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écrasez l’infâme

"religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo." Salman Rushie
 

The Scientific Enlightenment spead in the west at no small cost
Imprisionment, blasphemy, censorship, internment, death
Yet the magnificent Secular, Spiritual Sceptical, Scientific Spirit Survived
and slowly tamed...

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Also by John E Marks:

Remembrance | The way of the cloud | Early onset Alzheimer's | Roll away the stone | A permanent loss of happiness | Halloween | White Teeth | The ruins of Nineveh | Going home | HOLY BROKENNESS | CONNEMARA SEER | Generation 27 | The Resurrection of the dead | White privilege | A lamentation upon the fall of Constantinople 29 May 1453 | To the crags, where eagles soar | The flowers of the forest | Plurabilities | Lunecliff |

The moment

 

I knew her. We were at work together.

I had not seen her for at least two years.

‘I’ve left Mike.’ The news came as a bombshell.

‘I’m with Vince now. You know, from the office.’

‘But you seemed so happy,’ I said, weakly.

‘You have to seize the moment,’ was her reply.

 

The moment? Vince? That lazy sofa slug?

‘He’s exciting!’ she snapped, smiling hungrily.

‘The momen...

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Also by Stephen Gospage:

Geese | Middle Class | Grass | Messiah | Village | Fahrenheit 451 | Architecture | Birds | Volcano | Land | Climate Change and us (Updated version of a poem posted on 24 September 2020) | September Ist, 1939. |

All Hallows’ Eve

All Hallows’ Eve

 

On All Hallows’ Eve

When the bewitching hour falls

And darkness descends

From out of the shadows

Something slowly stirs

The slightest movement, flicker, twitch

Seen from the corner of your eye

Shapes emerging, cloaked in mystery

Gliding along ancient pathways

Gaunt, swaying spectres

Shrouded in mist

Carrying their stories and sadness

The...

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Also by Brenda Wells:

Ascending | The Loss of Summer | While Evil Walks | After the Rain | The Box of Letters |

WINNING THE BATTLE, LOSING THE WAR.

On the shore of Ganges,

when the Sun was at it highs,

there comes a fisherman,

to accomplish his sighs.

Trapping the biggest fish,

was his promise to his child,

and he tried till dawn,

even caught the cold mild.

But grabbing the gotten chance,

even though aiming for moon,

he landed up in stars,

which is oasis in the dune.

Dreaming big is not wrong,

expecting ...

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House Shoes

 

When weather cools
we don house shoes
keeps old feet warm
gives toes more heat,
But woe is he
who shuffles feet
and woe to he who
interrupts wife's sleep!
 

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Also by d.knape:

The Accident | Talented & Gifted | Doing | For Once | Shopping Cart | Nothing Today | Speechless | Boiling Water | Lizard | Punctuation | Limbo | Woke | Friend Me | First Sign | Hide-Out | Smart Wife | X Marks The Spot (just for fun) | The Poem That Stays With You | Little Flower | Lost It | Armadillo | Snail Trails | Mandate | Old Goat | THEM | LIFE | Simple Man | October |

Tell Me

Tell me you love me, tell me you care

Tell me I look good, my clothes, my hair

Tell me the truth but no more lies

Tell me the secrets shown in your eyes

Tell me a story, one that’s not true

Tell me it’s not about me and you

Tell me it’s finished, the affair you had

Tell me you’ll come back…

I’m really sad

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Also by Rick Varden:

I Hear | I see, you see, they see | FAKE |

Sleep Tight (rehashed)

It is the night of Halloween
time for the spookiest party of all
Stars imitate blinking disco lights
the full moon a sparkling glitter ball

The dance floor crunches under stomping feet 
a crisp carpet of Autumn leaves
Pumpkin lanterns glow by candle light
tangled cobwebs hang down from the eaves

The walking dead dance with the devil
witches recite rhyming spells in tune
Vampires flas...

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Also by julie callaghan:

Extra Hour (A Repost) | Autumn Razzle Dazzle | Rick Astley | Dalyan | An Eerie Scene | Yorkshire Scene | Autumn Scene | New York Asters | Asters | Roses | Besides The Sea | Rainbow Sunset | A Month Of Mixed Emotions | Testing Times | Saturday Morning Sailing School | Gem Of A View | Yellow Summer Sky | Far Side Of The Bay | For Jake |

Spy derr

You’ve captured me

In a web  I’ve woven,

 

That I placed at your door 

for you to come over

 

To seduce me with your fluttering eyes

To entice me out of the safety of life.

 

To whisper the intoxication

To vaporise my mind with elation

 

To take my hand and lead my mind

To bright sunshine that leaves me blind

 

But frees my body and frees my soul

Pre...

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Also by Edbreathe:

Going under | Banned(s) | PLAs-sTiCK | Un Said | mIN d | s- LasH of rED | PlAn it Rape | plOT | CuP Bored . | bRid(g)e | Kill (We’re all going to die ) | 1/4 Tet |

John banged a pan

There's a bloke called who John lives next door but one

He's not Don Juan or Don Juan but one 

He's just John

He turned up in his dungarees

He fixed the shed but charged no fees

Though this poem is mere smidgens

I'm only just mentioning he used to own pigeons

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Also by Jed:

Hard Edge Beaming | Hunger seems | Flying sources don't like Nazis |

Sunflower

Although she was beautiful

her struggle never seemed to fade.

With roots as strong as hers she would always smile

even when her petals were plucked and frayed. 

Remember how her beauty glowed 

as she faced the sun with grace.

Half laughing, half crying 

somehow she bloomed from her pain. 

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Also by KIANA LYLES:

Affirmations for my mother |

beautyloveself caregrowthstrengthgracepain

GRACE

To these logs I place my flame

to know their loss must be my gain,

for what was beauty in the tree

gives light and life to such as me. 

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Also by ray pool:

IN LAWS | HUNTER'S MOON | PRIDE | REEL STREETS | PLANTING UP THE FIELDS | CRISPS - THE FALLOUT |

53. Poem

In an year so much has changed

And in years gone by, everything's different

Me not the same anymore to look and talk

I'm all together a new character, with lovely personality 

My confidence speaks volumes about me

Attitude humble filled with gratitude towards all

Leaving an imprint on paths walked through

Making my atop to the success in spirituality 

Don't look at me and w...

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Also by Sunshine:

52. Poem | 51. Poem | 50. Poem | 49. Poem | 48. Poem | 46. Poem | 46. Poem | 44. Poem | 44. Poem | 43. Poem | 42. Poem | 41. Poem | 40. Poem | 39. Poem | 38. Poem | 37. Poem | 36. Poem | 35. Poem | 34. Poem | 33. Poem | 32. Poem | 31. Poem | 30. Poem | 29. Poem | 28. Poem | 27. Poem | 26. Poem | 25. Poem | 24. Poem | 23. Poem | 22. Poem | 15 poem |

The friend I can be

 

And as I sink beneath the sea
I feel the force beneath my feet. 

Dragging me down to the deep abyss
I fight the force and push to release. 

The chains so tightly wrapped around me

I know I can reach the surface to be, 
the grounded child who can watch curiously. 

I stop and I wonder which wave threw me and remind myself of the friend I can be.

I kindly reach my hand out to m...

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Overflow

10/28/21

I'm so afraid of your rejection.

For fear of my regression.

Wait! Hush. Just give me a second.

Don't mistake my explanations for aggression.

My mind is overthinking.

Get to know me, I know I'm overflowing, maybe I'm over showing, I know I'm oversharing.

Shut up self. Ugh you can be so overcaring.

This is the fight with myself.

Know that I've been up on many a ma...

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Also by VHH:

SOLID | My Heart Crave |

A Thread of Hope

As pain and jealousy give way to wonder and gratitude , I realize the beauty of a love that opens ones eyes to life. The time between the yearned for reunion or unfathomable new beginning, fades like the forgotten darkness that comes in the blink of an eye. Whether a rekindling of old love - renewed by perspective - or the birth of new love - when one gathers the strength to carry the hole in thei...

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Also by john A Giordano:

Lost | A Lying Shroud |

lovehurtheartbreakhope

Virgin Craves Love Devil Craves Blood

Screaming take me

sensual naked awakening

raw sharp penetrating

awesome devil lover

satisfied vampire bat.

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Also by Nigel Astell:

A Quick Pint then it's off to Edgeley Park | The Walk |

still bloodthirsty and wanting more

OVETT, CRAM AND COE

Throughout the early 80’s we in Britain set the pace

(And unashamedly I was a fan)

As weekly records fell in that iconic 4-lap race

To the troika that was Ovett, Coe and Cram.

 

The one ran with pure arrogance, the second of these had

A running style that simply seemed to flow;

The third, the pride of Sunderland, a loose, ungainly lad;

There was no match for Ovett, Cram or ...

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Also by John Coopey:

IF WE ONLY HAD TIME | A VIEW FROM THE HOT SEAT | IMAGINE MY SURPRISE! | STORMING OFF IN A SHITTY | WAKEY TO CAS | SWEATY BETTY'S | THE GALVESTON GIANT AND THE GREAT WHITE HOPES | SCAMS I HAVE KNOWN | THE GOVERNESS |

Create.

There's a black canvas staring back at me. 
Nothing else, no smiling people or vibrant colors, just black paint smeared across a white spread. 
Motivation slipped my existence months ago
But I have this moment and in my current state of sadness I wish to create 
Even it turns out to be acrylic nothingness. 

 

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Also by Jordyn Elizabeth:

Numb. |

Dice

Fascinated by all that’s random

Our short lived interactions with strangers

Always questioning what could be

A rolling scenario of ifs

Glazing over one’s eyes at night

Life is that of a mere die

Set numbers plaguing our skull

Remember that every number has purpose

One just has to give it purpose

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Also by Cody Roach:

Beautiful Pain | Unanswered | Fire | The love you want | The unseen | All I’ve ever known | Draft | Petra |

The Witching Hour

Passing the graveyard's mossy stones

Heard some quite appalling moans.

Coffinwood creaked as they stole out

One giving a cadaver such a clout

I wondered if in an earlier life

The pitiful corpse had belonged to the wife?

 

Me with saintly image in silver locket

Coarse salt hidden deep in pocket

Silver crucifix brandished high

So evildoers would pass me by.

A garlic ...

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Also by Jennifer Malden:

The Stalker |

Molly McKane

 

 

Buried in the Forest, is Molly McKane.

She cursed all those who utter her name.

Murdered as a Witch, a wicked old soul.

She was cruel as sin, heart black as coal.

As the flames took hold, no scream or cry.

Vanish did the Sun and black was the sky.

Whisper her name 3 times, it's now said.

And Molly McKane will rise from the dead.

From the bleak Forest, so the legen...

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Also by Mike Bartram:

2 Rooms...2 Views | County Road | Scar |

Liberation

Perhaps I had lost my mind.
Envisioning goals within my grasp.
But far from my reach.
My heart yearns for what it wants.
However,
My mind prevented me.

I had lost my mind to the process.

The process and letting my former self die.
Rise and birth of a new me.
Shackled and bonds finally removed.
Now, im no longer bound to the limitations of life.
Im free.

My mind and body is merely...

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Moving Home

Moving home is always full of stress,
But it may also be exciting.
Is it all a huge ordeal?
Or do you find it quite inviting?

It takes so long to pack things up,
And there are boxes everywhere.
For it surely tries our patience,
As there is so much to prepare.

Is the move something you fear?
Or do you long for pastures new?
Is it all one big nightmare?
Or a dream that has come true?

...

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Stuart VannerMoving Home

twenty

i never imagined living to this age 

and maybe that’s why it all feels so surreal 

the younger version of me lost hope so quickly 

i never planned to reach this day 

i don’t want to celebrate 

i don’t want to blow out any candles 

or open any gifts

i want to feel better 

i’m spending the couple nights before i turn twenty relapsing alone in a cold room 

there is nothing ...

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twentyhurtlost yearspain

Ostracized

Name on an ostracon. 

The reckoning decrees 

That one is to be

Exiled to the marginalia

Of life, sans regalia

Of former glory, no

Laurels to rest weary on--

 

But perhaps the chance

To recommence at

The foothills, on a far

Sturdier footing, might

Suffice as recompense?

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Also by Holden Moncrieff:

Conciliation | Pickpockets | Dilemma | Collage | Roll Call | Achilles | Fated? | Fresco | Grappling |

The HARUSPEX (Granny Slugshaw)

The HARUSPEX (Granny Slugshaw)

 

 

Granny Slugshaw used to read tealeaves

But now...   it’s sad to say

Everybody has teabags

TASSEOMANCY has had its day

 

She’d lost income… to new-fangled teabags

Be they square, round or pyramid

A fortune teller shudda seen it coming

Granny Slugshaw never did

 

She wracked her brain for a new source of income

She was sk...

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Also by kJ Walker:

Mi Mam's Take On Contraception |

Us

Once a few million years ago, in thrones were the giants  
Herbivorous, carnivorous with razor sharp teeth
They wore no precious jewels nor clothes of silk
They hunt their fellows for food, oh the roaches seen it all

The world metamorphosed,  puny organisms born
Rid of feathers and  razor sharp teeth- 'harmless' they thought 
Even roaches pitied the new guests 

Among lions and tigers, t...

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Also by Khione:

Endless As The Sea |

societydeathhumansnature poetry

Midday Traffic

 

Traffic is like

a game of Tetris.

Every vehicle just

a part of a puzzle

trying to fit in.

 

Moving forward 

they navigate 

through a straight path.

Glitching as they waver.

 

Red lights sound an omen

and Green just noise.

To keep the game going

one must move on

to the next point 

 

A sharp sound rings

Signalling the end 

of a game well ...

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Also by Blue Raven:

The Case of Self Worth |

I thought you’d moved on

We are reduced to WhatsApp now you’ve left

the ting tells me your specks of thought, no touch

I think you may be synaptically challenged, cheat

your triad of expectations; you, me and her!

If you are trying to separate us, send me messages,

unfurl your inner petals of speech so you can serve me

and I’ll dissolve them into cadences of text history;

a nexus of hope deleted and u...

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destructive affairunrequited loverelationship endnew life start

Tossing stones into shallow pools
Putting on these blue socks & walking away,
but these blues keep stalking down my neck
Dropping from my lash, from cheek stained red
Shame and bitter contempt
Sorrow and chewed Nicorette headaches
Dead breaks of trees waiting to burn,
on a match to turn things sideways
Wide days spent dreaming
Long night spent grieving
Childhood spent teething for truth
...

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Also by sandbar:

Starboard smoke pit | The terrible tempo |

How the Greats Feel: Part 1

 

Emily Dickinson 

Dried roses and loneliness 

Damp musk, juniper gin

A sweet secret kept well

 

E. E. Cummings

Modern buildings made of his words 

Falling oak leaf, smoker’s cough

A feeling of getting away with murder

 

Henry David Thoreau 

Wading boot lifting from the muck

Abandoned shed, rotten wood chopped

A longing for sapiosexual chemistry 

 

A...

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Also by Candice Reineke:

Not Everybody Likes Poetry | Your Florida Preserve |

American poetswriters

WHO?

Pray tell me who here is the victim....

The one who is heard shouting out - .

Or the one who is said to have kicked him

Unable to abide the corrosive uttered doubt?

..........................................................................

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Also by M.C. Newberry:

GONE | NEVER AGAIN - an old style ballad lyric | SUNNY? | WHERE WAS THIS? | WELL? |

untitled

Am I understating? 

The difference between the sky

and the cosmos inside of my head

When the silence is loud,

is there a difference?

 

Read and leave comments (0)

The Blanket

 

I found it in the loft

In a dusty old chest

It whispered, come closer

Come get some rest

 

I made it to the bedroom

As slumber took my eyes

The blanket in a corner dark

Stifling long lost cries

 

I heard them in my dreams

A young girl's shallow wailing

I felt his hands around her throat

Under twilight slowly fading

 

I awoke to it upon my bed

He...

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Also by Stephen W Atkinson:

A Place For Mushrooms | The Sixpence |

ghostHalloweenrevenge

Your heart, my piece of clay

Your heart, my piece of clay

he whispers.

A vessel of love and light

that he walks right alongside. 

 

Dance with me on the waves

he whispers.

Your feet leave the ground to meet the surface of stillness.

There he listens.

 

Open your hands

he asks so gently.

Your fingers unfurl and your palms lay open to the sun.

Reflecting ripples of light off the water bene...

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Also by Sarah Mae:

Night's a brittle song (pretty words from picture books) | I waltzed out my front door this morning |

Heather

I walk in wonderment,

Through these Winter streets,

Stalks of sodium glare.

I will walk forever if needed,

To be with Heather and her hyacinth hair.

 

If I walk these distances,

Will the past recede?

A year for every yard perhaps,

Until we are forever young,

In a Vampire’s lair.

Bloody kissing Heather and her hyacinth hair.

 

We are every bird in flight,

W...

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Halloweenhalloween poemVampires

Let us show

Let us show

Tuesday,26th Oct 2021

 

Let us show

and grow

with the patience

and seize the chance

 

the world needs to change

and manage

with the tolerance

and love's stance

 

let us make it appear

sans fear

that it has no other go

but love has to glow

 

the world needs healing

a good dealing

regarding humanity

and treatment of one famil...

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Also by Jadia4708au:

I shall make | Run & survive | Feelings | True love | Miles ahead | Live dead | You are beauty | Presence of mind | Waste not | Ask nothing dear | Quest-serves no purpose | Past | Let us reason out | Happiness-real factor |

Jadia4708au

CELESTIAL

The stars I hold as electric beams run through me

Vibrating I'm moving a zillion miles an hour the moons just let on like he knew me
Present
Blow back the kisses the sun has just blew me
Love
from the planets so truly
Recharge put celestial through me
Give
I share out what you have given to me
Times ten it returns right back to me

To enable one to keep it..one must give it away
It's...

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Also by Sarah Louise mcnee:

PASSENGER |

Manifestspirituniverse

Hiccup


The day's drudgery should be done by now
still he shambles. Dimmed Wandering skies
match hard concrete ground as on he shambles.
His feet are aching but his head aches more:
he could just as well be that disintegrating
plastic bag buffetted along, his torturous journey
has no point. The love of his life has left
their love-nest. She just needs some space.
He has heard that phrase before ...

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Also by Adam Whitworth:

Words In A Vacuum | Humble Travellers | For Want Of Immortality | For The Happy Couple | Villanelle For An Acorn | Wishful Thinking |

Stories

Stories tell me stories
Lay them on top of me

Pile them high as I sleep
They become memories

Pounded into me 
Oh the bloody ink

I see a life ahead of me 
A life behind outlined

In words and thoughts
That are maybe mine

They follow a line 
Weaved together
 
With the hard work
Of discerning meaning

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Also by Robert C Gaulke:

One more last chance | Save a bit of the mystery for me | Hacking Sex | As stupid as it seems | My Bank Account | Retconning You | Chère Heights | A Person of Interest | Her Story Checks Out | Bad CGI |

Halloween

in my cupboards

skeletons hang

still mouths strangers to the songs they sang

 

I take them out

bone-dry and hoar

wan skulls shorn of the locks they wore

 

pelvic sculptures

sharp as a blade

silent shrines to hectic love they made

 

bereft of flesh

that lit my fire

no lithe joints but threads of thin wire

 

hot tears drop on

memories clean,

pick...

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Also by simon lucan:

Girls In Care | Sweet Dreams | Blind Date | Descent | Carrion |

halloweenlovememoriesregretsbetrayalsuicide

Goodbye, dear friend

Goodbye, dear friend

 

As adults we adventured in to the sea

 

Clumsy

Intimidated

Determined

And having so much fun

 

No one else was bothered

To learn such a difficult skill

To take the long drive from our town

Just to be in the water for—a day

 

But you did

And so

Our journey together moved forward

 

We started in the shallows

And with ti...

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Also by Rasa Kabaila:

Moments like this |

Last Goodbye (Stockport Market)

Holding a fingertip softly
on a battered pencil
this is your last memory of him
counting what stock they had left
before helping them to pack up 
knowing they would return without him

smiling faintly 
as the book stall said 
he was welcome to any book there
and Jenny at the cafe 
who wouldn’t let him go
without promising to come back,

standing there lost in thoughts
until they wer...

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Bouquet

She could not see the flowers

as an act of kindness,

as a thank you for sharing

some of her time with me

 

The expensive bouquet

was still there on the counter

Monday morning when she left

 

The roses, azaleas, and carnations,

even the inanimate vase,

seemed saddened and troubled

at having been seen as an apology

for a crime where no charges

had yet...

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Also by Mike McPeek:

Lovely Afternoon | Solace | Unit of Measure |

eyelids and earlids

eyelids and earlids

 

 

beauty from color

shapes

scenery

glimmer from a lake

 

all lost with eyelids closed

 

birds songs in the forest,

symphony of city car horns

beeping to a crescendo

cooing of a morning dove

breathing of a lover

 

all lost with ear lids shut

 

is one better

to lose than the other

 

one would have to ask Helen Kel...

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Also by Clyde McCulley:

was the old woman a ghost too? | the old woman in the upstairs window |

blindsighthearing

Forgiveness

You lay in bed at night with thoughts that bring you down

You thought that you were strong, but you were wrong

You relieve the moment when you lost it and went into the dark

You lay there awake wondering if you could have done anything different

Could you have made her stay?

Could you have shown her that you lost your way?

You lay awake because you haven't forgiven yourself

Be...

Read and leave comments (0)

broken dreamsloveforgivenessbrokenheartshamesickanxious night

The Reaper's Brother

Night lingers just before

the Sun smiles

Dark hugging every scar

within my soul

Peacefully patting my innocence

on the head

Like an unsuspecting child

being hushed off to bed

Snickering as I close my eyes

knowing dreams will bring 

no peace of mind

"Don't worry dear one,"

from a crooked smile

"Peace will come with my brother."

As he twirled a lock of my ha...

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Undetectable

I’ve been sitting on the precipice of this

For a while

Unsure how to express my feelings

When I don’t know what I feel

You see 

I’m hysterically nonreactive 

I’m worryingly unworried 

A switch 

From nothing to everything 

Because - like Whitman -

I contain multitudes

Many great thrashing waves

Like creatures 

They slip through nets

Can’t be caught 

They...

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Also by Alexandra K. Parapadakis:

See Her |

Explosivewarningreactionexpectationanxietypoker faceheart on sleeveemotionssocietysocial pressuretake advantagecryexploitburned outexhaustedtake

MMXX

after Philip Larkin

 

Never again such crowds

shouldering such exultation,

no more the sea lion choir

hauled up on the stands.

The stadia and arenas

silent like grief,

the sun quenched in remembrance 

of a million flowering hands.

 

And shutters on the High Street

tight against the abyss,

the weekend staff furloughed,

the checkout bleepers schtum.

The h...

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Also by Tim Ellis:

The second peak |

Lockdowncovid-192020Phillip Larkin

Show more entries …

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