for your ease,
the links in the section below should take you directly there,
avoiding the cruelty,
of cut n' paste
*

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/5157922/for-colby-to-eat-to-excrete-to-laugh-and-to-cry-out-loud/


https://hellopoetry.com/nat-lipstadt/poems/?tab#:~:text=For%20Colby:%20There's%20a%20baby%20in%20the%20house­...

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/5158703/for-colby-when-sunlight-cracks-the-babys-room-window/

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/5159012/for-colby-rest-easy-be-assured/

Airborne Muse #2: Once I wrote: (1)

if it cannot be said
in ten words, it cannot

(but now, older wiser, more intuitive)

I be~leave five is plentiful

and I'm still
working on:
three thee me

&
and one day,
I"ll get to maybe a bared skin two,
but I'm open to your suggestions
above beyond
just merely

we two

11/26/24
12:27pm
updated
10:30am
9/19/25

whispers the stubbly face of the old grandpa,
or I'll blow fierce little airs all over your rigidly
pretending-to-be-asleeping cute little facey,
then tickle your kissable little
lips
and make farty noises
for the rest of the day

she, irresistibly, bursts out laughing
like the roaring lioness she be,
whose cubs might be threatened,
and laughingly squeals, oh poppy!
it's all your fault, you grumpy old poet,
you made me put the *** in my
peej's!

and how his son,
the father,
on permanent overwatch,
growls below annoyingly,
"great,
now we'll be late,"
and
threatens to tell the
attractive single second grade teacher,
upon whom
he has a semi-secret crushing,

to which
we two devils scream out,
"oh please, oh please"
knowing she will find it quite
charming, and maybe even him,
tooing,
the single attractive father-man
who, could be ripe for a
twoing
><
and poppy twinkles,
thinking that no
matter what you
call it,
that thing,
is all-around and
in~between us while
he changes the young lady's
sheeting

In grammar, a correlative is a word that is paired with another word with which it functions to perform a single function but from which it is separated in the sentence.

In English, examples of correlative pairs are both–and, either–or, neither–nor, the–the ("the more the better"), so–that ("it ate so much food that it burst"), and if–then.

Correlative
-----------
the word intrigues,
not for its functionality,
but for its relativity

we are neither relatives,
blood connected,
nor are we correlated,
in fact, quite the opposite!

my love for you,
from afar,
if not, then,
not at all

you say
never,

and I say, even better!
causing you're confessing,
we are special together,
the more, the better,
our relationship contains
a scriptural clause elemental,
an unconditional
correlative,
for
every
for
e v e r

you
never
utter
……

semiotics ~ relating to signs and symbols

"playful semiotics that makes this digital (poem) feel
weirdly tender"^
(W.A. Gibson)

dear friend,
will always take tender
even weirdly, perhaps especially,
when so rendered,
and so sweetly tendered

but here's the rub,
try the onomatopoeia of
tender

say it slow
the tongue reaches up to touch the roof of the mouth,
twice,
ending in an  smoothly soft exhaling,
(go ahead, divert, try it, then return)
here,
but I do not search for a semiotic,
for there can be none,
(and there is indeed, none)
plain or weirdly,
that captures the incredible elegance
this royalty of word,
so nuanced,
so wildly variegated,
a thousand shades of existential coloration,
far exceeding the rainbow's basic monochromatic monoply,

but I know my.reader,
many of whom at this exact moment
(are taking a pausal break)
are taking forefinger to stroke a sleeping cheek,
a hand to rub and trace a comforting
reassurance to a distempered child,

so I need not supply even one more,
or than to mention in passing
my tenderest adoration to
all of you
who foolishly read my dabbling,
and within them find
nuggets I did not even contemplate,
and bring me,
eyes wetted.
to this moment,
(9:00am Thu Sep 18),

yes, eyes wet,
this silly old man,
whose heart may be yet healed,
with
the
weirdly wildly
tenderest of
gratitude
        

                                                      ­                nml