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"silo" poems
"Have you talked to dad, since you've been at school?" "Nope." "Are you coming home for thanksgiving?" "I don't know." Josephina breathes in a crackle over the phone. New York, a cacophony in the background. A background of cold, and people talking while walking while hailing a yellowcab with a left and slow-rolling heads locked onto the phones in their right. These people enter taxis, not knowing if they're ever going to reach home, or the airport, or union square, just going on the promise that they won't become road-kill. I can't feel it in my yellow apartment. If anything, my yellowcab idles. Through the receiver A squad car rings nervously, then after a lungful of garbage-smelling air, it becomes a full blare. A pause of noise always ensues, just for a second, the entire corner becomes a silent silo of human beings. "How's new york?" "you know, dad called me and asked about how to get on a diet, can you believe that?" Yes, I can dad is a fat **** a pink, white belly of a man. And a few sandbags for chins. "That's good." "So I'm not going to see you?" "Probably not." "Well, you should call dad, talk to him, he loves you." Some conversations, acheive nothing. The same tired, dead things get run over. Road-kill. Josephina believes she is the spatula that will bring back pancake squirrels and pancake relationships. As much as you don't know about me and dad's relationship, I can give you a kodak moment. A snapshot, of a hovering man, pointing at his son's neck, searching for the misplaced vertebrae, the lack of fear for the world --"the right kind of fear, the fear a man should have of himself"-- and a son, hunched, small hands in fists, a heavy haul of muscles pulled into a dark brow right over black eyes. This picture will suffice.
0
Nov 23, 2011
Nov 23, 2011 at 4:59 PM UTC
Pancake Squirrels.
"Have you talked to dad, since you've been at school?" "Nope." "Are you coming home for thanksgiving?" "I don't know." Josephina breathes in a crackle over the phone. New York, a cacophony in the background. A background of cold, and people talking while walking while hailing a yellowcab with a left and slow-rolling heads locked onto the phones in their right. These people enter taxis, not knowing if they're ever going to reach home, or the airport, or union square, just going on the promise that they won't become road-kill. I can't feel it in my yellow apartment. If anything, my yellowcab idles. Through the receiver A squad car rings nervously, then after a lungful of garbage-smelling air, it becomes a full blare. A pause of noise always ensues, just for a second, the entire corner becomes a silent silo of human beings. "How's new york?" "you know, dad called me and asked about how to get on a diet, can you believe that?" Yes, I can dad is a fat **** a pink, white belly of a man. And a few sandbags for chins. "That's good." "So I'm not going to see you?" "Probably not." "Well, you should call dad, talk to him, he loves you." Some conversations, acheive nothing. The same tired, dead things get run over. Road-kill. Josephina believes she is the spatula that will bring back pancake squirrels and pancake relationships. As much as you don't know about me and dad's relationship, I can give you a kodak moment. A snapshot, of a hovering man, pointing at his son's neck, searching for the misplaced vertebrae, the lack of fear for the world --"the right kind of fear, the fear a man should have of himself"-- and a son, hunched, small hands in fists, a heavy haul of muscles pulled into a dark brow right over black eyes. This picture will suffice.
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98
Oizys, son From behind the leaves, I saw you, trembling In your presence, your power strengthening In the empty, midnight parking lot While the street lights hummed And moths danced around your illuminated frame You turned slowly, onyx eyes of shame And dirtied bare feet, male hair long and white The street lights flickered when you blinked and cried bitterly And I saw, for my first time, the eyes of Misery Achyls, daughter You were in an empty field No premonitions did you wield An ancient silo in the distance Leaning over a chasm black lamb Dark skinned, dressed in black robes With tribal painted face Digging earthen fingers into its black lace When you looked up, I saw your cloudy eyes Churning of a storm, cataract yet wise Your lamb had absent vapored eyeballs The Mist of Death made my skin crawl Hypnos, son Secluded in a cave by the sea A silent, empty place to be While gray waves crash into jetties The clouds gather in the distance Poppies at the mouth changing time in an instance I go in your palace and rub my cold skin For pulsing blue glows from deeper within You, a lanky youth, with thick brown hair and heavy eyes Sit there with a paper mask Illuminated by the penetrating glow In the center, surrounded by whale bones Humming a song I remember fondly You trapped me in your Dreams, singing lullabies softly Eris, daughter Violates a bedroom with utmost hate There are paintings of kings and statues of satyrs Pillows of silk and animals on the walls Usurping the gold clawed palace Silent but kicking and throwing with malice With black skin covered in a chalky white substance I peek through the crack in the mansion’s door Lips formed in a silent shout, you notice my presence Naked and bruised and plagued with no voice Suddenly stops and lays against a ****** wall Through your electric black hair And fiery red stare I witness a Child of Spite Woman of Strife Nyx, mother I am a crawling shadow of trees And wicked heart of night I am the wax on the cold leaves And the glow of the moon’s light
0
Apr 30, 2011
Apr 30, 2011 at 7:24 PM UTC
Primordial Children of Nyx
Oizys, son From behind the leaves, I saw you, trembling In your presence, your power strengthening In the empty, midnight parking lot While the street lights hummed And moths danced around your illuminated frame You turned slowly, onyx eyes of shame And dirtied bare feet, male hair long and white The street lights flickered when you blinked and cried bitterly And I saw, for my first time, the eyes of Misery Achyls, daughter You were in an empty field No premonitions did you wield An ancient silo in the distance Leaning over a chasm black lamb Dark skinned, dressed in black robes With tribal painted face Digging earthen fingers into its black lace When you looked up, I saw your cloudy eyes Churning of a storm, cataract yet wise Your lamb had absent vapored eyeballs The Mist of Death made my skin crawl Hypnos, son Secluded in a cave by the sea A silent, empty place to be While gray waves crash into jetties The clouds gather in the distance Poppies at the mouth changing time in an instance I go in your palace and rub my cold skin For pulsing blue glows from deeper within You, a lanky youth, with thick brown hair and heavy eyes Sit there with a paper mask Illuminated by the penetrating glow In the center, surrounded by whale bones Humming a song I remember fondly You trapped me in your Dreams, singing lullabies softly Eris, daughter Violates a bedroom with utmost hate There are paintings of kings and statues of satyrs Pillows of silk and animals on the walls Usurping the gold clawed palace Silent but kicking and throwing with malice With black skin covered in a chalky white substance I peek through the crack in the mansion’s door Lips formed in a silent shout, you notice my presence Naked and bruised and plagued with no voice Suddenly stops and lays against a ****** wall Through your electric black hair And fiery red stare I witness a Child of Spite Woman of Strife Nyx, mother I am a crawling shadow of trees And wicked heart of night I am the wax on the cold leaves And the glow of the moon’s light
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56
The beach should be so special, I want to go to a beach with you. I want us to go to a private beach, And give you an Australian greeting. My missile will touch your bombs, And then make way to your silo, The Australian greeting is ****
0
Dec 1, 2016
Dec 1, 2016 at 2:06 AM UTC
I Want To Give You A Greeting
Johnny remembers the barn He kissed his first cow in It burned down two years ago Johnny holds his head low Pointing towards the floor Pointing towards the door He drinks homemade grape juice And thinks about how odd It is that we crush small things And drink their blood Johnny does not want to be crushed He does not like the sinking feeling He gets when he thinks about The grey silo that still stands By the dark patch of grass That won't grow back again He wishes the clock would stop Talking at such a steady volume Johnny has trouble sleeping Ever since the barn burned down
0
Jul 29, 2014
Jul 29, 2014 at 5:02 PM UTC
On a train approaching a bridge
You can't safely have a cigarette outside of the bus terminal without a couple of folk asking for one. You can't safely have a cigarette in general. But, if five of them have to last you a night and a sunrise, you don't really mind turning down a few nameless hands. Some of the bus drivers like to talk about football, weather; others complain about management or the patrons; a few don't say much at all, avoiding sympathy. They're probably the smart ones. They don't want to learn the sad stories in between stops. I usually like to just sit in the back and ride out the best bumps. The handrails jiggle and crash with every pothole. - The men who work at the metal scrap yard usually get on in front of Debbie's Diner on 22nd street. Bundled up for warmth and firm of face, they only speak to each other. Small talk about who almost missed the bus, broken crane joints, and who moved the most barrels of copper piping fill the blocks. They tend to pick on the guy who runs the aluminum can crusher; big guy, they call him "Boose" and he couldn't be much older than I am. His hands and lips are dry and cracked from exposure, but his face still shows ember of teenage years, though jilted. There is a bar that serves three-dollar chili across the street, spicy. The workers go there when they miss the first bus, have a beer, down a bowl of boiling chili, and catch the return bus in better moods. - The railroads on Brush College road tend to hold up traffic. The ADM plant doesn't really mind if a few twenty-something mothers are late to their practical nursing and phlebotomy classes, but they voice their complaints out of a cracked window to the side of a ten story soybean silo nonetheless; steaming ears and all. I stare at the graffiti on the laggard train cars, each unique in color, quality, style, and message; the industrial Louvre. These waits sometimes last a half hour or more. In the days before Pell grant rewards come in, when students still feel like they're working toward tangible cash, the seats are all packed with heavy breathers. The air becomes thick with community college carbon coughs.
0
Jan 18, 2015
Jan 18, 2015 at 9:23 PM UTC
Decatur Public Transit
You can't safely have a cigarette outside of the bus terminal without a couple of folk asking for one. You can't safely have a cigarette in general. But, if five of them have to last you a night and a sunrise, you don't really mind turning down a few nameless hands. Some of the bus drivers like to talk about football, weather; others complain about management or the patrons; a few don't say much at all, avoiding sympathy. They're probably the smart ones. They don't want to learn the sad stories in between stops. I usually like to just sit in the back and ride out the best bumps. The handrails jiggle and crash with every pothole. - The men who work at the metal scrap yard usually get on in front of Debbie's Diner on 22nd street. Bundled up for warmth and firm of face, they only speak to each other. Small talk about who almost missed the bus, broken crane joints, and who moved the most barrels of copper piping fill the blocks. They tend to pick on the guy who runs the aluminum can crusher; big guy, they call him "Boose" and he couldn't be much older than I am. His hands and lips are dry and cracked from exposure, but his face still shows ember of teenage years, though jilted. There is a bar that serves three-dollar chili across the street, spicy. The workers go there when they miss the first bus, have a beer, down a bowl of boiling chili, and catch the return bus in better moods. - The railroads on Brush College road tend to hold up traffic. The ADM plant doesn't really mind if a few twenty-something mothers are late to their practical nursing and phlebotomy classes, but they voice their complaints out of a cracked window to the side of a ten story soybean silo nonetheless; steaming ears and all. I stare at the graffiti on the laggard train cars, each unique in color, quality, style, and message; the industrial Louvre. These waits sometimes last a half hour or more. In the days before Pell grant rewards come in, when students still feel like they're working toward tangible cash, the seats are all packed with heavy breathers. The air becomes thick with community college carbon coughs.
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38
I never leave the West when it isn’t raining, My brother says to me through the phone. He is on his way back over the Rockies and through Nebraska. He’ll never make it intact— hands fuse to the steering wheel like nylons on a burn victim, knees and elbows bolted in precise angles keeping the car straight, tires pulling everything forward. One foot is the pedal, one becomes the floor mat. Shoulder to armpit with a semi truck hauling jet wings from Denver, he notices the paths of rivets like bread lines in Omaha. Some of them are starving. But where is the rest, the airplane body without its wings? A hollow silo, pilot in a cockpit not going anywhere. I think airplanes molt this time of year. It’s still raining or it will be, the white-lined highways will carry you here unscathed.
0
Feb 11, 2012
Feb 11, 2012 at 12:05 PM UTC
Two Weeks from Now
wednesday  ..                       is faded black jeans/old white tank (too big) (hole from belt buckle centre front) glass of water stuck into the rings left by past week's mugs of beer sitting by the ashtray. and you are better than a nip of rye in the truck cab heading to work. the dust in my lungs (wide open saskatchewan fields) is not as important as watching the clouds stain purple with the sunrise patting two gorgeous farm dogs who run over from behind a silo turned to bronze in the light (there is an angel laying naked in the wheat grain) to nip playfully at my calves while i unchain the derrick, somewhere in my mind's recess it feels like i am loosing atlas from his ******* tho i do not register the thought until later upon waking from a nap. saturday // 1:15:44 pm i am in only briefs now working on a song/i clocked 4                                                                                                       hrs greasing truck 1117 this morning and hauling pallets. daylene from dispatch brought in donuts. i'll spend the afternoon listening to kanye and talking to women online. —there are no girls in estevan. i have (kind of) looked.                                                        sometimes i believe this to be pathetic but then i think further ahead and it's not so bad. you do really meet some nice girls. phone is replete with their numbers & they keep me company on long rides to and from leases, asking about work. hoping that i am well. (once back home by christmas account will be deleted and i can take them out at my leisure. you'll understand i hope that i am not a desperate man. but one has to work with that which he has. would you rather i go lonely? make my home in the mud to croon hank williams to crows?) (temporality.) 15/10/2012 there are now three beer cans on the carpet & one on the washing machine by the bathroom door which i will drink in the shower. it was sort of a long day.
0
Oct 15, 2012
Oct 15, 2012 at 3:09 PM UTC
rough / basement clothes (three days)
wednesday  ..                       is faded black jeans/old white tank (too big) (hole from belt buckle centre front) glass of water stuck into the rings left by past week's mugs of beer sitting by the ashtray. and you are better than a nip of rye in the truck cab heading to work. the dust in my lungs (wide open saskatchewan fields) is not as important as watching the clouds stain purple with the sunrise patting two gorgeous farm dogs who run over from behind a silo turned to bronze in the light (there is an angel laying naked in the wheat grain) to nip playfully at my calves while i unchain the derrick, somewhere in my mind's recess it feels like i am loosing atlas from his ******* tho i do not register the thought until later upon waking from a nap. saturday // 1:15:44 pm i am in only briefs now working on a song/i clocked 4                                                                                                       hrs greasing truck 1117 this morning and hauling pallets. daylene from dispatch brought in donuts. i'll spend the afternoon listening to kanye and talking to women online. —there are no girls in estevan. i have (kind of) looked.                                                        sometimes i believe this to be pathetic but then i think further ahead and it's not so bad. you do really meet some nice girls. phone is replete with their numbers & they keep me company on long rides to and from leases, asking about work. hoping that i am well. (once back home by christmas account will be deleted and i can take them out at my leisure. you'll understand i hope that i am not a desperate man. but one has to work with that which he has. would you rather i go lonely? make my home in the mud to croon hank williams to crows?) (temporality.) 15/10/2012 there are now three beer cans on the carpet & one on the washing machine by the bathroom door which i will drink in the shower. it was sort of a long day.
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32
Consider the coffee cup in the bitter early morning clutched by the weary, in the hands of the sleepwalker. A Styrofoam chimney that warms bodies to the bones. Like a silo of potential energy that awakens and inspires. A companion of the cigarette soft pack, as long as both are full When empty, a ruffian of a house abandoned or a vacant playground, a soul void of vivacity. Sleepy fingers trace the serpentine trail of steam escaping via vent in the lid; gateway to wakefulness Perched in a nest of hands guarding the sanctuary for the alert This storehouse of caffeine must be rationed. It’s contents dark, rich, bold, spilling scolding and fierce and alive. Consider the coffee cup a comrade, a loyalist Companion of the diligent, the learning, the weary.
0
Aug 23, 2011
Aug 23, 2011 at 3:46 AM UTC
Consider the Coffee Cup
His name was Bing, one eye grey the other blue an Australian Cattle Dog the best I ever knew. Cows or Sheep he was the man. Nipping at their heels, heading them where you bid them go. Smart as a whip, quick as a bullet, Work all day for a pat on the head. One early day no Bing appeared, Strange 'cause he was always the first into the truck bed, first in the pasture, first to work, the last to quit. We called out his name many times, began a search, buildings to barns, silo to shed. In the center of a cut hay field, I saw him, hunkered down not moving. The boss and me approached and called to him, yet still, he did not seem to hear. At twenty feet he stood up quick, turned to face us with a **** his eyes burned with hell's fire, his muzzle and jowls were awash in foam, his deep-throated growl a caution warned. Not much doubt he'd been skunk bit, was beyond redemption touched in rabies fit. I was sent on the run to fetch the long gun from the truck. We approached him careful like, I was still panting from my run. The boss cocked the lever, chambering a round into the gun. Bing's eyes looked to be pleading, as if to ask that we end his pain. In his crazed anguished state, he could have reached us in a flash spread the contagion to our flesh, yet through instinct or love old Bing held his ground, awaiting his inevitable fate. I tried to swallow but had no spit, and then the rifle thundered and stung my ears, One shot through the head took old Bing's pain away. The Boss, a hard-edged man of fifty began to silently weep like a child of five, the loss of his dog too much to abide. I must admit my tears weren't far behind. We bore him from the field like an honored fallen warrior. Buried him in the yard by the house, He deserved that respect and more.
0
Aug 1, 2016
Aug 1, 2016 at 5:25 PM UTC
Bing
His name was Bing, one eye grey the other blue an Australian Cattle Dog the best I ever knew. Cows or Sheep he was the man. Nipping at their heels, heading them where you bid them go. Smart as a whip, quick as a bullet, Work all day for a pat on the head. One early day no Bing appeared, Strange 'cause he was always the first into the truck bed, first in the pasture, first to work, the last to quit. We called out his name many times, began a search, buildings to barns, silo to shed. In the center of a cut hay field, I saw him, hunkered down not moving. The boss and me approached and called to him, yet still, he did not seem to hear. At twenty feet he stood up quick, turned to face us with a **** his eyes burned with hell's fire, his muzzle and jowls were awash in foam, his deep-throated growl a caution warned. Not much doubt he'd been skunk bit, was beyond redemption touched in rabies fit. I was sent on the run to fetch the long gun from the truck. We approached him careful like, I was still panting from my run. The boss cocked the lever, chambering a round into the gun. Bing's eyes looked to be pleading, as if to ask that we end his pain. In his crazed anguished state, he could have reached us in a flash spread the contagion to our flesh, yet through instinct or love old Bing held his ground, awaiting his inevitable fate. I tried to swallow but had no spit, and then the rifle thundered and stung my ears, One shot through the head took old Bing's pain away. The Boss, a hard-edged man of fifty began to silently weep like a child of five, the loss of his dog too much to abide. I must admit my tears weren't far behind. We bore him from the field like an honored fallen warrior. Buried him in the yard by the house, He deserved that respect and more.
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53
we the daughters of sliced sunbeams and those who chase gales in between the pasture gates and barbed fences behind the silo-- who think there's nothing softer than the way honey sounds drizzled on toast or daisy petals at the supermarket the women of ferocious silences, standing before dozens with trimmed smiles and deafening inner beauty squeezing our fingers down barley stalks and sewing the roots into our dresses, we've tried six ways to sunday the rules, the book on being wanted, before realizing that anything born out of self-indulgence wilts away all the work we did to grow and plait our hair with vanilla, dipped in sweet almond oil we had no idea that pretending could only get us so far.
0
Sep 5, 2016
Sep 5, 2016 at 10:26 AM UTC
Belay.
The desert was flat you could never tell that below where you stood was a military bunker and missile silo from a time years passed built here on this lonely barron latitude that had a bad attitude! An everlasting reminder of mans ingenuity negative approach to peace of times that have gone but do still exist creation of terror and destruction yet for many this factor has disappeared to die is no longer feared! Thinking foolishly that all conflicts will end is only in dreamers minds always there simmering the spark of war lay in wait in human culture where somebody is ready to light the flame so conflicts in history doth remain! The Silo is but one symbol of the ****** past forever on humans the shadow cast! The Foureyed Poet.
0
Feb 11, 2015
Feb 11, 2015 at 2:56 PM UTC
Silo!
*Memory is a punctual ghost-. A silo of bitter and sweet harvest-threshing row upon row , separating chaff from kernel , **** from grain , a long days toil in seclusion , followed by persistent spirit , insomnia , and return to labor at dawn* ...
0
Sep 26, 2015
Sep 26, 2015 at 9:32 AM UTC
A Score of Depression
Ghosts and Spirits whirl like dervishes Caught and crammed into a soft metal silo Freed from time but tied to space by a coil Clinging to dream, the lucky few Vacate the hive for a moment A short minute for remembrance Denied a quick forgetting Or consigned to lonely park benches Behind seldom opened doors Locked in basements, difficult to enter Segregated from the swarm Yet cursed in cherished imprisonment They never grow old They envy the ones ignored Those who are being forgotten Breaking their chains for good Melting into the atmosphere Where they belong Parting the dead sea They crawl without a leader Too numb to appreciate this unexpected exodus Caring less for those left behind Knowing that they, for all their loneliness Are the blessed ones
0
Dec 26, 2010
Dec 26, 2010 at 3:07 PM UTC
Forgetting
But one day when futures are bright And school children dress in Sunday best Great Machines will rise above the smoke Great Buildings will rise above the smog Great Minds will remain buried deep in humming labs Scientist and machines Gears and cogs Rusting in the fluorescent Glow Of progress Boys will Girls will Fight the good fight Of human being The Kissing on each other The Drugging with each other Afternoons and jumped fences Just to feel each others secrets Boys will Girls will Be just as wrong And just as bad And will grow to say Good boys and Good Girls Never do those things
0
Oct 23, 2011
Oct 23, 2011 at 4:30 AM UTC
Arizona Missle Silo
There were those thickets of flat graying trees and a frozen skin of lake out by the hunched rink behind Georgian Woods the terrace apartments where Dad lived after he left the family. Left to my own devices while Dad delved in books I slipped out the sliding door through the frost-grass and the snow branch gap into the unfolding stillness of the drowsing park. Sometimes my sister was there with me in the woods, our play always some form of running away. In the early years Dad smoked a pipe his thick blue rug scented with Captain Black **** tobacco, the white tin with the rigged ship logo. The humming silo of the air purifier Dad's concession to my convulsing asthmatic chest, close-gathered lung like the branch bark that scraped my lip as I ran in the park wood, blood slipping across my face and down into the ache.
0
Dec 21, 2018
Dec 21, 2018 at 2:00 PM UTC
Catafalque
He had no idea if he would... If he could actually do it... When the time came, When his sergeant gave the nod, Let slip the dogs of war, Unleash the copper bees, Send missiles hurtling up or down At targets moving now... On men who may be wondering If they could fire the same, When the time came.... "Steady, men!" "On my command." He lay there, On a roof, In a ditch, On an open field, Crouched inside a turret, Bellied down in a plexiglass ball, Hurtled above a world mostly covered in cloud, Standing far below the earth in silo'd steel, Seeing still, through satellite eyes.... Peered into the mil dot scope, Ignored the cross To see through the center, Found the circled aperture, Punched coordinates into a seeing machine, Saw green circles on the screen... Aligned the circles.... Tried to breathe. So that was how it was For farm boys, Mowers of hay, Grocers' sons, smashers of ants, Carpenters, hammerers of nails, And bakers' boys, cutters of bread, Just in from shooting marbles and BB guns, Transported into war, Fed soldiers' ration: meat and bread and beans, Five cigarettes apiece in boxed MREs, Sent off to **** and to be killed With mothers' tears still fresh upon their cheeks, With lovers' ache still glowing embered heat. Training fresh, Waiting command To fire only when the order came... To remain firing til the order came... To hold the breath and squeeze... To hold the sight just so... To squeeze... And to reload Keeping head low, Eyes on target... To ignore all but the sergeant's yell, To think of squeezing on new targets, To wait awhile to process coming hell.... And when the time came, He squeezed, Felt the sudden life, Heard little but the sound of Clean ejection ... Saw his bullet, Saw his missile, Saw his target meet, And in the meeting, Red, And in the meeting , Fire and smoke, And in the meeting Knew  that he could do What soldiers do. This boy Now cutting hay, Now stomping ants, Hammering nails, Cutting loaves of cooling bread... Caught in the maelstrom of war With no moment left but now, No possible tomorrow... Only targets, Only targeted In ferocious winds Of battle.
0
Sep 21, 2014
Sep 21, 2014 at 6:52 AM UTC
Reaping
He had no idea if he would... If he could actually do it... When the time came, When his sergeant gave the nod, Let slip the dogs of war, Unleash the copper bees, Send missiles hurtling up or down At targets moving now... On men who may be wondering If they could fire the same, When the time came.... "Steady, men!" "On my command." He lay there, On a roof, In a ditch, On an open field, Crouched inside a turret, Bellied down in a plexiglass ball, Hurtled above a world mostly covered in cloud, Standing far below the earth in silo'd steel, Seeing still, through satellite eyes.... Peered into the mil dot scope, Ignored the cross To see through the center, Found the circled aperture, Punched coordinates into a seeing machine, Saw green circles on the screen... Aligned the circles.... Tried to breathe. So that was how it was For farm boys, Mowers of hay, Grocers' sons, smashers of ants, Carpenters, hammerers of nails, And bakers' boys, cutters of bread, Just in from shooting marbles and BB guns, Transported into war, Fed soldiers' ration: meat and bread and beans, Five cigarettes apiece in boxed MREs, Sent off to **** and to be killed With mothers' tears still fresh upon their cheeks, With lovers' ache still glowing embered heat. Training fresh, Waiting command To fire only when the order came... To remain firing til the order came... To hold the breath and squeeze... To hold the sight just so... To squeeze... And to reload Keeping head low, Eyes on target... To ignore all but the sergeant's yell, To think of squeezing on new targets, To wait awhile to process coming hell.... And when the time came, He squeezed, Felt the sudden life, Heard little but the sound of Clean ejection ... Saw his bullet, Saw his missile, Saw his target meet, And in the meeting, Red, And in the meeting , Fire and smoke, And in the meeting Knew  that he could do What soldiers do. This boy Now cutting hay, Now stomping ants, Hammering nails, Cutting loaves of cooling bread... Caught in the maelstrom of war With no moment left but now, No possible tomorrow... Only targets, Only targeted In ferocious winds Of battle.
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83
(a rondeau) when it was new, this farm shone with the tractor’s polished chrome the barn’s crisp trim the silo’s glinting rim and the field’s glowing loam it became a place for weeds to comb through rotting cars as if sown; these rusting crops never creased his skin when it was new now, the gate creaks with his bones the fence posts lean and groan with his warped, hobbling limb familiarity cannot sate him he never felt as alone when it was new
0
Aug 18, 2013
Aug 18, 2013 at 2:02 AM UTC
decay
What has remained where memory was lost or stolen? Effacing years replaced what had been felt, the child adept at stealth and isolation becoming stranger than the life he left behind in absence, which was both gone and forgotten. An echo of a voice in an empty silo rings because he heard it answer him with words instead of bruises; the man and child grins. Remembering selectively, the man recalls the carcass of a red Case tractor thigh high in grass; and Viet Nam, a water buffalo dead in a paddy after the Viet Cong, like willful parents, spanked the area with small arms fire. Hell was neither here nor there but something stank. The mood rolled over as an odor will disperse in time, a transient effect of mind, but an abyss of remembrance haunts wherever ghosts have congregated, cleft from the wanton interval of thwarted wants.
0
Feb 19, 2013
Feb 19, 2013 at 12:53 AM UTC
Vaudeville of Devils
As potent as the drugs flowing from an IV drip, I the prodigal son of this town, the only one to infuse the blood of a much needed sacrifice into it's veins, the one to carry the souls of those past, those future, those fleeting few at the end when the long standing foundation that has held up countless feet and dreams, no longer stands and in it's place breadcrumbs fall, thousands from the sky, folly and few, until embedded in the very ground it lands upon. I, the one from the third house down the lane, the all seeing all knowing all feeling touch, climb the silo and above take in the view, the little lives and scattered stories, told once in still rooms with only the orange light of a desk lamps, then carried away on drool into the storm drain, with the leaves and street grit. I, the babe, once innocent and tender, and still so within me exists, carried through an entire lifetime on a sled, down the sidewalk with only the sight of street-lamps as stimuli, past every corner and home a dream implanted from my eyes to theirs, yet mistranslation corrupts the many and what can I do but allow, their own bibles to be written. This town belongs to one king and one son on both sides of the mountain, snow to teach them lessons, rain to cleanse their wounds, and to keep this monolith of a civilization alive, all that is prophesied, to run far, far away, in place.
0
Nov 15, 2020
Nov 15, 2020 at 8:29 PM UTC
Ode to a Hamlet
The Chief of the General Staff awoke To the ring of the telephone, He’d tried to ****** a couple of hours At his Hunting Lodge, in Scone, But the red phone was insistent, it Would ring ‘til he picked it up, ‘For God’s sake Carter, what’s it now?’ The answer was abrupt. ‘The Early Warning’s gone to red, They need you down at Staff! Hang on, I’m going to patch you through We’re not sure if it’s naff. It didn’t go through to orange as It usually does at first, But we can’t afford to take a chance…’ The General’s lips were pursed. ‘Scramble the FA-18’s Are the carriers out, d’you know?’ ‘There’s two in the Med and one caught dead In the dock at Scapa Flow! The Seventh Army’s at Aldershot And the Fifth’s in the Middle East.’ ‘Well, whether the troops are out or not It’s Martial Law, at least.’ The Action Room in the basement of A secret place in Poole, Had interrupted a war game with The Army Training School. The radar screens were alight with scenes Beamed in from the new AWAC’s, With missiles coming from everywhere ‘We need to be hitting back!’ The submarines were alerted to Prepare their missile racks, The silo’s over in Kansas armed And ready to attack, Then suddenly in the Action Room The radar screens were clear, There wasn’t a single sign or trace Of a missile coming near. And down in a London Nursing Home They were leading him away, A nice old fellow with Parkinson’s With a half-full breakfast tray, They snapped the lid of his laptop Told him, ‘George, you’re going to be canned!’ He said, ‘I just got the hang of it, That game called ‘The High Command!’’ David Lewis Paget
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Oct 25, 2013
Oct 25, 2013 at 5:44 PM UTC
The High Command
The Chief of the General Staff awoke To the ring of the telephone, He’d tried to ****** a couple of hours At his Hunting Lodge, in Scone, But the red phone was insistent, it Would ring ‘til he picked it up, ‘For God’s sake Carter, what’s it now?’ The answer was abrupt. ‘The Early Warning’s gone to red, They need you down at Staff! Hang on, I’m going to patch you through We’re not sure if it’s naff. It didn’t go through to orange as It usually does at first, But we can’t afford to take a chance…’ The General’s lips were pursed. ‘Scramble the FA-18’s Are the carriers out, d’you know?’ ‘There’s two in the Med and one caught dead In the dock at Scapa Flow! The Seventh Army’s at Aldershot And the Fifth’s in the Middle East.’ ‘Well, whether the troops are out or not It’s Martial Law, at least.’ The Action Room in the basement of A secret place in Poole, Had interrupted a war game with The Army Training School. The radar screens were alight with scenes Beamed in from the new AWAC’s, With missiles coming from everywhere ‘We need to be hitting back!’ The submarines were alerted to Prepare their missile racks, The silo’s over in Kansas armed And ready to attack, Then suddenly in the Action Room The radar screens were clear, There wasn’t a single sign or trace Of a missile coming near. And down in a London Nursing Home They were leading him away, A nice old fellow with Parkinson’s With a half-full breakfast tray, They snapped the lid of his laptop Told him, ‘George, you’re going to be canned!’ He said, ‘I just got the hang of it, That game called ‘The High Command!’’ David Lewis Paget
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~ where’s the rain to save the day? the silo empty, the barn no hay. the only pouring we have seen is from the counter down the street. gin and beer and old Jim Beam, the bar is full, but glass is empty. our men are weeping, children hungry! these fields that yielded harvest plenty under sweat of daddy's brow, now they’ll try’n take my home; state moves in to steal our peace, won’t leave us ’lone, till we’ve been fleeced. send a draught to quench our pain; end this drought with drenching rain! this to you we pray... *“pour from heaven’s door, indulge us with an inundation; from the bounty of your store deluge us with a liquidation”* oh, keeper of these cloudless skies, send sweet rain to wet these eyes! for the lost ones in this town, to save this family, save this farm, from heartless souls who mean us harm. i am just a poor boy whose cup has all run dry no where else to turn, nothing left to try. flow in torrents, pour in sheets, send libations, bring relief; send the rain to flood the street. oh master of the ocean deep, pour your liquid, pour your gold, a’fore our children grow too old. no more saving for some rainy day, this to you we pray... *“pour from heaven’s door, indulge us with an inundation; with bounty from your store deluge us with a liquidation”* ~ *post script the Western US is experiencing a four-year drought of epic proportions and with water in such short supply, family farms are burning up in the heat with grave consequences looming large on the not-so-distant horizon. we witnessed this arid devestation first hand a week ago traveling through North and Central California, and felt in just the tiniest way the crush of water shortages at all her state campgrounds. beautiful Shasta Lake was dry except for a small stream running through the lake bed... how very sad; she is not the California i remember in our last visit.*
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Oct 22, 2015
Oct 22, 2015 at 12:19 AM UTC
liquidation
~ where’s the rain to save the day? the silo empty, the barn no hay. the only pouring we have seen is from the counter down the street. gin and beer and old Jim Beam, the bar is full, but glass is empty. our men are weeping, children hungry! these fields that yielded harvest plenty under sweat of daddy's brow, now they’ll try’n take my home; state moves in to steal our peace, won’t leave us ’lone, till we’ve been fleeced. send a draught to quench our pain; end this drought with drenching rain! this to you we pray... *“pour from heaven’s door, indulge us with an inundation; from the bounty of your store deluge us with a liquidation”* oh, keeper of these cloudless skies, send sweet rain to wet these eyes! for the lost ones in this town, to save this family, save this farm, from heartless souls who mean us harm. i am just a poor boy whose cup has all run dry no where else to turn, nothing left to try. flow in torrents, pour in sheets, send libations, bring relief; send the rain to flood the street. oh master of the ocean deep, pour your liquid, pour your gold, a’fore our children grow too old. no more saving for some rainy day, this to you we pray... *“pour from heaven’s door, indulge us with an inundation; with bounty from your store deluge us with a liquidation”* ~ *post script the Western US is experiencing a four-year drought of epic proportions and with water in such short supply, family farms are burning up in the heat with grave consequences looming large on the not-so-distant horizon. we witnessed this arid devestation first hand a week ago traveling through North and Central California, and felt in just the tiniest way the crush of water shortages at all her state campgrounds. beautiful Shasta Lake was dry except for a small stream running through the lake bed... how very sad; she is not the California i remember in our last visit.*
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his name, is gone his body was found in a silo the middle finger missing. A corn cob stuck up his *** It took a posse of Sherriffs and three nuns and one priest to locate him. There was no reward , no bounty for his missing finger. I guess they figured it was gone to hell. His soul lingered around that silo for weeks, though, a smell like chicken **** fertilizer they spread down here in bamalama and remember don't flip a cop off, either.
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Jul 27, 2015
Jul 27, 2015 at 9:01 PM UTC
flipping the devil off
Farm house windows have been boarded up , dilapidated outbuildings , abandoned water well , farm tractor , implements rusted over . Kudzu has blanketed the garden spot , farm bell lies on the ground , silo in need of paint , repairs ..Clover dominates a fertile pasture , once home for many abundant harvest ! Corn , soy bean and sorghum , sweet potato and collards .. Oak trees , well over a hundred years old with twenty years of unchecked leaf debris beneath them . Apple , pear and peach trees are barren .. A once sturdy white picket fence now unkempt  , frail with rusted barbed wire and nails .. The afternoon train still comes through each afternoon . I can imagine that very train taking the harvest produced by this old farm to market . Macon , Augusta or Albany ? A planter is taking a break beneath a Pecan tree with a bucket of cold well water and a ladle , plug of tobacco , and a daydream or two ! The afternoon train delivers the news of the world , a Farmers almanac , Sears and Roebuck catalogue , corn cake for the rabbit dogs , hog feed from a mill in Columbus , thread and quilt patches for Mother . Off it goes , cloud of steam rising above the mighty engine  , the whistle echoing across cotton fields for many a mile ! The link between city and farm , before electricity , telegraph or telephone . The old Georgia my great grandparents knew . Fruitful Summer harvest , painfully cold Winters laboring , scratching out a meager living and at times barely surviving ! I can still hear the crack of leather , braying of mule , firewood being stacked , horses , cattle and the rooster breaking the silence of night , sunrise announcing the new day to a hard working family plus every hamlet along the way ! .
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Oct 19, 2015
Oct 19, 2015 at 9:49 AM UTC
Old South
Farm house windows have been boarded up , dilapidated outbuildings , abandoned water well , farm tractor , implements rusted over . Kudzu has blanketed the garden spot , farm bell lies on the ground , silo in need of paint , repairs ..Clover dominates a fertile pasture , once home for many abundant harvest ! Corn , soy bean and sorghum , sweet potato and collards .. Oak trees , well over a hundred years old with twenty years of unchecked leaf debris beneath them . Apple , pear and peach trees are barren .. A once sturdy white picket fence now unkempt  , frail with rusted barbed wire and nails .. The afternoon train still comes through each afternoon . I can imagine that very train taking the harvest produced by this old farm to market . Macon , Augusta or Albany ? A planter is taking a break beneath a Pecan tree with a bucket of cold well water and a ladle , plug of tobacco , and a daydream or two ! The afternoon train delivers the news of the world , a Farmers almanac , Sears and Roebuck catalogue , corn cake for the rabbit dogs , hog feed from a mill in Columbus , thread and quilt patches for Mother . Off it goes , cloud of steam rising above the mighty engine  , the whistle echoing across cotton fields for many a mile ! The link between city and farm , before electricity , telegraph or telephone . The old Georgia my great grandparents knew . Fruitful Summer harvest , painfully cold Winters laboring , scratching out a meager living and at times barely surviving ! I can still hear the crack of leather , braying of mule , firewood being stacked , horses , cattle and the rooster breaking the silence of night , sunrise announcing the new day to a hard working family plus every hamlet along the way ! .
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