I want to tell anyone in the South
Who is clinging desperately to their confederate heritage
That succeed and secede aren't just homonyms... They're opposites.

Draped in fresh-knitted pearls
we traipsed
into saccharine peach orchard

The summer heat loped about our dew-kissed ******
****** - appropriated from dawn spent on neatly shorn plantation grass

Ambling into the knotted palatial arbor
we sat each in our own tree crux
behinds nestled upon ashen bark

Juice dripping in our grip
down our cast nets of flesh
sprawled about the branches
inset with gravity-defying liquescent orbs
dusted in translucent mink
painted with smears of
citrine, coral, amber, and ichorous
clinging to brass stem

The rondures secede to mandible
taut between palms pull and polished ivories
- torn-

Fluent in dulcet discourse
We cloak ourselves in provocative juice tatting
Until such time that our congealing garments
were found mapping the bark's topography
A saccharine map to the breath of soil

Bloodstone ants found our map
and had begun traversing - portent
to seize our treasure

We surrendered our jewelled cages
and took flight
to the sun-drunken lake to bathe
and swim
until heavy lids kissed moistly
heavily supped on the draught
sleep - beckoned transience

"I will beat this," I swear.
No one else has,
as there is no end,
but there must be an end.
I'll find it.

Watching everyone spin
on their axis,
touting their progress,
there must be a someone
or some thing!

Watch me spin.
Spin and fidget.
Watch me spin,
spin and fidget.

Spin the blades
to your right.
Now you're loading. Now
you're spinning.

"I will beat this," rings obsolete.
Now, "I will secede,"
seems pragmatic.
Is it romantic to
be at one with nothing?

Cross legged on the floor,
I whisper,
to myself,
"Oh,
         you
                 bet."

dust has collected in this once filled room of my mine

it's floated and settled on the last few things left behind

spellbind

windchime

now i can say this empty space is all mine


8 years of pacing this room

8 years of shouting at the moon

8 years of sleeping til noon

just to ignore the fact I meant nothing to you


so much anger has made home in my bones

the way you used to speak about me felt like being casted with stones

I used to try and drown out your tasteless, colorless tone

you type "she's dramatic" in a text on your phone


I expected this feeling of indifference to feel free with no stop lights

yet this empty space

and this empty mind

coincide

with what I've known this whole time


that all too familiar feeling of restlessness has come to an end

and even though there are still memories burned into my head

I don't believe I have anything else left unsaid


I envied your callousness

I despised your self-righteousness

and i ached at your lack of consequence

what caught your eye was never my elegance

but rather my callowness


as the ice in your drink swirls and melts

and you're blaming me besides everyone else

as your anger starts to swell

just remember it was me who wasn't treated well


we can keep our heads down while our eyes meet on the street

while you pretend I don't resemble meadowsweet

and that we never danced in my kitchen with me on your feet

but

to be honest

in the end

we were always offbeat

when you chose to secede

I found you to not be an aesthete

if you could agree

to be without me


this story is begging to no longer be told

so maybe I'll revisit this time of my life when I've seen how my life will unfold

til then my king is fallen on this chess board

my feelings are buried far past the sea's shore

and I've finally

stopped keeping score

This is dedicated to the millions who died in the Biafra - Nigeria civil war

Counting the losses
Of my people at dawn
Breaking the curses
Of no wholly source
I sought to wage war
Without funds and money
I thought to secede
From a nation strong and many
I was full of envy for vain minorities
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Proclaiming Biafra
Was so big an agenda
Building militias
To **** and to tether
My opposed tribal brothers
And the critics of my powers
I denied much on media
All that hid in my fingers
My plans I held higher
The proclamation of Biafra
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Visible to the blind
Were were ready for a fight
Audible to the deaf
Huge price of war to pay
Hausas killed in numbers
By my igbo sons and daughters
yorubas were driven without boots
by my fellow Biafran youths
Ibibios were suspicious
So were Urhobos, Itsekiris and Ijaws
Enmity was at its peak
So high that none could breach
All these were my agenda
My services to Biafra
Was so good for me to render

On May 30th 1967
Was just like a fable
I declared in the open
Without even a wobble
The state of Biafra
Almost complete; an agenda
An anthem was composed
Flag and currency; none could oppose
The heat of the tension
Is such I couldn't mention
The height of jubilation
Not all did it favor
There was sorrow in the land
This, I cared not apart
I was a symbol in the world
For the havoc I did cause
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

The war began
With no money at hand
We fought with pride
With pains in our hands
We fought with might
Defending our father's land
We died in mass
Numbers of air attacks
We killed civilians
Of the tribes against our plan
We'd shoot in the heart
Every oppose we'd catch
Nigerians were too strong
but we swore we'd burn
I saw no flaw
In the havoc I did cause
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Hunger and thirst
Was order of the day
Sorrow was a pest
and death had no end
Too many burdens to bear
The pains of war to pay
We ran out of guns
Bullets, grenades, even bombs
We had but matchets
Arrows, stones and spears
But We faced an army
Of full artillery
Our tragedy had no end
Even God couldn't help
So our homicide was cast
And We became fossils at last
Let those who seek war; stop and think
The pains of it;higher than that of peace
So I e'caped in a copter
Leaving my people to suffer
So on exile I did ponder
while millions died in yonder
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

I write from the grave
From the hell of my pains
I was that educated soldier
Who took you to battle borders
And ran, leaving you to suffer
I was that educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border.

Sightless I see, within my mind
An ocean of timeless horizons
A tranquil night, this endless dream
the realm my being resides in

A scattered thought from a shattered light
spreads out and takes hold inside me
An echoed sound from a stream of silence
Clings on with a hidden binding

A well so deep, a depth so dark
A thousand memories to overcome
And yet this sound, a song renewed
Emerges saying, "What's done is done."

What has been lost, while yet not found
may be restored in days unknown
The empty vessel, the broken bond
Can mend in time - but not alone

The night, while dark, must still secede
And though it may grow long,
I wait in hope your light will come
So I may see the dawn.

‘’We’re running in circles in the night and we will be by the fire devoured’’

This gnawing fire ardently feeding on our weak bodies since the idle bird of our soul was tortured by the rebellious death, and debased if any occult alliance was giving indulgences away, it would be ******, sullied by several sins and it would desperately date a demon despite the dreaded consequences: The forces of Darkness would be dressed in their bacchanal breeches their crowns tainted by their fanciful sets cinching on sordid sanguinary dances in a tremor hearts and hearths in unconverted sets the demon’s sap, onto which would flow the alabaster lymph of the nymph, in an orgiastic horror my senses secede from this union of leeches and leave this macabre theater…

Towards angels, divine messengers, I turned my eye when, alone in the mystical night I screamed from my inner rings they let me touch an aura in a flurry of wings bathing in this fountain of youth, river of the rare ragweed in the radiance of a ray, they appear, one will prophesy the celestial might of their powers, in the new day’s seed.

Oh dear cherub, now recedes the sweet veil of my vision off my tired eyes sliding in the wind when the morning sighs trapped during my lethargic battle late at night, by evil sylphs, life’s harshness ruthlessly hangs onto me with no ceasefire. As I am struggling, if I could only cling onto the coastline, I inquire, of my childhood’s lake…Like a fainted fairy, they plan my annihilation…

“Say my soul, if you were sent before the gates of a double infinity towards which would you hold out your limp limbs, say it please, between Hell’s chaos and Heaven’s inner peacefulness would you choose the Devil or God’s eternity? To whom would you alter your altar and to whom would you give your night? Answer me! Test the shapeless orb of your entity, you know that nothing will leave this room under a candlelight. And nothing will be known, so wiggle with ease. “

‘’I would kiss love, I want to hear neither about the Arcadia or Styx
I want a seraph, would it be blessed or cursed that I would love and cherish.’’ ‘’Oh my soul, such a nice undertake, you would submit to another type of torment thus I say: There is no other painful path when declining, I will blemish your dreams… Love love to death and you will let yourself die- you cannot fix this: Love, when hell tortures you closer and closer to the edge, will tear you appart and bring this pain to the firmament and I would not call this a pleasurable privilege.

Dinner with old friends:
salmon with red cabbage, asparagus, Caesar's salad, penne
      with broccoli, two white wines.
Jane Jacobs could analyze how it all got to our table
or even how their daughter came to us from Cambodia.
The economy or market bringing a thing of beauty, the farms,
      the trucks,
such comfort. The ancients knew this too
yet we are anxious about famine, genocide and nuclear war.
How can we organize (govern) ourselves to end self-imposed
      suffering?
That Quebec and Puerto Rico may secede peacefully at any
      time a majority chooses is a source of pride. Why not
      Kurds, Chechyns, Tibetans and Armenians?

Difficult to write a poem about it. At table, candlelight, we
      debate
or whine about the other side winning and making a mess
of our lives. The election could be stolen, tampering with
      voting machines,
what policy question does that possibility raise? War in Iraq,
school testing, prison population. Religion, the abyss
      surrounding the
little promontory life.

It'll all work out in the end. Go to your daily practice, be a
      good citizen.
Another failed effort to write what I mean. Such confusion, yet
two white wines.

Corroding off in wreckless control
Repeated lines stretching infinitely in ambiguity
Sharp muscle relaxant mistakes
As we career off the road
Into a ravenous singularity
We are unforgiving, cynical yet synthetically joyous
Quick to pardon
Whipped with a gold leash
Delicate, leaves, Celtic music
Rubik's cubes in our throats
We're ready to let love in, willing
Nova tech, drunk masks and indication
Indignation, we clutch, we fail
Partial to conditions
Stones out of focus

Accelerate
Engines bleed borders
You are the free way
Impotent with quartz remnants
Ruins to our fantasy
You hide history
Covered in my burrow
Braking until necks break & bags burst
Powdered hair, liquid lips
Let's drive home
Go beyond the limit
Break each others bones
And crush our entities
Suffocate on suffixes
Her explanation acquits the doubt
As we appear closer than we may actually be
Industrial stacks stretch towards invisibility
Letting go of their concentrate
Gelatin mind
levitate into connection

Cups turned upside down
Entrapping ego in near vacuum
Aqua ducts bouncing off feline eyes
2 & a 4
Perfect air in a foreign atmosphere
Spinned on axis, ways to conduct
Your supply
Secede madness
Eternal order
Lungs sharply inhale with uncertainty
Hydroplaning your attempts at adultery
Decision was never your thing
Unmoving at every turn
Passion with objects
Reactions flicker between humility

It gives gifts
Your skin melts to the touch
Chocolate in magma
Molten sound deafens drench
Jealous mess, dividend
Hugging and dripping black with stability
Back, holy scripture written with integration
Sealed with treachery, acetate photography
Capturing clear innocence
Boredom and sinfulness
Spiked militant
Pencil drawn neuroses, veil
Bow down to schematics, we're radar
Sonar structure solar
It's all part of the process

You can burn all you please,
Decimate, obliterate;
But I won't even warm,
Already burning hot
From the inside out,
I was always here,
Made to handle your demons,
I cannot be fazed by the darkness,
Fire starter you may be;
But I'm flint for your kindle,
Fuel for your perseverance,
But once you are fully lit
You will never be put out,
And so I'll secede,
For all may stick like burs
But I'm no Velcro;
Volcano on an island;
You'll see my trail in the ashes
All around you fiery torch
And to who will you pass?
I will not know, but hope
That fortunate soul can handle your fire...
© okpoet

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

We declare
- this our bedroom -

an independent
dominion

secede from
the United Kingdom

& the Commonwealth
of Nations

(although still enjoying
our European unions) .

Us a Republic
of Love

out on our own

our New Found Land
as Donne had done

a currency
of caresses

our national tongue
...kisses

needing nothing
but the other

to complete
our independence

flying the flag
of happiness

in this our brave
new world

of
Love.

I saw how you used to stare at him,
How you used to smile at him,
Saw how you allured him to your bed,
How you saw him secede his own,
Throw them out the street for you to sit on the throne,
Saw how you squeezed every coin from his pocket and accounts,
How you threw him out when he could yield no more,
I saw you!
I’ve seen how you’ve been looking at him,
Walking before him ******* dressed, shaking what you think you have,
Giving him your best slutty smiles,
I’ve seen you!
I won’t stand here and watch!
No! Not anymore!
This one is mine,
My one and only,
My beloved and the father of my children,
I will protect him with my very life,
I will not stand and watch you annihilate us,
The way you did others,
I will stop you and tear you down,
Oh you home wrecker!
©Anita W.

(Critique number 1: of social norms in the 21st century)

To the point that our American social fabric has been stained by the original sin of slavery was a point President Abraham Lincoln hoped would be dealt with by the winning and reconciliation of those states who fought to secede during the Civil War; to that end, the Union was saved but equality was not to be had by all man, regardless of color, as well as woman, and progress would arrive in fits and starts.

Our founding fathers declared that "All men are created equal" yet many held salves which meant as they wrote of equality they held of the standards of disenfranchised persons; it took almost 100 years after the Civil War for the next great leap of civil discourse in equality leading to a series of legislative passages throughout the civil rights era to bring what appeared as true and final equality, and though none can doubt great leaps were made, the original sin of our nation - that of espousing that all men our created equal while looking the other way as these very men of principle held slaves to tend there homesteads - is a wonder of true blind-sight.

In 2007-2008 the nation held a hard fought race for the presidency, and swept in with great hope was Barack Hussein Obama, the nation's first African American president; and so it seemed the arch of History at last had bent straight and right; yet even as the nation and world celebrated, The Republican Party behind closed doors decided their mission was to make President Obama a one term president and to start a system of blatantly obstructing any measures President Obama put forth; thus the nation was divided into a rift not seen since and through the era of reconstruction immediately following the Civil War.

Through 2016-2017, the The nation had become more divided than ever and had grown weary of having dynastic leaders in the seat of the presidency specifically either a family member of the bushes or that of the Clintons and so they chose an outsider who had no respect or rule of thumb or moral compass which our founding fathers envisioned the president to have; in fact the role of the president was the least important position as far as they were concerned and his was to be a roll of functionary executive duty and no more yet through the 20th century Congress gave way and gave powers to the president which our founding fathers never intended, thus leaving us at the whims of a president who swims are sweet as easy as wheat in a breeze and with the Wii Congress not hook up holding its duty as a check against the executive branch we find ourselves in a position that the country is even more divided and the two leading parties which were never intended to exist in the first place now in charge of the fate of the nation.

If for no other reason that the executive currently in power is leading a wedge between our nation it is time we as a people stand up and demand that he the executive in charge on this the year 2017 be held up for impeachment on any number of charges of illegal improprieties he has already trampled upon and as laid out in the constitution; let this not be our new normal - a nation divided into a two party system our founding fathers warned against and never intended to take route - but just a blip in our continues march forward, to build a more perfect union, on the right side of history.

I would LOVE to give you my heart.
And once I find it, I’ll look you up.
You don’t understand
I’ve looked in the present, and in the past but somehow, along the way, it got lost
Well it was more of a … ok , so I ripped it out and threw it away.
I don’t think I need it.
People live without hearts right…
For example…The Grinch. Didn’t he not have a heart… wait, no.
Well, whatever, I don’t think they’re THAT important.
But I said that about you too...
It was a pain anyway.
Seriously .
Sometimes it was about to burst when I saw you.
People jokingly say they had a heart attack when they see their true love,
well  let’s just say when I see you I feel like world war III is using my heart as it’s arena .  
Like … like the battles moved from my heart to my stomach to my brain and my whole body can only endure …so. Much. Pain.
Blood may have been flowing through my veins but I’ve always been  cold blooded. Whether I was in a warm embrace or alone in the snow storm that is your emotion, the icy chill that starts at my fingertips and travels to my heart has not secede since that day.
It’s amazing how much love the heart can hold, when it also harbors so much hate.
I’d tell you I miss my heart but I don’t.
Don’t miss the lingering feelings when I was upset don’t miss the staying up late at night thinking about what you said don’t miss the hours I spent daydreaming about you and I definitely don’t miss saying “baby… I love you”  
So if I find it, I’ll give you a call and give it to you, but I’ll tell you now, it’s not worth much, I gave up on it a long, long time ago.

Dedicated to the agitators of Oregon.
(We all want you to secede, baby !)

Let it BURN while you feel the TRUMP.
I hope Soros pays you well for your efforts.
Here's my one-man backlash
to the whacked-out blacklight
of the whitelash blackout.
So don't try to whitewash the knockout,
blockheads.

¡ JUST SAY NO to one-world GLOBALISM !

My planet is pregnant
My planet is pregnant
And soon, it will eat for two

It never happens to me
It never happens to me
but not too sure about you

The fire, it burns
The fire, it burns
And it doesn't care who

Here to succeed
Here to secede
To absolutely nothing

Just here to feed
Just here in the feed
Saluting an image of the sun

For you i bleed
Through you i bleed
Until nothing real is left

And if you dribble simply
Through the dimples
Of simplicity
The ripples
Impact the world
At capacity

And if you dare
To bare
The battlements
Of their glares
Just stare
Straight through them

And if you are to die
In compliance
To the night
Than you have
Chosen wisely
As knighted

And You can hail the sun
Or you can hail the son
You can dream a little dream

You could be the one
You could be just one
Of many

You could **** for fun
You can **** the fun
Out of me

Just make the earth your *****
Just make the earth *****
To shake and spin us free

Just let us the bomb the rich
Just getting bombed by the rich
Blow up some buildings

Just tools in a ditch
Just fools in a hitch
Slowly dying

And from the ashes born
The masses with their scorn
As the dead walk in the lorn
Of the flock
Warned of the stalk
Bred in the knots of laws

And from the fires rise
The desires and the lies
Of flies caught in the web
Surprised by the gems
Of the steps
Toward the lights

If all is to be
A batter
Of our dreams
Than better me
In the flames
Of naivety

You can always see
But you cant always see
Everything

You can always be
But you cant always be
Anything

You can always speak
You can only speak
Of what you see

Singing
Feeling
Seeing
Talking
Tingling
Thinking

Like me
Just like me
You're just like me
Fading
Erasing
Then recreating

The eyes
To see
The cries
To see
The smears
To feel

All the mes of the world
All the mes of the worlds
All the mes of mine
All the mines are mimes
All the mimes are shining
All of mine are shining

From the world
From the whirl
Of woe

From a world of war
From a world
We don't know anymore

Caste in horror
Upon a ******
Breast

A deplorable
Harvest
Of the best
Intentions
Left
Unsaid

We are here
We are there
We are everywhere
But where
We should be
Beware

Its the heart beating
In the breathing
Thinking
That the whispering
Is hissing
Go there

But im still aware
Of the glaring
Statements
Of vacant mass
Out lasting
The past

In static
Spaceships
Of mind-frames
And perspectives
Ive elected
To turn off

Scoffing
In the loss
Of words
Blurring
In the thirst
Of the worse

Id be cursed to know
But the first to know
That the dam broke
And the flow
Drown
The voices out

Until
The fire
Is out

Just hurry
Get the **** out
Just go

Just go

Just

Go

i wonder if our skin cells are divided into more categories than we think
maybe some are a country and some are skyscrapers and wet city roads glistening with rain and sweat and rat ****
and in our skin's second layer are murals and graffiti tags and ice statues made up of chemical compounds and crystallizations waiting to be exposed

or maybe they're divided between cells you did and did not touch and if they are i hope the ones you ruined decide to secede and fall down the shower drain so i can finally be a new person
again.

Melodic perfection winds through my ears
and finds my heart.
Authentic purity overcomes me
in the length of a cleansing sigh.

I am an extension of the music.

Let me fall through the lush lyrics
as they slip into nothingness,
chased by whispers of rhythms
that bow to the soft,
solo sad note.

Standing alone,
it is that suspended heartbreak
that becomes my very salvation.
I am captivated and hang motionless,
unable to control the cry for solace.
The silence that follows
carries naught
but a trembling tear.
Its slow, deliberate splash
deprives me of breath
and depraves the scant sanctuary
that is so painfully fragile.
The truth is now sustained;
We are the composition.

Awaken what is hidden
for a higher reminder
and walk me,
dance me,
romance me to the night’s contentment.
Only then do the wandering secede
to the late goodbye conveyed
by the instrumental vow
of the final vibrato.

Why not be cynics, and all act like dogs today, maybe walk around with lamps to say, where are the honest men, where are their fathers then, we don't need this ****, as we can, **** on legs, and beg for space, protest in plays, and secede to the streets, let us all be ******* today, just like [Diogenes].

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

We declare
- this our bedroom -

an independent
dominion

secede from
the United Kingdom

& the Commonwealth
of Nations

(although still enjoying
our European unions) .

Us a Republic
of Love

out on our own

our New Found Land
as Donne had done

a currency
of caresses

our national tongue
...kisses

needing nothing
but the other

to complete
our independence

flying the flag
of happiness

in this our brave
new world

of
Love.

After seeing you
for the first time
in a long time,
You certainly didn't hold up
as well in reality
as you did in my mind
and I don't know whether
to be saddened
or relieved. . . .
but it will
help to secede
from the memories
that have been
tearing at me
Even though
there is part of my being
wishing I didnt give in
after seeing
where I said you belong
has done to you.
Even the most elegant bird
loses her feathers
when encaged for too long
And I no longer wish
to peek through the wire.

[series] Poems in Water Vol.1
“Blessing That Hurts [Nostalgia]”

To make beauty out of pain it damns the eyes,
NO – DAMS the eyes,
See how they overflow?
See how our hearts secede with each changing season?
We’re only 21; we got no debt owed to love,
So what’s the rush?
What’s the rush?
What’s the rush?
I mean; we DO get each other high,
But on my descent from the sky,
I cry.
Each time.
And we lie, drowning each other in one another’s’ tears.
A kind curse. Forgive me.
A blessing that hurts.

Nostalgia is like a knife through my hippocampus sometimes.
Because I don’t want to remember,
But sometimes; things come up.
It is unfathomable how fast the time goes by.
Things are different from how they were 3 years ago.
Yes, my heart does still beat rapidly at just hearing your name.
Thought you were the once because you drove me insane.
But;
How often now – raging weeping for a ‘Do-Over’.
Love lust gives and lust taketh, from you.
Sad dreams. The moment at which you recognized: your own eyes have lied,
And mind as well was deceiving your heart.
8 years for this crush lust;
I must remind myself.
Despite that, there’s other fish,
And while I look – God’s with me,
So im never really by myself…

-Ep

A darkened heart has hidden places,
away from those who judge his deed,
chasing shadows into alleys,
& looking how to fill a need,

Cloaking all,
his face is covered,
as endless pain the empty bleed,
an emotional vampire,
drinking their blood,
taking lives within the greed,

Waving in the other bad ones,
guttural beast's,
a different breed,
laid upon the alter for him,
planting there a rotten seed,

We must fight,
against an enemy,
I ride in on a native steed,
though he may look like I do,
sadly though,
he mustn't lead,

From the ashes,
fanning fires,
I hope my words you truly read,
he, we know will likely burn us,
& do so with such lightning speed,

This is who we wanted leading,
as many now,
wish to secede,
though I am crying for a Nation,
saving us,
must be agreed,

I wear my war paint into battle,
sweat rolls down,
a Native bead,
I wear a headdress for your freedom,
hear my yipping words,
I plead,

In hopes that we can find a new way,
a warning from the past to heed,
we must take the bad from gardens,
getting out a choking ****,

I look to skies for distant answers
as I chew upon a hallowed reed,
tell me Father's
which way do we go,

by the wise we will be freed



Cherie Nolan © 2016

We declare
- this our bedroom -

an independent
dominion

secede from
the United Kingdom

& the Commonwealth
of Nations

(although still enjoying
our European unions) .

Us a Republic of Love
we a nation of two

out on our own

our New Found Land
as Donne had done

a currency
of caresses

our national tongue
...kisses

needing nothing
but the other

to complete
our independence

flying the flag
of happiness

in this our brave
new world

of
Love.

A steady gentle rain had fallen throughout the night before.
Morning dawned , grey and dreary, like the butternut they wore.
A.P. Hill was on the march, speeding towards the sound,
the distant sounds of battle, as they marched through Frederick town.

The rebel brain trust harbored hopes that Maryland might secede.
That a hero’s welcome waited for Lee riding in the lead.
But no, the streets were silent, most folks hid inside their homes.
They cheered instead, the boys in blue and cheered for them alone.

The rebels marched down Patrick Street as they sped through Frederick Town.
Then General Hill spied the Stars and Stripes and ordered them struck down.
It was Mary Quantrell who showed the flag, in defiance of the troops.
(Whittier misidentified his heroine in hoops.)

It was Mary, all defiant, who displayed our nation’s flag;
a brave matron of thirty years, no ninety year old hag.
“You may **** me if you must; my life is hardly charmed,
But I will die before I see this banner come to harm.”

Her warning gave the general pause, perhaps in part because.
He had himself once sworn to protect that banner and that cause.
He countermanded, then and there, the order that he gave.
He pressed on to Antietam where the hard pressed Lee was saved.

Mary has no monument, these days, in Frederick town;
No mention on her grave stone how she faced a General down.
There’s no honor in her hometown for this heroine with pluck.
That Barbara Fritchie legend?- Just some poet run amuck.

Should I just along with myself?

I never did get along with anybody else.



I know I make mistakes,

They're gonna haunt me to my grave

I know I'm not the best,

Not any better then the rest

So I sit here and stare all night,

Searching for something that feels right



I hope, I hope, I hope for the best,

I hope so much more than all the rest

Is it enough?

I wish I knew,

I kneel and pray till my face turns blueI know I'm not the best,

Not any better than the rest

But ya gotta know when I say,

I wish I could just take away my pain

It hurts every time,

I scream and shout, and I cry



Should I just get along with myself?

I never did get along with anybody else...



I listen to sweet songs of black and blue,

To sick tunes of love so true...

I wish, I wish, I wish I knew,

I play this song on repeat so much my ears go deaf,

No sweet melody can repair what's left

I know I'm not the best,

Not any better than the rest

I want to know what's right,

I want to give up without a fight

I have no energy to even see

No energy to resist as I bleed...



I give in to the energies...

I finally give in and secede...

Life was always to much for me,

I never saw it till I could bleed

I wish I would just be brought down to my knees,

The headman's axe is all I need...



Should I just get along with myself?

I never did get along with anybody else



That always was the problem, anyways

I was always the one to hate,

Myself in all my spit and rage

And so I strike upon this wall,

slowly numbering my days

5750 is what I'm at,

I sit and ponder that

Why have I lived so long,

How, when my mind is so far gone

How did I ever get along



I think of days long passed,

Days long gone,

I think of all my good and wrong,

I know that through all the pain I have,

The love gets me through,

In a world of lies, that is always true

Like a dark rose in my life,

It is forgiven in my mind

Hating myself never got me anywhere

Loving others was what kept me there

It's what keeps me here now,

What makes me drag myself around



I  don't want to cry,

But as I write, it comes through my eyes

I don't know anymore,

I don't know what I'm here for



Two points for honesty,

You told the truth that makes me see,

even when it makes me scream,

and cry and kick and bleed



Poison in everything you say,

don't you, don't you,

wonder what difference does it make...

either way...



I love you, I love you, I love,

And all of your pieces



My ears are blown to bits, from all the rifle hits,

but still I crave that sound



Higher and higher, we're gonna take it,

Down to the wire



It was only a kiss,

It was only a kiss



What is it?

What is this?

Is this hate?

Or is it bliss?

What can't I see?

What have I missed?

Is it me?

Am I a piece of **?



why oh why,

I weep, I cry,

I wonder,

I wonder why,

I forgive you, please,

Stop this in my head,

I've forgiven you,

I wish I was dead



Like a dark rose inside my head,

I forgive you, please, just go ahead

Hurt me, **** me, make me cry,

I deserve the pain, I won't wonder why

When I bleed,

When i die



Should I just get along with myself?

I never did get along with myself,

I never did see what I saw in anybody else,

Only the tears running down my face

We declare
- this our bedroom -

an independent
dominion

secede from
the United Kingdom

& the Commonwealth
of Nations

(although still enjoying
our European unions) .

Us a Republic of Love
we a nation of two

out on our own

our New Found Land
as Donne had done

a currency
of caresses

our national tongue
...kisses

needing nothing
but the other

to complete
our independence

flying the flag
of happiness

in this our brave
new world

of
Love.

Caught again
I know it's love
I know you care
But time itself and all my dreams
The enlightened ones
The ones who are free
If you overthink
Or say too much
If you secede
If you give up
You lose your soul
You lose your life
But if you don't
YOU ARE ALIVE

for now on, i will pretend that you are at arms
distance from the black hole that ****** you in.

i will pretend that you are mercury and i am
venus, that the sun shows me that i don't need
to expand my line of sight to find you.

sometimes, you will be on the other side of
the sun where that black hole is and i will
have to trust those animal instincts.

i will pretend that the black hole that can ****
you in at any moment does not exist for me.
the next time we meet, you will act indifferent
about hanging out around the black hole that
keeps my gravity on it's toes. you will ignore it.

you will remember the briefness of the doubt
i confided in you, about how i am terrified of
putting our planets at risk of sinking into a
darkness i am very familiar with, like old
friends who threatened your safety with
a meteor shower. the astronauts do not show
the meteors and what damage they cause to
these vulnerable planets. you see, i am very
concerned for your safety, so i threw myself
in front of the meteors. no matter what,
nobody could tell the difference.

i am the shadow of mercury. i capture things,
like flies and hearts and still we are lines that
are perpendicular, we meet once and do not
meet again. maybe my shadow hasn't lingered
long enough for you to realize that i will secede
from this position if you just let me get lost in
your darkness. i will let you see the craters
you have left in my carbon dioxide world.

you will realize that i cannot breathe without
you and that is not something i want to get
a gold plated medal for. let me forget this
orbit and practice orbiting around you again.

i want to create pretty constellations and
solar systems inside of your skin. i want
you to believe it is happening. the only
gold plated medal i need is simply put: you

- kra

When minds constrict
And inspirations lost,
The canvas blank
And hands seem idle,
Though thoughts seem gone
Do not secede the struggle.
The next gleaming rainbow will form
And the drop of dew that clings to a blade of grass will be born.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

We declare
- this our bedroom -

an independent
dominion

secede from
the United Kingdom

& the Commonwealth
of Nations

(although still enjoying
our European unions) .

Us a Republic
of Love

out on our own

our New Found Land
as Donne had done

a currency
of caresses

our national tongue
...kisses

needing nothing
but the other

to complete
our independence

flying the flag
of happiness

in this our brave
new world

of
Love.

The loving stretch of your cloudy fingers,
your welcoming cob-web eyes.

How they haunt,
shake salt from the limb,
sweep up leaves in courtyards, and
carry their eclipse to the brink of me.

Tree’s circumcised by gardener time
poke forks at you ,
scrape your soft full plate
with the chafe of spidering knuckles.

Everything the flavour of sun-set is a plea.

What can I do when the wing of you
has nothing to say
but fall in reverse,

have you no pity,
you do nothing but sleep, yawn
and blink back your triumph.

Where are the places
I might squeeze you
into submission:
windows only take in so much.

Just once I’d have you secede at my feet,
break bread with the best of me;
release this enthralled impatience.

I starve for some light conversation
but you practise your zen enchantment,
practise it right in front of me
day after day after day.

Show mercy.
Crush me,
     do something.

I want you to fall.


MChallis © 2015