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"restrooms" poems
There is a Threat Outside of bed. Beyond amber red Sunsets People of the night Come out. Awaken by the smell Of repugnant restrooms And ***** Last memory of The inside of A toilet. Brought alive by the frightening sunrise. Blinding all who hid.
0
Oct 13, 2014
Oct 13, 2014 at 11:34 PM UTC
Saturday Night Illness
her silent monologue inside the cage of her mind leaves fleeting expressions catapulting across her vacant face like a strange circus act the pasty face clowns in silent repetition weakly grin as they grind through the dance the lovely high wire girls seeking the perfect tuck and roll her expressions move through this deranged carnival of the mad again and again never releasing its warped players to the solace of privacy's ease over and over they dance and roll her lips stumble through misbegotten phrases ten word haiku's written by the voices in her mind written in lipstick on the mirrors of gas station restrooms and truck stop shower stalls haiku's of loves desperado warring against loneliness the heart dose not actually make a sound when it breaks her hearts deeper waters like tidal pools in moonlight the surface reflects the beautiful sky above but in its cool depths other things live some have no name her silent monologue slows and fades away the exhausted clowns of her madness laughter crawling to lay their pasty white faces in reflection of sleep the high wire girls to dressing rooms where they moan for long departed heroic villains who were last seen folding up diabolical schemes and her silverware and making for the sun coast where you can find them on beaches of paradise sipping cool water under a neon moon she slips into slumber and dreams sweetly of all these players in her silent minds story she loves her madness as she loves the rain
0
Jul 24, 2014
Jul 24, 2014 at 2:29 PM UTC
haiku's of a madwomans mind
My grade school burned down twice. Once in the 1930's then again  in the 50's. They rebuilt, there were two large black and white framed photographs of the school houses before both fires hanging in the main hallway. At some point in the reconstruction someone had decided on two boys restrooms. The one at ground level was always clean. There were small white tiles and fresh blue paint. It always smelled like pine cleaner, never ran out of paper towels. There was always sweet smelling liquid soap in the shinny silver dispensers. There were doors with shinny silver locks on the stalls. It was a timeless space, pristine and somehow preserved. Free and unscathed by the ugliness of the world. Then there was the other one. The restroom below ground in the basement. There were ground level windows with round wire cages over them. The view of the ***** untied tennis shoes attached to saggy socks and scabbed knees. The children ran about with purpose over every inch of the playgrounds hot black top as I'd try to guess who's feet were who's. There were no doors on the stalls, yellow stains beneath every leaky ****** Smears of rust around the faucets , a coarse hand soap in the often broken dispensers. More fit for prisoners than students. It smelled like **** and was always cold. I don't know why one was always cleaner than the other. Maybe it was an unwritten janitor law. Maybe they seen it as somehow lower than the other. I always chose the basement restroom. It just seemed more natural to me, it made me feel strong, made it all feel more real. Now after so many hardships as I sit with drink in hand or lay down while high on some drug I can't seem to  help but look back and remember. Then ponder the question. "Have I always been meant to live in such a ***** harsh environment, even way back then?"
0
May 2, 2013
May 2, 2013 at 8:49 PM UTC
Finding the empty way back then
My grade school burned down twice. Once in the 1930's then again  in the 50's. They rebuilt, there were two large black and white framed photographs of the school houses before both fires hanging in the main hallway. At some point in the reconstruction someone had decided on two boys restrooms. The one at ground level was always clean. There were small white tiles and fresh blue paint. It always smelled like pine cleaner, never ran out of paper towels. There was always sweet smelling liquid soap in the shinny silver dispensers. There were doors with shinny silver locks on the stalls. It was a timeless space, pristine and somehow preserved. Free and unscathed by the ugliness of the world. Then there was the other one. The restroom below ground in the basement. There were ground level windows with round wire cages over them. The view of the ***** untied tennis shoes attached to saggy socks and scabbed knees. The children ran about with purpose over every inch of the playgrounds hot black top as I'd try to guess who's feet were who's. There were no doors on the stalls, yellow stains beneath every leaky ****** Smears of rust around the faucets , a coarse hand soap in the often broken dispensers. More fit for prisoners than students. It smelled like **** and was always cold. I don't know why one was always cleaner than the other. Maybe it was an unwritten janitor law. Maybe they seen it as somehow lower than the other. I always chose the basement restroom. It just seemed more natural to me, it made me feel strong, made it all feel more real. Now after so many hardships as I sit with drink in hand or lay down while high on some drug I can't seem to  help but look back and remember. Then ponder the question. "Have I always been meant to live in such a ***** harsh environment, even way back then?"
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106
Here comes the sun in all its glory tracing the hemisphere in its slow rise over rubble, but first the tallest steel and concrete dedications to the lives living high while their green shadow casts below over the desecrated. I see bright night light shining blue. I see wide, wild light only high noon. Morning, all day veins are caving under the rubble under the tallest. Here comes the nasty truth, suited in belts clasped with wealth for well being, beating the lies with a dollar sign, until the ugliness of the first story presses like meat into the underneath, under the detritus concealing lives in the dirt with the needles. I see bright night light shining blue in the park restrooms. I see wide, wild light only high noon from the under-bridge, waiting for trains to come crush.
0
Aug 3, 2015
Aug 3, 2015 at 8:23 PM UTC
Antonia Hot Flash: "Lobby and Basement"
Tonight is a bad kind of nostalgic. The music started reminding me of all you guys. Thrift shopping and cooking in your stockpile kitchen. And puking in public restrooms, And late night fifty dollar tattoos Are some of last years memories. And those songs don't feel to good either. And even last week's music Makes me feel bitter. And I tried to flashback from earlier in the 2000s. But that was music from when I was fourteen. The angst years will now be left alone. Jesus I have the shakes again. Bad night. Bad night. A splash of coffee in my whiskey. It's not alright. It's not alright. I'm not alright. Alright?
0
Nov 11, 2014
Nov 11, 2014 at 12:17 AM UTC
Removable Discontinuity
1 in 12 transgender people are killed every single year. 1 in 12 i can't walk the streets alone at night. 1 in 12 public restrooms are a choice of being yelled at, or being beat up. 1 in 12 i hide behind my hoodie and keep my head down when im in "shifty" places. 1 in 12 having to wear the incorrect school uniform because "kids can be cruel" 1 in 12 you're not a "real man" if you don't have a ***** and if you do have one, you cannot be a woman, like there is a set of rules. 1 in 12 i can't get i job because if they find out i'm trans they'll use slurs in the place of my name. 1 in 12 living a lie because i want to be alive. 1 in 12 but am i truly alive, if im constantly hiding behind a mask? 1 in 12 is it too selfish that i just want to survive?
0
Nov 25, 2015
Nov 25, 2015 at 3:17 AM UTC
1 in 12
The expectation, Of you to accept the inhalation, Of the evaporation, Of someone else’s waste. Make it make sense, How the walls of stalls, Fail to reach its maximum highs and lows, For all of us to share what we release. We listen to the air, That flubs between *** cheeks, Just as the **** projects deuces, Into the bowl that cups the sound of wind. We hear the moans and sighs, Of relief, constipation and strain, As we urinate nearby, Adjacent to the incomplete **** shack. Make it make sense, How tasting the gases, Of Joe Blow, blowing out his insides, Is a customary to our community. A sociological experiment, Deemed to generate sociopathy, As we laugh at the flatulence, And giggle at one’s vulnerability. Merely a forgotten fact, That we have been there too, We go there every day, And pretend that others don’t do the same. And without a mere act of courtesy, The space is left filthier than the last, Because why be considerate for the next? Someone’s job is to cleanse my waste. Furthermore is the neglect, Of faucets, soap and towels, Aimed to **** bacteria, That exits biological passageways. Why oh why, Must I be forced to study, Why this is simply unacceptable, This concept of oversharing? Recurring stage fright, Readily apparent, When forced to **** beside men, More than double my size. I’ll simply never understand, How by design, What we wouldn’t do in front of house guests, Is something we are urged to do in front of strangers. Bonding, With a bunch of hairy, overweight men, Who clear their throats, bladders and colons, In my personal space.
0
Nov 13, 2023
Nov 13, 2023 at 9:41 PM UTC
Public Restrooms
The expectation, Of you to accept the inhalation, Of the evaporation, Of someone else’s waste. Make it make sense, How the walls of stalls, Fail to reach its maximum highs and lows, For all of us to share what we release. We listen to the air, That flubs between *** cheeks, Just as the **** projects deuces, Into the bowl that cups the sound of wind. We hear the moans and sighs, Of relief, constipation and strain, As we urinate nearby, Adjacent to the incomplete **** shack. Make it make sense, How tasting the gases, Of Joe Blow, blowing out his insides, Is a customary to our community. A sociological experiment, Deemed to generate sociopathy, As we laugh at the flatulence, And giggle at one’s vulnerability. Merely a forgotten fact, That we have been there too, We go there every day, And pretend that others don’t do the same. And without a mere act of courtesy, The space is left filthier than the last, Because why be considerate for the next? Someone’s job is to cleanse my waste. Furthermore is the neglect, Of faucets, soap and towels, Aimed to **** bacteria, That exits biological passageways. Why oh why, Must I be forced to study, Why this is simply unacceptable, This concept of oversharing? Recurring stage fright, Readily apparent, When forced to **** beside men, More than double my size. I’ll simply never understand, How by design, What we wouldn’t do in front of house guests, Is something we are urged to do in front of strangers. Bonding, With a bunch of hairy, overweight men, Who clear their throats, bladders and colons, In my personal space.
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52
Tease me with your words. Let.        Each.                    Syllable        Fly. Free. And when you drift away, I hope this happiness exists, that you find to be beyond your fingertips. You put the L in Lust, and the Loss in Love. But let me not forget my own imperfections. When you force yourself to smile all of the time, you ready yourself available to restrooms. Who am I to say what your smiles mean? Just as I would not expect you to know mine. The quirks and the relevancy of daily life cloud the fact that progression is essential, and that the need for development is the reason for closure and travel. Emotional baggage is only goodbyes that aren't finished. And sometimes they will never be salvaged; relationships are like that. But it's important to remember who you explained a few smiles to.
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Oct 16, 2012
Oct 16, 2012 at 2:19 AM UTC
Smiles
Crossroads are a particular kind of place where mythology and actuality combine, mix and dance with your shadow. Limitlessness has a name and social security number in your restlessness and your ambitiousness. I've performed in cafes and on street corners, In bookshops and depots, woods and public restrooms with the junkyard profits desperately clutching to my clothes, refusing my money but begging for my love. But now I am at the crossroads. The smoke from my soul comes in, forces me to turn around, turn around turn around, and see the faces, so many different faces, all those who have loved me, mocked me, befriended me, mentored, hated, changed maimed spit in my eye called me what they thought I was. So many faces. So many eyes full of dreams and ire. How many would I come to know again? Who would become fortune tellers blues-men teachers cops preachers mathematicians builders destroyers soldiers of fortune businessmen liars or junkyard prophets? Who will become like smoke in the fog, slightly hazy lost-boys off to never-never land, never to be seen or heard from except for the cries that whisper the time? So many faces. What will I be to them? A companion friend liar hater lover brother sideshow an I knew him when a face that looks at their back at the crossroads, a wisp of smoke? I turn again, turn turn, a cymbal shot pushes me forward, left and right, but I can never go back behind. Johanna whispers Even salvation must get old. I know she must be correct, at least as far as I can turn my head. The right is barred, the left is guarded by the beasts, the faces hum a dirge or a lullaby, I straighten my jacket, pack my self into a slip bag, and blow away with the smoke.
0
Apr 16, 2011
Apr 16, 2011 at 11:44 AM UTC
Smoke
Crossroads are a particular kind of place where mythology and actuality combine, mix and dance with your shadow. Limitlessness has a name and social security number in your restlessness and your ambitiousness. I've performed in cafes and on street corners, In bookshops and depots, woods and public restrooms with the junkyard profits desperately clutching to my clothes, refusing my money but begging for my love. But now I am at the crossroads. The smoke from my soul comes in, forces me to turn around, turn around turn around, and see the faces, so many different faces, all those who have loved me, mocked me, befriended me, mentored, hated, changed maimed spit in my eye called me what they thought I was. So many faces. So many eyes full of dreams and ire. How many would I come to know again? Who would become fortune tellers blues-men teachers cops preachers mathematicians builders destroyers soldiers of fortune businessmen liars or junkyard prophets? Who will become like smoke in the fog, slightly hazy lost-boys off to never-never land, never to be seen or heard from except for the cries that whisper the time? So many faces. What will I be to them? A companion friend liar hater lover brother sideshow an I knew him when a face that looks at their back at the crossroads, a wisp of smoke? I turn again, turn turn, a cymbal shot pushes me forward, left and right, but I can never go back behind. Johanna whispers Even salvation must get old. I know she must be correct, at least as far as I can turn my head. The right is barred, the left is guarded by the beasts, the faces hum a dirge or a lullaby, I straighten my jacket, pack my self into a slip bag, and blow away with the smoke.
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76
Why try when ya can buy? I made like seventy comments. Yeah he donated tweenty bucks and has more points than I. Respect dont come with the side of a card. It's not totally broke. But to demolish it were trying hard. Mr Robbins can you just please keep your mouth shut. we'll buy ya a case of wild turkey you drunk *** pain in the but. Point and poetry really dont mix. what is this nascar? Nothing that some strong drinks cant fix. The doors are locked lets semd in a spy to see whats going on in that joint. Hey i just won at beer pong did that get a point? Were all about exposer so get your beads. Avoid the restrooms at the Pub. look in the red light district of hello cause everyone's got needs. I gotta point for logging in and one for coloring within the lines. And got no license for like few thousand dollars in unpaid fines. Heres a point for me. And heres a point for you. With the middle finger a few fellow poets did point and said they were threw. Yet here i stay slightly sober happy to stir the **** That i refuse to play the game. Hey how many points do i get to quit? Drinks are always on the house at HPs number one joint. And if ya waste time getting anry with me then ya really didnt get the point$
0
Mar 17, 2010
Mar 17, 2010 at 8:39 AM UTC
Get The Point?$$$
Real questions I've been asked by the 3 year old I care for Dia do you have a mancave Dia did you get new toilet paper Dia are those antlers for the cheese My answers respectively are fairly straightforward No I don't but I sure wish I did Yeah I got the really soft pillowy kind thanks for noticing I have no idea if those antlers are for the cheese but I don't see why not. I am generally confident with the answers I provide However once in awhile she asks me Dia do you have a ***** today And I'm stumped because the answer Josie is so much more complicated than no Because I want to say someday you will learn how that no matters every single day in more ways than I can tell you That no has everything to do with the way I take up space That no is my mother's refusal to buy me bow ties in favor of silver necklaces That no is the cringe in my heartbeat when people call me a lesbian That no is the source of fear I carry as a shield when I *** in public restrooms That no is what I use to bind this chest to prove something I can't prove with a yes to that question A no is the answer that sales person gives when I ask for those shoes in my size That suit in my size That body in my size The mirror in my eyes I've had a home in the lies I've told instead of no The world asks that question every single day and I never have the right answer It would be so much easier if the world asked if those antlers are for the cheese.
0
Jan 22, 2016
Jan 22, 2016 at 6:33 PM UTC
Antlers for the cheese
I heard you wanted to give up I heard you were tired of fighting. I heard that you were going to stop trying Just throw away all the effort. OK Why should I care, I doesn't matter It is your decision But... Years ago did you know that Gandhi gave up too. Yeap, he did and now his home is still being colonized by the British And Martin Luther king As well as Mandela They gave up after a bunch of policemen came after them And now in their own homes they are servants They use different restrooms They enter through different doors They are treated like aliens from outer space. If the wouldn't have given up their homes would be a peaceful place for them They would have proven justice. Now think of what you can accomplish How are your friends going to see you, when you tell them Don't give up But you were the first to give up Just say you were weak, Well what if they are weak too. Maybe even weaker than you ever were Tell me what change is there for someone who doesn't keep trying Tell me what will you do later on? Regret it, feeling bad for not keeping a fight The haters, the neighbors, the enemies want you to turn weak in a fight But it is your decision to fall Or show them that your weak moments make you even stronger If you need a wing-man here I am I am here to help you But don't give up Follow Gandhi, Martin, And Mandela They never gave up for what they believed in They were threatened to death but the still stood up high for the desendents and their follows
0
Nov 30, 2012
Nov 30, 2012 at 7:37 AM UTC
Give Up
I heard you wanted to give up I heard you were tired of fighting. I heard that you were going to stop trying Just throw away all the effort. OK Why should I care, I doesn't matter It is your decision But... Years ago did you know that Gandhi gave up too. Yeap, he did and now his home is still being colonized by the British And Martin Luther king As well as Mandela They gave up after a bunch of policemen came after them And now in their own homes they are servants They use different restrooms They enter through different doors They are treated like aliens from outer space. If the wouldn't have given up their homes would be a peaceful place for them They would have proven justice. Now think of what you can accomplish How are your friends going to see you, when you tell them Don't give up But you were the first to give up Just say you were weak, Well what if they are weak too. Maybe even weaker than you ever were Tell me what change is there for someone who doesn't keep trying Tell me what will you do later on? Regret it, feeling bad for not keeping a fight The haters, the neighbors, the enemies want you to turn weak in a fight But it is your decision to fall Or show them that your weak moments make you even stronger If you need a wing-man here I am I am here to help you But don't give up Follow Gandhi, Martin, And Mandela They never gave up for what they believed in They were threatened to death but the still stood up high for the desendents and their follows
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43
I guess this means its over. I told you not to contact me if you were haply and happily seeing someone else. I haven't heard from you, so I guess you are making a go of it wherever you are in that big District. Does she know your affinity for public restrooms? Does she love your little hands like I did? (Maybe mine are just big?) Do you call her darlin' when you hang up the phone and does her stomach fall out of her bottom when she catches even the slightest glimpse of you in that dashing tuxedo you're so proud of? I still have your cuff links. Those stupid pieces of silver mock me on my bookshelf next to the copy of your favorite book I still can't bear to pick up and read. You said to read it to understand you, but I don't know if I want to- understand you or read it, that is. You told me to return them when I was ready. I'm ready, but you're nowhere to be found. What happens now? I'm convinced you're the one I'm supposed to put all of my money on, and You've always been a betting man.
0
Jul 16, 2012
Jul 16, 2012 at 6:55 PM UTC
A semi-broken heart
She wears blue rubber gloves Middle aged, with light, brown hair She pulls it back in a pony tail Her eyes match her hair, Brown, but dull and dried, uninspired. With her hands, she holds a cart, with a container of trash, black trash bags, two wooden poles, and her disinfectant just below from where she holds. She pushes it, and it rolls over the floor. Her parents promised her a good life, that she would attend a college. She has made it. She has late nights like every student Like them, she visits the second floor of Wells, tired, but in her brown custodian attire. The lady makes her rounds every four hours every day of the week. Her legs and feet slow down every time she returns And her worn out shoes decay even more When she looks in the mirror in the restroom she can see the wrinkles around those eyes of hers. In a different time, she would have covered these areas with makeup, but now she wonder, 'is there any use in that?' We ignore her, we've seen her too often She is like an invisible ghost, you don't see her, can't hear her. She's is leaving now, after cleaning the restrooms, pushing her cart. It's now 8:16pm, she'll be back at midnight. I will see her then, before I leave It's a date that we have, but only I know but I'll ignore her, I won't smile nor talk to her.
0
May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013 at 4:02 PM UTC
The lady of the second floor
Dear, all other men who use public restrooms. Why is it, that every time I go to use a stall in a public toilet there is **** on the seat? Lets set aside the fact that there are urinals on most every wall for those of you who only need to take a quick leak and would like to do so in the upright position. Let us also set aside the question of why you did not bother to lift the seat into the upright position. Let us instead talk about aim, now I am a man myself so I can see this issue clearly. Unlike a vast majority of you guys, I don't think I have ever watched a full game of football, and I am confident I could sleep through the entire baseball season without batting an eye or asking the score. Surprisingly, this does not hinder my aim it is steady and true. Would a bullseye at the bottom help the rest of you? Now there are times, I know, that are more difficult maybe you're drunk, or tired, or just having an off day and you happen to miss. In these cases there is a simple saying "If you sprinkle when you ****** please, be neat and wipe the seat". The saying is juvenile the meaning is not. For those of you who are now confused There is this nifty paper keep on easily accessible dispensers inside every public restroom. It usually even has perforated edges, in order to help you tear it Hercules. Woman use it always and you do too, when you **** I hope. So now is the time to grab a *** of that stuff and wipe away your insecurities, for the rest of us. Sincerely, a Fellow Man
0
Sep 5, 2010
Sep 5, 2010 at 5:09 PM UTC
A Question About Restrooms
Dear, all other men who use public restrooms. Why is it, that every time I go to use a stall in a public toilet there is **** on the seat? Lets set aside the fact that there are urinals on most every wall for those of you who only need to take a quick leak and would like to do so in the upright position. Let us also set aside the question of why you did not bother to lift the seat into the upright position. Let us instead talk about aim, now I am a man myself so I can see this issue clearly. Unlike a vast majority of you guys, I don't think I have ever watched a full game of football, and I am confident I could sleep through the entire baseball season without batting an eye or asking the score. Surprisingly, this does not hinder my aim it is steady and true. Would a bullseye at the bottom help the rest of you? Now there are times, I know, that are more difficult maybe you're drunk, or tired, or just having an off day and you happen to miss. In these cases there is a simple saying "If you sprinkle when you ****** please, be neat and wipe the seat". The saying is juvenile the meaning is not. For those of you who are now confused There is this nifty paper keep on easily accessible dispensers inside every public restroom. It usually even has perforated edges, in order to help you tear it Hercules. Woman use it always and you do too, when you **** I hope. So now is the time to grab a *** of that stuff and wipe away your insecurities, for the rest of us. Sincerely, a Fellow Man
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28
Once fully liberated, she rides her antique, three-speed bike down the small hill from her campsite to the:  RESTROOMS – SHOWERS – PAYING CAMPERS ONLY. She dismounts and goes into the well-kept, recreational facilities and takes a hot, 50-cent, seven-minute shower, arching her soapy back against the white tiles, rubbing her soapy front in the same spot, up and down and up, and then, rinsed, she stands, dripping wet in front of the first full-length mirror she's seen in weeks, gyrating her hips, mocking pin-up poses to herself and all god's good-looking men with a sense of the absurd, then she wraps her towel around, tying the knot between her ******* She stands outside in the sweet, Santa Vidian air, finger-drying her hair and imagining, unabashedly imagining, guys in the campsite above, eating fresh-cooked meat and ogling her. Then she takes off down the road, pale green nightgown fluttering against the rear spokes, past Bonnie's trailer where from sundown till 11pm you can hear the best country music: Randi Travis, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Sr. She pulls up to her sweet “Bleu Belle,” shushes the dogs reflexively, hops off the bicycle, and turns, eyes closed, face upraised into a rare shaft of redwood forest sun.
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Jun 3, 2015
Jun 3, 2015 at 1:07 PM UTC
Love at Last
The old ones seem haunted even with ole Presidents making their whistle-stop campaigns. Blacks on their exodus from the south, streaming into them, one can visualize with their souls and spirits accompanying them as they seek a decent life. Imagine the shoeshine stands with their shoeshine “boys” and black attendants in the restrooms which was probably as far as some of them got. The newsstands with their variety of newspapers and sundries alerted the lonely travelers to Wall Street and elsewhere, businessmen who would stream in with a sophistication the common traveler feared. The smells of leather baggage, the cleanser that porters used to keep the coaches clean wafted in. The smell of cigars and wrinkles of old men’s skin let us know that the porters would be appearing with a bevy of special guests. History speaks in these stations as well as some bus stations around the country with their dangerous drifters who would serial **** and the ambitious young talents off to the big city to seek success who we would later never hear of. The local Union Station in Champaign has been turned into businesses, but I can just see Abe Lincoln arriving speaking from the caboose and making his way to a horse and buggy outside to go to the local county courthouse. Long live ghost-filled train stations everywhere, and don’t let us forget the homeless and destitute street people who need to use their restrooms and sit down in the waiting area seats to take a needed load off. They’re that important in the general pictures of things, at least to me.
0
Sep 8, 2016
Sep 8, 2016 at 12:51 PM UTC
ODE TO TRAIN STATIONS
The old ones seem haunted even with ole Presidents making their whistle-stop campaigns. Blacks on their exodus from the south, streaming into them, one can visualize with their souls and spirits accompanying them as they seek a decent life. Imagine the shoeshine stands with their shoeshine “boys” and black attendants in the restrooms which was probably as far as some of them got. The newsstands with their variety of newspapers and sundries alerted the lonely travelers to Wall Street and elsewhere, businessmen who would stream in with a sophistication the common traveler feared. The smells of leather baggage, the cleanser that porters used to keep the coaches clean wafted in. The smell of cigars and wrinkles of old men’s skin let us know that the porters would be appearing with a bevy of special guests. History speaks in these stations as well as some bus stations around the country with their dangerous drifters who would serial **** and the ambitious young talents off to the big city to seek success who we would later never hear of. The local Union Station in Champaign has been turned into businesses, but I can just see Abe Lincoln arriving speaking from the caboose and making his way to a horse and buggy outside to go to the local county courthouse. Long live ghost-filled train stations everywhere, and don’t let us forget the homeless and destitute street people who need to use their restrooms and sit down in the waiting area seats to take a needed load off. They’re that important in the general pictures of things, at least to me.
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46
nothing i do will you bring back; not the shoebox of purple hyacinths watered by the i love you's i still wanted to say. not the prose poetries i wrote you whilst caught in a mania in the restrooms of dying gas stations. not the caving in of the see-through walls mixed with static humming of the payphone calls. not the pillow telegrams that smell like bourbon and my mother's cigarettes; darling, my bed has become a post office of the letters i never had the chance to write and of the things i never had the chance to say. and nothing i say will bring you back — not even this poem, and i know that now; i just don't know how to live with that. still, nothing will ever bring you back and darling, watching you fall out of love feels like the only thing i can do right now.
0
Jul 26, 2019
Jul 26, 2019 at 6:33 AM UTC
saudade
I looked over, and by chance I saw you You came to visit our school for the day Because you were thinking about moving there I thought you were pretty attractive But I knew you would never think that of me I started being nice to you, because of the kindness in my heart Like when you smiled at me, I smiled back And even when you couldn't find the restrooms, I showed you When J came up to say "hi", I introduced you Little did we know that we would become best friends Let a year go by, and I'm in sixth grade with J You were in seventh, but we still had class You told stories of how you came to this world, and saw J A little poor boy on the side of the river, his eyes a light blue You said you adopted J, then went out for more exploring About a month later, you said, is when you saw me A little imp, lost and confused, with gleaming grey eyes You said that's how we became family J and I, brother and sister, While you were the father holding us together But you knew that wasn't true You knew that it was really I who was the glue between us Holding together the girl who acted like a boy, The kind and gentle Californian-looking boy, And yourself, the obnoxious but sweet new kid But we were inseparable, no  matter the differences Skip another year ahead, when J and I were in seventh And you were in eighth, the last year of the school We tried to make it work But alas, we were doomed to shatter I was a girl J a boy and you a boy It would never last forever We were still friends, but no longer "the trio of classmates" No longer best friends And as you graduated, I could hardly keep my tears from flowing J squeezed my arm, too sad to have sanity Before you left the building, You engulfed us in one last group hug Before walking into the future Leaving J and I behind, forever The year after, it didn't feel the same There was always a hole in my heart, Yelling because I had lost a part of me I had lost one of my best friends Forever
0
Apr 5, 2015
Apr 5, 2015 at 10:33 PM UTC
Losing a Best Friend (a story-poem)
I looked over, and by chance I saw you You came to visit our school for the day Because you were thinking about moving there I thought you were pretty attractive But I knew you would never think that of me I started being nice to you, because of the kindness in my heart Like when you smiled at me, I smiled back And even when you couldn't find the restrooms, I showed you When J came up to say "hi", I introduced you Little did we know that we would become best friends Let a year go by, and I'm in sixth grade with J You were in seventh, but we still had class You told stories of how you came to this world, and saw J A little poor boy on the side of the river, his eyes a light blue You said you adopted J, then went out for more exploring About a month later, you said, is when you saw me A little imp, lost and confused, with gleaming grey eyes You said that's how we became family J and I, brother and sister, While you were the father holding us together But you knew that wasn't true You knew that it was really I who was the glue between us Holding together the girl who acted like a boy, The kind and gentle Californian-looking boy, And yourself, the obnoxious but sweet new kid But we were inseparable, no  matter the differences Skip another year ahead, when J and I were in seventh And you were in eighth, the last year of the school We tried to make it work But alas, we were doomed to shatter I was a girl J a boy and you a boy It would never last forever We were still friends, but no longer "the trio of classmates" No longer best friends And as you graduated, I could hardly keep my tears from flowing J squeezed my arm, too sad to have sanity Before you left the building, You engulfed us in one last group hug Before walking into the future Leaving J and I behind, forever The year after, it didn't feel the same There was always a hole in my heart, Yelling because I had lost a part of me I had lost one of my best friends Forever
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I'm a little too familiar with gas station coffee (and restrooms) I know all of the roads and the mountains that line them I have known every cheap motel stared at every continental breakfast (burned coffee and rubber eggs) and I can pack for anything in ten minutes or less. I have known cities lit by the night and passes comfortably fringed by fog skeleton trees on dead beaches gas-station Cheetos eaten at 3 am sleeping on a friends shoulder or listening to another iPod playlist alone in the dark the casual immodesty between traveling partners and wearing 3 layers of sweats to ward off the cold of the journey. I re-read poetry by flashlight while ghosts of headlights flutter as I leave everything behind me again. I love the road blazing by because it takes me a way from everything I remember away from the family that is not mine away from the cages and bars and lies about my beliefs about my identity the oppression of mandatory religion the self-destructive hate who I used to be. I wrote poems about my knives because they were my comfort they were beautiful to me I romanticized my pain because I was a romantic at heart but a romantic without love and so I turned to blood and knives and tried to make it into poetry thought that it could somehow be beautiful and the sad thing is that it was it gave more comfort than my family, it was closer than my friends, more reliable than any god. The road scours that all away, reminds me that I can leave, I am free, there is more to the world than what I grew up knowing. More than Rush Limbaugh and misogynist preachers more than latent racism and open homophobia more than my shame in my acceptance of these as normal there is a whole world where people don't live chained to bibles and that gives me hope. I have never known home here, but driving and driving and driving shows me that the world is larger than I know and maybe I can find it somewhere.
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Aug 7, 2014
Aug 7, 2014 at 8:37 PM UTC
The Road
I'm a little too familiar with gas station coffee (and restrooms) I know all of the roads and the mountains that line them I have known every cheap motel stared at every continental breakfast (burned coffee and rubber eggs) and I can pack for anything in ten minutes or less. I have known cities lit by the night and passes comfortably fringed by fog skeleton trees on dead beaches gas-station Cheetos eaten at 3 am sleeping on a friends shoulder or listening to another iPod playlist alone in the dark the casual immodesty between traveling partners and wearing 3 layers of sweats to ward off the cold of the journey. I re-read poetry by flashlight while ghosts of headlights flutter as I leave everything behind me again. I love the road blazing by because it takes me a way from everything I remember away from the family that is not mine away from the cages and bars and lies about my beliefs about my identity the oppression of mandatory religion the self-destructive hate who I used to be. I wrote poems about my knives because they were my comfort they were beautiful to me I romanticized my pain because I was a romantic at heart but a romantic without love and so I turned to blood and knives and tried to make it into poetry thought that it could somehow be beautiful and the sad thing is that it was it gave more comfort than my family, it was closer than my friends, more reliable than any god. The road scours that all away, reminds me that I can leave, I am free, there is more to the world than what I grew up knowing. More than Rush Limbaugh and misogynist preachers more than latent racism and open homophobia more than my shame in my acceptance of these as normal there is a whole world where people don't live chained to bibles and that gives me hope. I have never known home here, but driving and driving and driving shows me that the world is larger than I know and maybe I can find it somewhere.
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54
He stands in the washroom of Restaurants smelling people's **** When he hears a wet bowel movement he concentrates and inhales to sniffs He doesn't explain why he embraces these different smells and succumbs To a brain that keeps many smells on file like a world trade show of dumps Cause everybody poops So he wants to find a way To manipulate smells so one day everyone's **** will smell great And hell go down in history 4 making **** smell like lotion 4 baby's THEN Hell be called brilliant!! for hangin around restrooms and not crazy like some thought So maybe..... who u think or call crazy should stop cuz they could be a genius who's times to precious to explain his planned plot And the main message in this poem is the judging just needs to stop So....Stop calling me CrAZy CuZ I'm BrIlLIAnT ........BuT CrAzY I aM not ...cause I'm brilliant! Like a **** smeller..... You... know what I mean... lol
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Sep 13, 2014
Sep 13, 2014 at 8:03 PM UTC
The Man Who Wants To smell Your stool.....
you were always beautiful from the time you linked together the stars into new constellations and the moment you broke yourself apart just to mimic them some would’ve called it insane, others art the time you inhaled angel dust in the car parking lot and kissed the first boy who came close to you and had some kind of warmth I remember seeing you in the school restrooms swallowing pills you said helped all your problems you never confided in me I tried not to take it to heart I felt like no one could ever understand the lovely way you used to fall apart some days you disappeared and never replied to me other nights I would wake up to you calling me I would find you on the street like a letter that never made it it to it’s destination a mysterious manifestation of a stranger’s thoughts your beauty never came with understanding I was always left in the dark
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Nov 9, 2014
Nov 9, 2014 at 5:31 AM UTC
Untitled
Ignoring a full bladder, I walk briskly, towards Gate 8. Where is she? People await the snake to wake with luggage carried along its rubbery spine. Hands reaching. Children tugging. Bodies hugging. Suits racing. Some pacing. Others stopped. Still no sign… But there, the column moves aside to let my sister wave hi. As I rush towards her (closer, almost within reach to touch and reassure her that I am no mirage) Her lovely smile distorts with the salty taste of relief. I wrap my welcome around her. A year away, “So happy to see you”, I say. All is at ease, including… I pull her off “I love you but –. Restrooms are where?”
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Apr 18, 2012
Apr 18, 2012 at 1:43 PM UTC
Home from the Bush
America’s Bicentennial from 1776 – 1976 Tracing back to America’s roots having history Oh what a fit I will highlight only a little bit But you will get the foundation of American history being the tip The America Freedom Train that travelled across the country The train had a people mover, and artifacts that appeared as one would move History a waits, there was enriched history to prove I witnessed the whole accord personally at Belmont Race Track in New York It was history during the signing of the Declaration of independence Every elected official observed at Independence Hall All eyes carefully saw America became the American people’s promise The creed, “We the People for the People” Truly history was made Words formed into a constitution Yet statewide establishing into an institution Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg It was a time of the Civil War It was a long battle for sure Soldiers died and fatigue, but in order to win, the soldiers had to proceed Abraham Lincoln’s speech within the ashes of a dimmed sunshine Cannons having admonition smoke all combined Words into tomorrow, but an emptiness full of sorrow Yet Abraham Lincoln’s discerning words with leverage But standing in solitude was a privilege Battle cries having eyes But inspiration from Heaven that keeps us all wise An Icon became known to America’s roads The name, Greyhound Bus Lines with Headlight blink and the stretched out Greyhound Dog to all in behold A company started in 1914 Greyhound started as a car and continued in technological advances that took it into a future of their ride The company was also took part in the Freedom Riders Greyhound was the first motor coach company to install Restrooms aboard Well Greyhound is still traveling coast to coast from West to East The company continues to bloom The American Freedom Train There is much to remember and to look back The American Freedom Train had the right track Salute and applaud Yet the accomplishments were strives made possible through our Lord.
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Feb 17, 2017
Feb 17, 2017 at 12:12 PM UTC
THE ADVENTURES OF THE AMERICAN FREEDOM TRAIN
America’s Bicentennial from 1776 – 1976 Tracing back to America’s roots having history Oh what a fit I will highlight only a little bit But you will get the foundation of American history being the tip The America Freedom Train that travelled across the country The train had a people mover, and artifacts that appeared as one would move History a waits, there was enriched history to prove I witnessed the whole accord personally at Belmont Race Track in New York It was history during the signing of the Declaration of independence Every elected official observed at Independence Hall All eyes carefully saw America became the American people’s promise The creed, “We the People for the People” Truly history was made Words formed into a constitution Yet statewide establishing into an institution Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg It was a time of the Civil War It was a long battle for sure Soldiers died and fatigue, but in order to win, the soldiers had to proceed Abraham Lincoln’s speech within the ashes of a dimmed sunshine Cannons having admonition smoke all combined Words into tomorrow, but an emptiness full of sorrow Yet Abraham Lincoln’s discerning words with leverage But standing in solitude was a privilege Battle cries having eyes But inspiration from Heaven that keeps us all wise An Icon became known to America’s roads The name, Greyhound Bus Lines with Headlight blink and the stretched out Greyhound Dog to all in behold A company started in 1914 Greyhound started as a car and continued in technological advances that took it into a future of their ride The company was also took part in the Freedom Riders Greyhound was the first motor coach company to install Restrooms aboard Well Greyhound is still traveling coast to coast from West to East The company continues to bloom The American Freedom Train There is much to remember and to look back The American Freedom Train had the right track Salute and applaud Yet the accomplishments were strives made possible through our Lord.
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