang luha ko habang sinusulat ko ang tulang ito. Nalulungkot ako dahil hindi na maibabalik ang nakaraan, dahil wala ng bukas na darating para sa’yo at sa ating dalawa. Nalulungkot ako dahil dahil pareho tayong nabigo. Oo, kapwa tayo talunan. Pareho tayong pinagtaksilan ng ating mga paniniwala at mga pangarap. Nalulungkot ako dahil patuloy kang naghihirap noon magpahanggang ngayon.
Nalululungkot ako pero alam ko na ang lahat ay may katapusan, lahat ay magwawakas pati na ang mga paghihirap. Kaunting panahon na lang matatapos din ang lahat ng dusa at sakit mo. At pag dumating ang araw na ‘yon hindi kana nila kailanman masasaktan. May kakaibang katahimikan at hindi maipaliwanag na kapayapaan na makikita sa mukha ng isang bangkay.
Nov 21, 2017
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:56 AM UTC
By A Foreigner
I like Americans.
They are so unlike Canadians.
They do not take their policemen seriously.
They come to Montreal to drink.
Not to criticize.
They claim they won the war.
But they know at heart that they didn't.
They have such respect for Englishmen.
They like to live abroad.
They do not brag about how they take baths.
But they take them.
Their teeth are so good.
And they wear B.V.D.'s all the year round.
I wish they didn't brag about it.
They have the second best navy in the world.
But they never mention it.
They would like to have Henry Ford for president.
But they will not elect him.
They saw through Bill Bryan.
They have gotten tired of Billy Sunday.
Their men have such funny hair cuts.
They are hard to **** in on Europe.
They have been there once.
They produced Barney Google, Mutt and Jeff.
And Jiggs.
They do not hang lady murderers.
They put them in vaudeville.
They read the Saturday Evening Post
And believe in Santa Claus.
When they make money
They make a lot of money.
They are fine people.
6.3k
The Destroyer of the division machine1
Had first to run on the Way of the Cross
To have souls over the long lived ruin.
Robben, Pollsmoor and Victor2 caused no loss
In the Staff Heritage of the Thembu3
Rulers, forever loved by their people,
From whom was learnt right fight ain’t to taboo.
Good farmers’ teeth run right through the apple;
Likely after the Hard Walk to Freedom4
The Son of Gadla and Nosekeni5,
When his Soul flies up to the Lord’s Kingdom,
Glass will keep his body, and not any
Stain will sully the Star of the Nation
Whose Light will shine for each generation.
1. The division machine: The Apartheid.
2. Robben, Pollsmoor and Victor: During twenty seven years Mandela was successively jailed at Robben Island, Pollsmoor and Victor Verster prisons.
3. Thembu: The tribe over which ruled Mandela’s ancestors.
4. Hard Walk to Freedom: In September 1953, Andrew Kunene, a co-militant of his, read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned.
5. Gadla (Henry Mphakanyiswa): Mandela’s father; Nosekeni ***** His mother.
Boniface
Jun 27, 2013
Jun 27, 2013 at 8:33 AM UTC
As I walk into my classroom,
And sit down to wait for my copy of the exam,
I turn to look at Pam,
And notice she didn’t eat this morning,
But nobody seems to find this alarming,
As I take out my pencil case,
And sit down to wait to write down my answers,
I look at Sophie,
She suffers from anxiety,
And the stress is making her feel like this is a disaster,
As I sharpen my pencil,
To write more clearly,
I look at Henry,
He’s been thinking of suicide,
And nobody seems to be at his side,
As I take deep breaths,
And sit down to feel no emotion,
I notice Tim,
He is suffering of depression,
And nobody is there to listen to him,
As I get my copy of the exam,
I hear someone burst into tears,
Nobody is looking at Adam,
Who has been keeping in all his fears,
And is not ready to face them,
As I exit the classroom,
My exam given to my teacher,
I realise life is not an animated feature,
I realise all of these students have something killing them inside,
I realise all of these students have someone because of who they cried,
I realise one of them is I
Jul 2, 2014
Jul 2, 2014 at 4:12 PM UTC
Hunting has a noble heritage, for sure
Bringing us together, it forged a species
Keen-eyed, communicative, feared by the fierce
So who am I to begrudge you your sport?
I, too, love wide open skies, tramping over bog and fen,
I even quite like dogs!
I imagine nature might reveal herself to you
In signs jealously guarded from the armchair carnivore.
I can almost reconcile your harsh percussion
With the croak of the raven, the sloshing tide
And the chewing and mooing of cattle.
But the pheasant! For the love of God, the pheasant?
It can hardly be a battle of wits!
I've seen him as he sits, a big, red bullseye
On fences and *****
Startled by every day he survives.
How stirring can it be,
Picking off the ones the cars and lorries never got?
When you carry him home,
Better off dead,
Hang him in your garage for a week
Feeling like Henry VIII,
Cut him down, slit him open and find the crop
Stuffed not with heather shoots and beetles
But with half a pound of store-bought grain
(Generously laced with antibiotics) -
I hope the realisation creeps up
That you may as well have asserted yourself
In the hen coop,
Blasting away at befuddled poultry
And saving yourself a walk.
Nov 24, 2010
Nov 24, 2010 at 1:33 AM UTC
Today I have adopted
a new Dream Occupation:
No longer a Buddhist Monk
On a Mountain Peak in Nepal
but Henry Miller, I will Be
And shall dance the
Worlds Circumference
With no brain in skull but a pen in
between crooked-only-on-the-right teeth
Mark my words today in
pencil please
So tomorrow I will have a
reminder and in a fortnight I will have
an eraser;
Henry Miller never
Wrote drafts in ink
Sep 25, 2013
Sep 25, 2013 at 12:34 PM UTC
"Bago yan ah" aniya ng makita ang converse kong pula.
Wala eh, wala nako maisip para makuha ang antensyon mo, mapansin mo.
Naubos nga lahat ng ipon ko para sa sapatos na to.
Balita ko kasi mahilig ka daw sa kulay pula at nangongolekta ka daw ng mga branded na sapatos.
Ako yung tipong hindi maganda namay porselanang kutis gaya ng iba.
Hindi katangkaran, pero pwede nadin para sa isang kolehiyala.
Walang bag na ang tatak ay Guess,
At magagandang damit na galing sa Mall.
Simple lang ako, laging may hawak na libro.
Nalilimutan mag suklay dahil baka maiwan ng jeep papuntang terminal ng LRT.
Hindi naliligo sa pabango na padala galing abrod.
At higit sa lahat, hindi nag susuot ng ibang sapatos bukod sa pinag lumaan kong rubber shoes.
"Converse yan diba?" Dagdag niya ng hindi ako sumagot sa pag pansin niya.
Ang totoo ay hindi ko alam ang sasabihin.
Hindi ko alam pano ibubuka ang mga bibig at sasagot ng "Oo, buti naman napansin mo".
Wala ako lakas ng loob.
Tanging pag tango nalang ng ulo ang kilos na kayang gawin ng katawan ko.
Kumaripas ako ng pag lakad papunta sa silya sa dulo ng masikip na klasrum.
Nag simula ang klase.
Hindi ako maka pokus sa sinasabi ng Prof patungkol sa "Theory of relativity" ni Einstein.
Tumititig sa wall clock sa taas ng pisara na kinatatayuan ni Ma'am Montemayor.
Sa wakas biglang tumunog ang bell na nag sasabing tapos na ang klase.
Palabas na ako nang muli mo kong tawagin.
"Hi, pwede ba ako sumabay sayo mag lakad papunta sa Math class?alam mo naman ayaw ni Sir. Henry ng late" pabiro **** sinabi.
Wala nakong nasabi kundi ang mga katagang "Okay lang naman".
Tinatago ang ngiti na gusto ng mag kumawala, habang nag iisip at nag papasalamat sa Converse kong Pula.
Feb 29, 2016
Feb 29, 2016 at 5:07 AM UTC
Strange question indeed,
So I asked one and all;
Explain to me:
“What's a plumber's ball?”
Family and friends
Heeded my call,
But none could confine,
Refine or define it,
Yet Paul was sure
He could design it.
Still, none could satisfy
My caterwaul:
“What the hell is a plumber's ball?”
Does it sweat the pipe
Or wiggle the snake:
Can it clamp the ******
For Heaven's sake?
Could it snap on the cock-hole cover?
All these queries
Made me wonder.
Has it something to do
With hardness leakage,
Or ******** the ball-cock
To stop a seepage?
Has it anything to do
With a saddle valve dripping,
Electric eels,
Or two pipes mating?
And, I heard of male and female fittings,
And should I worry
If I'm standing or sitting?
If you're discharging the head
Or elongating the pipe,
Does the plumber's ball
Help it snug tight?
Is it in my tank,
Or in my bowl,
Beneath the floor
Near the drainage hole?
Is the plumber's ball
In the back of the truck
(Jeff laughed and said
One could rub it for luck).
I asked Michel
If he could tell,
He sensed it was something
He could smell.
I sought out Ray,
Perhaps he'd know,
But he was on call
To restrain a back-flow.
I couldn't ask Gary
For his wisdom and sense,
He was wigglin' the snake
To unclog a wet vent.
Henry, Rick, Scotty and Brian,
Gave shameless answers
I couldn't rely on.
It's not a crapper, tail piece
Or Johnnie-bolt,
Or catch basin, reamer,
O-ring or pipe dope.
So I searched the Net
With a fool's wonder,
And read of ball-checks,
Gas ***** and plungers.
I know it's too late
To ask Rolly or Ross,
For both of them knew,
And that's our loss.
And Ernie's gone golfing
So I can't ask the Boss.
With final resolve
I fell to my knees,
To pray St. Ferrer
With grace intercede.
His silence left me
In a state of depression;
Had Ferrer washed his hands
Of the plumbing profession?
So nothing could settle
My wherewithal,
I still didn't know,
What's a plumber's ball?
Suddenly, it hit me,
He's never wrong,
The Dalai Lama of dip-tubes,
I'll ask John.
Where others did falter,
John's a rock:
He knows the difference
Between a gas and ball ****
With a knowing smile
He embraced our Hall:
Here, good friend, is your Plumbers' Ball.
Sep 22, 2014
Sep 22, 2014 at 9:10 AM UTC
Your soul was always isolated from
the world around you—from the very beginning. Time
alone was something you valued (as should we all)
but your isolation took on many forms—many
hungry shadows looming over you at all times.
A collision of iron and steel left you
immobile, and by the standards expected of
women, useless: your womb would never swell,
and you would never experience the pain of
bringing a child into this cruel world.
The fractures
and the wounds healed, but you
never recovered.
In the face of impossibility, you still
tried in desperation; leaving you in cold
unfamiliar hospital rooms, where all you
can see is an alien landscape; where all you
can think about is the reasons you are here,
and the reasons your baby will never be.
It is a pain in your heart that leaves you gutted
like the iron handrail that embedded itself
through your ****** The bed is soaked
with your tears and your blood; it is the pain
of knowing that you will never hold a baby
who sees you as God; you will never experience
the love of a child, glowing with innocence.
Mar 23, 2015
Mar 23, 2015 at 10:58 PM UTC
Emerging from the darkness,
Your face is encircled with stars of Orion.
Fog surrounding your silhouette.
Overwhelming force field separating
My aura from yours.
Walk a fine street of plated gold,
Deploring plastic cores,
and camera stores.
Flying fast,
Screaming at the past.
Back down from the galaxy.
I scream with ecstasy;
"I am Shakespearean!
I am Freudian!"
You are Napolean,
King Henry and Led Zeppelin!"
Crash, smash, crack myself open.
Electromagnetic magnetism.
Dec 29, 2013
Dec 29, 2013 at 11:10 PM UTC
Tell me about the train that people say got buried
By the avalanche--was it snow?--It was
In Colorado, and no one saw it happen.
There was smoke from the engine curling up
Lightly through fir tops, and the engine sounds.
There were all those people reading--some
From Thoreau, some from Henry Ward Beecher.
And the engineer smoking and putting his head out.
I wonder when that happened. Was it after
High School, or was it the year we were two?
We entered this narrow place, and we heard the sound
Above us--the train couldn't move fast enough.
It isn't clear what happened next. Are you and I
Still sitting there in the train, waiting for the lights
To go on? Or did the real train get really buried;
So at night a ghost train comes out and keeps going...
4.2k
mr moonlight
mr nowhere
maxwell edison
mr jones
dr robert
sgt pepper
mr kite, bb king
edgar allen poe
walter raleigh
mat busby
the hendersons
and maggie mae
mr mustard
captain marvel
rita lucy jojo
vera chuck and dave
mother nature
polethene pam
mr heath doris day
and buffalo bill
loretta martin
**** sadie
hey jude eggman
my michelle
rigby and pilchard
or elenor and semolina
took father mckenzie
too see a dancing horse
henry his name was
rocky raccoon was there
prudence rode elephant
to the i me mine waltz
---
There gonna crucify me
the way things go
christ it aint easy
the next day dont know
you know the walrus was paul man
johns bird can sing
george was a genie
ringo wore a ring
but paul is dead now
george stole his soul
john is alive though
ringos in a hole
her royal highness the tax man
commit the perfect crime
she asked for more
with a belly full of wine
Jun 24, 2013
Jun 24, 2013 at 12:13 PM UTC
Pickles for one
Pickles for two
Pickles for some
Pickles for few
Pickles for smiles
Pickles for laughs
Pickles in wholes
Pickles in halves
Pickles for Henry
Pickles for Sue
Pickles for everyone
Pickles for you
Sep 10, 2013
Sep 10, 2013 at 8:37 PM UTC
a penny is a penny
and i am a monk hawking birth control pills
without any shame or pride
disguised in flamboyant tinfoil.
i am an extra sensitive *** on my daily street corner
turning into a crumb of hunger
staring down a long alleyway and eating the flowers
that grew up in concrete.
there are shadows of jugglers on the wall
jumping into the sun, and i am a burning lampshade.
henry miller is in a wheelchair now
and i am a walrus with a backache
being forced among the proverb writers,
but i'm no prophet because i've seen the bubbling fire
and the swords on the doorway.
i am a lover with a guilty conscience
and i have too much on my mind.
i stole the bread from the riot squad and
i blow out these words from a keyhole,
pounding my fist on a book
while the mystics get drunk with skinny ******
i don't go to birthday parties or funerals
instead i'd like to do something worthwhile
but i am your typical flunky, writing eccentric jokes about rich pimps
while my father lies dead on the hill.
Feb 6, 2012
Feb 6, 2012 at 8:59 AM UTC
Joe of to the poky.
Joe off to the pen.
Joe of the ***** wagon again and again.
Joe fit shased and sailing, three sheets to the wind.
Joe swearing and cussing.
Joe in the back seat.
Joe sits on wrists. fingers all numb.
Joe tossin his cookies. Joe real no count ***
Joe know all the coppers
And breaks in the rookies.
"Hey rook" asks Joe " "can you loosen these up"
My hands been asleep since Henry was a pup.
Joe Bangles they call him and erbody knows.
That Joey cant get lit up and keep on his clothes.
Institutional homeboy.
Going back to the house.
Three hots and a cot.
and wild stories to tell.
slippers and tooth brush in an eight by ten cell.
Mr. Joe Bangles Dance.
Oct 15, 2013
Oct 15, 2013 at 12:05 AM UTC
Oh young barret of the night. Who steals from the dreams of lost sain children like Moloch. The decrypted white house was nothing but A sanctuary for degenerates. the man… MAD… MAD was the man MAD, was the house, MAD were the claimers, MAD were the slaves to the slick but king of so called glam MAD was the man MAD MAD MAD.
The barret was entering the house, leaving behind all. what has become of my young love asks me? he enters. MAD was he who entered the trap, MAD was he who allowed, MAD was who gave no warning of the moloch sacrifice being made to the two of his so called servants. MAD was all i say MAD MAD MAD, MAD was he who wanted to be hailed like Fernand, MAD was he who wanted to be king like Henry the 8th, MAD was he who wanted to use like Baron Neuvillette, MAD was he who wanted doll oh doll how can you do this.
Oh ADONAL for if you do exist why have you allowed this, oh ADONAL for if you exist why have you for seen this, oh ADONAl for if you exist why have you told of my eternity. Oh ADONAL why? are you mad? for the people shall not say oh ADONAL well this blow over as fast as Holly or as fast of yourself.
he who does as told, he who does what he thinks right for his so called gift. MAD for the betrayal of trust between the packed, MAD was he for the lack of word, Like a mute oh ADONAL like a mute he was! MAD was he who acted like Bromdens father, MAD .
MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD is I for the envolvment of my cellar of time, MAD is I for what i have started and what have become of my creations, MAD is I for all, MAD is I for you, for she, for he, for ***** all mad, MAD is I for maybe i is mad.
written by Keone L Friesian. copyright to Keone Friesian
Dec 27, 2013
Dec 27, 2013 at 1:35 AM UTC
…These men are worth your tears:
You are not worth their merriment.
-Wilfred Owen, “Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”
When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean? Paradise Lost? Probably not
Nor Saint Paul speaking on the Field of Mars
The Kalevala, Hagia Sophia
With its pendentives lifting up our prayers
Horatius fighting to defend his bridge
And Wilfred Owen dying bravely on his
Lord Tennyson and Idylls of the King
Chapultepec, Henry V, Becket
The paratroops at Arnhem, Saint Thomas More,
His King’s loyal servant, but God’s first
The Stray Dog poets of Saint Petersburg
The brave last stand of Roland at Roncesvalles
Lewis and Tolkien and glasses of beer
Montcalm and Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham
Hildegard von Bingen, Siegfried and the Rhine
Magna Carta, HMS Hood, the Thames
The Grove of Daphne, “The Old Rugged Cross”
Beatrix Potter and her little pet rabbit
El Cid, Anne Frank, John Keats, Saint Benedict
“I Have a Dream,” Dostoyevsky, and Greene
Viktor Frankl, Dag Hammarkskjold, and Proust
Good Chaucer’s naughty pilgrims telling tales
The Gettysburg Address, Willie and Joe
Stern Saint Augustine of North Africa
Wodehouse writing a jolly bit of fun
Saint Corbinian and Bavaria
The ancient glories of Byzantium
Pius XII contra the bombs and lies
The 602nd TD Battalion
Saint Joan, the Prado, and Robert Frost
And far, far more.
When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean?
Nov 4, 2018
Nov 4, 2018 at 4:06 PM UTC
plants do not require papers that state from where they came
they are caught and pulled by the bite of birds,
seduced by the between-legs of bees,
seized on the legs of the wind and animals by thistles and burrs
and the blessed are pollinated by the hummingbird
I do not know where I came from (really?) (really.)
or where nature and nurture intertwine within me, precarious balance from discipline and my genes
I twist bunches of grass between my fingers, feeling the good in a strain
racked on top of white bones, pushing sheets of freckled skin
out, spreading cancerous aluminums under my arms because
an artificial flower smells better during *** than human sweat,
what a pity, we are unable to reveal with the bursts of Walt Whitman (!) in
our own organic mechanism's ability to produce salt. The ultimate flavor.
I grin. Inhaling deeply while alone and unwashed, Whitman would've been into it.
Maybe I can find someone into it too. Someone who'll read me Henry Miller.
But instead I'll wear expensive perfume. I grin, again. Sardonically.
And I've been told I have a beautiful smile.
I should,
that smile cost blood and five grand for something cosmetic and quirky,
train-tracks over teeth, I now stain yellow with obsolete cigarettes.
I wait in the tropical heat, languishing while I bake, a freckle factory
and tan--adrift--awash with memories recalled by the smell of green
and the fearful hum of bees.
Why did I start smoking again?
I look at the red hummingbird feeder, and wish I could trade
standing still as a hummingbird, I lie and say I cannot wait.
Jun 23, 2013
Jun 23, 2013 at 5:16 PM UTC
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Mar 21, 2014
Mar 21, 2014 at 8:13 AM UTC
If time is a convincing illusion, then as I am writing this,
you are reading it; you are remembering me years after
we have spoken last, and I am noticing you for the first time.
I'm a young woman waking up in an apartment in Albany,
New York, realizing that I am finally broken enough to fix,
and an East Boston moppet in ***** pink overalls, riding
Big Wheels through the sprinklers with a boy named John Henry.
You're delivering newspapers on a cold New Hampshire morning.
I am falling asleep wondering if you could possibly love me.
You are saying that you do. You are stardust, and I am long gone.
Mar 18, 2012
Mar 18, 2012 at 4:17 PM UTC