Category: Poetry

I got rid of your delusions one at a time. Donated your stuff away, sitting on shelves, being touched with grimy fingertips and bad intentions. This was not the way we should’ve ended. Our adulterated misunderstanding of each other, melting the sun even hotter, making us sweaty. You walked funny when you were mean. There…

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I have not fought in wars outside of myself but I have fought many inside of me. I have tried to end it all, each decade after the other, in the past, remaining partly in the present, never knowing the future. I have pushed the limits, the walls with my hands, the doors with my…

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My skin has been picked raw. There is no more to pick. There is no meaning in this passage I have read again. The words are over 300 years old. Back when this author wrote it, slaves were bought, sometimes traded for one another. My eyes remain open and tired. I feel twice at a…

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When my hands get tingly, and the shocks zigzag through the spaces in my brain, that is when I know, when I know I must see the great whale again. When the words directed at me don’t sound quite right and I try to remember its meaning, to sound smarter than I am, that is…

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It is a tension you can’t see. It’s there for you and me. No matter how you slice it. No matter how you dice it. The tightening of the rope will occur. Getting lost in the black ooze. Give out a full bottle of booze. Running fast doesn’t help. Getting lost in the black kelp.…

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In Memory of My Classmate Who Recently Passed Away He was at the lowest of the lowest lows, never reaching the bottom rung of the lowest high. Trying not to let the pain be overwhelming, and choking down the dark thoughts at the bottom of his deep well, he saw what no one was able…

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I’m getting off this Merry-Go-Round. it’s spinning too fast, Too many rotations, I will jump if it doesn’t stop. I’ll land in the dirt. Scrape a little skin on the way, bloody knees and bruised elbows, I’ve experienced worse. There’s enough gauze, Stops the tears, I’m better than all this, there’s more peace. I’m getting…

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A copycat of conventional wisdom, On the surface below the dimming light, A sage unlike yourself, Growing tall in the sidewalk weeds. Ask a question of right and wrong, A lasting impression of your face, We are like the others, you say, Nothing is unique about us. What rhythms have you found Under the belly…

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Stepped up to the podium all adult like, no child leftover, and with orange on her shirt, it shouldn’t have been there, but her mouth had two holes and nothing to fill in the second gap. They all knew what was going to happen, and could not stop it. The pain of knowing the end…

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The message was clear. You’re damned if you do. You’re more damned if you don’t. You sit down like the others. The place where thick girls go. The seats give a little extra. They push you in a certain direction. They yell follow me to the end. I ask the end of what? of where?…

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We are rounding the bases tonight. I am sweating from head to feet. This isn’t baseball. It isn’t softball. No one is the winner or loser. This is a different game. One without any disagreements. You are not allowed to waste time. Your hand cuts a deal. Adequate bandages cling firm. Our eyes not caring.…

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a bucketful of sin in a smaller bucket of torture and in both sits regret. stirred up all nice like, and no one noticed how easily it was to pile up the sin. the willpower to deny the urges is fierce but not fierce enough. the slippery slope, up and down, creating new moves, searching…

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Creating something new was the suggestion. The problem was I didn’t know where to start. Paint the image from twenty years ago, don’t hide your experience, make sure there is truth in every brushstroke. Imagine if it was hung in a gallery, some of the freshness now dulled, needing to brighten the lights more to…

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