“The British and the Americans

are two peoples

united by a common language:

that of love!”

Yours Truly, 16/1/26

[apologies to GB Shaw]

Love, on the front line,

Murdered: there for her neighbor.

Poet in motion.

Le Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh,

ag a dó dhéag a chlog,

Dé hAoine, an séú ...

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—some closeness is measured not in touch, but in the spaces we dare to share

Work spouse—HR shorthand for a lived cliché.

X-rays in long-abandoned airports read sonnets under our silk.

Yes, we learned the steps of that corporate ballet.

Zippers silently weep—damned to sulk.

As highways unbuttoned, our days lived out in lost miles.

Blouses slipped one notch—sheer fabric ...

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I triggered a dent in the pool
Because of all the coins I'd tossed, hoping they would be eaten
By the ghoul who makes wishes come true,
So he and I are both well-fed.

But my world is small and ambition boundless,
I realize, as I stare at my potential,
An arched sunbeam, a half-hearted caress,
A constant reminder seeping through the walls of my shell.

But I can't make peace with what I'...

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I open my chest like a book

Spine bending to allow this move

Both arms in use

I’m the shape of a hook

As though a hollow recess nooks

In the shelter of my wings 

But instead: colours and depth expose

Crumbs of my world escape

They’d talk for us if they could

You’re far away

Stiff, a figure from wood

Unable to reach out 

From where you’re stood 

Or even from n...

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got a lot of heart

A martial artist pained

paints the canvas
a dark red
black & blue
due to lack of oxygen

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I want to Marry you, maritime vibes, in the Bay Area like during low tide yeah, I want to really seize the moment and feel the energies of the sea’s breeze, therapeutic

they’d love it too if you threw your bridal shoes into our crowd then we can walk around the beach with the sand beneath our feet

dispel any negative energy, lift and thin the veil

to breakthrough the threshold

can...

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To love and lose

Is to choose a love that meant you

Could be the one standing here today

Taking on anew

How freeing the moment

The tears uncontrollably shift the lash beneath the pounding samba dances of your pain

That skip that whisks your life away 

To the land of milk and honey 

Only to arrive back crashing down

Into the factory thumping in your ribcage

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envisage the vision
believe in the dream

support the
purported
person you love
and care for

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ad libitum

I love to listen
to the rhythm
of a heart’s beat break
mixtape rapping
without skipping a beat

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some incorporeal humans in form
ate what they say
was a plant based diet
and thus were subject
to divergent evolution

amorphous... because
the species had once chosen
not to consume animal proteins
frowning down upon us from the heavens
as if we were subhuman

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I'm thinking with my dickhead

and

speaking with these pussy lips

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heroic dosages, taken
on a trip made up out of fear

nightmare fuel

Terra’s mental plane

astral travel…
plan it…

and don’t even begin to panic, or else...
they may think you need help

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A method actor
was asked for their perspective

which is more difficult
to impersonate, and
get inside the mind
of a deluded lunatic

or out of character

and, it was answered
with laughter

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training everyday
gave me this blood lust

had a fever dream
and, awoke in cold sweats

we have a safe word
that turns me off

like I’m a sleeper agent

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ancestors were what we worshipped
the old gods
ancient technology with it’s instructions writ in alien languages
“world war 4 will be fought with sticks and stones”

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The soul
it’s being…
Left— with lingering memories

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their body—
built on—
a foundation of lies

my own, from their doubts

The house of pain

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ignorance is a bliss

euphoric

the ego indulges

in during times of stress

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enlightening

A universal mind

open to new ideas
with expanded awareness

brainstorming in the heavens
of, the seven seas overhead

why is it that death is personified
it is so when he is weakened

that’s the unmaking of the grim reaper
a befitting demise, his

mortality—
a spare rib
the quanta of
an excitable atom
shushed —
acquiesced

and during this evanescence death die...

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magic inks spill across the page
creating a rorschach image
a crazy person’s deluded vision
of their artistry that of which
others simply cannot see

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poetry is
the rememory of passed moments
inner beauty,
a narrator’s world view, and
thoughts manifest
as spoken word…
public thinking with no critique

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The earth’s ether
rebirth, uh, being born…
or, is it about forgetting who we are
and, our death is about remembering who we were

memory…
a soul’s fortè, more so
—Nostalgia

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sir, yes, sir

enlisted, signature
illegible, and unable to be read

a dreaded shot

well trained

the medic attempting to calm —
The vet,
glances at his dog tags
in search of a name.

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had to have been there
to believe it beyond belief
mourning, until sunset
GTA
5’0
wanted by the LAPD
boys in blue
and.. red
stripes & stars
white flags

popping shots off in the air

“The Marathon Continues”

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It seemed to me that time stood still,

the moment that we met.

I stumbled over words to say,

I never will forget.

You took my breath away that night,

you still do even now,

and every memory that we’ve made

seems new to me somehow.

I guess it’s because since that night

my life has been a dream,

where every day you take my breath

away and so, it seems

th...

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After you were gone

My heart fell apart

A jigsaw without structure 

A mess of lonely parts

I think you took me with you

My breath, my life, my soul 

For, all that remained 

Was this deep & vacant hole

One day I fell into its depths 

Without thought of return

Crumbling to a waste of ash

In my own neglected urn

Suddenly, blinking, I awoke 

B...

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And indeed, 

the seasons will shift once again,

Yet,

that one autumn leaf, 

will hold onto the branch,

with all its might,

Awaiting the breeze,

to carry it away.

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Dear Lord of mercy and order,

You who shaped the constellations

and placed every heart upon its rightful path—

hear me.

You have destined me a man,

steady as an oak,

a harbor built for my future.

In him, I find peace,

honor, and the promise of a home.

But another soul tempted my spirit—

a lightning in the dark,

a soul I touched only in passing.

Not min...

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— a Chaucerian Roundel of passion

Our very skin now sings the storm’s refrain

The heavy downpour enters every pore

Naked— we swell into the storm’s full roar

Wind shreds the porch screen; lust can’t contain

Our lips taste like ozone, no world before

Our very skin now sings the storm’s refrain

The heavy downpour enters every pore

Bodies arch—lightning—our dam ...

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The second verse never lived  

up to the first, so  

one clear-eyed morning 

he broke up the band.  

Cites musical differences  

with himself.  

Duets come and go, concepts 

run clean out of notes. 

Down at a crossroads 

some fella suggests solo 

is the only way  

to maintain direction.  

Kick-start his comeback  

to long-standing collabor...

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We’re nighthawks in some moody painting
Haunting stools at a midnight bar
The headlight beams of passing cars
Scan us both as they squeal out of town
You’re telling me of a coming wedding
And asking me to stand beside you both
Well, that deserves another round
To swallow my flattered feelings down
I’ve been chasing love like some wild dog
You’ve been cautious, careful and selective
Look ...

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The rhythm of a train
Rocking hypnotic
Gets me sleepy
I rest my eyes
And how quickly 
My mind’s delivered
Back to the threshold
Of that urge
Back to the beginning
Of starting again

O, if I run away
If I run away...
Would you
Come with me?

This thing, it lures me
And always has done
There’s a persistent calling
A seductive promise
I hear it between the verses
of my favourite ...

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–intimate dizian exploring love's silent language

Wild ferns, we spill across our living-room floor

Wet lips cling to one leaf, our night’s sweet dew

Wandering lights gaze bodies washed ashore

Welcomed streetlights eye stripe our play’s debut

Wishful neighbor-blind gaps-–glimpse—can’t undo

Willow wands, our spines bow beneath soft snow

Wisps—rose-petals, sip our scent’s c...

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Love is amusing
Love is kind.
Love is confusing.
Love is blind.
It's sometimes euphoric
With no words to explain.
It can be such drama.
It can cause such pain.
Love is so fragile
It can fly away.
You can hold on tight.
To try to make it stay.
You can live without it.
And be lonely and blue.
I'd rather be bewildered by it.
Than spend a day without you..

by Marla Deaton Novemb...

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I never learnt my mum's favourite colour.
Maybe it's the shade of maroon that adorned her bridal fingers,
Or the green that has weaseled its way into her dogmatic beliefs,
Or the blue that symbolizes her unrequited pursuit of peace.

I never asked my dad if he wishes he could go fifty years back in time,
Spend his childhood, basking in the privilege of being an only child,
But in a less bro...

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I still wear your jacket
It’s worn and torn
With missing buttons
Your remnant scent
Was lost some time ago

I want to keep your arms
Close around me
Anything to stay warm
In a dim November kitchen
Still haunted by your voice

Around this uneven table
Five chairs untucked
I've moved between them all
I reluctantly accept
The silence of our house

I'm caught in the folds
Of this in...

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I ended up opening our texts again
A pain, My heart can’t explain
Im trying to hold back my tears —
I might drown with them, I fear

But I just want to know —
why?
Why me?
If you liked her,
Why bother even speaking to me?
Why did you pretend feelings?
Why insult me?
And how could you leave so abruptly?

I hate you.
But I don’t.
I like you.
But I don’t.

It was something I believ...

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I met him by the roadside

Standing tall with shoulders wide

He smoked a fag I couldn’t abide

And asked me if I’d come inside

A dull linguistic polymer

A tiresome interlocutor

Who cares when promiscuity

Rears its head, it grins and tempts me

Unknown and hardly trusting

Inside the room we fornicate in

In and out, in and out

Breathing, fucking, no room for doubt

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You know what’s funny? I was never allowed to be angry. Not outside of my head, at least; the only place I could truly be free from you- except I wasn’t. You live there too. You live in the poems I read on stage, you live in boxes of our favorite candy, you live in the echoes of my mother’s voice, and most of all you live in my mirror. The one I look at because of you. The one that you shattered a...

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I feel time passing like nails on my skin

Piercing, commanding, but ephemeral

It floats by while I'm left to singe within

Nursing echoes that ring true like spells

Against the auroral skies my head bows down

But never hangs heavy

Evergreen vinyls, abandoned hometown

You still lurk in the shadows of my periphery

I see you when my hands cradle my head

And when I'...

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Our Hummingbird Nests Of Skin
-a sestina of elemental intimacy

Sun fingers her hidden hummingbird nest of skin,
Each twig, love's unfinished sonnet, found by dawn's light.
My lips echo night’s bare swim’s wild lake water,
Our steam now swirls skyward, sisters with the breeze.
Her breathless wink, a covert quest cloaked as touch,
Then silence—inhales between our lingering drip.

Her drop...

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This autumn is so sweet,

it gives me so many presents,

This autumn is my best award,

This autumn is my golden lord.

I am lost in this warm September,

My love looks like an ember,

but only with a tender touch

it turns into a fire and burns a lot.

Maybe it’s my last flight,

so I will hold it very tight. never 

I will not wait for the spring,

I wo...

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Saudade is a feeling that resists translation. Words like homesickness or wanderlust
capture fragments of it, but never the whole. This poem reaches towards the untranslatable:
the unique fusion of longing and loss, of sorrow and tenderness, of absence and living
memory. A sentiment so layered and elusive that it can only ever be approached, never
fully contained.

It is the echo of a song
...

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—a Sestina of one night shared with our sister moon

Night’s first blush leans low against the tide

that licks the sand; moonlight unhooks the darker seams of our skin.

The air stings sweet, crystalline breath of salt.

A feral moon, she leans close—silent, luminous, wet.

Her breasts dip the water; the water dips us—oh…slow pull

after slow pull—silk unraveling into constellati...

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Electric whispers of 

Intelligence. 

Fires up my filament

Amber Embers,

Ambient,

Welcoming flames.

Teach me something.

Show me everything

Strip your ego of its mask;

Allow me to wear you for a while

Tandem or Random-

Let the thoughts fall where they may

Electric Whispers of

Vulnerability.

My heart considers yours.

Grace and gratitude

Twinkl...

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—A Terza-Rima Nocturne of Swallowed Time

On moon-damp sheets, you slowly open my violet fig, passing halves tongue to tongue,

its seed-pearls, captive minutes embraced by our soft lips,

each velvet pulse a swallowed clock tick, unthreading the night’s camisole—unstrung

Our minutes take root inside our souls, night’s vines in green hour’s gentle grip,

soft pods burst open, ...

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I hated the words "comfortably numb"
I thought what a horrible way to be.
But somewhere in the back of my mind
I knew it could happen to me.
How can you feel comfortable
When part of you is dead?
But life twists and turns
In ways you can't foresee.
How can you go back
To the fullness of life instead
Of being smothered by mediocrity?
 

by Marla Deaton  2011

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(a poem for the hills that remember)

There is a silence the world cannot name—

a silence not born of fear,

but of memory,

and men who have seen too much to speak.

Between the spears,

hung gently on bamboo walls,

something waits.

Not war.

Not peace.

Something older.

The boy in Mon sharpens wood not for battle,

but because his father did.

And his fath...

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She is in ...

I am not always thinking of my Wife

She is in…

 the memories against the wall

painting the pictures of yesteryear

I am not always thinking of my Wife

She is in…

the smell of my coffee

reminds me of our favourite coffee shop

I am not always thinking of my Wife

She is in…

the tune of the song

stealing my mind away from life for a while

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—so I took her to my masters swim meet… a pantoum

Her body swayed, night’s mistress, hips caged in silk’s heat.

I froze—her lioness gaze, her eyes undressed.

A temptress sculpted by shadow, my goddess—complete

She grinned—my name, her voice, a purr—confessed.

I froze—her lioness gaze, her eyes undressed.

She pawed valleys, mounds—denim mines skin.

She grinned—my name...

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