wake up
go to the computer
stare
open the blinds
stare
go to the bathroom
stare
grunt
wipe
back to the computer
look at the news?
no, a buzz-kill
stomach growls
*toot
boil water for tea
wash face
brush teeth
shave off stubble
put on underarm deoderant
steep teabag
put in two slices of toast
sit again
try thinking
don't want to think
try to think again
stare
sip tea
thawi...

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Here's a poem I wrote to celebrate the launch of Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau (filmed before lockdown but only just released)

Rise

May you rise like the phoenix from the ashes.

Reignite your precious embers.

Break from your constraints to dance on air.

Rise like the swelling tide, the harvest moon.

Rise like you will dare.

Rise like you're awakened from a hun...

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There she was sitting in her chair

The passage of time seen in her gray hair

She sits not in a chair on a throne of honor

Tea cookies and lemonade the silent child ate

Cookies salty-sweet this is how she will grow to be

Lemonade just enough tart you can see it from her heart

Words of wisdom in a melodious feminine tone

Encouraging us to rise up and tell me ...

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To hear my voice in the silence of my mind

Unaware on the outside the passing of time

In these dark crevices, what is it that I hide

The sound of mid-tones words

As the prayer wheel turns

A Mantra for me, I must learn.

The superstitions of religion created in the past

Stained glass images are not what they seem.

Contradictions of the forgiver will condem...

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I’ve weathered storms that I thought would drown me 

I’ve learnt to soar in winds I thought would consume me 

They say 

Out of the ashes must rise a new Phoenix 

The flame…

Being refined by fire

Through it, I’ll rise higher

The flames provide the fuel 

As I soar to my strength

Refined by fire

Gold purified 

A faith that stands.

By Faith Olaju...

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Pen devoid of poems
adventure long overdue
living room carpet
growing long in the tooth
I’m pining for movement
so keen to get out
I’ll go walking down
to Holly Hagg

Little glimpses at normality
haloed by golden rays
There’s no poison 
in the idle river
no politics
in the quiet horse
cantering to 
another chew

The clouds of working day
part while I’m out walking
bathed in nat...

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 Make small gems,

Don't get angry.

There will always be houses,

Otherwise the car will be crushed.

You are my little gold,

And don't be angry.

You will learn to read and write,

There will be many famous and expensive.

Fill my chest,

There will be no more sorrow.

My daughter Hajera,

Pigeons of pride.

His anger in small words,

Who will explain the wire anymore.

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Poetry and creative writing by the philosopher and author, alexis karpouzos.

Actress : Martha mourouzi

alexis karpouzos on Amazon

alexis karpouzos on Goodreads

alexis karpouzos on youtube

alexis karpouzos on spotify

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Poetry and creative writing by the philosopher and author, alexis karpouzos.

Actress : Martha mourouzi

alexis karpouzos on amazon

alexis karpouzos on Goodreads

alexis karpouzos on instagram

alexis karpouzos on twitter

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when my pencil hits the paper

and my brain begins to race,

my hand cannot keep up

with the unruly pace.

my scribbles become springs

bouncing up and down the page

with an energy quite erratic,

full of angst, or joy, or rage.

I submit myself to thee,

oh Goddess of the pen!

I beg for illumination,

for the power to go within

to unearth the sticky...

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An experiment in your observation ...

Having the grace to explore the alchemy of my soul

I was in the black, out of control

I'm strong enough now, to please 

Just myself

Shouldn't be easy for anyone else

Take a look at how

I've become so astute

Jumping and singing

Just like a cute newt

Flying high up off the ground

Slightly ruined 

But still around

...

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Feeling down
because my muse
abandoned me again.
Maybe to teach me
another lesson
about leaning on him,
instead of mining inspiration
from deep within.
Seeking satisfaction
outside ourselves
is perhaps the greatest sin.
It is a game no one wins.
So, back to the blank page I go.
Just me and my pen.

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“The ropes are fraying and soon I’ll sail”
pencilled grey
along the edge of my notebook page
a heart-breaking phrase
sure to inspire, somehow
 
Flicking through, I read it again
and pause to lament;
That boat washed out
its anchorage severed
silently, in the night
no words, no words
 
He’s gone
and into that sad darkness 
so many other ships would follow
The town seems quiet this e...

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To know my fingerprints
on another’s heart
could stir them into art
a priceless gift, a magic

To know there is a poem
written about me
those words, more beautiful
than I could ever hope to be

From the caverns of passed time
there comes a sound
a constant, quiet, ring
when I choose to listen
always there
telling of another way of living

That the heart of an artist
a complexly c...

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I love to write poetry,

It gives me vent for my expression.

And believe it is a more peaceful way

Than turning to aggression.

Of all words that I may choose

I am in main seat of control.

To show my thoughts on many things,

And to exult the reader's soul.

And when I find my inspiration

I ponder - what is my next direction?

Though I sometimes find it hard to d...

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You came in to this world

with enough light to find

your way out of the dark,

enough kindness to save a soul,

enough love to shift a planet.

Don't worry, you are enquipped

with all you could ever need.

Look with in,

you are drenched in magic.

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Yesterday

I caught a star 

With my burning fist

And left my handprint on it

I crash-landed on the clouds 

I bounced back

Bounced back I

Shot a star with my mouth

I juggled Pluto

I breathed on Neptune

I grew a farm on Saturn

I named all the planets that

I was first to visit

Pierced them with flags of my face

Stamped them with my fingerprints

I was the fi...

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Poets are renowned for navel gazing and being introspective. Here are three poems to prove the point. But hey, all navels need an occasional inspecting now and then. :)

The Unpublished Poet

He took a clipboard and a ballpoint pen.

He sat in the sun and then …..

He gazed at the sky, the inexplicable clouds,

Listened to trees sigh, untranslatable tones,

Thought of all that he...

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The words don't flow as they used to

The lines don't form as well

My mind seems stuck in idle

Awaiting thoughts to swell

Each day I live, I see so much

It should inspire something

Yet when I sit to write it out

My brain comes up with nothing

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the pain of the vacant page                                      stage

for the dance

of my pen

the fear of the frozen mind                                        blind

  to the hope

 of a rhyme

the silence of an empty house                                spouse

to the song

of my word

the hush of unwanted time                                      chime

t...

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reluctant eyes closed even though quiet
your imagination comes in silence
you are asleep as my lover's heart
hugging happily clutching dreams

here I looked at the serene early sky
your dreams come with stars
to match my desire with you
through the night
welcomes the morning

although separated by space and time
my heart's room has been filled
with sincerity of your heart
doubt is no...

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WARNING

This world is under poetic surveillance

The POETS are watching

No image, sound or experience is guaranteed safe

from being found… inspiring

They will take feelings you didn’t know you had

and turn them into words you didn’t know you needed

They may not know who they are

but once they get started

they can be unstoppable and unforgettable.

An...

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Dedicated,  without her knowledge or permission, to Laura Taylor, who gave me the desire to write and perform and the kick up the arse to actually do so.

Lioness Laura (Waitrose staff room Jun '18)

Lioness Laura, she Roars

Fury and Rage fly off the page

Venom and Grit, Bile and Spit

She's a voice of a certain age

Lioness Laura, she Purrs

with Mercy and Charm, Beguiling a...

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I think that you are quite unique,

From ear to ear, then down to feet

Sat atop your mind you speak,

Sometimes funny, sometimes sweet

Lots of people seem the same,

They live their lives and play their games

Now and then they use their brains

But not too often, ain't that insane?

You are you and that's what matters

So ignore, the chitter chatter

Small minded t...

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{Diary Of The Southern Queen Entry #14} {My Story}

The word's of

inspiration,

dream's from

that certain

person has been

beautifully

written on the

walls inked

down `n` linked

straight to my

soul that gives

me that courage

`n` strengths to

fight `n` my

battle because

I'll always

survive if it

takes the last

breaths in me

`n`...

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{How Blessed I Am To Have You} 

I couldn't

even start to

fathom how

blessed I am

to have you in

this life with

me and in any

other life~time

before and here

after and no

matter where

or when I would

always still 

choose to fall in

love with you

my darling

love 

©One_Pissed_Off_American_Ghost_Writer/Tina Glover...

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The chaos in my mind
is killing me,
my life, a bad trip
on LSD
a rush to the brain,
serotonin, dopamine
all at once shining
blue light
a mind so open,
a heart so full,
peace,
such peace,
the sweetest sleep.

Memories are mirages,
I cannot reach.

A sinking feeling,
a dread inside around I go,
again and again,
down the rabbit hole,
just once more,
one last time
looking for a ...

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Affinity with words has been part of me since trying to decipher little card cut words given by a teacher, but my journey into poetry began in 2002 when something changed the course of my life as surely as a strong tiller on a lightweight boat, or piece of drift wood caught in a strong current.
Before that I was as a sycamore seed spiralling every which way in winds. What happened caused my ship ...

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In the midst of the summer
As back to school gets closer; troubles linger
I stopped for awhile to ease my mind
Get to the highest point to get a look
The creation and destruction of us

The best thing in my sight is the sunrise
Rising over the mountain
With no rush it peeps; then make a grand entry
I wish the life in you is the one in me
To be the light of this world
So selfless and uns...

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I was waiting 
for the rain to stop 
for the sun to shine 
in the rising moon 
for a sign 
for the light
to set fire 
to the rhyme 
inside my mind 
so I can forget myself
and fall out of time.


©JMCole 

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Pure gold she is, 
pure gold to me, 
pure sunlight amber glow, 
pure moonlight true blue, 
purple green,
pure red, a dream,
pure starlight white, 
pure light defined. 

So much light 
she puts inside, 
she glows, it flows, 
heart no more dark 
shades bend blue.  
My soul she does kiss open, 
a vast array of colour erupts, 
whole inside 
she leaves me always
complete ecstasy infinit...

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Don't worry if the path you travel is crooked, 
your destination is not clear, 
the turns you make misguided,
the route a little obscured. 
Each step you chose to wander, may be a step too far,
but the journey shapes your future and makes you what you are. 
Past steps they are not wasted, they shaped your inner soul. 
They led you to your future, 
guided an inner goal. 
Every inch is wort...

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Multiple Sclerosis ~ Derrik Whittemore in Honor of my Mom, Shanna LaFlamme, and all the other families battling M.S.

One day you just showed up
Without a single reason why
You take every single one of your victims
And make entire families cry 

Your next target is my mother 
But she's stronger then that 
She has the whole family on her team
And now we’re up at-bat 

It hurts her...

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Moments change in a blink, and you can't get them back
I fill my life with words, I would never regret
They are my thoughts at time, happy or sad mindset
Maybe I show extremes, but the audience can flack

Whatever is your thoughts on my rhythmic artwork
I do care to listen, and we can share debate
But the words are written, and shared to activate
Feelings or emotions towards poetic jerk

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As she lies there naked, object of perfections
I know she's not perfect, she has a mole on nose
She has curves and some fat, not a modelling pose
But my eyes see beauty in all of her actions

She might turn slightly left when she was better right
Or she might not cook well, frying instead baking
But her laughs light me up and brightens my darking
Endlessly over smiling when mind goes on her ...

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The Garden

The violets speak softly to me,

They whisper to remember who came before,

The tiger-lilies interrogate me,

They say that spring pastures are no more,

The violet flowers inspire me to see my powers pure,

With the gifts that Venus pours my beauty will adorn,

The tiger-lilies scratch and chase me,

They say my will is cracked and torn,

The...

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Delicate Love

            Moving day; a time of excitement, worry and letting go. My baby girl has finished college, married the man of her dreams and is beginning a new chapter in her life.  The van left an hour ago and on a whim I went to the attic to make sure she had everything. I glanced around and tucked in the corner the words “china” in girlish writing popped out at me.

        ...

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I write things about you

I love to write things about you

I always want to write about you

Ever since I saw your smile

Feelings of hapiness begins to pile

Ever since I heard you laugh

My heart became familiar of this unknown "stuff"

I knew right then and there

This feeling will even get deeper

And then one unexpected day,

Our gaze met... Oh Hey!

My heart beats...

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At a workspace in the reading room
Sits the youth engrossed in writing

In peripheral of mind and space
Onlook gravely the collected works
And weight of human history

Unrestrained by abstruse semiotic
Advances the uninducted
Through warnings of unheeded cipher
To pastures rarely trodden by
Adherents to the doctrine

Unheeding of imposing presence
Uninhibited by its stricture
The wo...

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Does your inspiration
come from someone
who lives and breathes darkness?

Does your inspiration
come from someone
who wishes and prays for death?

Does your inspiration
come from someone
who has issues of controlling
her anger at times?

Does your inspiration
come from someone
who hates almost everything
about herself?

Does your inspiration
come from someone
who tends to alway...

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Inside her closet are the remains of a broken umbrella with the materials in cinders.

Her skin cloak is draped over a spindley coat stand,

most people name it a spine,

most people's are strong,

straight.

They carry the puppet as if a master holding strings...

But sometimes autum's trees fall down

without reason

because nature is flawed.

Sometimes a stem ca...

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The morning, crisp and broken by the curfew
Of rising larks and pigeons in the choir,
Its breaching sun is bursting through the grass dew
And thinning out the misty dawn's perspire.
Many rest upon their linen sheets around
And you, the only currently arise,
Solo is your ally when breaking the ground;
Undistracted, undisturbed - your alibis.

Your muscles twitch uncertain of their purpose,
Or whether purpo...

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Poem for Bob Crow (cheers W.H. Auden)

Stop all the docks, cut off the trains, 
Start the mariners striking, be still the cranes, 
Silence the busses and with muffled bullhorn 
Bring out the coffin, let the workers come. 

Let politicians circle, moaning overhead 
confessing on the airwaves, He Is RED, 
Put nooses round the white necks of the bosses, 
Let the riot policemen carry their own crosses. 

He was...

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Soft music offering backdrop

 in a tongue peculiarly diverse

It were some sort of a ballad

with words woven in a verse 

Couldn’t grasp what projected,

just felt the sense profound

It traversed beyond restrictions,

free spirited and totally unbound

The warm voice mesmerizing,

emanating from deepest of core

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Another attempt at my paternal tongue.

Un altro tentativo di mia lingua paterna.

And though I beam with pride as I'm learning.

E anche se mi fascio con orgoglio, come sto imparando.

I'm aware that translated, the metre is wrong.

Sono consapevole del fatto che tradotto, lo strumento è sbagliato.

But this language pulsates to my yearning.

Ma questo linguaggio puls...

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Inspiration can’t be seen.

I mean…you can only feel it.

Your wit won’t help a bit

So that to convey the feelings,

To create a real art

That comes straight from the heart,

Like a holy writ recommit

God’s gift and revelation.

How do I feel my inspiration?

It’s not a certain motivation,

But only my emotions

And certain commotions.

Just the sam...

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As she heaved the duvet

Billowing over the bed

Words shimmered through her mind –

Like fish flashing in deep waters

Fleeting

The music of pleasing vowels

Slipping song of bubbled pebbles

Formless

Something – possibly -  glorious

Thoughts make our words;

Words make our thoughts.

The silly poet strives struggles

Suffers

For metaphor

...

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Face down in the mud, he paused before he rose

'Women pay a fortune and I'm covered to my toes'

Back among the runners, he tried again to jump

Over the high barriers, but he really got the hump

When soon for the third time he took a mighty fall

'You'd think that after all this time my feet would now play ball'

Some weeks went by before he had to go and seek some hel...

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