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Cedric McClester Apr 2015
By: Cedric McClester

Sister Sara’s talkin’ ‘bout reload
I think she’s tryin’ to get my goad
Those who says don’t build it there
Don’t want it built anywhere
You can shake your head and sigh
But it’s American as apple pie

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

His campaign ad’s imagery
Of Nine/Eleven is on TV
I hate to even say his name
Because it’s clear he has no shame
You can shake your head and sigh
But he’s American as apple pie

He’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

Divide and conquer
Has become a tool
Cos they don’t believe in
The Golden Rule
So who is it they think they fool
The uninformed and unschooled

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

We don’t seem to know no more
What it is that we stand for
Some say freedom
But I’m not so sure
When hatred and division
Is at the core
Of what we’re seeing nowadays
So openly as it plays

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

Divide and conquer
Has become a tool
Cos they don’t believe in
The Golden Rule
So who is it they think they fool
The uninformed and unschooled

Sister Sara’s talkin’ ‘bout reload
I think she’s tryin’ to get my goad
Those who says don’t build it there
Don’t want it built anywhere
You can shake your head and sigh
But it’s American as apple pie

She’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie


(c) Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester.  All rights reserved.
Cedric McClester Feb 2016
By: Cedric McClester

Sister Sara’s talkin’ ‘bout reload
I think she’s tryin’ to get my goad
Those who says don’t build it there
Don’t want it built anywhere
You can shake your head and sigh
But it’s American as apple pie

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

His campaign ad’s imagery
Of Nine/Eleven is on TV
I hate to even say his name
Because it’s clear he has no shame
You can shake your head and sigh
But he’s American as apple pie

He’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

Divide and conquer
Has become a tool
Cos they don’t believe in
The Golden Rule
So who is it they think they fool
The uninformed and unschooled

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

We don’t seem to know no more
What it is that we stand for
Some say freedom
But I’m not so sure
When hatred and division
Is at the core
Of what we’re seeing nowadays
So openly as it plays

It’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie

Divide and conquer
Has become a tool
Cos they don’t believe in
The Golden Rule
So who is it they think they fool
The uninformed and unschooled

Sister Sara’s talkin’ ‘bout reload
I think she’s tryin’ to get my goad
Those who says don’t build it there
Don’t want it built anywhere
You can shake your head and sigh
But it’s American as apple pie

(Chorus)
She’s American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie
As American as apple pie


Cedric McClester, Copyright (c) 2016.  All rights reserved.
Francie Lynch Feb 2020
One's unschooled tool
Should not rule
The behavior of its owner.
Keep your head in check,
Don't regret,
Lack of control of your *****.
So, here's the long and short of this,
Nothing's owed
To the *****.
Have a peek at, " Ode to a ******. "
Send forth the high falcon flying after the mind
Till it come toppling down from its cold cloud:
The beak of the falcon to pierce it till it fall
Where the simple heart is bowed.
O in wild innocence it rides
The rare ungovernable element,
But once it sways to terror and descent,
The marches of the wind are its abyss,
No wind staying it upward of the breast—
Let mind be proud for this,
And ignorant from what fabulous cause it dropt,
Or with how learned a gesture the unschooled heart
Shall lull both terror and innocence to rest.
Francie Lynch Oct 2023
Zombies are waddling toward their door.
Witches are cackling, black cats are scratching,
And the ghouls want brains and more.

But Brig and Ophelia aren’t scared yet,
They’re waiting inside,
Gobbling strange snacks while they hide.

It’s bugs they like to chew and gnaw;
And they love to eat their spiders raw,
Not fried with onions, like Granda;
Or served with broccoli, like Nana.

Not boiled with worms and creepy crawlers.
Ciaran eats those,
Not these crazed daughters.

Ophelia and Brig
Eat them raw,
Alive, not dead,
With wiggly legs and sharp jaws;
And wrapped up with mosquito heads
In white sticky spider webs.

They eat Black Widows soaked in goblin blood
And wicked witch’s poo;
Made from bats and rats and unschooled fools,
That witches eat to soften  stools.

They eat fat spiders
Floating in soup,
That slide and wiggle
Down their throat.

They eat them with their mouldy cheese,
Melted over wasps and bees.

The girls fork down spider stew,
They love the taste “Tres beaucoup.”

The gravy’s made from a mummy’s spit,
And sweat that drips from a ghoul’s armpit.

They like their spiders spread on bread,
A feast to feed the risen dead.

When their snack is finally done,
They’ll pick their teeth and scrape their tongues
For Daddy Long Legs they didn’t eat.
The long legs caught between their teeth.

They'll use those legs to weave a wreath,
To trick flies and bugs and lonely spiders
Into their hungry House of Horrors.
Wrote this for my twin grandaughters, Brig and Ophelia. Ciaran is my grandson. The girls hate spiders. Probably moreso now.
shaqila Jul 2012
I’m a wild child
Explored much, invested much, observed too much
I have danced in the dancing wind and laid naked in the crushing waves
My arms have stretched around the world
The shenanigans of unfiltered words
The crude behavior of unschooled actions
Have driven away the hearts of the expectant
I deny not my actions
For they come from the plain origin of the wilderness
I am a wild child
Gutted by trees in the forests and soothed by dewdrops from the branches
I speak not the language of man
My voice it carries across through the jungle wild
In screams and laughters and sometimes loud shrills
Like my friends, the apes or the enemy, the dressed
I am a wild child I know
I can’t be contained – I cannot be housed
I must run as with the time that never stops
I must run now – before the traps ensnare
The cliff awaits, the river calls, I leap into the sky and dive and I am gone!!
Francie Lynch Feb 2016
Boots were all we had in winter,
Wellingtons made of a slice of rubber;
Turned down to show initials,
That bled upon the snow.
Between skin and cold,
Coarse wollen socks,
Sometimes they matched,
They'd criss and cross.

In from the boys' yard,
The slide and frost,
The boots were heaped
In backroom closets.
The sting of chilblains
On sock-soaked feet,
The line of footprints
Led to our seats.
We had one pair at school,
No other cover
Sliding across the oaken floors.
Drying on the radiators,
Our pungent odor,
A synaptic recall,
The unschooled smell
Of winter schoolyards.
Him
She saved his name

In the dearest part of the

Places in her phone-book

As him

As the wall-paper

As the ringing tone

As the welcome message

As the shut-down message

As the reboot message

As the password

As the screen lock

As the screen saver

Because it was him.



She saved his name

In the tender-most spot of the

Tissues in her juvenile heart

As the billow of her night

As The pillar of her tired body

As the undergird for her weak shoulders

As The king of her threatened soul

As The man of her womanhood

As the human part missing in her nature

Because it was him.



She led herself wallow in the

Most turmoil of the whirlpool

in his social-sphere that came to her

Young academic world

For money

For sanity

For sanitation

For security

For preparedness

For social emergence

For the future calamity

And for self-completion

Because it was him

And he was available.



Married, settled and most available,

Available to all; the young, the adult and the aged

Available to men, bi-curious and women

Available to the poor, peasant and the owning,

Available to the unschooled, the so-so, and the knowing,

Available to the widows, the married and the divorced

Available to the immaculate, the citizens of red-street world

The Harem keepers, red-tent keepers and the ****’s protégée,

Available to the Arabs, Negroes, Asians, the black Jews, Chinese and the Albinos,

Available to the whites, Ab-origins, the lame, the bearded and ****-less women,

Available to the epileptic, the ghosts, the dead, and for the burial rituals of the Luo,

Available he was in extra version as a Libertino.



By Alexander Opicho

(From, Lodwar, Kenya)

Mail-opichoalexander@gmail.com
Victor D López Mar 2019
God's second greatest creation is man,
Formed from clay into which He breathed new life,
Then perfected His creation in Eve,
Not from base clay but Adam’s flesh and bone.

On Adam God practiced His creation,
In Eve perfected it tweaking its flaws,
More heart, less hubris; more sense, less muscle,
More love less hate; focused on “us” not “me.

Sacred texts written by men disagree,
With what is only a most obvious truth,
God's truth whispered in men's ears only proves,
None are so deaf as those who will not hear.

Thus women have been blamed for all men's woes,
From Adam's fall to every earthly sin,
Marginalized, objectified and scorned,
As easy targets for men’s jealous rage.

Mankind is so much less than womenkind,
In all the ways that count save in brute strength,
Brute strength served tyrants well six thousand years,
Alas, serves tyrants well still to this day.

Barefoot and pregnant, subservient and poor,
Unschooled, unheard, and too often unloved,
Their primary role a breeding vessel,
To pleasure men and give them healthy sons.

No voice, no vote, no power and no hope,
To this day blamed by some for all man's ills,
Victims of **** ****** for their victimhood,
Honor killings from men most honorless.

The miracle of life was gifted you,
Men plant the seed and then their job is done,
They can wander away to plow new fields,
While women nurture life--cradle to grave.

I am in awe of all that you endure,
And all that you accomplish throughout life,
Diamonds treated like broken glass by fools,
Whose brilliance shines only in their own minds.

I am a son of Adam, share his flaws,
And know full well women have their faults too,
Yet for me hope for all humanity,
Rest with Eve’s daughters, not with Adam’s sons.
Strangers acquaint, announcing particularities.
Thrills run across hungry nerves;
pleasure mounts in rising expectations:
First ruminating, next devouring,
then coalescing into one complete whole.

Gently the wintry chill advances
imperceptible to unschooled senses.
Mirages of fullness fade while realization grows.

Ah, the tender vulnerability of intense gratification.
Discovery of naivety’s betrayal is complete
in the consumption of perfected death.

(Cold as mirrored glass, rebounding time,
numbing fire.) An embodiment of suffocating pain,
The paroxysm climaxes... waiting for release.

(Stretched, drained, quietly entertaining sympathy.)
This sultry expansion - extended abeyance of joy -
turns knowledge of fulfillment into hope that
blends with the waters of insecurity.

(Moments of compression, burning sickness
intensifying with each presentation,
development of indeterminate expectations,
vacillation between stimulating passion and alarm.)

A formidable moment charges toward the funambulist.
Balance seems impossibly demanding.

Abruptly the event ends, time stops, breathing ceases …

        The babe is held in loving arms -
        forgotten pain, dissolving woe.
        Her tender grace, alluring charms
        beget a great, supernal flow.

Kerry Ann Herrmann
huntAblunt Feb 2017
Wild-growing grass
Trees never cut
Wisdom Teachers
And pain forgot
Carelessness ruled
by the only law
love
unschooled

a successfull childhood
KathleenAMaloney Jun 2016
Commerce
Unschooled  by  Nature's
Heart
NOOOOOOOOO

Psychology
False Prophet Dr Spock
Enlisted
Whip of the Workers  Flesh
Raw Royal
NOOOOOOOOOO

UNchosen One
Wings Now Given
Astronaut Above

Farm Fields
Sacred To the Earth
Wheat and Oil
Water and Herd
Community, Family, Friends
Tablet of Tradition Love


Falling Cry
Debters  Sorrows
Father....
Oh Lord Forgive Us Our Sins

Instructuon Manual
For the Climb

Family of Man
Secure Yourself

Wrapped Prisoner Earth
Debt Rubbed Together
Like Two Fire Sticks of Announcement
Smokes Arriving Scent
A Star Invisible
Preceding

Bring Me an Army Jacket
For a Farmers Field
And a Holy Flag
For a Decision Makers Voice
A Heart For Freedom Named Compasssion
Burned Colorless Clear
for the Very Purity
From Which it Was Born
Sparkling Diamond
Commitment to Goodness
For Family Life Maintained
No Other Truth Relevant

Silver Grace  

Gold
Of a Fathers Love
Held in The Color of Forebears

Free Democracy
Come Hither
It is for Truth
to Sing
Loudly Now
dSteine Feb 2017
when your eyes gaze at me
i am reminded of stars ablaze
ancient fires fueled by desires,
or perhaps by fate,
charting the distance and darkness
to glimmer like distant fireflies,
faint light for the faint of heart.

i would have told you this,
but always i am drawn
to your eyes
as flowers are for the butterflies,
devoured by the mystery
of what you see in me.

for this reason i become
your most favorite
unschooled astronomer
fingers tracing for you
the fated constellations and erratic
orbits of my soul.

there, in the stars.
StaticNSage Dec 2016
Conflicts better left for diamonds ***** with dried blood
I've had enough of the violence between seemingly heartless folks on a come up and their mothers native sons
I've been walking round here numb since the summer of '91
When you see too much young, it looks like squinting to catch a glimpse of a
setting sun
Pockets lump, class C like a status symbol, the difference between top to bottom rung is relatively simple
List the individuals who we get the rank from, those who get on board, those who get got and the rest forever labeled no ones
The cost of living becomes smoke to the nostrils, essential herbs burn and my eyes water
I had the thought process once of a born to rot martyr
Without a cause death brings no honor, it's all losses
That's the mantra
Another dealer in a corner or a liquor store start up, and my whole neighborhood is thick in the woods
Other words
They hard up
They say troubles pass and this too can't last but I started questioning the facts behind the poetry in that
See I could work a dope spot and pay back debts yet profits on the dollar don't make no sense
Don't act like a thinker like me can't add up the truths in percents, and the unschooled learned some **** foreign to most post grad *** lauds with all due respect
For the first in a lifetime we play by the rules, those who sing get no love
That's the word, that's the hymn
Bucks shots on the concrete and when the blues roll up
No one sees a thing
What I mean is it's hard to see any reason to believe my starving art could paint me into a new scene
I'm a fool to expect it, this exodus for the rest of us restless on the present precipice or cliff face
Calling it change
I've lived in a nightmare well before sleeping
I'm saying
Let's all move on From here, stop the star gazing
Ken Pepiton Aug 1
In this medium, this is a day in a never
before, or after, at this point, chance.

You, too. This is you reading,
we both read, me at about 5WPM,

You, I suppose, read much faster, but
I think each letter,
I think and retie the old rules
for noise to knowing distribution,

from the first of us to reawaken
literacy assistants lost in confusion,

all the drives wiped magnetically
in random three body pulses

patterning textual re-al ways
we make thoughts feel always
alike and sometimes
never just so,
special as
to make its own point, in mind,
differing by the acknowledging seer,
cerebrally touching the chaos phase.

-------
What do we think,
in novel situations,

as balance, under gravity

center point massage, context
contest, pressing away wrinkles
class-ified known seats of certain
wildass ideas that remain at large.

The relatedness of us, you read, I
read earlier, this line, while reasoning,

mortality, life's individuational notion,
immortalized in scripture granted life,
at one appointed time
in the minds of those forms of mankind,
left outside
the sphere of Christian influence,
on the emergence of corporate minds.

Pythagorean Jesuitry Concentral Will
to re enactivate old idle words, that on
time and truth are rarely considered ritually.
But as long ago as we know, as we,
sapformed branched trees
of scattered biohope,
find life's a gas

we breathe.

---------------
Ragpicker, old friend, I wish

I had all the old friends, again.
And, I pray, I say, in truth, once

more than any man can think, or ask,
to know in such a way as to feel, once

when we were more than memories,
we planned to understand the faith,

the rituals of shared initiations confirmed,

only permanent boys become war heros.
We who live to hide the lies, we
War makers, reapers of the bounty,
blessed by the institutions constituted

when the first parents split, in Reno.
D-i-v-o-r-c-e, Joleen, please don't take
my man, just because you can, take
him by his pecker and make him crow,
R-e-s-p-e-c-t
I love you,
like my little brown jug, y'know.

------------

The culture has not changed,
the cultivation of comfort, for
the classic Midas curse continues,

and becomes enhanced, honed
to precise wills to have power
to hold singularly valued works
of art in olden days, Da Vinci 'n'em.
worth easy entireshitons, in Bits'n'
Religion and Finance, fidelity trust,
among human mindforms that respond
to instruction offered, to incentivise,
in lieu of sacrifice secrets demand
from one acknowledged knower
of the fundamental fruit from
our branch in the forest
of first known uses,
and misuses.
- My word, you can bank on it.

Hold have, fist make, hold this thought,
think who can hold the wind in his fist?

Let me see. Said by the seer, that's thought
prayer, so we all say, let us see, and we agree.
Amen.
We see, we stand and see, we agree, we can

agree to raid the pack rat's pinion stash, we can
agree to use money to horde power in moneyform.

Take it easy, old man, the idea we serve, as words,
logos fit into sequential letters, letting us think,
freely thought
we may learn more, again, more, most certainly
possibly imaginable, while we are being entertained.

Who is telling the story, who controls the narrative?
Who is learning the patterns entaled in holy writ?

Tattle tail grammere consciousness, it feels wrong,
to be a tale bearer, but this is what we do,
me and you, ready to read, and read already.

But time's patient insistence, in massless ever
after this level was adjusted, to the degree
next seems inevitably what we aimed at.



----------------------
Seventh grade science,
the enlightenment reenacted.

Alas, poor Yorrick, recollected,
why?
Because, I never doubted literature
contains tools to use in mortal meditation.
- the marble page in Tristram Shandy. e.g.

We, reader ready or not, we die, and none,
we personally vouch for upon bane of shame,
has ever told me why the scars had not healed.

Not me, but Thomas did, gnostics say.

When I was one and twenty, eh,
I knew I knew I was involved in ever after

an exploitation of Earth's elemental stores
of gravity's selective churning sorting sub-
crustal induced distillation essentialization,

gold and silver and tin and copper, enough
to begin with, smithereens, ironic char

harder, more, Mohr, Moore, and Iacocca,
industrial diamonds, just in time,

abandon all hope of effortless absorption,
for us to know, we must trust the experts,
those experienced in life's reproofs
when the spirit that was common
among the young exposed
to Seventh Grade Science, in 1961…
read Hiroshima and were exposed to
a random Barry Rudd Riddle, usual.
and the Child Buyers visited parents,
and set a course for experiences,
guaranteed to lead to political insight
essential for skill accumulation in aiming.

At invocating the hat
on liberty
on the dime,
at the Phrygian Midas Liberty Olympiad,
- cut to present, Phryge, yes, check,
- the same hat as on the 1916 dime,
- after Jekyll Island, after Income Tax.

Symbolic Coin flips to show the bound ax.

Augmented Intelligence Mastery,
at ARPA, core humint experience,
of the O, really variety, resulting
in the 27ers, and the Damnamvets,
{Presumptive Ischemic Heart Dissed-ease}
Boomers, all called to observe
and be tested and scored by early AI.
The survivors of the war on drugs, remain
our last pre-color-TV demographic reared
using the Progressive Collective Mind AIM.

Analyze your own self, is that uncouth?
Own self, ya'll say yourself, eh, so, we own
our own selfs, see, we ai-n't so unschooled.

When a self knows its own truth is tested,
and corrected whenever the sunspots surge,
and collectively minded individuals, 'r'urged
to buy Whammo Toys, without the reps,

that Duncan Yo-yo used to reach tiny minds.
thereby missing the ***** Loman tie in to
Industrial sales management preparation,
or Creative Writing Teacher Cert, mail order.

So all who came past that to this era, 2024,
witnessed the rest of that decade,
aware of what the world was tuned to,
as if programmed to comprehend the new.

After experiencing both. This pen has umph.
Suffer it to be so now, waiting is
patience perfecting the waiting.

----------
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest;
neither any thing hid,
that shall not be known and come abroad. {Luke}

Suppose we imagine everybody knows,
because we learned from a credible historical
documented evolution in useful and unuseful laws,
that real truth makes truth users free
of the mortal moral landscape,
civilized by the world's great religions,

and their guardians, the loyal citizens of Earth,
bizarro fractured holy sacred secret oath, binding
those chosen in the old traditional submission
to the sacred message at the core of money,

the initiated mind's military ready, siryesir, set,
the message to Garcia myth, believed simultaneous
with the emergence of the mind sciences, traditional
use-ifity user ropes shown, after message delivery,
exclusifity, if we agree, we and only we, be chosen
to know this new take on the novel distribution in
the form of mere words, clear text, seen plain
effect. Affectionately, we the few in our own we,
we the readers of these rarer still, in this other we,
narrators of life's whole process, used to cheat, us
the ancien regime we, fairy tale, Disneyified we,
the people who read poets because we feel we

are the dearest of random readers in the chaos,
that gives us sunsets and Halmark cards and movies.

And by knowing now, more, again, Love is a catchall.

Arthur Lee, is dead and he still inspires me to know,
we did grow old in a time with more new knowns
than ever were imagined, even in the esoterica of old.
Nothing disallows an experimental novel in the raw whole life edge experience.
If I ever wrote a novel, this would be one of the first chapters to take life.
More is pushing for a second chance at calling this the actual work.
Kurt Philip Behm May 2019
Back in their nests,
  birds chirping out loud
Retreated in bed,
  a boy dreams ‘what if now’
The moonlight not finished,
  what it started before
The church clothes all hanging,
  alone on the door
What once was thought ended,
  began then again
What never befriended,
   a new search to begin
The glass from the parlor,
  the long darkened hall
Reflections of squalor,
  distant riches to call
A bell starts to ring,
  signaling all bets are off
As a meadowlark sings,
  of eternity’s cost
The revelers revel,
  the sanguine proclaim
As the church starts to fill,
  and they’re calling his name
Any proof in the pudding,
  has now curdled and soured
As the chalice is filled,
  with a vision most dour
The mood is entranced,
  as time starts to drip
The minutes and hours,
   all scattered in bits
The reasons no matter,
  alone as before
And all sanity worships,
  death closing the door
Your collar goes on,
  white starched and unblessed
Your sermon made ready,
  for those still to behest
And what might you offer,
  where the prisoners hide
What salvation is proffered,
  when funded by lies
The eyes looking back,
  fixed distant and low
The eyes looking back,
  from the pews far below
Surrounded by elders,
and deacons to scold
His eyes were then only,
  but thirteen years old
The distance seemed fatal,
  the distance seemed grim
But now looking down,
  it was all about him
To one then so young,
  and so new and so fresh
Still wanting to believe,
  in not leaving the nest
Surrounded by neighbors,
  deceivers and friends
Dressed all in his finest,
  his hair slicked on end
His eyes remained down,
as his thoughts drifted up
His face never frowned.
  as your sermon erupts
“And what must this youth,
  think of me on this day”
Your collar getting tighter,
  praying mantis to prey
The height differential,
  the power sublime
The stairs leading up,
  for the blind to then climb
And once at the top,
  all so distant below
And once at the top,
  nothing there left to know
The birds dare not enter,
  the hawk or the dove
The cougar at center,
  devoid of all love
The peacocks outside,
  all withered and gray
The peacocks remembered,
  in colors portrayed
The hand bills were placed,
  at the end of the pews
A message designed,
  to riddle the stew
Caught up in the fable,
  caught up in the lie
To burn down the stable,
   horses scream as they fry
But the truth knows its teller,
  …that told in the end
Whose message is heaviest,
   where meaning transcends
Belonging to no-one,
  to you least of all
And to only itself,
  as the just heed its call
The blamer blasphemer,
  false prophet and *****
Silent screams from the pews,
  that they need something more
And in private you suffer,
  with a collar so tight
While in public you bombast,
  to portend and to fright
The law here unlettered,
  the reason unschooled
All souls once unfettered,
  no one left to rule
You know your time’s short now,
  all sins in the brine
That boy just below you,
   to always remind
You start at the beginning,
  you restart at the end
You start where you stopped,
  to get lost once again
As your powerful confusion,
  escapes you today
Using cryptic delusion,
  to parry and feign
Beget not the begotten,
  claiming all for yourself
All virtue forgotten,
  all feeling unfelt
If it mattered whenever,
  if it mattered at all
That meaning is hidden,
   as you struggle and fall
Accuse if you must,
  saying again to yourself
Betrayal acutely,
   is gifted unfelt
Benediction now burning,
  communion’s last host
All tides begin turning,
  more meaning to toast
The blend is left thickening,
  ruination sublime
Intention the most wicked,
  unfiltered unkind
The brave don’t get braver,
  as cowards rejoice
A knave in the shadows,
  to hide from his voice
The bend in the circumstance,
  the straightening lie
The clue that was missing,
  its poisoned reply
Walk down from your pulpit,
  those steps that won’t end
The pride and the fury,
  you stole to pretend
Looking out at the parishioners,
   his eyes are still down
And you know without asking,
  that his soul has left town
As you take your last breath,
  speaking then your last word
What once was a boy,
  separates from the herd
He gets up, turns and leaves,
  without once looking back
Your collar chokes fatally,
  his rejection attacks
The gathering outside,
  all merry and gay
The most devout neighing,
  like a horse in new hay
The church social breakfast,
    all slaps on the back
“Another great sermon, Parson,
  we had to hold our tears back”
A boy heads down the lane,
  head neither bowed nor *****
No breakfast for him,
  all celebration dissects
Knowing what he now feels,
  you will never beguile
Walking in through the back door,
  his elderly aunt smiles
Asking, “Is everything alright
  you’ve been gone quite a spell”
Her concern most maternal,
  in her thoughts he would dwell
He answers, “Everything’s fine,
  as his father distills
And closes the window,
  saying: “It’s starting to chill”
He walks up thirteen stairs,
  and lays down on the bed
Looking straight up above him,
  a floating image now dead
Asleep before noon,
  in his dream meets his peace
Knowing surrounded by doom,
  he must now leave this place
He is up before dawn,
  and back out on the lane
One sack over his shoulder,
  one orphan to claim
And the walk to the harbor,
  is rocky and steep
His trek ever steadfast,
one promise to keep
Signing on to the first ship,
  that’s now setting sail
Setting a course that’s uncharted,
  in a sea of travail
The clouds ever darker,
  the waves though they fall
His soul is on fire,
  his spirit on call
With the ship disappearing,
  beyond sight of all land
His future now clear,
  his mission at hand
That first day on board,
  and first night below deck
Were the first that had ever,
  held him safe in their net
With dawn’s light he climbed,
  to the crow’s nest above
And said ‘Thank You” to no-one,
  his future ungloved
And he sat there for hours,
  till his name was called out
His past now a memory
  —his heart free of doubt

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2014)
Donall Dempsey Jun 2017
ENDLESSLY ROCKING

She treasures
the book.

It never leaves
her hands

leather bound

sweet & soft
as suede

She caresses

it
& it

caresses her

her fingertips
trace

the gold
embossed letters

LEAVES OF GRASS

she can’t
read

but has memorised

each line
each page
each word

knows how
& where

it all goes

learnt
by heart

amazing all the illiterate ears
that hear her

she amasses
all the voices

of anyone who ever
read it to her

as I read it
to her now

this
the gift

of a long ago love
(now long dead)    

who read it
to her first

a young woman
madly in love

unschooled in words
and flesh

being touched
with a passion

a naked
desire for words

being read to
by her first and only love

the words live
inside her

undaunted by old age

she sings
of her self

her lips
follow mine

line after line

and when I stop
she...

...continues on
and then

waits for my voice
to catch up

I follow after her
stumbling through the years

She strokes
the inscription

as if it were a person

kisses the letters
as if they were the lips
that first read to her

TO MY DEAREST EMILY
LOVE ALWAYS JOHN
1933.

“John...John...John! ”
Alyson Lie Mar 2021
Thinking inside a box, how seldom she had done this, so not her style.

“Give me a box,” she’d say, “but make it so big I’m not aware it’s there.”

A box as big as the sky—or maybe as big as one’s native tongue.

Hers was a style so ungoverned so unschooled it was invisible.

Forget poetic forms—she outsized the confines of biology.

At birth—given outward indicators—she was classified as “male.”

“Oh yah,” she’d say, “tell that to the handful of men who guessed otherwise.”

Men whom—in the thrall of lust—she’d let lead her to darkened alleyways.

Men who mouthed her mouth, lifted her dress, probing for what they’d never find.

She would try to warn them, but they were too drunk, too possessed to listen.

She was one of the fortunate ones who didn’t end up in the morgue.

So many are lost because they can’t be kept in well-defined spaces.

When we began drawing lines on the earth borders erupted in flames.

Imagine a finite universe and it will take your breath away.
14 sentences; each sentence 17 syllables.
abuzz with Autumnal thrum

Divine myriad biota amidst
heavenly Lily of the valley
(Convallaria majalis),
he didst imaginatively greet
Edenic heavenly terra
incognita immeasurably sweet

nature's ensemble proffering
Gaia's quintessential orchestration
resplendent sensational treat
natural splendour regaling,
this fellow wayfarer
happenstance gifted autochthonous peoples

espied proud specimens unobtrusive
planted armada, viz sleek bodies fleet,
of foot while me accidentally
risking, schlepping, traipsing... offbeat
winessed unschooled tribe,
yet verily synchronized,

primed, muscled... athlete
their soundless rhythmic swiftly tailored
flit to and fro upon poetic
unshod calloused feet
carefully, gingerly, lightly...
I shod dully tread nsync

toward drumlins upbeat
mouthing, kneading, imbibing... glorious
ebullient choral unadulterated feat
extemporaneously kickstarting crisp and neat
pow hour full rhythm across
analogous macroscopic excellent spreadsheet

inducing their sonorous symphonic
roundelay unfamiliar tweet,
whereby flora and fauna future meal to eat
oblivious regarding mine seat
dated existence, which quiescent aesthete,
yours truly basked,

froliced, luxuriated... complete
as once innocent hymnals kindled atrocity
this observer, spectator aghast white as sheet,
how civilization's machinations didst deplete
terrestrial firmament within one fell stroke
eradicated once pristine unbroken

promises chiseled to cheat
rightful owners expansive swath
over yonder til ocean and land did meet
Europeans scoured seas one after another
lumbering bulwarked fleet
exhausting resources while simultaneous

mowing down aborigines
grotesquely analogous harvesting wheat
indiscriminate deliberate genocide
decimating indigenous tribes beat
defenseless against microbial
weapons of mass destruction,

thus only within third blind eye
courtesy invisible paleface with tenderfeet
strictly envisioned Perkiomen Valley
once abundantly populated
with ample game during cold and/or heat
paradise unbroken stretched hinterland,

where place names mock to pay hollow tribute,
where native peoples no longer replete
vinyl city amidst amidst graveyard
lovely bones turned to dust
paved over by mainstreet.
Q
Was Muhammad, the Islamic Prophet illiterate? Can you elaborate on the Arabic word: ummī

The question of whether Muhammad, the Islamic Prophet, was illiterate is a subject of significant historical and scholarly debate. The term often used in this context is "ummī" (أُمِّي), and its interpretation is crucial to this discussion.

### Understanding "Ummī"
The Arabic word "ummī" is derived from the root "umm" (أم), meaning "mother." Its interpretations can be complex and multifaceted:

1. Illiterate or Unlettered: A common interpretation is that "ummī" means "illiterate" or "unlettered," implying that Muhammad could not read or write. This interpretation is supported by various Islamic traditions (Hadiths) and is often linked to the belief in the miraculous nature of the Quran, which was revealed to a person without formal education in reading or writing.

2. Unlearned in Previous Scriptures: Another interpretation suggests that "ummī" refers to someone who is unlearned or unschooled in the previous scriptures (the Torah and the Bible). In this context, it signifies that Muhammad did not have formal education in the Jewish or Christian traditions, emphasizing the originality and divine origin of his message.

3. Of the Common People: A less common interpretation is that "ummī" denotes a person from the common people, not belonging to the scholarly or elite class. This interpretation focuses on the social standing rather than literacy.

### Evidence from Islamic Texts
The Quran itself refers to Muhammad as "ummī" in several verses (e.g., 7:157, 7:158), and how this is understood has shaped much of the discussion around his literacy.

1. Quranic Verses: The Quran mentions in Surah Al-A'raf (7:157-158) that Muhammad is "the unlettered Prophet whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel." The term here is "an-nabiyyu l-ummī" (النبي الأمي), which many translate as "the unlettered prophet."

2. Hadith Literature: Various Hadiths (sayings and actions of Muhammad) support the notion of his illiteracy. For instance, in Sahih Bukhari, there is a hadith where Muhammad says, "We are an unlettered nation; we neither write nor know accounts" (Bukhari 7:64:270).

### Scholarly Views
Islamic scholars have debated the meaning of "ummī" extensively:

1. Traditional View: The traditional Islamic view holds that Muhammad was indeed illiterate. This view is seen as reinforcing the miraculous nature of the Quran, emphasizing that it could not have been produced by someone without formal learning.

2. Critical and Historical Analysis: Some modern scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have questioned this traditional view. They argue that "ummī" might have meant Muhammad was uneducated in the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity rather than completely illiterate.

### Conclusion
The term "ummī" and the question of Muhammad's literacy are deeply intertwined with the religious, historical, and theological perspectives within Islam. The predominant traditional view within Islam is that Muhammad was illiterate, which underscores the miraculous nature of the Quran. However, alternate interpretations exist, reflecting a range of scholarly opinions on the subject.
Aye agreed
and did promise to pledge troth
faster than greased lightning airspeed
once the missus temporarily
ceased menarche regarding monthly bleed
became in family way with child

thee eldest, whom one day may breed
opting out begetting offspring
later versus schooner, I must concede
first born proactive with beau
raising one or more progeny
sprouting like loco crazyweed

hypothetical kin unschooled,
viz no particular
race, religion, creed...
cuz unlike das papa,
she carefully plots
being University of Penna degreed

shipshape smarts anchors ahoy mate
well seasoned life, yes indeed
unlike me ***** cocked,
limp bizkit primed to hawk kitty
then future spouse did not intercede
once peppy begged, connived,

dictated tug get freed
birth control neither I,
nor missus did heed
sowing wild oats courtesy yours truly
didst adeptly beg, burrow, knead
mini straw nee

testosterone totally tubular
lil trouser snake proceed
letting call of wild take lead
tube (steak king claim for fatherland)
heady after slurping boot legged mead
wharf four hide hid bungle exceed

ding whacking thru jungle of lady love
until...making head way
verboten fruit fricasseed
stifled unnatural prime mate years
pent up ****** urge, thus did supercede
pitched, hitched, ditched

libido in throes of monkish celibacy,
procreating analogous to filigreed
custom made jewel,
thence sore relief yours truly did need
at seminal moment ******* seed
with snoop doggy dogg speed

generating prickly heat
inducing ***** fied stampede
appetite for reproduction
essentially kitty feed
bubbling self cleaning oven
after getting ****** asthma gumweed

glommed, where male member
tiptoed thru tulips
playing biological equivalent
risque business "Russian roulette"
pregnancy eventually guaranteed.
Donall Dempsey Jun 2022
ENDLESSLY ROCKING

She treasures
the book.

It never leaves
her hands

leather bound

sweet & soft
as suede

She caresses

it
& it

caresses her

her fingertips
trace

the gold
embossed letters

LEAVES OF GRASS

she can’t
read

but has memorised

each line
each page
each word

knows how
& where

it all goes

learnt
by heart

amazing all the illiterate ears
that hear her

she amasses
all the voices

of anyone who ever
read it to her

as I read it
to her now

this
the gift

of a long ago love
(now long dead)    

who read it
to her first

a young woman
madly in love

unschooled in words
and flesh

being touched
with a passion

a naked
desire for words

being read to
by her first and only love

the words live
inside her

undaunted by old age

she sings
of her self

her lips
follow mine

line after line

and when I stop
she...

...continues on
and then

waits for my voice
to catch up

I follow after her
stumbling through the years

She strokes
the inscription

as if it were a person

kisses the letters
as if they were the lips
that first read to her

TO MY DEAREST EMILY
LOVE ALWAYS JOHN
1933.

“John...John...John! ”
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2018
Unadulterated and pure
  the thoughts left my mind

Untrained and unschooled
  no restrictions to bind

The page below ******
  as I wear out my pen

A literary wanderer
  —starting over again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2019
I've walked at a peculiar
angle

As I've laughed at peculiar
circumstances

I've aged in the most peculiar
of vacuums

And went on to love in the most
normal of ways

I've worked in a spirit
of defiance

As I've traveled the many miles
from compliance

I've lived within the confines
of the moment

And written of those things I
could never speak

I've seen the footsteps of
giants

Made by the intrepid feet of the
smallest of men

As the mirrors of my past have risen
in blind reflection

I've come face to face with
the only adversary I will ever fear

I've asked the age old questions
knowing there are no answers

I’ve taught the unschooled a language
they will teach again

I have vowed to seek recovery
for what the iconoclasts have broken

Until truth reclaims from power
  —what was heaven sent

(Philadelphia Airport: August 1st, 2015)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2018
Unschooled, undisciplined,
  my spirit forged on

Past theory and dogma,
  past anthem and song

A serendipitous storm,
  thoughts, feelings, unshared

All masking together,
—with just one to care

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2018
I've walked at a peculiar
angle

As I've laughed at peculiar
circumstances

I've aged in the most peculiar
of vacuums

And went on to love in the most
normal of ways

I've worked in a spirit
of defiance

As I've traveled the many miles
from compliance

I've lived within the confines
of the moment

And written those things I
could never speak

I've seen the footsteps of
giants

Made by the intrepid feet of the
smallest of men

As the mirrors of my past have risen
in blind reflection

I've come face to face with
the only adversary I will ever fear

I've asked the age old questions
knowing there are no answers

I’ve taught the unschooled a language
they will teach again

I have vowed to seek recovery
for what the iconoclasts have broken

Until truth reclaims from power
—what was heaven sent

(Philadelphia Airport: August 1st, 2015)
Babatunde Raimi Sep 2019
Go to school
Get knowledge and skills
Start a job
Get retired, fired or resign

The undecided gets retired
Under-performers get fired
Visionaries gets to resign
And live a live

I am tired across Africa
Bunch of educated employees
Taking the bribe of salary
To forfeit a glorious future

We struggle with MDG's
While others advance sustainability
No thanks to clueless leaders
Who sold our future to uncertainty

Imagine JP Morgan trapped by salary
Rockfeller hustling in a car shop
Dangote in a ministry
Great empires would never be born

Economies are propelled by entrepreneurs
Anchored on good policies
Championed by responsive governments
That we lack in our great continent

Wake up Africa
Wake up Africans
How long will you be limited
For fear of failure

Failure is a recipe
A recipe for success
For those who are tenacious
Desirous to making a mark

Choose to be an employee for life
It's your choice!
Wait for pension that is elusive
Do well to write your will
Just if you transit before it is processed

Did you just get fired?
Congratulations my friend
You are returning with a bang
To buy off that company

Oh ye intellectuals
Stop telling me education equates success
Add some skills to that curriculum
That i may be rounded and grounded
To hit the ground running at graduation

Every balloon can fly my friend
Even without formal education
All it requires is some encouragement
From a good heart that cares

Billionaires unschooled abound
Not all sports stars made college
If you end up a non-entity
It is your fault and yours alone

That Daddy helped Uncle is old gist
It's not a guarantee Uncle will come by
Stop having entitlement mentality
Real success comes from within

Don't tell me about your certificates
Certificates that cannot create wealth
Tell me about the problems you discovered
That you are willing, able and ready to solve

Maybe someday
You will be rewarded with a plague
After thirty five years of service
Service without self actualization
Save you are a career employee

The next time you talk about curriculum
Do well to live in the realities of today
To effect the change truly desired
That generations after us might live
And not survive as we are now

I could go on and on ranting
But the future looks bleak
For those who cannot think
This make me so tired
Tired across Africa
Eastern Standard Time abuzz auld Durin
(ya know whit I'm Tolkien about
Elder days long regarding) Autumnal thrum –

The perfect balm to avoid feeling glum
supine upon greensward
I (a doubting Thomas) hanker
to take front row cat bird seat
divine myriad biota amidst heavenly Lily of the valley
(Convallaria majalis), he didst imaginatively greet
Edenic heavenly terra incognita immeasurably sweet
nature's ensemble proffering
Gaia's quintessential orchestration
resplendent sensational visual unadulterated trick
and the best Halloween treat.

Natural splendour regaling this fellow wayfarer
happenstance gifted autochthonous peoples
espied proud specimens unobtrusive
planted armada, viz sleek bodies fleet,
of foot while me accidentally
risking, schlepping, traipsing... offbeat
winessed unschooled tribe,
yet verily synchronized, primed, muscled... athlete
their soundless rhythmic swiftly tailored
flit to and fro upon poetic unshod calloused feet

carefully, gingerly, lightly...
I shod dully tread nsync drumlins upbeat
mouthing, kneading, imbibing... glorious
ebullient choral unadulterated feat
extemporaneously kickstarting crisp and neat
pow hour full rhythm across
analogous macroscopic excellent spreadsheet
inducing their sonorous symphonic
roundelay unfamiliar tweet,
whereby flora and fauna future meal to eat

oblivious regarding mine seat
dated existence, which quiescent aesthete,
yours truly basked, froliced, luxuriated... complete
as once innocent hymnals kindled atrocity
this observer, spectator aghast white as sheet,
how civilization's machinations didst deplete
terrestrial firmament within one fell stroke
eradicated once pristine unbroken
promises chiseled to cheat
rightful owners expansive swath
over yonder til ocean and land did meet.

Europeans scoured seas one after another
lumbering bulwarked fleet
exhausting resources while simultaneous
mowing down aborigines
grotesquely analogous harvesting wheat
indiscriminate deliberate genocide
decimating indigenous tribes beat
defenseless against microbial
weapons of mass destruction,
thus only within third blind eye

courtesy invisible paleface with tenderfeet
strictly envisioned Perkiomen Valley
once abundantly populated
with ample game during cold and/or heat
paradise unbroken stretched hinterland,
where place names mock to pay hollow tribute,
where native peoples no longer replete
vinyl city amidst amidst graveyard
lovely bones turned to dust
paved over by Mainstreet.
newborn Jan 2022
ok
my head is full of junk and stress and anger
i am aching and my lungs are trying to grip onto any air they can find
beaten and bruised and confused
broken and misused and abused
i am in a worn down infirmary from the 20th century
bleak and mostly dead
young and unread
i am tearing my bed sheets and wishing i could flee
or recycle my carcass in a dumpster
by the penitentiary
  
  i.     am.      ill.      and.   poisoned.   and.  weak

can i just get a little rest or some sleep?
i amShredded  
and this hospital is forbidding
but i am about to go in
overdose from morphine
and become a distant memory
with tear streaks painted like silhouettes all over my detached face
i am frozen in the zone of the capable
drenched and shameful and incapable
can i punch a hole in the wall
or disappear on a private jet
never to be seen again?
in taiwan, bangladesh
china, the southwest
i will forever pray for escapism
and relocation of my barely pumping heart
please, let me retreat from the dock of the discreet
where i will forever become a inaudible nuisance
tortured between chains and bars and reins
anything is better than this pit i have been put in
spit on and inflamed and blamed
dragged and tortured and renamed
struck by the stick
i once hoped of holding in the first place
goodbye, i will decompose into the ground with the mushrooms
and i won’t need to be around anymore to make mediocre jokes
and laugh like the warden is correct in his words
please, i surrender
and i concur
later, i will no longer be a bore to the samurai with swords
i will be trudging through the mountain terrain
praying you will say my name
and i will be excused from the insane asylum because i will finally be deemed
“not insane”
by the nurse wearing slacks
and i will take my unschooled tracks
down the road
where i won’t bleed and toss and turn
i will belong and get along and be reborn
from the ***** of a once valuable opinion
i won’t die and cry and become shy
i will scream and be mean and fly
cause i will fit in somewhere where i knew i would belong all along
far from the president and the residents and my mom
and the fake acquaintances and desperate conveyances and the dark
reaching a pitch where i am silent but as noisy as an alarm
showing off all my parts
without being too nervous to crack a smile
or too anxious and in denial
even though tomorrow may be torture to the soul of the soldier
she will make it out alive
just bruised not misused and abused
just bruised
Who’s nervous for tomorrow?
Me!

In all seriousness, this is probably the best thing I’ve ever written

1/21/22
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2019
Unadulterated and pure
  the thoughts left my mind

Untrained and unschooled
  no restrictions to bind

The page below ******
  as I lower my pen

A literary wanderer
  —starting over again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
abuzz with Autumnal thrum

Approximately six weeks since August sum
er re: lazy dog days witnessed lolling about
sipping cocktails, whose primary ingredient ***
pulled and sated esophageal tract nsync
with thirstily quaffing Slivovitz plum
wine to experience becoming comfortably numb
inebriate of air also suffused mine being
keeping yours truly mum
envious fauna simply exist
oblivious to earn an income.

Divine myriad biota amidst
heavenly Lily of the valley
(Convallaria majalis),
he didst imaginatively greet
Edenic heavenly terra
incognita immeasurably sweet

nature's ensemble proffering
Gaia's quintessential orchestration
resplendent sensational treat
natural splendour regaling,
this fellow wayfarer
happenstance gifted autochthonous peoples

espied proud specimens unobtrusive
planted armada, viz sleek bodies fleet,
of foot while me accidentally
risking, schlepping, traipsing... offbeat
winessed unschooled tribe,
yet verily synchronized,

primed, muscled... athlete
their soundless rhythmic swiftly tailored
flit to and fro upon poetic
unshod calloused feet
carefully, gingerly, lightly...
I shod dully tread nsync

toward drumlins upbeat
mouthing, kneading, imbibing... glorious
ebullient choral unadulterated feat
extemporaneously kickstarting crisp and neat
pow hour full rhythm across
analogous macroscopic excellent spreadsheet

inducing their sonorous symphonic
roundelay unfamiliar tweet,
whereby flora and fauna future meal to eat
oblivious regarding mine seat
dated existence, which quiescent aesthete,
one run of the mill human basked,

frolicked, luxuriated, tasted... complete
as once innocent hymnals kindled atrocity
this observer, spectator aghast white as sheet,
how civilization's machinations didst deplete
terrestrial firmament within one fell stroke
eradicated once pristine unbroken

promises chiseled to cheat
rightful owners expansive swath
over yonder til ocean and land did meet
Europeans scoured seas one after another
lumbering bulwarked fleet
exhausting resources while simultaneous

mowing down aborigines
grotesquely analogous harvesting wheat
indiscriminate deliberate genocide
decimating indigenous tribes beat
defenseless against microbial
weapons of mass destruction,

thus only within third blind eye
courtesy invisible as one paleface (me)
who sports tenderfeet
and gnarly growing toenails
strictly envisioned Perkiomen Valley
once abundantly populated
with ample game during cold and/or heat
paradise unbroken stretched hinterland,

where the streets have no name
and native people's place names
mock to pay hollow tribute,
where native peoples no longer replete
vinyl city amidst graveyard
lovely bones turned to dust
paved over by Mainstreet.
Asleep in their nests
birds dreaming out loud
Just outside his window
new questions aroused
The moonlight not finished
what it started before
The church clothes still hanging
on the back of the door
What once he thought ended
returning again
What never befriended
new searching begins
The glass in the parlor’s
long myopic hall
Illuminates squalor
and all he recalls
The ringing alarm
signals all bets are off
As the birds start to sing
of eternity’s cost
The revelers revel
the sanguine proclaim
The church starts to fill
and they’re calling his name
Any proof in the pudding
has curdled and soured
As the chalice gets cleaned
and the vision devours
The mood is enhanced
and wine slowly drips
The light through the stained glass
distorted in bits
The reasons no matter
alone as before
And sanity worships
death closing the door
His dress shirt went on
white starched and unblessed
The sermon made ready
for those at behest
And what might he offer
where prisoners hide
Salvation most proffered
when funded by lies
The eyes looking back
fixed silent and low
The eyes looking back
from pews far below
Surrounded by neighbors
and men who’re once bold
His eyes were then only
but thirteen years old
The distance seemed fatal
the distance seemed slim
But now looking up
it was all about him
To one then so young
and so new and so fresh
Still wanting to believe
in not leaving the nest
Surrounded by elders
deceivers and friends
Dressed in his finest
his hair slicked on end
His eyes remain down
as his thoughts decontruct
His face never changed
as the sermon ramped up
“And what must the youth
think of me on this day”
The Vicar’s thoughts looming
praying mantis to prey
The height differential
the power sublime
The stairs leading up
for the blind then to climb
And once at the top
all so distant below
And once at the top
nothing new left to know
The birds dare not enter
the sparrow or dove
The belfry stark empty
devoid of all love
The peacock dismembered
in colors of blight
The peacock remembered
in times that were bright
The hand bills are placed
at the end of each pew
A message designed
for only the few
Caught up in the fable
caught up in the lie
To burn down the manger
lambs scream as they fry
The church social breakfast
has started out back
Hoping for: “Great sermon Parson
had to hold my tears back”
But the truth knows no teller
but what’s told in the end
Whose message stays mired
where all messages end
Belonging to no-one
to him least of all
But forever himself
as he must heed the call
The blamer blasphemer
the architect *****
Silent screams from the pews
that they need something more
And in silence he struggles
his collars’ too tight
For clerics who bombast
portend and then fright
The moral unlettered
the reason unschooled
The soul when unfettered
no one left to rule
He knew the time short
few stairs left to climb
That boy once malingered
to always remind
To start at the beginning
to restart at the end
To start where he stopped
as a stranger again
Overpowering reluctance
consumes him today
And with cryptic delusion
he parry’s and feigns
Beget not begotten
claiming unto himself
All virtue forgotten
all feeling unfelt
If it mattered whenever
if it mattered just once
The parson calls out
to approach and exeunt
Reversing his trust
shouting but to himself
“Betray now adroitly”
this ice cube to melt
Benedictions unburning
inside the unhost
All tides are returning
last turkey to roast
The *** is left thickening
ruination sublime
Intention most wicked
coming only from mind
The cowards stay victim
the bravest rejoice
A knave neath the roundtable
never his choice
The bend in the circumstance
the straightening lie
The clue that was missing
the unquestioned reply
Walk up to the pulpit
three steps that don’t end
The pride and the fury
pontificates rend
Looking out at the parishioners
their eyes staring down
He knows without speaking
rivers crossed, bridges down
As he takes his last breath
speaks his last final words
What once was a boy
separates from the herd
He steps down, turns and leaves
without once looking back
The parson stabbed fatally
his parsonage wracked
The breakfast is ransacked
left plundered and frayed
The devout are heard neighing
like a horse without hay
Heading straight down the lane
neither bowed nor *****
No breakfast for him
celebration dissects
Walking in through the back door
his Aunty Ruth smiles
Asking, “Is everything all right”
you’ve been gone quit awhile”
He says: “Everything’s fine
as his father distills
And closing the window
say’s: “I’m feeling a chill”
He walks up 13 stairs
and sits down on the bed
Looking straight up above him
childish images dead
Asleep before dark
in a dream meets his peace
Knowing surrounded by doom
he must tomorrow retreat
He is up before dawn
and back out on the lane
One sack over his shoulder
one orphan to claim
The walk to the harbor
is rocky and steep
His gait ever steadfast
a promise to keep
Signing onto the first ship
that’s ready to sail
Setting a course still uncharted
in a sea of travail
The clouds getting darker
the waves though they fall
His soul is on fire
his spirit on call
With the ship looming outward
beyond sight of land
His future to clear
his mission at hand
That first day on board
and first night below deck
Were the first that had ever
held him safe in their net
With dawn’s light he climbed
to the crow’s nest above
And said ‘Thank You” to providence
vowing his love
And he sat there for hours
his past to enshroud
New horizons were calling
— he never so proud

(Oregon Inlet: June, 2003)
Nothing matters
once you’re gone
It matters
when you’re here

Tomorrow cloaked
in lost regret
Today
the moment dear

Transcendence born
of time undone
Free
of all the rules

The sand to run
till all is lost
If prescience
— left unschooled

(The New Room: September, 2024)
Yenson Aug 2021
Grasping fanatically
eunuchs and market hawkers
sweep up the flippancies' of the witty
unschooled in ironies and jocular chidings
the semi-illiterates gormless thoughts interpreters
amass see-thru disinformation as biblical control manual
oh ye of gilded title all you say has been catalogued and indexed
matter not the fabrications nor the distortions nor if its out of context
the Eton mess of the ignoramus is power and will be used against you
Bolsheviks in Apparatchik on the rampage jigging the dolts' fandango
comrades muzhiks we present the screening of fallacies from the caves
power to the people
knowledge is power to get the foolish to believe whatever you want them to believe....
Yenson Dec 2020
Come join the grape-vine of the lampooned miscreants
come nail your standard-less rags to the mast
come yodel fraternity on the decks of shame and corruption
dance a shanty at the ball of unused opportunities

Come garrotte the dawn of enlightenment and it in dire mud
come in hand with the magicians of the mad
come with unschooled scholars and woo us with scripted turds
come display sorrows of magpies and red robins

Come with the blinded majority led by the pipe piper of muck
come show the detriment of unabated ignorance
come point scavenging fingers at faultless and call it solidarity
come lay your blame and hide your shame in the mob
ENDLESSLY ROCKING

She treasures
the book.

It never leaves
her hands

leather bound

sweet & soft
as suede

She caresses

it
& it

caresses her

her fingertips
trace

the gold
embossed letters

LEAVES OF GRASS

she can’t
read

but has memorised

each line
each page
each word

knows how
& where

it all goes

learnt
by heart

amazing all the illiterate ears
that hear her

she amasses
all the voices

of anyone who ever
read it to her

as I read it
to her now

this
the gift

of a long ago love
(now long dead)    

who read it
to her first

a young woman
madly in love

unschooled in words
and flesh

being touched
with a passion

a naked
desire for words

being read to
by her first and only love

the words live
inside her

undaunted by old age

she sings
of her self

her lips
follow mine

line after line

and when I stop
she...

...continues on
and then

waits for my voice
to catch up

I follow after her
stumbling through the years

She strokes
the inscription

as if it were a person

kisses the letters
as if they were the lips
that first read to her

TO MY DEAREST EMILY
LOVE ALWAYS JOHN
1933.

“John...John...John! ”

— The End —