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"penultimate" poems
A normal kind of guy Just the guy No cosmologist Sans Christian ********* the droplet suns Distant in the blackened sky Gotta 'and'er some The bristled gristle The cryogenic iris Steel teeth gnashing Right-toe left Ardent in an autobiography Good man Soft man Locomoted his GMC to the Sea Thought maybe With precise aim he could undertow away paradise. No pick-me-ups In copper-channels That Ionized the pick-up-truck With archaea iron that ugly duck Reminiscent of the man In all but-- A castaway Stowaway The man who never hesitates Bop upon the interstate Lost within concritical maze Shoring up Going home Giving up Turned to stone Marble chin Solumn grin Chlidren sing Seeking wings How'd he know Where to go Will he see What it means? He's the guy The one with the lollipop lap Licking the syrup off the lip Of a sweet polished sapphire Gin And the kids My god They think he ODYSSEUS And his dog not yet Dead but depressive in the gloom Howling into the midnight grass And the creatures that stalk With their ******* youth Soon their weight will hit the deck And like a noose, Break the joints The planks of which would stress And bend his eyes upon his head. God willing Should he be exhumed His energies excape to the river And float, Penultimate, into the sea.
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Aug 10, 2018
Aug 10, 2018 at 5:03 PM UTC
((MODERN)) Man.
In the amber sunroom the regal canary perches, Surveying his sun soaked kingdom from a golden throne, Positioned just below the thick wooden rafters... They might as well have been treetops. The weathered oak armoire below, their immovable trunk; The oversized tank, teeming with exotic fish, his ocean. Through the translucent shades, the engorged sun turns orange, And settles on the domes of the distant dragon trees. Soon the silver haired woman, with "dust in the creases of her face," Will open the arched doorway, and into the sultry Moroccan air he will spring Majestic yellow wings propelling him above the treetops, Diving towards his vast ocean, circling between the dusty antiques, Reveling in his glorious freedom, yet always returning, For that is only the penultimate pleasure of every evening; She will always call him home with the suculent scent Of a luxurious dinner: mango, pomegranate, and papaya. A sharp, tumbling trill disrupts his peaceful musing, A flashing crimson streak leaves a momentary swatch, Emanating from the open window, invading his territory and ending atop the amoire. He refuses to look at her, intent on maintaining appearances. She comes and goes so freely, innocent of any thoughts for me. Feathers ruffling with discontent; jumping, leaping without direction. Seeking the highest perch, closest to being free; only to be confined By the bronze rods of social correctness, locked with the brass clasp of my own fear. His little lion's heart becomes a battering ram, Smashing against the inside of his toothpick ribcage. Rapid fire thoughts soon dissolve in an attempt to compose A song that is worthy of her. And so he waits, and watches her turn, Red wings outspread, escaping back into the evening sky. That blazing orange ball, finally sinking beneath its own weight, And the failing strength of the mighty dragon trees, Now merely blackened silhouettes of their former glory.
0
Jun 29, 2012
Jun 29, 2012 at 3:39 PM UTC
Wings of Courage
In the amber sunroom the regal canary perches, Surveying his sun soaked kingdom from a golden throne, Positioned just below the thick wooden rafters... They might as well have been treetops. The weathered oak armoire below, their immovable trunk; The oversized tank, teeming with exotic fish, his ocean. Through the translucent shades, the engorged sun turns orange, And settles on the domes of the distant dragon trees. Soon the silver haired woman, with "dust in the creases of her face," Will open the arched doorway, and into the sultry Moroccan air he will spring Majestic yellow wings propelling him above the treetops, Diving towards his vast ocean, circling between the dusty antiques, Reveling in his glorious freedom, yet always returning, For that is only the penultimate pleasure of every evening; She will always call him home with the suculent scent Of a luxurious dinner: mango, pomegranate, and papaya. A sharp, tumbling trill disrupts his peaceful musing, A flashing crimson streak leaves a momentary swatch, Emanating from the open window, invading his territory and ending atop the amoire. He refuses to look at her, intent on maintaining appearances. She comes and goes so freely, innocent of any thoughts for me. Feathers ruffling with discontent; jumping, leaping without direction. Seeking the highest perch, closest to being free; only to be confined By the bronze rods of social correctness, locked with the brass clasp of my own fear. His little lion's heart becomes a battering ram, Smashing against the inside of his toothpick ribcage. Rapid fire thoughts soon dissolve in an attempt to compose A song that is worthy of her. And so he waits, and watches her turn, Red wings outspread, escaping back into the evening sky. That blazing orange ball, finally sinking beneath its own weight, And the failing strength of the mighty dragon trees, Now merely blackened silhouettes of their former glory.
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32
*Cimmerian Chaos, incediary The Requiem of the Revenant: Tis I, The Breathing Song Conjuring a vestige, Ensorcelled by what I'd been envisaging. Maimed by Tempus, The Temporal Arbiter Words reverberating on the wavelength of my soul Left me vibrating desolate and wayworn. Utterances deluging me in the Dominion of Doubt Until I reached a crossroads For perilous was the pilgrimage I peregrinated. The Penultimate Tribulation has begun And though angst is festering in my flesh, The Sacred Lotus of Dreams has not wilted, Shalt it ever upon the Lake of the Holy Oracle; Elysium of the Soul is awaiting those who are stalwart In the Visage of the Shadows.* ∞Hallelujah∞ By Sanders M. Foulke III
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Sep 29, 2017
Sep 29, 2017 at 5:32 AM UTC
The Requiem of the Revenant (Originally Penned in July of 2017)
A rosebud drips down upon the pavement as father draws a final drag from this porcelain pipe, its tobacco well-spent. Rest in peace sweet little summertime bliss. Lips pressed taut admiring the embers, while they pieced together a forlorn kiss. These penultimate moments are a blur, whispered by magpies on the window-pane, wrought by dust bunnies, and letters from her. Oh lord may we be blessed and insane; stifle these stains with bullets to the brain.
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Nov 7, 2018
Nov 7, 2018 at 9:16 PM UTC
Fantasy & Memory
The Trinity Hours, I open the fridge, much like how between us, I created a bridge. A row of flat Corona beers, as flat, if not more like conversations when you were here. I remember as I pick the bread knife memories of a long departed past life. I reminisce those shoddy arguments, how the silver needles were just intoxicants. Will you be happy now, If I accepted your I TOLD YOU SOs? Believe you me, regret is what I came back with from the Rehab for the sick and addicted. I lied awake at night, cursing obscenities galore and cried. Wishes for a repeated penultimate hit of sweet ****** did not abate. Missing both my Mary Janes, stripped of all but poisoned veins. I waited for Dr. Smith's prescriptions, pseudo-trance, my stage for revelations. Sunken eyes, then too blind to see now look at silly internet memes. Remembering how they made me laugh, while you yelled on the phone you'd had enough. I wish I had paid heed, when the poison had been but a seed. I wish I had lowered my own defense when everything you said did not make sense. Seven months and Seven days it took, finally the doors of the Rehab from its hinges shook. Let me out back to a shade of my former self, this change without you is worthless. Even though I am cured by societal norm, I pretend to be, yet in my dorm. Despite being free to roam the world, this letter is dispatched from my own Rehab, with love.
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Dec 20, 2013
Dec 20, 2013 at 7:48 AM UTC
From Rehab, With Love
full circle, nearly, although i'm not sure around what it is i seem to be revolving, for i am not moon, nor star, nor planet nor body of astral importance; i am a boy, and even then, the definition could be more secure than it is, for i am not a ship, i have no anchor, nor sails, my starboard side is used for writing and my port is lost in the stormy blue of the stripes on your dress shirt, those matching the woven bracelet i still haven't had the heart nor gall to remove from my wrist, like a watch, hands however not spanning minutes or hours ticking off each grain of sand to fall, [like taking inventory of eternity]            but pointing incessantly back to you again, though you are not the true north i seek, and a wristwatch has no real business dealing with dimensions beyond its design and understanding. a compass is perhaps better suited to my purpose, though the bearing would be thrown by the lumps of iron remaining beneath my skin, like braille, and i the blind man groping for a means -- any means -- to decipher the message left hidden in my very fibers by the electromagnetism of your goodbyes. if ever i needed you it is now -- and still the portal you promised is closed, and no music sounds for me as it did for you, for it is you who has quieted it.
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Jan 8, 2013
Jan 8, 2013 at 4:48 AM UTC
penultimate and for you
A drab drop drips Downed casualty Down casually. A sulfuric gust cycles In three fly-by nights. A gust hoping, A breeze yearning to dab a wet tear off a moistened spring cheek. Floating by on a wisp of breath, Breathed once by the blessed. Now irreparably tainted, then incomprehensible anew: Treated by the respirations of the perspiring, expending breath on czarist ears, aspiring; Cured by the tongues of the insatiably dying And by those primary soothe-ers, invisibly crying. Alveoli gripping that sine qua non of civilization Until they must release the once-oxygen into the hills of Kyivan Rus. A first breath and second As much as a penultimate and final. And witness to the chronology that led to such a Bloodbath-blessed blast As this.
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Jul 31, 2014
Jul 31, 2014 at 11:44 PM UTC
A windless night in Amsterdam
Seldom am I so direct, Like Wayne, Parker, Kent, I prefer my subterfuge. But these words are penned      (figuratively speaking) by the penultimate,               tumultuous, and often callous wordjockey yours truly. As I've said, I'm seldom more than the sum of my company kept *[let slip, reacquainted, self-righteous reconciliation,           regret, repeat]* And today, I find myself writing thrice, twice toward pride, once of consequence. Que sera sera. I'm lead like a horse who had to drink - or perhaps imbibe? your softly streaming sentences, words which kicked like a mule. Remember, I was hoarse, parched. On that parchment, I find these words: I am a cause... Truth at last, truth at last, Thank God almighty...      ...you know the rest. I stand on this principle - that I cannot stand at all sin ustedes your words the salve, my words the therapy. "Progress." Just Cause. Now, waxing on toward the triumphant, anthemic Aye! If you are the cause and the casualty, then each daily account of what might be made martyrdom should be cannon. Am I eliciting allusions and assumptions? Inadvertently, but then precariously so. So the pieces fall, the causality, literary the eventuality, progressive. Aye, we are naught but what we are made of by others. So each concussive consonant chips and chisels off the ol' block. To a good Mister John Henry, my gratitude.
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Nov 7, 2013
Nov 7, 2013 at 4:24 AM UTC
The Casualty of Causality
I'm disowning my name. In America, my name is cumbersome and clumsy and confusing so I'm leaving it behind. See, my name starts with an S and ends with a Z and one's a mirror of the other so they're like bookends for a collection of letters that spell a name that I never really felt belonged to me. Every morning, when I wake up, I wriggle into my name but it doesn't feel quite right. It's like borrowing your best friend's jeans even though she's tall and skinny and you've got a hundred generations of Puertoriqueña swirling around the blood in your hips. I don't like my name cause it doesn't diffuse across your lips. It bursts through your teeth. It's got a weight on your tongue that brings down the sound with the weight of a thousand sinking ships. I've got a Hispanic Titanic of a name but my skin's so white it seems impolite to claim an ethnicity that only lends its elasticity because of my father and the people that brought him here. My name is not me. It never was. It is an anchor that keeps me on the island of what my family used to be. I am not a race. I am not a category next to a box on a sheet of paper. I am the syncopated heartbeat of a tribal drum. I am the ****** whisper of water on the sand. I am the sunburn on the corrugated tin. I am the hunger in the stomachs of the working poor. So when I die let me not be remembered by fifteen letters I did not choose seven syllables I did not select three titles I did not ask for. Let them tell stories of what I did where I went what I saw who I loved the words I spoke the thoughts I formulated, ignorant of my race free of bias and prejudice and preconceived notions of what I should have been because in the end none of this will matter I'll have no strength for words but with a penultimate breath I'll still be able to smile.
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Aug 2, 2012
Aug 2, 2012 at 10:27 AM UTC
An Introduction
I'm disowning my name. In America, my name is cumbersome and clumsy and confusing so I'm leaving it behind. See, my name starts with an S and ends with a Z and one's a mirror of the other so they're like bookends for a collection of letters that spell a name that I never really felt belonged to me. Every morning, when I wake up, I wriggle into my name but it doesn't feel quite right. It's like borrowing your best friend's jeans even though she's tall and skinny and you've got a hundred generations of Puertoriqueña swirling around the blood in your hips. I don't like my name cause it doesn't diffuse across your lips. It bursts through your teeth. It's got a weight on your tongue that brings down the sound with the weight of a thousand sinking ships. I've got a Hispanic Titanic of a name but my skin's so white it seems impolite to claim an ethnicity that only lends its elasticity because of my father and the people that brought him here. My name is not me. It never was. It is an anchor that keeps me on the island of what my family used to be. I am not a race. I am not a category next to a box on a sheet of paper. I am the syncopated heartbeat of a tribal drum. I am the ****** whisper of water on the sand. I am the sunburn on the corrugated tin. I am the hunger in the stomachs of the working poor. So when I die let me not be remembered by fifteen letters I did not choose seven syllables I did not select three titles I did not ask for. Let them tell stories of what I did where I went what I saw who I loved the words I spoke the thoughts I formulated, ignorant of my race free of bias and prejudice and preconceived notions of what I should have been because in the end none of this will matter I'll have no strength for words but with a penultimate breath I'll still be able to smile.
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61
tense as the rolled up newspaper thrown slapping against the step at dawn awakening conspiratorial slinking around the truth sleuthing sniffing my way to find out this way or that but the way about the signs the clues preachers words the same weight as the street corner girls a way to think in our detectiving then the ultimate DNA almost the penultimate remains of the doer dids the who what did whats the ne'er do wells on Mulberry street , I know them hoods no they were not the culprits I scent along above below sniff and snoof behoove behind the wildest dogs to find it was mine own trail I had found among the shivering forest green I sat considered a shylock set this up then saw the bacon on my foot I had been following. I set off again my foot clean. I will find this bandit. I like bacon , though.
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May 6, 2017
May 6, 2017 at 1:44 AM UTC
I like bacon
Beside me, in this unforgiving November’s winter, is she… My queen beside me, amidst this rotting debris gifted to me. Daphne, the comforter sent from the highest skies of Elysia And Daphne, my love, you put a stopper… on my withering Never did the sounding of a name, here, blossom a magnolia Daphne, yours made my hell, the eternal orchards of Elysia. We were betrothed to each other in here, in this wasteland I await; you at our wedding, in your wedding gown, oh… ‘Tis her, the beau sky wrapped around your gentle frame In your adornments, gifted from the agents of light, oh… They are sapphire stars plucked from that midnight blue On the edge of the Aegean sea, we await, in this wasteland I await; you at our wedding, in your veil and crown, oh… ‘Tis her, the clouds and her raindrops, adorning your face   I await our wedding waltz, in our deserted fields, oh… Without our kin, persecuted and orphaned by the world Alone we shall dance, on the edge of Ymos, our dwelling Alone we shall be in our vows when our eyes rain in joy I await your grand advent, beaming gleefully, towards me Bringing me, serenity; being my succour, with your smile I await your silhouette, irradiating the wide evening blue Bringing me, release; being my soother, now I live anew Daphne, your midnight blue eyes, your voice of mead… My pen fervently gallops for words, as I just gaze in awe   Let the sands of time tick away in joy, ticking, grain by grain The heavens merry till the penultimate hours of our union Now, in these salty Aegean waters, I taste honey and wine I await our pristine union; as your hand knots with mine. Beside me, in this unforgiving November’s winter, is you… Daphne…
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Nov 30, 2020
Nov 30, 2020 at 5:35 AM UTC
TO DAPHNE
Beside me, in this unforgiving November’s winter, is she… My queen beside me, amidst this rotting debris gifted to me. Daphne, the comforter sent from the highest skies of Elysia And Daphne, my love, you put a stopper… on my withering Never did the sounding of a name, here, blossom a magnolia Daphne, yours made my hell, the eternal orchards of Elysia. We were betrothed to each other in here, in this wasteland I await; you at our wedding, in your wedding gown, oh… ‘Tis her, the beau sky wrapped around your gentle frame In your adornments, gifted from the agents of light, oh… They are sapphire stars plucked from that midnight blue On the edge of the Aegean sea, we await, in this wasteland I await; you at our wedding, in your veil and crown, oh… ‘Tis her, the clouds and her raindrops, adorning your face   I await our wedding waltz, in our deserted fields, oh… Without our kin, persecuted and orphaned by the world Alone we shall dance, on the edge of Ymos, our dwelling Alone we shall be in our vows when our eyes rain in joy I await your grand advent, beaming gleefully, towards me Bringing me, serenity; being my succour, with your smile I await your silhouette, irradiating the wide evening blue Bringing me, release; being my soother, now I live anew Daphne, your midnight blue eyes, your voice of mead… My pen fervently gallops for words, as I just gaze in awe   Let the sands of time tick away in joy, ticking, grain by grain The heavens merry till the penultimate hours of our union Now, in these salty Aegean waters, I taste honey and wine I await our pristine union; as your hand knots with mine. Beside me, in this unforgiving November’s winter, is you… Daphne…
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30
Life is a sacred journey. No two are the same. Respect for divergence is paramount to a holistic experience. Life is not about status-quo or expectations, t'is simply what's made thereof Lyphe is a sacred opportunity not to be taken lightly Our Bodies are our umbilical vessels which tether us as mortals to "Reality," which, in itself, seems to me to be a reduction of potentials from chance to actuality such ephemeral eternety; infinite limitations; actualized potentials; possible paths- these are but some of the koan-like attributes which lead me to use the rather ambiguous and ambitious term "sacred." Truly, it becomes whatthefucksoever One may well will to create thereof. Action is Manifestation, yet Thought begets Action. Therein lies the sacred gift of Life. 'T'is all too oft taken for granted. Every living being (i am convinced) has an equally vivid depth of experience and I find it more than somewhat offensive that humans (with a lowercase H) feel they are the penultimate organism. All is One in that existence, itself, tethers us all to everything and probably even beyond, and so to be so hubristic and arrogant as to assume a hierarchy so convieñantly crested by mere **** Sapiens Sapiens* seems to me to be an anthrocentric and narcissistic projection of that meddlesome ages-old archetype of the "Ego," that is to say "God," whatthefuckever that means! Find it in thyself to be humble enough to accept that each and every iota of "Creation" is, by virtue of association, equally sacred; divine. Heirarchy, thus, seems to be a manifestation of some desire for order; control; a yearning to alleviate some hypothetical insecurity as a result of being essentially "absolute, infinite" (vis-a-vis the domain of Consciousness) yet contained within a vessel that is mortal, and, thus, ephimeral. The Ego doth so loathe it's own limitations: too bad it's far too arrogant to realize that most of the limitations it experiences are illusions, allusions; charades of an insatiable Consciousness Hell-bent on experiencing something it won't redily allow itself to experience! What a Holy fuckton of incredulous, ineffable, impalpable, inspirational **** that would be, eh?! (insert interrobang) I am me (I think...) as thou art thee; so why can't that just be good enough? Could it be? What obstruction precludes such harmonious divergence? I reckon 't'is but us; and very little else, indeed!
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Mar 1, 2016
Mar 1, 2016 at 9:37 AM UTC
Lyphe
Life is a sacred journey. No two are the same. Respect for divergence is paramount to a holistic experience. Life is not about status-quo or expectations, t'is simply what's made thereof Lyphe is a sacred opportunity not to be taken lightly Our Bodies are our umbilical vessels which tether us as mortals to "Reality," which, in itself, seems to me to be a reduction of potentials from chance to actuality such ephemeral eternety; infinite limitations; actualized potentials; possible paths- these are but some of the koan-like attributes which lead me to use the rather ambiguous and ambitious term "sacred." Truly, it becomes whatthefucksoever One may well will to create thereof. Action is Manifestation, yet Thought begets Action. Therein lies the sacred gift of Life. 'T'is all too oft taken for granted. Every living being (i am convinced) has an equally vivid depth of experience and I find it more than somewhat offensive that humans (with a lowercase H) feel they are the penultimate organism. All is One in that existence, itself, tethers us all to everything and probably even beyond, and so to be so hubristic and arrogant as to assume a hierarchy so convieñantly crested by mere **** Sapiens Sapiens* seems to me to be an anthrocentric and narcissistic projection of that meddlesome ages-old archetype of the "Ego," that is to say "God," whatthefuckever that means! Find it in thyself to be humble enough to accept that each and every iota of "Creation" is, by virtue of association, equally sacred; divine. Heirarchy, thus, seems to be a manifestation of some desire for order; control; a yearning to alleviate some hypothetical insecurity as a result of being essentially "absolute, infinite" (vis-a-vis the domain of Consciousness) yet contained within a vessel that is mortal, and, thus, ephimeral. The Ego doth so loathe it's own limitations: too bad it's far too arrogant to realize that most of the limitations it experiences are illusions, allusions; charades of an insatiable Consciousness Hell-bent on experiencing something it won't redily allow itself to experience! What a Holy fuckton of incredulous, ineffable, impalpable, inspirational **** that would be, eh?! (insert interrobang) I am me (I think...) as thou art thee; so why can't that just be good enough? Could it be? What obstruction precludes such harmonious divergence? I reckon 't'is but us; and very little else, indeed!
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85
to buy a book at half-ten with no time wasting. go back, await instructions ‘cause ****** will have their trinkets, with novelty of accented voice. and i once would talk often of a love – let’s separate that word from ***** often of a love, but am rare to fall to elaboration. and through contemplation the soul may ascend to knowledge of the Form of the Good, penultimate object of Knowledge but not Knowledge. and often writ of this love, writ of what was to be then and never now. never to find affirmation in fleeting memory. oxymoronic oblate of the mind – this soul. attempting for attainment of Kenosis. shambling i wandered, rambling i wandered, and humbly wandering on to pluck till times and times are done. and the dogs of this life have re- moved dearest effects. in turn, sho- wing the vanity in materialism. end turn, showing futility in ret- ention and the sun's continuous gro- wth forcing abatement of winters’ vespers. cradling a gourd filled with oil from the skin of ages, to reflect micorocosms of preceived death. those silver apples of the moon. and when vespers return in color, when the ground aches tensing muscles. this love, if only the conjunctions had been denied. perhaps by abor- tion of if, then could have been a block for now. these times found oblate of memory by zealous self- truth of the wronged past, and humbled by skewed memory of the hermit on unseen path for Kenosis. unseen growth of those golden apples of the sun.
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May 15, 2013
May 15, 2013 at 10:05 PM UTC
5-amiss
This summer, I’ve thought a lot, About how I’m in a liminal standstill. The crossroads of life, Childhood to the left, and adulthood to the right. Which way do I go? I don’t have a choice. The only way to go, Is forward toward the void. I must go on, Listening to the songs that spark my envisioning, Imagination bleeds into reality. I must accept, That there’s never enough time, But that’s okay. I’ll water her flowers and try not to complain, Because she means the world to me. The singer and the lyricist, Moved on from their precipice, Perhaps I can do the same. I’ll rise, like a daisy, Even when the world is feeling hazy. I’ll remember what the Wendigo told me, And what I learned from Dracula’s kidnapping. It’s humbling to find, That I’m at the world’s whim as much as it’s at mine. Just a change in my paradigm. I’ll make sure I won’t be like Vain, Or like Russel, used for his brain. I’ll overcome my fear and drive, And leave my other fears behind. Acne won’t entrap me forever, There’s always another summer, Though the heatwaves might be a ****** I’m all in, Avoiding artificial interactions. I’ll try to see what they see, And overcome this anxiety. Oh, what thoughts can be stirred from a monochromatic shade of grey, But I’ll fight through the haze. I’ve seen, That the last summer of reprieve, Is as much of an ending, As it is a beginning.
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Sep 18, 2025
Sep 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM UTC
Penultimate
What an intriguing opportunity a trip to Rose Cottage, Sure sounds magical to me, It's not a woodland haven or a diminutive house by the shore, Came out from anaesthetist's trip, I drifted, in and out, A crazy dream it seemed, Woke in rose pink room, Thought I hadn't made it through, For in the land of work, A flip side of such a romantic image seen, Rose Cottage, delightful though it sounds is life's penultimate stop called mortuary, Before undertaking on one final trip, Final destination, last stop guaranteed! I wrote this as I left work after work and heard a porter discussing coming to take a patient to 'Rose Cottage'......It made me think....Hence writing this....and the anaesthetic bit is true...Freaked me out at the time!! Livvi ** By ladylivvi1 © 2013 ladylivvi1 (All rights reserved)
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Aug 17, 2013
Aug 17, 2013 at 1:58 PM UTC
Intrigue!
he sat bedside with his great grandmother stroking a hand laced with what he saw as tiny blue rivers, flowing from a thin wrist dammed by ancient knuckles boulders chiseled by eighty-four years he read from his book while Mommy dozed in the chair, and nurses squeaked in and out, all with half smiles he could not decipher, for Grammy was sick and when his mother was awake, she cried he hadn't seen her tears before; he tried not to look, preferring his book with its pictures of the sun, orbiting planets and mazy moons and spaces in between where heaven might hide he understood most of its words, and none were of heavens--unless noxious gasses and swirling clouds of dust were the winds which whipped through the pearly gates but his seven wise years knew that was not so when he turned to the page of the penultimate planet from the sun,YOU-ruh-nuss he discovered it took four score and four years to orbit our star once math's mystery may have eluded him though coincidence was not yet in his lexicon, and now he knew Grammy had her times around the sun, her eighty four equaling one for the great tilting Uranus
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Feb 14, 2017
Feb 14, 2017 at 11:54 PM UTC
a revolution of Uranus
Send me dead flowers... He wanted his tombstone to exhibit just the facts, Ma'am. No cherubs or platitudes, meaningless dates or military service. Only the really important stuff. Which toenail had the fungus. His endless dreams of falling. His penultimate decision about the imminent existence of God. How he became a hermit. Why bourbon was the best medicine. How, after 57 years, he found a voice. His two or three best puns. The virtues of solitude and celibacy. The best *** he ever had. Who really killed the Kennedy's. How he came to fear cassowaries. Just the things that really mattered. The things that actually made a life. This might require a billboard intsead of a tombstone. Little enough to ask for eternity.
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Mar 6, 2017
Mar 6, 2017 at 5:09 AM UTC
Tombstone Blues
Day taps away— In the numbering rains. All the fleet years, enveloped, How many questions were founded, What was granted by our solo vacations? We have trussed, only films, yellowed and bent ****** into an makeshift, unready, empty album, Dreams made right, journaled without strewn hands, Lips rung dry from want of heat, touch and caress, We kept our pride, penultimate, throughout All the days, longing, dying, we slept Together, in a broken bed of dreams And thought, when will this play Be glad? When will that isle Appear? Will it ever show Among the dark oceans Rise— to ferry us away Before the drunk sun Sinks in the sea?
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Feb 21, 2015
Feb 21, 2015 at 9:55 AM UTC
Devotions
Lilac, purple, or shades of mauve There's no defeating the color of the sky The hue Of loyalty Of expansiveness Of trust I lay my eyes On the ripples of the ocean On the color of the sea On the backdrop of clouds Triumphs the anger of red Gushes out green Yells at yellow And black gets dim The penultimate tint The top tincture With an undertone of sad And an overtone of hope It's the color The hue It blooms and pops inside my mind When I think of you It's the color The hue It's there When I go diving When I go running at the morning Whenever I awake and look at the windows Sometimes the windowsill Makes perfect frame For the beauty and grace that that color brings Like a mountain range cuddled up To look like waves Like the clouds running rampant Whenever the wind decides to rush And I get mad Because somehow, people link it To being sad It is not It does not bring sorrow It brings joy It does not bring melancholy It brings beatitude It brings beauty Like your eyes do Like your smile does And like your heart did to mine How can a color Be so potent So mighty That it has the ability To sway the human mind To pinch the human heart To lift the human soul How can a color A hue Do all these things? I do not know But that's alright Because sometimes wonders And things alike Cannot simply be explained Just like how magic tricks work; Known by many Understood by few And love, I want to be the only one That feels this way about blue
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Jan 29, 2018
Jan 29, 2018 at 4:50 PM UTC
A Monochromatic Love
they moved as they always have with stumbling scraping steps that gradually become less confused my first memory was their eyes pale, strangely large, filled with hunger, searching and their hair floating wild in the night echoing their desperate movements now I see them emerging from the fogs of memory their waving hands long fingered with nails like claws turning their heads from side to side seeking stumbling down the darkened passages tortured when they found the moon they scorned it rejected the pale ghost of the sun they wanted nothing less than the great furnaces of the skies Aldebaran, Deneb, Altair, Rigel, Alpha-Centari but they searched in tunnels far from the freedom of the night leading to false paradigms and delusional discoveries where they expected unrefuted clarity they exposed schemes and lies still they searched until their strength was almost done until, at the penultimate door in terror, they found themselves. From the Illustrated Zombies 2010
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Nov 6, 2011
Nov 6, 2011 at 3:34 AM UTC
Starhunters
It's funny, How we have The tendency To look upon each other And smother Our feelings and emotions Onto a designated Ragdoll, of sorts Who, in the aftermath Desires to dance To where the end Will justify Nothing, even The lines Marked throughout her arm [Which] signify Body and mind At a gradual downfall Demented thoughts Crashing, Like a waterfall During the world's end It's more than enough To bring upon A deluge Of volatile insanity That slowly grows 'Till it explodes And bestows Only more torture Until the penultimate Second, in which Her dance ends And she can only Lie motionless Breathless With a crimson line Marked on her neck Longer, deeper Giving birth to The sadness Coming from That realization: The end Couldn't possibly justify The actions she took Against none other Than Herself
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Jun 30, 2015
Jun 30, 2015 at 9:27 AM UTC
A Forlorn Ballad
You are the lighthouse on the shore of my heart, Spreading your rays into the walls of my art. Rising up, streaming down, crashing into your arm. Mesmerized by your smile, lost in your charm. As the long day ends and I ring the kaleidoscope reef, You provide me the best relief. You are the comfort to my storm-tossed soul, Just like the rim to my kohl. Your long, stretched, warm arms invite me into you, The only thing that has been pulling me through. The happiness you get when you make me smile, Oh boy, I still want to stare at your face for a long while. The days when your so shining bright light goes a bit off, My heart will be your penultimate quaff. You are the lighthouse on the shore of my heart, Spreading your rays, into the walls of my art.
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Sep 17, 2017
Sep 17, 2017 at 5:13 AM UTC
Lighthouse
as the squares charred, lying to my eyes that their matter was disintegrating, salted droplets eroded streams of regret that deepened my dusk and dulled my blaze. but it’s somewhat amusing isn’t it, that my own fleshy urn holds no shape as symmetrically sound as the squares that charred and lied. call out my name; let my ashes be the penultimate vibrations that echo as the squares squares squares grasped the twigs and tufts of amphibological debris, beckoning my eyes to glow ablaze. while the wisps of smoke escape the dancing radiance that crackled and cackled as the memories i was too burnt out to memorize, decomposed knowingly, deceiving my orbs that will indeed always forget the silently sleeping squares.
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Apr 16, 2015
Apr 16, 2015 at 1:05 PM UTC
polaroid
Both of those two That day brawled Sworn about the tolls "Reincarnation, We both shall be boys next life!" For then they could combat And he,finally could hit 'she' Who then be he Pleased ,said she: I shall reciprocate thee Laughed at it Both rolled giggling arms in arms Or heads on the beseated knees
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Feb 14, 2019
Feb 14, 2019 at 2:34 PM UTC
The penultimate laughter
i, night, hung about thy cheeks more splendored beams crisper and wholly brisk with wind than even winter could. i stroked about the penultimate hour of your face the little and stranger carelessly perfect lips of my face and drinking so stilly the sky is abrupt with normally clothed stars; **** and playfully abundant. i lay my heart with thee and i am increased. i lay hands with thee and i am between the velour of your not-covered thighs making, with you, an errant child like Demeter and Poseidon (who hangs his restless skin upon the nape of the coiled neon streets. hinted at his edges just; the circlet of the bay, i wander in thee night.)
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Feb 24, 2012
Feb 24, 2012 at 1:35 AM UTC
Untitled