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The pulse once strong now beats so frail, Beneath the chest, a hollow tale. Where laughter lived, the silence stays, A weight descends and clouds all days. The eyes that sought a guiding flame, Now find the void, no warmth to claim. Each breath a shard, each beat a thief, That drags the soul through endless grief. The world moves on, yet joy has fled, The sky turns grey, the heart f...

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Pup in Heaven

A maiden stands beside her friend, as evening mist

begins to slip and spirit through the cheery lights

of days that seemed forever. Sleepy eyes resist

the pixie dust and kisses of celestial sprites.

 

The maiden calls -- a moment's fuss, her little friend

is in her arms; they gather for a rendezvous

with playmates in a castle garden. They ascend

beyond the ...

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ten of us all told

five couples,

a large farmhouse

and one last hoorah,

the children have

grown and flown

so we return to stir up

a melange of memories

before re-burying them

in this very special place,

boys wedged in trees

Japanese soldiers hiding

quietly in the corn,

loose banknotes afloat

in the pool, a family

of coypu in the ditch,

nude students ...

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MELLOW FRUITFULNESS

BUT ONLY FOR SOME OF US.

THE BIRDS GOT THERE FIRST!

Le Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh,

Dé hAoine, an naoú lá is fiche de mhí Lúnasa,

dhá mhíle agus cúig is fiche (27th August 2025)

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To buy an e-scooter can be tempting,

But the consequences you could  be regreting.

You can buy one new or second hand,

But it can only be used on private land.

 

E-scooters are classed the same as cars ,

To be used on public roads they gain no stars.

They must be mot'd ,insured and comply with tax rates,

And illegal if they do not have proper number plates.

 

No signa...

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They are young

and they have alot going on.

Everyone is called bro (gender irrelevant; I love this!)

As in,

"I mean really bro I told her she needed to talk to him..."

They start alot of their sentences with "I feel that..."

As in,

"I feel that she doesn't really want to talk to him but is pretending...yeah, just to make her mad bro...."

They talk at fast clips and they tal...

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Small
Desolate human
Burning for something more
Once so young and foolish
Now bitter
I cannot let go the fleeting feelings of love even though they are ages old
I fail to remember them without a wave of fog over me
I am lost
And head over heels in what used to be
I often wonder what it would be like
I think I want it
Possibly I miss it
Silly me
I poisoned myself with such ideas
I alm...

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They are the crack in polished stone,
The note that trembles, not quite a tone,
They stumble where the road is clear,
Yet find new paths when none appear!

Their edges fray, their colours blur,
A patchwork soul of all they were,
Not flawless, yet in every scar,
A map of where their triumphs are!

Perfection’s mask is sharp and thin,
It hides the life that breathes within,
But they — un...

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Time flies backwards when we dream;

In each invasion of the past

We meet with those who are long gone

And seek to settle gripes and scores.

But dreams never pierce the future,

That misty land of things to come.

 

To dream the future, we search out

That crammed crevasse of oddities

Where forecasts, estimations, lurk,

And fight our battles to construct

The heaps of p...

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Everybody what you wanna know
I've gotta feeling but it just won't grow
Everybody I'm a ball of confusion 
My life is just an illusion
Everybody what you wanna know 
I've gotta feeling  but it just won't grow

I ain't here for the good of my health 
I'm solely focused on creating wealth
Hey buddy you ain't no friend of mine
I don't need no validation I'm doing fine
Some days I feel like...

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Dear Kafka, help me. I desperately and indefinitely need your ears because I lose my mind when I think too much. You wrote about how humanity's ruthless progress toward functionality shall be its downfall in Metamorphosis, didn’t you?

 

Dear Kafka, I feel so weak. I feel like a leech, mooching off of my family and having nothing to show for it. I feel like useless furniture that just exists....

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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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The warmth I used to remember,  
now you've become a stranger.  

Your memory stays in all I do,  
and my promise is to always return to you.  

When our journey takes us apart,  
you've become too quiet for words to tug.  

To the soul I once connected,  
let my story remain a secret,  
one that is deeply kept.  

And my promise to return to your rhyme,  
let me keep it without a de...

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PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN

 

Il faut que je m’en aille.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes you’ve just got to hit the road and.

 

 

 

Start learning the basics of a strange, unseen vernacular arrowed down from some lost, mad Godhead within. Pass the fallen road sign saying THINK! in the nettles and the mystery of the single shoe beside the road, in a fast Su...

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Matteo, our dog, circles and circles until he feels the spot he's chosen is just right for lying down. The Princess and the Pea have nothing on him.

When he finally settles, he licks his paws and gives us a look, as if to say, "You try to sort things out with four spindly legs."

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💭 Last Post Before I Take My Profile Offline (Again)

God, we humans are dysfunctional.

FeeL like I’m back at the casino.
Chips down, lights flashing, odds stacked, hope optional.

Yes—this is the last for now.
At L(e)ast.

10²⁴ planets
(That’s 1 septillion, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.)

And yet, I’m stuck on this one.
This STOOPEED ONE.
Stupid one indeed.
Planet Earth: ...

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Hello, my name is ‘Money’ and I live in 12a.

This is my new home, I moved in yesterday.

My new owners are called Michael and Fon.

They named me Money, cos they have none!

 

I’m a little kitten, I am about 2 months old.

I’m friendly and playful, I’m as good as gold!

Today I went downstairs to the shop below.

Were my neighbours smiled and said ‘hello’!

 

I love to play ...

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I've spent a pleasant few days re-reading Bill Bryson's “The Body: A Guide for Occupants”.

Absolutely riveting. Pages fly by. His skill is to make anything he writes unputdownable, despite you having no previous interest in his subject.

But on one aspect of his writings I find myself skipping over it – female genitalia.

I have caught sight in this section of stuff about pudenda, the cervi...

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Wild is the minute, storms seize the sky
a new world of smell and sight and sound,
wetness and wildness all around;
portals of discovery abound
in this new newfoundland:
the sheer vividness of colour, of shade, of shadow,
hear the all round risibility of bird song, 
flesh, blood, soul, air and all the half-created
epiphanies of cloud and sky and sun everywhere
enter the mind,  fly fleetin...

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Water laps at my feet

as I gaze upon the sunset.

The sky's warm tones seep into the ocean

golden light dancing across the waves.

 

   The world slows down in this moment of beauty

   the fading light leaves me in a contemplative silence.

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gate mist

in the hour

before names

 

footstep /

echo /

gone

 

puddle edge

holds the sky

too still

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

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The sleepy fog of travelling 

Is wrenched away so quick

Standing in the aisle behind

A young woman, pale and sick

 

She’s shouting at her phone

and at any unwitting glance

Her hard face glares in fury.

No one gets a second chance

 

Around her people try to ignore

the live circus on display.

And busy themselves with anything

to make it go away.

 

She st...

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Duels are the mastery art of solving the question. 

Who is the better competition? 

And after all, both competitors are fighting 

For the same thing. 

The trophy, the fame, the pride knowing that they are  

Inevitably better. 

But good must always come with bad.  

A loser must come with a winner.  

A villain with a hero. 

And with every duel comes viewers,  

Seeking t...

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I am my own country,

one of conflict and of peace...

 

my regions know no borders,

yet my borders seek to increase.

 

I am the source of my own sickness,

and the fountain of my health...

 

the treasury of my own accomplishment,

the beneficiary of my wealth.

 

My democracy is my conscience,

though my decisions wear the crown...

 

my constitution uni...

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DRIFTING

By the Urban Poet

As you flash through my thoughts

And I shake off the mist, and the dew

of the tears I look through

It’s the images I see;

that keep drawing me

And I’m drifting

    

I am drifting, drifting along 

Floating on to where I belong

Which is with you, wherever you are

I’m just drifting, drifting

    

You just stood up there with

a gu...

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The Tale of Sebastian, Falling Into the River

 

“When I fell off the roof of my house, or into a canal,

it was because gravity made itself master over me."

The words of artist Bas Jan Ader

 

falling

falling

falling

falling as gravity overwhelming his body,

as a conscious decision off the beaten track,

as test of the limits of the human body and of strength o...

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You’re writing in your notebook again

I lean over your shoulder, take a peek at what you’re scribbling

You’re painting a picture of salty tears running down her face

As you watch the waves settle back into place

 

A shiver runs down my leg,

Surprised at how you’ve captured the scene

The teacher begins her lecture, but we’re both miles from here

I imagine you writing in your...

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On my screen, the answer feels right

and I admire the elegance of it, a worthy use

of the publication that inspired it.

 

At the desk my father stands, extending

invisible tendrils that reach out to each shelf,

searching for books that will serve a need.

 

He knows each volume, the wisdom it holds,

unerringly guiding the borrower to his goal,

by section, shelf and Dew...

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School holidays will shortly be over

Our remaining weeks transformed into days.

We experienced fun, so well remembered.

Memory of a youthful summer haze

 

We rode carefree, those paths and byways

Without thought of discomfort or malaise

Ambled through a certain chilled conviction

Warmed only by that youthful summer haze

 

We swam, shivering, in shimmering pools.

...

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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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(More on https://graynicholls.substack.com - free to subscribe) 

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Chasing Freedom 

I’m running away but constantly being caught 

 

I cover my ears but the screaming voices have already entered my mind 

 

Begging to be freed my plea falls silent like the last leaf on a tree bracing for the harsh winter that visits every year 

 

The more I make an attempt to escape I am brought in even closer to the toxic temptation to drink the poison I am so...

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Ladies and Jentlemen,

Autumn is coming,

It looks so charming.

Summer will throw off its colorful dress..

Autumn seems to be the best.

 

 

Autumn is coming,

It looks so charming,

And August is outside.

Summer has almost died.

 

You loved me as well as I loved you,

That feeling was something new,

 

I went to the door and felt the war.

The day see...

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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?
Quiet desperation.
Just out of reach of salvation.

...

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When I was a kid, my parents bought me a horse which they nicknamed Skedaddle, for every time I came near, reciting a poem, he’d run off, leaving me holding an empty saddle.
(That’s a reference to the sport of kings, the meaning of which I’ll soon divulge).

I would deliver my puerile verse to school pals, who only applauded because I was generous with my dad’s cigars.

He was something impor...

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Pacific Sunset

 

By Lorraine Settanni  8/14/2025

 

He set up his easel, pallet and paints on the west coast beach gazing out at the expanse of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

 

He takes in a long breath, having waited so long for this opportunity. The awe builds in him as he waits for the event to start. Should he wait or jump right in? Will it continue to get ...

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Waiting,

What am I waiting

For?

Silence follows me.

Waiting,

What am I waiting 

For?

Heaviness crushes me.

Waiting,

What am I waiting 

For?

Sadness fills me.

Waiting,

What am I waiting 

For?

Unease inside me.

Waiting,

What am I waiting

For?

I'm waiting for food.

I'm too young to die

Hungry.

I'm being punished

For something.

No...

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Transference 

 

everyone’s a lesson 

everyone’s a slap in the face 

 

everyone jockeying position 

everyone demanding grace 

 

I see what you’re doing 

I read the creases 

 

I experience you through me 

the subjective is universal 

 

everyone creeping around 

everyone seen 

 

the compassion 

is selective 

 

that’s the hitch 

of this dr...

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Skylarks keep watch above the Roman road;

paragliders gather over Mam Tor.

My leg drags, boulders batter boots;

too many hours indoors. The choice I made.

Stumbling down treacherous rocks, stiff knee,

beneath Peveril’s dark ramparts. Tougher

companions debate the Romano-Britons,

and whether they fled the Anglo-Saxons.

If so, where they did go? Along this ridge,

trekking ...

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Why do these eyes go wondering?

What do they see and keep pondering?

Words come out so easily

Without a thought of what pleases me.

You see this journey is not for view

It's meant for hearts - not eyes like you.

So take the hint and disappear,

Judging me is not your sphere.

Your eyes may see, but still you're blind,

What keeps you near? What do you find?

I swear, Alla...

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Oh it is so safe 

In this den of detachment 

It is so calm

In this cave of carelessness 

Brick walls built mighty and fine

To protect your world 

From colliding with mine 

It’s so safe

That it is stark and dark

And only my dreams escape

To knock at your heart

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G.E.N.O.C.I.D.E.
Spells GENOCIDE

This ain’t Shock and Awe,
This is GENOCIDE

“The deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people,
Because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race”
GENOCIDE

Happening right now in front of our eyes
GENOCIDE

Yet those people still can’t decide
GENOCIDE

Ethnic cleansing with nowhere to hide
GENOCIDE

Destroying infrastructu...

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My mommy would absolutely know the right thing to say to me ..too us right now..as we continue to grieve for our brothers and forever mourn the loss of mother...we survived it ...barely and we hang on and we move on...but we never really get over it...we never really feel complete peace ..or just ..complete ..because a huge part of our heart is gone and it will never return...no matter how many ye...

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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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I’m coming home to you,
wear something see-through
so I may glimpse your heart,
not your body...
but that trembling lantern
behind your ribs,
which still dares to burn
even when the world blows cold.

Love, you see, is not a stage for triumph,
but a rehearsal without end.
We repeat the lines,
miss the cues,
drop the props,
yet return again tomorrow...
because rehearsal is not for pe...

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Letter from the Southern Ocean

Dear Mr President you need a map,

your grasp of lands is clearly somewhat wonky.

But then your grasp of history is perhaps

indicative of being just a donkey.

 

We understand you tariffed us you prick!

You filthy orange fascist with a quiff.

We’re writing you from down near the Antarctic

cos we’ve got produce we can hit you with.

 

We’...

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I stare at my essay draft

For five minutes 

Before I decide

Minesweeper’s

More productive 

Than this shit

 

It’s the same decision 

That I made

In every hour 

Of this 12 hour day

And led me here

Another day gone

With my English essay 

Still not done

And I’ve only got 

One day left

How will minesweeper 

Fix this 

 

And how will writing a p...

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To the man I am yet to meet,
I can already feel my cheek heat!
I just know you are the most handsome,
And you should know that you are  my most awaited SOMEONE!
To holding your hands while walking,
And looking into you eyes while talking, 
It all feels like a desire,
Which has been giving light to my life like FIRE!
I prayed for you when i turned 21,
I hope together we forever have FUN!

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