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Arthropod King Nov 2011
It is at this point.

I usually am very effussive with words and all that, but I just don’t have it in me in this moment.

I no longer remember the last time I felt life cascading into my limbs, from my heart.

Apathy :P

It seeped into my weary shoulders.

Bleh bleh bleh bleh

Words are a waste of *****


Melancholy deeper into the upitty piper purportedly…


Silence. Silence and silence, but why…?


Snow – Nieve – Plumba – White-out – ***** on porcelain – Aruba -










***** on porcelain.

















A faint portrait of hollowed passions and GRAPEFRUIT.
I… I’m sorry, really. I got nothing. I wish I was so noble as to turn bitterness into something majestic, but what are you going to do about it, right?... Right?... Right?.... RIGHT???.........RRRIIIIGHT????? Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff, right? Ra-ra-right?



nO? OkEy DoKeY, then…







Words are stupid, They always have been. Words irritate people and cause wars, and controversy, and celebrity gossip and all that intoxicating pink, glittery smoke. I wish there was a machine, like a bird-making machine, that used dusted, vivissected concepts and turned them, unaltered, into spewed energy. A violent discharge of emotion, but no, no emotion, whatsoever, NO EMOTION AT ALL, cramped and jammed up inside like, like, like, like a trainwreck, still perplexed about the fact that it didn’t have much room to wreck havoc with in the first place, and go smash into burning-red steel debris, so it doesn’t, no no no no, it doesn’t know just what to do, and the innocent bypasser is looking, looking from a dusty cliff among the desert, UNABLE TO FEEL ANY EMOTION, INSENSITIVE, and it was supposed to be christmas, but no one’s weeping for you, no one, that ****’s out of fashion, you’re **** out of luck holmes, clusterfuck full of ****, and ****, and bad luck, sorry holmes, no way, ******* luck, sorry holmes.

Bloh bloh bloh ilhc 674VDW864 A6WD8 4wd 64 WD 64c 6 4wf c6




















Ronald McDonald, sitting on a curb, face resting
upon the palms of the hands, no happy meal for this clown,
no lipstick-painted and make-up-enhanced
smile on the face of this clown, not today,
doesn’t feel like being
a clown today, even though he WAS born a
clown, from a colorfull egg full
of Crayola polka dots, no, and no, and no,
and who would want to be a clown?
Certainly not Ronald McDonald,
and certainly not today.
And words are stupid*.

I wish tears could flow cascading out of these eyes. Redeemer tears, pointing at the crude sculpture that the chisel of undrained emotions carefully crafted inside these tiresome intestines.

Rioted tears, a revolution of tears. I would very much like to scream right now, thank you very much.













I wish I could cry bitterly, weep sorely for my fate and for hers.




























However…




There is nothing in my chest but apathy.

I have no nerve response.

Zero sensorial signal.

So… I can’t.











































Whatever.
Amanda Oct 2015
The only thing I’ve ever been able to see without squinting through bad eyes has been ugly
and stupid
and worthless
each adjective another bullet to the body of someone who is already dead.
I left the bullets where I thought they ought to be—right where they were—lodged between vital arteries and anything dangerous; they were equally acidic beings occupying the same profane space.
I allowed my skin to grow over them as much as it rioted.  
I wanted to remind myself that they were a part of me now
that the least I could do was let them be
the way I had never been.

I have always been a non-believer,
naturally a very-much-believer slipped into my line of fire the same way the sun peeps its shy face out of grey.
But it took more than prying me out of my pad-locked shell to make me a believer too.
It took swimming the length of the ocean to find me in my shell first
then slaying the eight-legged monsters that shielded me from all things good
and every time I unwound the bandages in front of you that encased my wounds
inflicted from the sour tentacles of the beast you had to fight away
I expected the sting of your fingers fresh with sea salt to sting like hell
but you would remind me of how often you wash your hands
only not after touching me--
never after touching me.
I wasn’t familiar with the smell of flesh without it being doused in sanitizer;
The mess of my pain was just more dirt on their skin.

You were my savior
the only hero ever willing to carry a dead body with the same caution as someone who could still thank you with their lips—not cold.
You were red wine and I was holy Sunday
gnawing at the body of Christ
but you learned how to consume me still
without just swallowing me whole
instead savoring even the most overbearing bites of me that reeked of its expiration date.
You taught me how to let myself be consumed by something other than ugly
and stupid
and worthless.
You taught me how to let myself melt in the warm safety of your tongue
that vowed to speak of only sweet things.
But trying to recall that lesson was quieter in my ears
each time I urged myself to complete the daily routine of supplying you with a special pair of scissors
expectant that you would dig deep into my body
like everyone else always had
knowing that the gashes you created would heal slower and leave scars uglier than scars inflicted by the hands of anyone else.
I pushed my already-open cuts in your face
shut eyes and gritted teeth
awaiting the familiar feeling of the people you love
making their marks
in the center of your back.
But I watched your mouth form something that I didn't know could sound soft, something like "n-o", the first no that ever sounded as sweet as a yes.
No new stab wounds,
no tearing of tight flesh.
All you did was re-stitch me.
You caught my blood in its vanishing act.

With every stitch I watched as past words lost their dictionary meanings
ugly: beautiful
stupid: smart
worthless: worth it.
You drug me out of my grave and took the time to dust me off the way no one else had
hushed the knives in my own hands dripping in my own blood to fall to the ground
spoke the magic words that opened the gates of my chest so that you could squeeze the life into my heart again.
You took the eyes from your own skull for the sake of making a better scenery out of myself.

I don't have to squint anymore.
I can see "worth it" taking form of "worthless" miles across the street
and as you place your petal hands on my head and tilt one last time
I am watching myself do the same.
This poem is entirely too messy but here you go.
Ann M Johnson Oct 2015
The Market crashed as the people dashed
   All the banks closed down
   The people frowned
   Natural disasters were all around
   Stock brokers quite literally took a dive
   Many people died
   On the day the earth stood still

    The daily grind
     The worry over bills
      Was replaced with the need to just survive
       Some people rioted just to get something to eat
       On the day the earth stood still
        
       Some people screamed
        While others cried
         Some people looked down looking for someone to blame
         Still others looked outward and sought ways to help out
        Some people banded together to keep each other and their         neighbors alive
        Some people looked up
       While some people prayed for wisdom for themselves and others
        to get through this trial
        Some people looked within only and felt all alone
        Still others thought of this as a test of their will
        On The Day The Earth Stood Still
        
         I wonder if we were faced with this crisis
         would we stand together
         or fall apart ?
         perhaps the answer is found already in our hearts
         If we are lacking a strong network of family and friends
          Now is the time to start
          We don't want to be found slacking if the world falls apart
                     Sometimes things happen in a blink of an eye
                    It might be best to get ready just in case
                    No time left for slacking if The Earth Stands Still
I recently watched the Movie San Andres, and it got me thinking and writing with this as a result. I would love your feedback and comments Thank You !
Andressa Leite Nov 2011
the police station rioted
laughing so hard
tears poured down their ruddy faces

"hey listen to this!"
my face grew red in shame
i just wanted protection

i left, depressed
this was the fifth sleepless day
no sleep, no faces

though i tried to save face
at the police station,
they said "find a shrink."

i'm starting to hallucinate
because your face has become my own
and now i will never wake again.
i hate dreaming.
Sheila J Sadr May 2014
Scrambling across the tiled rooftop,
I avoided peering down.
The sight of charcoaled pavement
emerged as an unbecoming comrade to this city’s
easy skyline.

One cord. One hand.
A fear of falling in another
My attempt at a Sunday Night Football
twisted to the anticipation of
a roadside tackle from the opposite team below

The view from up here
was my only peace
A great inhale of chilled air
filling the bottom corners of my lungs
You are safe. You will not fall.
You are content and happy up here.

And that is what scared me the most.

The roof groaned at my passing weight
I stood at the brink of it all. Admiring
the city inside me
the metro, the lights, the busy buildings
It was filthy and a little unbecoming
but I was lucky. Nothing
was wrong.

Then I slipped off the edge of the rooftop.

Gripping at the pipes that rimmed the building,
the hooks of my fingers rioted for a savior.
Sprouting blood like fireworks on a holiday
I begged not to fall. The pipes wailed as
my legs reached further for the ground,
like a child stretching towards their mother’s arms
I cried at how simple it was -
To let go or to bring myself up
not knowing if my will could
get me up to the rooftop

I thought hard for us all - my only undoing -
Then I unclasped my broken fingers
and fell down onto the concrete.


November 7,  2013 3:59 pm
Revised: December 9, 2013 1:53
(Inspired by "Traveling through the Dark" - William E. Stafford)
Eve Apr 2017
It was March 2007,
   An exact decade
The land was barren
   My bare body laid
The air was in drought
   Helplessness rioted and raid
Humanity was in scarcity
   My debt soul sinfully paid
   For its innocence
He was inside me, collecting dues
I was nine, crying and loud
He was forty one, enjoying and proud.

My money ran out,
August 2011.

April 2017
Debts never truly forgotten,
It was after work Saturday when
My debts finally finished paying
A vase left him bleeding

No longer loud and helpless.

-fir.m
I decided that it was about time i opened with this childhood treachery. I've always been to scared to let go, to truly visit this earth as it's guest. See the thing is my entire life lived so far has made me feel captive. Captured in my own skin, the skin i blame for my vulnerability, but no more. I was without once, but not anymore. Remember, no one can ever break your soul without your consent. Fight it, fight your own mind, fight your own skin for it's own freedom. You wouldn't regret it I promise.
Nicole Lourette Aug 2010
While gazing out the window,
Of a Frosted Sunday morn,
I witnessed the play of children
Romping in laughter and scorn.

The ocean of innocent white,
Paid homage to their violent games.
They rolled, hissed and rioted
Reducing each other with names.

“I can’t believe I loved you
For so long I writhed in pain.
China and Africa now have met,
I’ll fall for you never again.”

Air raids shook the sky,
Trees roared in their limbs.
The dying battle flared up again
As the water reached the brim.

“You’ll fall when I say you fall,
for I control the Time.
You promised me Forever
and Forever’s far down the line.

Follow me down that path
Where greener pastures are found.
Promise to obey me
And our circle will go ‘round.”

It was a sad, pathetic day
to see Prometheus tortured so.
Shaking my head, I walked away
Nonchalant of the occurrences below.
O how lovers past and present
Fuel their passion and revenge.
To forgive and forget is not a process,
But a means to a quickened end.

Sipping my coffee peacefully,
I gaze down at Liberty Street.
I admire their wartime rituals
and how they stay so sweet.
WCA Jun 2014
You are so terribly corrupted by the tragedy that lingers in your blood.
So terribly crumbled by the silhouettes in the night, how the shadows that dance reminds you so much of his.
You find yourself shrivelled by the world, haunted by your thoughts.
Yet my love, through your sorrows and woes,
I beg of you, do not forget.

Remember how he looked at you that day,
How you knew that you would hide that look on the tips of your eyelids for years.

Remember when he held your hand, when you saw the beauty in the world and with knees trembling, you knew.

Remember the thunderbolts that rioted in your soul when he traced your skin for the first time, when you were so electric and so terrified you could barely stand it.

Remember his mumbled midnight dreams and how he was so grateful that you were the last thing he saw, remember that those twists and turns that were, at one point, the most important thing in the universe.

Remember him, finding you, when you had encaged yourself in a silent room, full of so many things, that were beginning to drown you.
Remember how he was there.

Remember in your drunken haze, when you held his hand and led him through the streets. Remember when he held you, when he made you feel alright.

Remember when he followed you to the door, and how you felt when he held your wrists to stop you from leaving. Remember that.

Remember when you thought that it was simply so astounding, to have found him at all.

Remember that things are sometimes good and sometimes bad and most importantly, that anything worth having known in this world requires without doubt, an equal and brilliant mix of both.  

Remember that you were happy once and please don't be ashamed of that.

And above all, remember who you used to be.
-



*"Beg yourself, my love, beg yourself,
To not forget who was knocking on your door.
In the rain, on Saint Patricks day."
Terry Jordan May 2017
Those angry words you’ve spoken
There’s no way to take them back
Unleashed the chain is broken
A wild dog gone on attack

Once unshackled, they live on
Like a cancer they swirled
Unrepentant never gone
Repeated to the World

Once calmed down and quieted
(Darth Vader’s voice you used)
Strongly your words rioted
The argument unglued

Apologies may follow
You hope (s)he hears you out
Remembering to swallow
Those words from your own mouth

Negativity fleeing
A Disarmament for two
Be a peaceful human being
Why is that so hard to do?
Anna Grace Apr 2017
This song hasn’t been worth picking up in 42 days,
and I’m giving in.
I’ve lived in my head all my life,
I had feared all my words had run dry.
But I felt in my mind
That all I tried to repress
Only comes back to me in waves,
And now i’m drowning and depressed.
So i’m opening up
And feeling, emotions are misleading.
I rioted for so long
I forgot my own name
This is a peaceful protest,
Indirect, i confess,
I sincerely miss disinterest.
Work in Progress
Vista Jan 2016
The final page is where it all makes sense
The panorama is complete
Where you tie up loose ends
And *you're not supposed to cheat


But we flipped to the last page
We broke all the rules
Trying too hard to abate
The inevitable whirlpool

And everyone knows you lose interest
If you know how a story concludes,
What's the point in reading
When you know what ensues

But we, we couldn't take it
We ripped out the words
We scribbled on new ones
Attempted to make them work

For years we rioted against kismet
Running around in circles
Defying the looming doom
Pretending to be eternal

It drove us insane, the unending gyre
As we convinced ourselves we were forever
Until one day the faded page floated by
And *
we lurched at it together
It was always in the past.

© Copyright
Tammy Cusick Feb 2014
:As If I Died:

Lets capture this moment that ruptures from the spring of your mouth,
all is never north for it turns back and heads south,
It's been a while in silence,
Engaging a war of shrugs among rioted violence,
In-between bars rusted rebelled deadly thoughts,
Captured in this swelling cage I rot.
As if I died I subdue; shamelessly and recklessly into you,
I just want an “I’m proud of you”
I pick the stitch upon this heart I chew,
it weaves in and out blood spurting out this chest,
leave me in this coffin I eternally rest.
Silence is the biggest war to inflict on yourself,
not a cut, burn, bullet, or medication could be the worse,
fore they numb us before we burst.
Silence is them keen of all,
it ***** with you on the best of days,
leaving happiness in a dreadful haze,
no one notices anything among this room,
the way the paintings spin and zoom,
the nurse with the lazy frown handing out pills she’s always upside down.
The man yelling for help in his loose blue gown portraying a fiend of dope he found,
upon the silent unheeding ground.
Spinning inside this mind of doom; all to all it begins to consume,
the inanimate object you’ve become will end soon.
As if I died I wouldn’t of lied or said, “I’m fine”
because “that’s another problem that we don’t need”
but, the only problem was lovelorn of I,
the crazy things I do is to catch your eye,
life-threatening always in a bind,
I wouldn’t be in this coffin of my dreadful mind.
I’m sorry dear family for I am not the best,
I eat, smoke, work, drink and rest,
and I just wish for once split second I was your best.
It’d be so pure and elegant to have your approval,
I don’t want it to be expressed through money or showered upon gifts,
I know I **** up but I put that below me,
I just wish instead of hanging things over my head you’d actually get to know me.
So, As if I died I’ll stay silent,
forget me if you want it’s easy to do,
because I’m the black sheep of this “family” you grew.
The storm raged
A tempest that rioted
Against the sky
People cowered and pleaded
With the winds, for their mercy
Offered sacrifices to appease
And when they drew my blood
On those stone steps
I could save these people
With their wild, frightened eyes
Or I could rage with the storm
And
I
Chose
Me
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

I merely express my rioted mind
A forest of thoughts and loves
screams and fears,
angels and demons that run rampant
Leaving no part of me unmarred
For I am too aware of all around me
With eyes that speak more than they say
I may not say it but I miss nothing
Perhaps if I were stupid, I would be much happier

My heart is a torrent
Can I no be soothed by a coat of dew and a kiss of rain
I merely a woman who wishes to live and not survive
To be recognised but not seen
To contribute to a craft that I so truly love
For I only am one and have one life to live
For all the things I lack in this life,
Physical beauty
Total confidence
A pure conscience

But my fire is there to keep me warm from world's chaos

I sincerely hope that my many mistakes
will not overshadow my passions
For now, I truly understand the power
of artistic expression and integrity
And I feel as I do not deserve to even
tread the path of those I have admired all
these years and have been immortalised in mind...

I truly do not want to be false, a fraud, a fake
But more then ever, I want to be free...
Never will I take the power of the pen for granted again
For writing may be the is the one true
thing that shows the best part of me...


An entry I wrote in my diary yesterday before bed.
I find that I'm my most emotional and vulnerable at night,
It's so easy to be lost in my own head.
Lyn 💜🌹
Ann M Johnson Apr 2020
Ann M Johnson ( Note,Oct 2015, original copy)
On The Day the Earth Stood Still (revised 2020)
The Market crashed as the people dashed
   All the banks closed down
   the people frowned
   Natural disasters were all around
   Stock brokers quite literally took a dive
Sickness abounds
   Many people died
   On the day the earth stood still

    The daily grind
     The worry over bills
      Was replaced with the need to just survive
       Some people rioted just to get something to eat
       On the day the earth stood still
        
       Some people screamed
        While others cried
         Some people looked down looking for someone to blame
Some people selfishness stood out hoarded things others need
         Still others looked outward and sought ways to help out
        Some people banded together to keep each other and their neighbors alive
        Some people looked up
       While some people prayed for wisdom for themselves and others
        to get through this trial
        Some people looked within only and felt all alone
        Still others thought of this as a test of their will
        On The Day The Earth Stood Still
        
         I wonder if we were faced with this crisis
         would we stand together
         or fall apart ?
         perhaps the answer is found already in our hearts
         If we are lacking a strong network of family and friends
          Now is the time to start
          We don't want to be found slacking if the world falls apart
                     Sometimes things happen in a blink of an eye
I just ran across this older poem of mine. It seems kinda eerie in light of this current Global Covid-19 crisis. My local banks lobby is closed by appointment only. Stores having a strict limit on food and supplies. People hoarding toilet paer whilee others have to do without. It was also mentioned that stores where low on 22 cartridges. Things are chaotic right now.
Big Virge Jan 2021
Now Folks...
My Phone’s SMART Tech...
REJECTED My First Text... !!!

In A Way That Really...
Caused My Head To STRESS... !!!

So I Guess That It Was Meant...
For ME To Now Get VEX...

Just Like The Heads...
At Today’s’ PROTEST... !!!

That Seemed To Have Rednecks...
Rather VEXED And Quite UPSET... !?!

Because Their CURRENT President...
Has Now... GOT TO Accept...
... His LOSS To Joe Biden... !!!!

According To News Threads... !?!

So Should Now GO HOME...
And Leave The Whitehouse Zone... !!!

So Now... Just Like Them...
This Is My Second Attempt...
To Write This Poem...
That Wants To Assess...
What Will Now Come Next... ?!?

Which Is Similar I Guess...
To Their Wish To STILL REJECT...
Biden’s... Election SUCCESS... ?!?

And Have Votes Counted AGAIN...
In Ways Where They Can Inspect...
And Openly... Double Check... !!!

Like Twenty Fifth Amendments...
To REMOVE This President... ?!?
Because Biden Has WON...
And ******* Don’s Minions...

Who’ve Now Rioted Like PUNKS...
And Left The Country STUNNED... !!!

But... Is That What’s Happened...
Or Is This Some Kind of Stunt...
Or One HELL of A... Diversion... ?!?

To CONFIRM The Election Result...
And Make Certain That Mr. Biden...

... Is America’s President...
In... Twenty Twenty One... ?!?

Now It’s Just A Simple Question...
So Is NOT An... Accusation... !!!

But For Those On The Hill...
To NOT Take Time To Chill...
And Be Passing Judgements...
On... This Last Election...

... SO SOON AFTER...
... Protest Marchers...

Seems A Bit HEARTLESS...

So What’s Coming Next... ?!?

Because Now Congress...
Is... Once Again...
Now Democrat Lead...

Trump’s Republican Friends...
Have Quickly Turned...
Against Their President...... !?!

Like The Kind of Worms...
Who’ve Shifted Their Faith...
To Be Willing To Shape...
Their Political Claims...
To... DEMOCRAT Veins... ?!?

In A... Capitol SHAKE...
That Has Caused A QUAKE...
That’s Been FAR From Great... !!!

So... WHO Was It Today...
Who Chose To MISBEHAVE... ?!?

Was It... BLACKS... ???
Maybe Some In Blackface...
Who Are Those In Gangs...
With... Racist Ways... !?!

Or Was It Asians...
Out There RAGING... ?!?

NOPE... Don’t Think So...
Hold On... I KNOW... !!!

Must of Been The CHINESE...
Causing... YOB Like Scenes...

Actually... It Was WHITES...
Who Were Causing Fights...
And The Loss of Life... !!!

That’s RIGHT The Same Types...
Who CLAIM To Be CIVILISED... ?

Now It’s The SECOND Time...
I’ve Tried To Write These Rhymes...
So Those Last Lines...
Are Worth Writing TWICE... ?!?

So... WHO Was It Today...
Who Chose To MISBEHAVE... ?!?

Was It... BLACKS... ???
Maybe Some In Blackface...
Who Are Those In Gangs...
With... Racist Ways... !!!

Or Was It Asians...
Out There RAGING... ?!?

NOPE... Don’t Think So...
Hold On... I Know... !!!

Must of Been The CHINESE...
Causing YOB Like Scenes...

Actually... It Was WHITES...
Who Were Causing Fights...
And The Loss of Life...

That’s Right The Same Types...
Who Claim To Be CIVILISED... ?

Because Had It Been Blacks...
Would They Have Got To Smash...
The HILL... Like That... ?!?

All Their Talk About GOD...
Is Clearly... WAY OFF...
When They Behave Like WILD Dogs... !!!

Now That’s A Line...
Just For Those White TRASH...
Who Are QUICK To CRITICISE...
When Blacks Protest And Act... !?!

Against The VERY SAME THINGS...
Like How Judgements Are RIGGED...
When It Comes To Killings...
That Police Are QUICK To Make... !!!

But SOMEHOW Heads Today...
Who Caused The Hill To Quake...
Were Just... USHERED Away...

So Congressman Could Stake...
A Claim For Biden’s Way...
To Be Made Clear RIGHT AWAY...
And With NO MORE DELAY... !!!

As I Earlier Said In This Poem...
Twenty Fifth Amendments...
Are What They Now Suggest...
As Being What’s BEST...
To Now Ensure Progress...

Because Now That The Senate...
Is...... Democrat Lead......

There Should Be Less Heads Against...
What Joe Biden Presents...
As Policies Well Meant...
In His Term As President... !!!

There’s Much That Now Suggests...
That This Protest Represents...

A Shift Back To Power...
For The... Establishment... !!!

And VACCINE Trends...
To Stem Corona Deaths...

An Agenda Being Fed...
By Global Governments... !!!

So Folks Shouldn’t Forget...
That... Diversions Are Meant...

To... Keep Heads BLINDED... !!!
To What’s Coming Next...
From Political Heads...

Like... Republican Men...
And Women Who STRESSED...
That They Would Never Turn...
AGAINST Their OWN President...
Who’ve Turned Like Worms...
With DISTURBING QUICKNESS...
To Now Show Allegiance...
To Their Democratic Friends... ?!?

So This Poem Will End...
With A Question That Suggests...

That... Hypocrisy And Lies...
Are NOT Beyond These Guys...
Who’ll Decide And Now Preside...
Over What’s Best For Our Lives...

So ….
DON'T You Be Surprised...
If Protests Start To RISE...
In Countries Now Worldwide...
Over MORE Than Loss of Lives... !!!

There’s A Lot That ISN’T Right...
Just Like Today’s Protest...
That’s Left Some People DEAD... !!!

It’s EASY To Sit...
And Claim Ignorance...

But I Suggest That Instead...
You Now USE Your HEADS...

To Ask...

“So Now Whats Coming Next ?“
Todays events have indeed posed, some very serious questions ....
JB Claywell Oct 2020
Where have we gone wrong?
Is this wrong?

We can hardly stand to speak to
one another anymore.

Does anyone remember how to
actually use the telephone feature
of the device that they carry
in their pockets?

Is this the future?
Am I living in the past?

How does one stay grounded, centered,
in the moment, these days, these months,
this godforsaken year?

Everything,
every conversation,
even my plate of biscuits & gravy
has been politicized, polarized,
punctuated, with the pugilism of
keystroke pundits.

On most Sunday afternoons,
I sit and compose.

My own musings;
the oatmeal of my mind.
Waiting for Goldilocks,
maybe a bear or three.

Come Monday,
I’m incarcerated for the day,
playfully playing the role
of Counselor
to men with addiction-issues;
an outright aversion to following
the norms of our less-than-gracious
Golden Age.

I might say that I’m playacting,
but I take it all very seriously.
(Not myself, mind you,
the work done inside those iron-gates.)

I refuse to perform with an angry eye,
heart or mind.
Seeking
clarity.
Showing
concern.

Are you a help or a hindrance?

This might be the question
we all could answer,
especially now,
on the downward *****
of
The 21st year
of the 3rd Millienia.

We’ve elected an inept celebrity.

Several of us love that facist fact,
loading out in our flag-adorned F-150s.

(Yee-haw!)

What a shame.
What a sham.
What a shambles our humanity
is in.

Our souls scream for something
that feels like success,
security, surety.

Even those whom are seen
as the least of us;
who vote against their own
self-interests,
they deserve better than
The Beast of Us.

Our faces hidden behind masks,
tearful eyes,
our fellow citizens have died,
our leaders lied,
we rioted, protested,
looted,
in response to jack-booted oppressors.

Confessors?
None.

This battle,
this race of inequity
may never be won.

Still,
we run.

*
-JBClaywell
©P&ZPublicarions 2020
Boaz Priestly Apr 2018
sometimes my girl-hood
feels like a festering wound
a dark closet full of cobwebs
and dresses that never felt right

it was looking in the mirror
and there was hair down
to my *** that i screamed
when my mom tried to brush
and put bows in it

that face was not mine
a body that suddenly became
soft in places it had once been flat
and i could no longer run around shirtless
pretending i was one of the boys
before i knew what it meant

and everytime i played house
with the girls i harbored secret crushes on
i was the father
the son
the brother
the strange uncle that might be a vampire

i was the prince and i would
rescue the princess and still look
handsome with blood and dirt
on my face and clothes

and then something split open
inside of me and i almost
passed out in an old navy
because my body rioted
against this pain that
was so new and so red
and so heavy that
i became anemic multiple times

these unwanted and unwelcome changes
had me looking for an EXIT sign
that kept blinking off when i needed it most
and all i wanted to do was
grow hair on my face
and my chest
and for my voice to drop
into a sound that i could
hear without hating it

and the first time i
pulled this black tri-top fabric
over a chest that was always
too big to be seen as pectorals
it took my breath away
and hurt so quickly
but when i looked in the mirror
i saw a young man

i finally saw this boy
that grew up being told
he was a girl
and being called a name
that never felt right

i finally saw this boy
that knew who he was
before he knew his times tables
and that wound
gaping with years of hurt
scabbed over that much more
and he was able to
stand up a little straighter

i finally saw this boy
looking back at me
and he was
my god he is
so happy
to be alive
Antiestablishmentarian inherent malevolent violence
wracks human species, a most brutish and nasty beast.

An embittered nihilistic teenager
grown haggard and old,
hence not surprisingly yours truly
crafts pseudo dystopian reasonable rhyme.

An evangelized atheistic adherent,
I aver evolutionary theory
posits prelapsarian Eden
of astonishing plentitude
gone to hell in a handbasket.

Ever since human species stood *****
exhibiting prehensile appendages did allow
cupped fingers upon brow,
whereat vista unveiled to succor chow.

Dawn of consciousness begat
superstitious vagaries daunting
present day Democrat
and/or Republican to issue fiat
denouncing extremist militant uprising
raging across Capitol Hill habitat.

2021 presidential inauguration
today January twentieth
(broadcast right now)
augurs horrific repeat January sixth,
when bedlam and mayhem
rocked Washington District of Columbia,
where hoodlums ran amuck lionizing violence.

Lawlessness bled constitution white
marauding bands of hooligans
bombarded, desecrated, fueled,
harmed, jackknifed, leveled, nailed,
pummeled, rioted, terrorized, vandalized...
with glee and spite
yielded windfall regarding

headline grabbing newsnight
motley film crews recorded
gangsters scaling storied height
(cue spiderman/woman)
think rescuers quick
as greased lightning they did alight.

If only real and/or
fictional life action heroes/heroines
came to the rescue
to avenge forces of evil,
where virtue dispensed,
and trumpeted courtesy better angels.

Meanwhile indefatigable defenders
of human rights
dole out just desserts
upon the heads
of self styled lawless brigands
militaristic thugs hell bent
to wreak havoc
upon cradle of liberty
including complex edifices
linkedin and embody

blood, sweat and tears
of freedom fighters
arrayed against merciless
demonic forces upending
foundation upholding enshrined
nearly divinely inspired principles
quantum leaps since
early man/woman trod
across terrestrial firmament.

I experienced exhilaration
upon witnessing confirmation
genuflection, liberation, restitution
espoused by Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
forty sixth president of United States.
Whether alphabetized, digitized,
homogenized, marginalized, satirized... place names
from "A" to Zaire
Thursday, December 31, 2020
signals conclusion of latest leap year.

The Pacific island of Tonga first
to ring in New Year 2021
glad tidings dispersed
celebrated at 10 AM GMT December 31 -
making tiny island nation
first to head into a fresh year.

Second to last
will be American Samoa 11AM –
just 558 miles from Tonga,
where locals and visitors
celebrate a full 25 hours before.

Earth's orbit around the Sun (year)
and rotation on its axis (day) where
latter not perfectly in line there
by necessitating
smooth functioning of Gregorian calendar
(also called New Style Calendar)
which did premiere
fifteen eighty two courtesy king's spear.

Ever since 1752, whence
in the modern sense
the first leap year implemented
madding crowds reportedly rioted
most likely uttering expletive
than "what nonsense"

reportedly riots erupted
courtesy chaos did arrange,
when England made the change
spurring some citizens
demanding immediate compensatory exchange
they get their 11 days back home on their range
from the government haint so strange.

To determine whether a year is a leap year,
follow these steps without Fanfare
For The Common Man
the famous title of Aaron Copeland air:

1. If the year is evenly divisible by 4,
go to step 2. Otherwise, go to step 5.

2. If the year is evenly divisible by 100,
go to step 3. Otherwise, go to step 4.

3. If the year is evenly divisible by 400,
go to step 4. Otherwise, go to step 5.

4. The year is a leap year (it has 366 days).

5. The year is not a leap year (it has 365 days)
Antiestablishmentarian inherent malevolent violence
wracks human species, a most brutish and nasty beast
case in point Vladimir Putin the population
constituting country of Ukraine he fleeced.

An embittered nihilistic teenager
grown haggard and old,
hence not surprisingly yours truly
crafts pseudo dystopian reasonable rhyme,
to dissociate himself with human species
blithely wreaking havoc
courtesy genocide of flora and fauna.

An evangelized atheistic adherent,
I aver evolutionary theory
posits prelapsarian Eden
of astonishing plentitude
gone to hell in a handbasket.

Ever since human species stood *****
exhibiting prehensile appendages did allow
cupped fingers upon brow,
whereat vista unveiled to succor chow.

Dawn of consciousness begat
superstitious vagaries daunting
present day Democrat
and/or Republican to issue fiat
denouncing extremist militant uprising
raging across Capitol Hill habitat.

Though 2021 presidential inauguration
occurred nearly thirteen months ago
(president broadcast his 2022
state of the union speech)
which still cast a pall
upon commander in chief.

The National Commission to Investigate
the January 6 Attack on  
United States Capitol Complex
repercussion reverberate across
Washington District of Columbia,
where hoodlums ran amuck
eulogizing, lionizing, patronizing violence.

Lawlessness bled constitution white
marauding bands of hooligans
bombarded, desecrated, fueled,
harmed, jackknifed, leveled, nailed,
pummeled, rioted, terrorized, vandalized...
bedlam with glee and spite
yielded windfall regarding

headline grabbing newsnight
motley film crews recorded
gangsters scaling storied height
(cue spiderman/woman)
think rescuers quick
as greased lightning they did alight.

If only real and/or
fictional life action heroes/heroines
came to the rescue
to avenge forces of evil,
where virtue dispensed,
and trumpeted courtesy better angels.

Meanwhile indefatigable defenders
of human rights
dole out just desserts
upon the heads
of self styled lawless brigands
militaristic thugs hell bent
to wreak havoc
upon cradle of liberty
including complex edifices
linkedin and embody

blood, sweat and tears
of freedom fighters
arrayed against merciless
demonic forces upending
foundation upholding enshrined
nearly divinely inspired principles
quantum leaps since
early man/woman trod
across terrestrial firmament.

I experienced exhilaration
upon witnessing confirmation
genuflection, liberation, restitution
espoused by Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
forty sixth president of United States.
Evan Stephens Dec 2020
I heard it in the evening,
those sad, hopeful voices.
Astonished, I was caught
in a grace. I thought
of the strangest things:
Corso's leopard-apples
& lost watches,
flowers pressed into pages,
aluminum foil and how
once creased it's creased
forever, the scent of a pear,
the scent of hide glue,
astonished as these strange things
rioted through me
uncontrollably, as the music
moved forcefully forward,
however unfinished,
and I was stricken
with a nearly perfect moment.
Astonished, when you said
this was your funeral song.
Courtney O Nov 2020
The devil was you,
I used to think to myself it was true
but it was growing in me too
It took on my soul
And no matter how much I rioted
or acted up
I was hostage
of a sick world
In fact, I acted up because I knew I would lose
but I wouldn't have lost maybe
except for you
You aren't poisonous but you and I
like toxic waste react
And letting you take over me
is to lose again a created war
Alternately titled: 111th leap year since 1582
the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc
out of sync and lock
step by one day
with astronomical calendar,

slated more'n acceptable tick tock
off kilter around the year of 4818
after common era making mock
re: regarding mankind organizing and
witnessing global chockablock
Democratic celebratory anniversary party
millenniums after Republican dynastic deadlock
thoroughly walled imponderable gridlock
worse fate than quaffing hemlock
practically snuffing out lock, stock

and barrel constitutional birthrights
thirteen original American
founding fathers ghosts experiencing shock
how initial inalienable rights
activists sacrificing life and limb
united with linkedin armlock
said freedom fighters shackled
within crowded jail moldering cinderblock
cold upon hemorrhoid riddle buttock
diehard libertarians unified, pilloried, denounced

legion with repulsion as Shylock
purported, reputed, touted playwright
(William Shakespeare's sited anti semite
The Merchant Of Venice) doth mock
Judaism in vogue four hundred plus years ago,
smoldering think white supremacists i.e. skinheads
violently aiming to knock
non Caucasians upside the head
courtesy pistol whip,
and/or emptying gunstock

into human flesh disenfranchise scaring up
one after another racial and/or ethnic aftershock
aforementioned celebrated bard unwittingly
strictly opinion of me:silly poet -
despite hashtagged as laughingstock,
(plus vitriolic objection taken)
voiced by Shakespearean expert defenders,
yours truly reckons mine thought provoking blurb
regarding storied, lauded, and feted Globe theater
literary King my interpretations not crock

Earth's orbit around the Sun (year)
and rotation on its axis (day) where
latter not perfectly in line there
by necessitating
smooth functioning of Gregorian calendar
(also called New Style Calendar)
which did premiere
fifteen eighty two courtesy king's spear.

Ever since 1752, whence
in the modern sense
the first leap year implemented
madding crowds reportedly rioted
most likely uttering expletive
than "what nonsense"

reportedly riots erupted
courtesy chaos did arrange,
when England made the change
spurring some citizens
demanding immediate compensatory exchange
they get their 11 days back home on their range
from the government haint so strange.

To determine whether a year is a leap year,
follow these steps without Fanfare
For The Common Man
the famous title of Aaron Copland air:

1. If the year is evenly divisible by 4,
go to step 2. Otherwise, go to step 5.

2. If the year is evenly divisible by 100,
go to step 3. Otherwise, go to step 4.

3. If the year is evenly divisible by 400,
go to step 4. Otherwise, go to step 5.

4. The year is a leap year (it has 366 days).

5. The year is not a leap year (it has 365 days)
   The Gregorian calendar will have gained a day by the year 4818 CE (2,794 years from now), so at some point there will be a Gregorian leap year specially made not a leap year. The logical thing to do would be to make 3204 CE not a leap year, pushing the calendar from 1/2 day ahead of the solar year to 1/2 day behind the solar year. Making that decision is about 1,000 years in the future.
     The Gregorian calendar is still slightly too long relative to the mean tropical year (which very slowly gets shorter). At some point in the future, it will be necessary to have fewer leap years (or days), not more. No one has agreed to anything yet, but the 400 year centennial rule could be changed to 500 years, the millennial leap year in 4000 (and some other future dates) could be skipped, various other possibilities, but all require a reduction in leap years, not a double leap year or extra leap years.
     The first leap year was in 45BC. There were supposed to be 12 leap years from 45BC through 1 BC, but there might have been an extra because the Romans initially botched the implementation of the system. But let’s say there were 12. Then, had the Julian calendar been kept all this time there would have been another 500 leap years from 4AD through 2000AD for a total of 512 leap years by now. But most of us are using the Gregorian calendar. This fact makes the question subject to different interpretations. When switching to the Gregorian calendar countries using it agree to retroactively cancel leap years that the Gregorian calendar would not have recognized if it were in place since the beginning (45 BC). 1BC would still have been a leap year (it corresponds to 0000AD) but of the remaining intervening 20 years ending in 00AD, only 5 of them would have been leap years, meaning, if you accept that interpretation, 512–15 = 497 is the total number of leap years so far.
     But there’s another interpretation, that once a leap year is acknowledged in a place in history, there was a leap year then regardless of whether the Gregorian calendar was adopted there at some time later. Since the dates of adoption range from the late 1500’s to the early 1900s that would mean that some places have skipped over only 3 leap years out of the 512 (beginning with 1700) some 2 leap years of the 512, some 1 of the 512, and some haven’t skipped any (those places that kept the Julian calendar until around WWI, such as Russia.) So in this interpretation, depending on the country you’re interested in there have been either 509, 510, 511 or 512 leap years since 45BC.
Qualyxian Quest Jan 2020
7 cities contend for Homer dead
Through which the living Homer begged his bread

The poor in America despised and scorned
But hear ye imperialists, you have been warned

Portland rioted after Trump's night
The rioters too overwhelmingly white

Seattle Emergency Housing into view
Kells Irish bar has music too

Staunton where you can hear the Bard
The snowfall soft and pure not hard

Reno where you can place a bet
The Wheel still spins and you can get

A ride to Rachel on  375
Professor Pasulka, your book might thrive

Haven't yet been to Quinlin, Arizona
But I did play basketball with Kevin Blazona

And if you ever get back to Satellite Beach
Tell everyone there of its long, long reach!

— The End —