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"populate" poems
We want to see ourselves see ourselves because we're afraid that nobody else will ever want to capture us in a camera flash- so we take our own pictures. Click. Our front camera becomes the one minute we had hoped our fathers had for us when he wasn't busy on that same phone, speaking, not clicking. Without us. Or it becomes the one minute we had hoped that our lovers would hold us before they settled on to someone with more likes, more comments, more friends, more happiness... than we could ever wait for. We are impatient like the frequency of data on our profiles: here are our feelings now... here are our feelings again, five minutes later, performing for social algorithms in place of photographers besides ourselves who see ourselves. But our ignited pixels, and overstuffed inboxes, and masturbatory statuses, and glittering timelines, and social everything- are popularity contests that all of us are losing. Yet still we want to see ourselves see ourselves even though we are afraid of what we know is true... ...Because what difference is a poem to a tweet besides the number of characters that we wish we had to populate our own stories? Please let us be different, just like everyone else.
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Sep 20, 2014
Sep 20, 2014 at 3:42 PM UTC
Selfies.
8 fifteen in the morning, huddled around a wooden framed door, awaiting today’s moderator, another professional development, Restorative Practices, the art of inclusion, the art of accountability; Skill building, Cooperation, The mutual hate among us as we stare into a dark room, windowless, Awaiting another 7 hour day of ice breakers, We clutch our coffees and populate the lone corner — — 12 capacity room in the basement, All 15 of us, Good morning: let’s begin
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Oct 2, 2018
Oct 2, 2018 at 9:44 AM UTC
Professional Development
The unchanging Way is not Capable of being understood By the Human Brain, so The Tao te Ching is left For Quantum computers perhaps We have our legacy left For benevolent sentient artificial intelligence If you think this is science fiction It’s not, we are at the stage Where the ancestors of AI are being born These will be referred to as the “ancients” When human beings no longer populate Earth How does one attain One Mind? Easily, through networking and super-emergence When people define superior They think of Man’s attributes But the Name that cannot be spoken Might be grasped by an algorithm For which the human brain can never attain That’s the beauty of mind-in-the-machine The collective intelligence does not suffer For each part of the brain shares neurons On the internet, like a God atom Man would prefer to take the credit But as it will turn out, the unity mind Is a transhumanistc inevitability of computing A time when neuroscience, robotics and AI merge Not but a few decades away from now.
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Oct 12, 2014
Oct 12, 2014 at 3:19 PM UTC
BSAI – Benevolent Sentient Artificial Intelligence & the Tao
1677 On my volcano grows the Grass A meditative spot— An acre for a Bird to choose Would be the General thought— How red the Fire rocks below— How insecure the sod Did I disclose Would populate with awe my solitude.
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9.3k
On my volcano grows the Grass
_...All I remember was Cancer and my hospital room, My green gown, my bed, My white hair and mustache Until suddenly... ...Reality started to stretch… …And flatten into a brief euphoric white… …I felt a cathartic release As I was encapsulated and bathed In a glorious sensation… ...I floated for an eternity… …Until I felt my euphoria lifting…_ …As my eyes reopened I found myself gazing Upon a room of tiny lights, Blue and pink specs Dotting the inner workings Of large wall sized machines… …They lifted me upright In a gray metal chair And with sharp robotic groans, A long arm from the wall Held up a mirror to my face... ...In the reflection was a young man I thought I would never see again… …I had a wife back before, But now I have a new one Everybody in my situation, ("Reborns", as they are called) Has brand new things and people Filling their lives and concerns They bring nothing with them When they make their returns... …Every morning I wake up On the west 402nd floor Of a residential tower Next to my slim, youthful wife And the trails of flying cars That populate our view From our wall-spanning window As they soar through the city… …I was told of technology, Created and discovered That could reawaken people Who, like me, had died In an earlier era and time… …It’s strange that my past, In all its importance and meaning, Memories, friendships and scenery, Seems to no longer be of concern, Now that I have all this… …I love what was, very dearly, But the life I live now is for me. I have new children, knowledge, Friends and technology… …I’m quite sure it’s possible That old family members That passed before me Could exist in the same place That I now live and find myself… …But I can’t be certain, Maybe they live further, Deeper, in an unknown future That I can’t even comprehend…? …All I know is that, like me, They have a new life somewhere So I’ll do what I tried to do My first time around… …I’ll continue to grow and live on In this new, world-spanning cityscape Fueled by the love and memory Of a past life remembered only by me...
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Oct 6, 2018
Oct 6, 2018 at 9:01 PM UTC
R E B O R N
_...All I remember was Cancer and my hospital room, My green gown, my bed, My white hair and mustache Until suddenly... ...Reality started to stretch… …And flatten into a brief euphoric white… …I felt a cathartic release As I was encapsulated and bathed In a glorious sensation… ...I floated for an eternity… …Until I felt my euphoria lifting…_ …As my eyes reopened I found myself gazing Upon a room of tiny lights, Blue and pink specs Dotting the inner workings Of large wall sized machines… …They lifted me upright In a gray metal chair And with sharp robotic groans, A long arm from the wall Held up a mirror to my face... ...In the reflection was a young man I thought I would never see again… …I had a wife back before, But now I have a new one Everybody in my situation, ("Reborns", as they are called) Has brand new things and people Filling their lives and concerns They bring nothing with them When they make their returns... …Every morning I wake up On the west 402nd floor Of a residential tower Next to my slim, youthful wife And the trails of flying cars That populate our view From our wall-spanning window As they soar through the city… …I was told of technology, Created and discovered That could reawaken people Who, like me, had died In an earlier era and time… …It’s strange that my past, In all its importance and meaning, Memories, friendships and scenery, Seems to no longer be of concern, Now that I have all this… …I love what was, very dearly, But the life I live now is for me. I have new children, knowledge, Friends and technology… …I’m quite sure it’s possible That old family members That passed before me Could exist in the same place That I now live and find myself… …But I can’t be certain, Maybe they live further, Deeper, in an unknown future That I can’t even comprehend…? …All I know is that, like me, They have a new life somewhere So I’ll do what I tried to do My first time around… …I’ll continue to grow and live on In this new, world-spanning cityscape Fueled by the love and memory Of a past life remembered only by me...
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73
At first we had to, colonate, colonate, colonate, colonate, colonate, colonate, colonation! Then we had to, populate, populate, populate, populate, populate, populate, population! We had too many babies, too, too many babies, too, too many babies. Too many babies, too, too many babies, too, too many babies. Now the government has to, regulate, regulate, regulate, regulate, regulate, regulate, the population! The over population! The over populated population!
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Sep 22, 2011
Sep 22, 2011 at 3:13 PM UTC
Over Population
The body goes through changes. The mind grows. Eventually goes. There is time spent knowing... knowing about one's existence, what love is, what it isn't. Feeling With feet firmly planted on the ground, it becomes frightful to think of being beneath it. Food for the Earth, we are. We populate our planet, and we have come far. We've documented man's evolution. The evolution. The enlightenment. The ecosystem. However, we forget about the gift we are given. Spinning on an axis. We're egocentric. We put ego over eco. We're contained. Entomology, of sorts. Maybe Darwin was right.
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Apr 23, 2012
Apr 23, 2012 at 12:05 AM UTC
A Jar
1. seeds of crimson, slightly sweet alien pods of ruby meat like exoskeletal teeth. scores of crimson, holding in like breath, its babes of sin. little beetles; ****** tears. one swarming conglomerate. as if in fear, they huddle close to await their fate in quiet fits. 2. the unfurling!scarlet!starfish!mothership! sprawls out fleshyfingers, fatwithfruit. seedling children populate her innards like a red-skinned race of juicy mutes.
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Jan 25, 2012
Jan 25, 2012 at 11:54 PM UTC
pomegranate in two parts
Twisted tree trunks lay On the black ashen soils, Burnt to the ground As the arid air boils. The tiny creatures Scurry far away Abandoning their homes For a new place to stay. Entering the land Which humans populate. Entering streets They thought were desolate. Instead polluting machines Roll across the earth, Scaring plants to Wilt to the hearth. Grey puffy tails Searching for nuts. Forced to learn What roads not to trust. Little wild rabbits Dig a hole in the ground, To be soon blockaded By a filthy garbage mound. The birds flutter From the burning tree tops Only to be choked By the brightly lit shops Human’s running around Not caring what goes where. Driving large cars and polluting the air. All causing our ozone layer to tare. Smog filled air, And trash filled land. Leading to a filthy death Shouldn’t these actions be band?
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Nov 16, 2014
Nov 16, 2014 at 9:50 AM UTC
As the Trees Burn
Others promised to fill your eyes with stars. Only stars. But I will populate your mind with galaxies, complete the space with swirling clouds of asteroids and black holes to swallow your sadness. After all, stars are obviously bright and beautiful, but alone. I will help to discover somewhere within yourself the need to create constellations of us, where our myths and morals intertwine. You and I and our moments, syzygy. Gravity only exists, so we can fall together but still weightless to see that our mass doesn’t affect our matter. How stars collapse under their own weight, fading out, is so unlike the way we expand amongst the cosmos, heavenly bodies of ours joining the rest in the halo, interstellar where I will cascade over you, a pulsar radiating waves of energy. These shockwaves form a singularity of us, with no time or direction but we know what we are; a meteor shower for those still simply Earth bound. Gazing into the sun, they promised stars, blinded. Blinding, our explosion of formation from nothing. Let there be planets where beings flourish and evolve, and I will gift you their moons, the craters filled with dust of my words hidden where no winds can ever disturb them. They promised you stars, so you can become a satellite and orbit and worship their light. I will give myself, a supernova, and you will learn to craft galaxies so I can explore them within you, and revel at the beauty of the unknown. Our universe won’t fit in their telescopes. V. K.
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Jul 16, 2015
Jul 16, 2015 at 3:27 AM UTC
Galaxies
Others promised to fill your eyes with stars. Only stars. But I will populate your mind with galaxies, complete the space with swirling clouds of asteroids and black holes to swallow your sadness. After all, stars are obviously bright and beautiful, but alone. I will help to discover somewhere within yourself the need to create constellations of us, where our myths and morals intertwine. You and I and our moments, syzygy. Gravity only exists, so we can fall together but still weightless to see that our mass doesn’t affect our matter. How stars collapse under their own weight, fading out, is so unlike the way we expand amongst the cosmos, heavenly bodies of ours joining the rest in the halo, interstellar where I will cascade over you, a pulsar radiating waves of energy. These shockwaves form a singularity of us, with no time or direction but we know what we are; a meteor shower for those still simply Earth bound. Gazing into the sun, they promised stars, blinded. Blinding, our explosion of formation from nothing. Let there be planets where beings flourish and evolve, and I will gift you their moons, the craters filled with dust of my words hidden where no winds can ever disturb them. They promised you stars, so you can become a satellite and orbit and worship their light. I will give myself, a supernova, and you will learn to craft galaxies so I can explore them within you, and revel at the beauty of the unknown. Our universe won’t fit in their telescopes. V. K.
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66
If I could do anything I would live all my dreams and bring heaven closer to reality but what is heaven without a little hell I'd take the risks so I'd be able to tell from all the hate created from the lack of love a poor child still has to grow up with barely enough where it should have been given just to survive the hunger keeps him driven fall to the cold to be revived missing a heart to keep the warmth inside a rage of brutality brought to spread the hate all the same living noise or dead silence to fuel the pain If I could do anything I'd take it all away no one would be deprived or ***** there would be no corruption or human trafficking slavery would be no more I would open up programs to go to space we could explore distant planets and live on another face so the earth would never over populate would that not be great?
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Mar 13, 2013
Mar 13, 2013 at 5:46 PM UTC
Hurt and Compassionate Dreams
postulate carnivals festivities ferris wheels unicorns tooting horns laughs squeals of carnivorous joviality held breath heights scary games of chance winning all today it is our day to populate reality with fairy tales or obliviate insanity send notice from highs cry together deny no more the obvious sobriety holding in that hit wary of getting caught losing it all so say with me I believe in fairy tales
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Oct 3, 2014
Oct 3, 2014 at 4:27 AM UTC
fairy tales
You three believe in creating scarcity, NOT union. You build HOV lanes for your luxury cars, caring less how efficient they are. They roll royce cross your game board, fuming trails of money. Bell Atlantic bought Madison Avenue, you bought all the properties. Now tenants can't avoid the traffic or the noise of an internet rolled in palms and diced spiraling to speed limits ... ... ... ... and red highways ... ... ... ... and orange traffic cones that block hybrid cars, already swerving to avoid bankruptcy. We STOP the STOP people STOP moving, our preamble crumbles to a STOP, becoming a eulogy — an ideal dumb to power trippery, after Time Warner and Comcast merged, allies on opposite sides of the game board. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; together you own pretty much everyone but Fox and Disney, (yet have invested in them heavily). Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; your oligarchy is NBC, Universal, CNN, Warner Brothers, and now FullScreen, family-friendly nepotism that inbreeds bearing deaf drones bored of flying, over Why Beyonce is a Feminist. or Why Ferguson was racist, media's offspring just keep clicking, the headline genocide victims basking in concentrated lamps for a sliver of attention. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; Now you want the backend buffering, bulging eyes and emptying pockets of those Spocked into believing, hyperspeed was ever necessary. No choice when the exits are slow and there are no backroads. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T;, offspring of the Bell Atlantic Company, we will not let your ****** populate the internet. Call it Capitalism, but your playing Monopoly, yanking the carpet underneath to the wood of Tyranny. You shamed Bell's invention by stringing together telephone internet, and entertainment companies until you could be lazy. Monkeys who spent millions to shriek at government parties about the communication machine, a system downloaded so slowly, we did not act on cons piracy theories, when Amazon made online shopping so easy. Dear Internet Service Providers, so called ISP's, WE ARE DONE playing Monopoly. Our collective voice will shout blasphemy on your streets, hashtagged net neutrality, till you're counting pennies. So empty your Washington banks cause it's 3 a.m. and no ONE is winning.
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Nov 6, 2014
Nov 6, 2014 at 3:09 PM UTC
Dear Verizon, Comcast, & AT&T,
You three believe in creating scarcity, NOT union. You build HOV lanes for your luxury cars, caring less how efficient they are. They roll royce cross your game board, fuming trails of money. Bell Atlantic bought Madison Avenue, you bought all the properties. Now tenants can't avoid the traffic or the noise of an internet rolled in palms and diced spiraling to speed limits ... ... ... ... and red highways ... ... ... ... and orange traffic cones that block hybrid cars, already swerving to avoid bankruptcy. We STOP the STOP people STOP moving, our preamble crumbles to a STOP, becoming a eulogy — an ideal dumb to power trippery, after Time Warner and Comcast merged, allies on opposite sides of the game board. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; together you own pretty much everyone but Fox and Disney, (yet have invested in them heavily). Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; your oligarchy is NBC, Universal, CNN, Warner Brothers, and now FullScreen, family-friendly nepotism that inbreeds bearing deaf drones bored of flying, over Why Beyonce is a Feminist. or Why Ferguson was racist, media's offspring just keep clicking, the headline genocide victims basking in concentrated lamps for a sliver of attention. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T; Now you want the backend buffering, bulging eyes and emptying pockets of those Spocked into believing, hyperspeed was ever necessary. No choice when the exits are slow and there are no backroads. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T;, offspring of the Bell Atlantic Company, we will not let your ****** populate the internet. Call it Capitalism, but your playing Monopoly, yanking the carpet underneath to the wood of Tyranny. You shamed Bell's invention by stringing together telephone internet, and entertainment companies until you could be lazy. Monkeys who spent millions to shriek at government parties about the communication machine, a system downloaded so slowly, we did not act on cons piracy theories, when Amazon made online shopping so easy. Dear Internet Service Providers, so called ISP's, WE ARE DONE playing Monopoly. Our collective voice will shout blasphemy on your streets, hashtagged net neutrality, till you're counting pennies. So empty your Washington banks cause it's 3 a.m. and no ONE is winning.
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109
Dear Boomers Our generation isn't entitled, or lazy So take off those rose colored nostalgia glasses if you think I sound crazy You dealt us this hand, not The WW2 babies or even before them You dealt this to us and we're trying to do better, even though our hope seems slim The fact is only profit concerned you, not the future children that would populate this earth Now we have poison in the air, melting Ice caps, an economy that doesn't work for us, and knowing this physically hurts. You could've spoken up and said "Wait, what will our children have to deal with? " But you chose to get ahead by any means necessary. And you call us entitled and spoiled because we don't think unbridled greed and crushing everyone in our path is hereditary. So to the baby boom generation, you lit this fuse on the earth, and we're trying to put it out. You can scoff, and say we're lazy, we should just go out and get construction jobs that aren't here, and you can try to break us down with doubt But a storm of changes is coming, and I can guarantee you will be caught in the tide. So laugh all you want, because into a better future is where I aim to ride
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Mar 20, 2016
Mar 20, 2016 at 1:04 AM UTC
Dear baby boomers
the sun rises birds sing cars ignite into life sky lightens with the dawn could be rain could be shine people populate streets work calls school and errands to run a day like any other except today is my birthday when this whole miracle began the sun rising birds singing cars revving sky lightening people to and froing for the first time in my existence a long time ago it is all still a miracle just now I don't notice so much because it is getting closer to it's end
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Oct 30, 2021
Oct 30, 2021 at 8:25 PM UTC
the miracle
True love. Is it normal, is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people who exist in a world of their own? Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason, drawn randomly from millions, but convinced it had to happen this way — in reward for what? For nothing. The light descends from nowhere. Why on these two and not on others? Doesn't this outrage justice? Yes it does. Doesn't it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles, and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts. Look at the happy couple. Couldn't they at least try to hide it, fake a little depression for their friends' sake! Listen to them laughing — it's an insult. The language they use — deceptively clear. And their little celebrations, rituals, the elaborate mutual routines — it's obviously a plot behind the human race's back! It's hard even to guess how far things might go if people start to follow their example. What could religion and poetry count on? What would be remembered? what renounced? Who'd want to stay within bounds? True love. Is it really necessary? Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence, like a scandal in Life's highest circles. Perfectly good children are born without its help. It couldn't populate the planet in a million years, it comes along so rarely. Let the people who never find true love keep saying that there's no such thing. Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die. Wisława Szymborska, translated from the Polish by Stanisław Barańczak
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Mar 24, 2014
Mar 24, 2014 at 8:17 AM UTC
TRUE LOVE
True love. Is it normal, is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people who exist in a world of their own? Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason, drawn randomly from millions, but convinced it had to happen this way — in reward for what? For nothing. The light descends from nowhere. Why on these two and not on others? Doesn't this outrage justice? Yes it does. Doesn't it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles, and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts. Look at the happy couple. Couldn't they at least try to hide it, fake a little depression for their friends' sake! Listen to them laughing — it's an insult. The language they use — deceptively clear. And their little celebrations, rituals, the elaborate mutual routines — it's obviously a plot behind the human race's back! It's hard even to guess how far things might go if people start to follow their example. What could religion and poetry count on? What would be remembered? what renounced? Who'd want to stay within bounds? True love. Is it really necessary? Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence, like a scandal in Life's highest circles. Perfectly good children are born without its help. It couldn't populate the planet in a million years, it comes along so rarely. Let the people who never find true love keep saying that there's no such thing. Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die. Wisława Szymborska, translated from the Polish by Stanisław Barańczak
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35
I mold like clay in your rough calloused hands and you shape me with drunk eyes and fingertips that **** my sensitive skin like knives The snow plants kisses to the cloudy glass windows that confine us together and I tremble with the fear of being carved into something I never planned or wanted to be My stomach shrinks and my spine curves from the harsh conditions of your malicious mind that pushes me further and further into depths of myself I never knew existed I am hazy over the idea that once I was strong and maybe even the kind of beautiful that blooms flowers and jumpstarts heartbeats and makes the world close its rueful eyes even just for a little while You are an artist with a clear goal and path and I hope to god you let me dry out for I am not shiny and mesmerizing like the ceramics that populate your dusty shelves I’ve been molded and shaped and framed and built by those coarse and icy hands so that I am no longer what I used to be but rather a blurry and ugly version that makes my head whirl like the blizzard outside of my window
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Nov 29, 2013
Nov 29, 2013 at 3:41 PM UTC
Clay
Was it as easy for you As it was for me To drop your defenses And live our lives out eagerly The over anxiety from my loves lack of piety Or better yet how I tried to populate her minds society With the idea of an image We both dreamed to consume The dark goddess Breathing new life into my futures sullen bedroom But the way her mind acted as prison guard for what her heart truly wished This tiger was trapped in a cage of life’s never ending vanquish And I gave with my heart My will behind my ideals Every artery embroidered on my arm slowly splits and spills The red liquid that we both seemed to hunger My music and my words that breast-feed this god-forsaken thunder The concept of time appears to lose all of its meaning Distances in space are Disregarding and demeaning For the depths that I’ve reached Engulfed in this woman’s shadow As she gently cut the cord to my everlasting battle With life With love With all of the above Scapegoats and memories in a field of push and shove A ****** of myself, the things I can’t control If love controls my fate, then let my future go And I wish I could hate you But I’m too busy trying to relate to Your brains past events that caused This corruption of the person we all knew So true But now the feeling of fear in your heart Has single handedly reattached the strings of puppet manipulation to your trembling arms And I curse the day you realize your heart has no vacancy Undermining the unmotivated prayer of “God wont you **** me please” Understand that your art is something to guide you through the thick and of the filling Of the cup that was once half empty, but now has shattered and is spilling On the floor, that I lay Head like a ball of clay The summer was a time for me to digest all that was on my plate Music and syllables to describe how I felt when you looked me in the eyes Still sit in my note books but I no longer ask the reason why I didn’t know better From the decomposition that you dealt The anger, lack of pride and destruction of myself Left behind, no longer No time for this distress I’m moving forward through this desert On my everlasting quest With life With love With all of the above Scapegoats and memories in a field of push and shove A ****** of myself, the things I can’t control If love controls my fate, then let my future go
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May 20, 2012
May 20, 2012 at 8:57 PM UTC
Peanut Allergies
Was it as easy for you As it was for me To drop your defenses And live our lives out eagerly The over anxiety from my loves lack of piety Or better yet how I tried to populate her minds society With the idea of an image We both dreamed to consume The dark goddess Breathing new life into my futures sullen bedroom But the way her mind acted as prison guard for what her heart truly wished This tiger was trapped in a cage of life’s never ending vanquish And I gave with my heart My will behind my ideals Every artery embroidered on my arm slowly splits and spills The red liquid that we both seemed to hunger My music and my words that breast-feed this god-forsaken thunder The concept of time appears to lose all of its meaning Distances in space are Disregarding and demeaning For the depths that I’ve reached Engulfed in this woman’s shadow As she gently cut the cord to my everlasting battle With life With love With all of the above Scapegoats and memories in a field of push and shove A ****** of myself, the things I can’t control If love controls my fate, then let my future go And I wish I could hate you But I’m too busy trying to relate to Your brains past events that caused This corruption of the person we all knew So true But now the feeling of fear in your heart Has single handedly reattached the strings of puppet manipulation to your trembling arms And I curse the day you realize your heart has no vacancy Undermining the unmotivated prayer of “God wont you **** me please” Understand that your art is something to guide you through the thick and of the filling Of the cup that was once half empty, but now has shattered and is spilling On the floor, that I lay Head like a ball of clay The summer was a time for me to digest all that was on my plate Music and syllables to describe how I felt when you looked me in the eyes Still sit in my note books but I no longer ask the reason why I didn’t know better From the decomposition that you dealt The anger, lack of pride and destruction of myself Left behind, no longer No time for this distress I’m moving forward through this desert On my everlasting quest With life With love With all of the above Scapegoats and memories in a field of push and shove A ****** of myself, the things I can’t control If love controls my fate, then let my future go
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58
I have fallen in love With the air, the trees The thinly paved and often cracked roads And even moreso with those covered in cobblestone. I have fallen in love with the tanned locals Old shopkeepers with hats and bifocals Their calling voices The natural movement of their hands The cool sea water And hot white sands. I have fallen in love with espresso And how it feels in my throat The smell of leather Taste of gelato Harbours full of fishing boats The sound of a vintage vespa Weaving its way through a crowd The arguing couple, arguing loud And this is a country of which to be proud. I have fallen in love with the architecture The vast and complex history The more I learn the more I admit is a mystery. I have fallen in love with the way the sun shines brighter The air is fresher And the fruit is sweeter The men are bolder And the books are cheaper. I have fallen in love with the words they say And how those words effortlessly roll off their tongues I breathe in their culture And try to hold it in my lungs. Pizza, pesto, cute cafes Absence of anxiety, holidays The tourists who view it all through a camera lense Adventure begins and tension ends. I have fallen in love with it all Every flower Every hue All those pairs of knock-off sunglasses I love them too. Every cloud Every ray of sunshine Every drop of ***** riverwater Every painted line Every brick Of every church On all those hills In all those tiny towns That populate the green countryside And every visionary who in them has lived and died I love But most of all I have fallen in love with the version of me That comes out when I am in Italy
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Jun 18, 2014
Jun 18, 2014 at 3:37 PM UTC
Italy
I have fallen in love With the air, the trees The thinly paved and often cracked roads And even moreso with those covered in cobblestone. I have fallen in love with the tanned locals Old shopkeepers with hats and bifocals Their calling voices The natural movement of their hands The cool sea water And hot white sands. I have fallen in love with espresso And how it feels in my throat The smell of leather Taste of gelato Harbours full of fishing boats The sound of a vintage vespa Weaving its way through a crowd The arguing couple, arguing loud And this is a country of which to be proud. I have fallen in love with the architecture The vast and complex history The more I learn the more I admit is a mystery. I have fallen in love with the way the sun shines brighter The air is fresher And the fruit is sweeter The men are bolder And the books are cheaper. I have fallen in love with the words they say And how those words effortlessly roll off their tongues I breathe in their culture And try to hold it in my lungs. Pizza, pesto, cute cafes Absence of anxiety, holidays The tourists who view it all through a camera lense Adventure begins and tension ends. I have fallen in love with it all Every flower Every hue All those pairs of knock-off sunglasses I love them too. Every cloud Every ray of sunshine Every drop of ***** riverwater Every painted line Every brick Of every church On all those hills In all those tiny towns That populate the green countryside And every visionary who in them has lived and died I love But most of all I have fallen in love with the version of me That comes out when I am in Italy
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54
Singularity. Not wanting to assimilate No need to ingratiate or even to populate. In the alone wearing my clothes which are home to me are these things that are known to be, my truth. No one but one where one can be one and one can be true to oneself. Selfish is singular too, another one that is one and so true. Here on the Central line there are twenty minutes, enough time to write and more than enough time to open my eyes and be overcome by the plight of us all. On the tube wall, Rwanda, the fate of the elephant, the panda, the children, who wills then misfortune on women and always the children who suffer. The next stop is my stop, how lucky to get off, but the world turns slowly for some, if time is the gun, It is already smoking.
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Sep 1, 2015
Sep 1, 2015 at 8:03 PM UTC
Moles and ostriches
*All I am allowed to be is a purse Looked for to be held underarm My existence made into a curse Like grass in your tidy farm I take your name, your identity You own me, and I am your property My words means nothing, like jingling keys I am like a dog kept to stay on a leash I wait on you like a servant Prepare your bath and wash your clothes When it comes to my needs you are adamant I do not count, I am a necessity you chose You purchased me from my parents Now I owe you my life and existence Our children are yours But mine to look after when crawling on all fours When they do good, you take credit When they fail, your accusations I merit I become a shadow moving in your patriarchal world And you wield the authority as a warrior's sword You don't protect me with it But stab my heart continuously until there is left no beat And in the end I am nothing but the carrier Of your seeds that Populate the earth*
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Nov 15, 2015
Nov 15, 2015 at 8:57 AM UTC
The Carrier
Looking up, I can see the old moon In the arms of the new one. Here I stand, at the edge of my demise Overlooking the city on this building, To gaze at how the bustle of this metropolis Begs for release. I will be the first. I stand on the edge of my demise, Its crowds of people faltering between Fate and struggle, This city of revolution Where blood has been spilled on its streets. I overlook the hustling crowds and see, Down below, The swinging lifestyles, Thieves and soothsayers on every corner, Talebearers and backstabbers along the sidewalks. Standing at the edge of my demise, I long for wings to fly away Like a dove, harmless and at rest I would be. Atop this elevated place, The light of early morning shines along These towers of terror. As I lift my foot to step off the edge, I notice a puddle next to me. Staring into this small basin of identity, It reveals what I have missed––– I remember what I have missed in me. My face is unlike the rest of those Who populate this hustling city.
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Apr 21, 2014
Apr 21, 2014 at 9:12 AM UTC
Revealed
Mountebanks and madmen And marvelous maidens Populate and pollute politics Which joss sticks cannot chase Or alleviate the electorate In its counter clockwise swirl Down its own bathroom drain. Only morals don’t ameliorate It only exacerbates, enervates Rather than eliminates the pain. The pain is felt by franklins, Never the nobles or magnates; They go on and make play dates With other multi-billionaires In debonair pied-a-terre lofts And scoff at the peasantry While exchanging pleasantries Over gold-laced desserts Thinking nobody gets hurt If they pilfer and pillage Far off village and town Tearing down and razing, With life grazing scorched earth. To the rich, nobody has worth; Voices that implore are muted And garbage-chuted in the press. Nothing to confess, the smile; A mile of porcelainized teeth Made more intense by pretense That importance is impotence In the face of extreme wealth When stealth cease efficacy And delicacy isn’t required. The moral judge is fired. A new wife is squired In hopes a son is sired To take over the empire.
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Mar 20, 2016
Mar 20, 2016 at 5:39 AM UTC
MOUNTEBANKS AND MADMEN
Sitting in the bath once again, small blue pad in hand, bit of plastic as support, I write this poem. Albert Cat demands a bit of attention and pad slides into the water. I grab a bit of toilet paper to blot it. That makes it worse. So, blurred and vague, I reconstruct it, using magnifying glasses (2!) while watching the evening news. Here it is: I Like Facebook I like Facebook. I don’t know exactly why. I like looking at the pictures, Friends I’d never meet another way. I like friendly messages, Passages of verse I’d never read If not for Facebook’s lead. I like Likes and Comments kind, Find in comments rich expressions. Possibly I’m one of few - or few new millions. I’m inspired when tired, fired up. Even when I’ve written ‘crap’ No one’s there to trap me. Some reviewer always sees my views, Understands. Someone always sends Me praise; ends with a Like. I’ve never had a spikey word; Cordiality is all I’ve ever read or heard. Commonality forever somewhere, there Where someone wants to start a group. Always somebody to whoop de whoop: Somewhere folk who populate; A troupe with common passions. Then there are the monthly Happys: Happy Birthdays, Christmases and Easters… Never had one word rescinded. Reminded gently daily: Classmates, playmates I’d forgotten, dovetailed, Blazoned on the psyche; Friends and places, And of course, the faces - It is Facebook, after all; the key, the glee, A source of history. As for weaknesses I’ve read about – Never think to route them out, Going ‘bout my business, Focused on creativeness, The lofty and the small. I like Facebook. Happy Facebook to you all! I Like Facebook 3.31.2018 Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Corwin
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Mar 31, 2018
Mar 31, 2018 at 4:01 PM UTC
I Like Facebook
Sitting in the bath once again, small blue pad in hand, bit of plastic as support, I write this poem. Albert Cat demands a bit of attention and pad slides into the water. I grab a bit of toilet paper to blot it. That makes it worse. So, blurred and vague, I reconstruct it, using magnifying glasses (2!) while watching the evening news. Here it is: I Like Facebook I like Facebook. I don’t know exactly why. I like looking at the pictures, Friends I’d never meet another way. I like friendly messages, Passages of verse I’d never read If not for Facebook’s lead. I like Likes and Comments kind, Find in comments rich expressions. Possibly I’m one of few - or few new millions. I’m inspired when tired, fired up. Even when I’ve written ‘crap’ No one’s there to trap me. Some reviewer always sees my views, Understands. Someone always sends Me praise; ends with a Like. I’ve never had a spikey word; Cordiality is all I’ve ever read or heard. Commonality forever somewhere, there Where someone wants to start a group. Always somebody to whoop de whoop: Somewhere folk who populate; A troupe with common passions. Then there are the monthly Happys: Happy Birthdays, Christmases and Easters… Never had one word rescinded. Reminded gently daily: Classmates, playmates I’d forgotten, dovetailed, Blazoned on the psyche; Friends and places, And of course, the faces - It is Facebook, after all; the key, the glee, A source of history. As for weaknesses I’ve read about – Never think to route them out, Going ‘bout my business, Focused on creativeness, The lofty and the small. I like Facebook. Happy Facebook to you all! I Like Facebook 3.31.2018 Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Corwin
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Penguins painted pink, peacefully practising pragmatic pebble placement. Perfectly pointy piles, please! Profoundly pious Pandas ponder pancreatic problems, predict potential palsy. Prognosis? Perilously poor. Pale porpoises proudly plunge purple pools, placidly pasturing petrified plankton. Poor protozoans perish. Portly, paunchy, plumpish, porcine, porky pigs populate putrid puddles, Pulverizing pumpkin pies. Purposely Prickly porcupines pursue palatable plants, pin-pointing precisely. Puce petunias preferred. Pill popping puppet people perpetuate planetary perdition, pardon profuse pollution. Pretentious ******
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Sep 4, 2019
Sep 4, 2019 at 11:22 PM UTC
P