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Tags from last 12 months

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Lovely Problems

I love my problems 
I made them myself 
one day I’ll solve them 
I grow them instead 

my bank is on fire 
my love is dead 
piles of books teeter
only jelly in the fridge 

I’ve got these problems 
they occupy my thoughts 
I should be thankful 
for their hours of drama 

I see them in dreams 
with faces of dead lovers 
I ask them how they’ve been 
they tell me I know all about it

...

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Be-Monked

Be Monked

there is no one to see 
there is nowhere to go 
dinner costs $300 
you could just eat the rope 

the conversation 
can’t change your mind 
the young people 
dress like their phones 

the world spins 
outside 
killing and eating all 
fears and hopes  

take your vows alone 
with the pillow 
those dreams keep you inside
interrupted by work

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My immediate regrets

My Immediate Regrets 

 

they fall out of my hands 

yet never land 

one thousand decisions 

under a single command 

 

sometimes I wonder 

if they weren’t planned 

just to throw a wrench 

into this dailyness 

 

my immediate regrets 

what I felt 

for what I did 

whom I didn’t kiss 

 

my immediate regrets 

have been left 

to fend for themselves 

...

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I feel seen

I feel seen

you know what I mean

you see it in yourself

and then you feel it in others

 

don’t pretend

you haven’t been there

and done that

that’s othering

 

when you put

someone

outside of what

you could have felt

 

you mine the situation

you bring up revelations

and you let in flow back

into your self-awareness

 

and that’s how we grow ...

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How to be Kind

it’s understood you won’t get 
everything you ever wanted 
it’s true you’re still the flower 
of someone’s eye 

there’s maybe room for life 
to grant you more wishes 
you don’t have to feel 
so haunted while alive

when you see yourself 
in someone else 
when you find something
to agree upon 

when you ask  
for a little help 
in the face of 
a new situation 

feel a crack in ...

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The Women

The Women 

 

what do they want from me 

what do I need from them 

 

are we really the same specie 

we seem stupid in comparison 

 

I want to live in a world of women 

it would be kinder and fairer 

 

at the least more beautiful 

I could drown myself there

 

that would be worth 

fighting  for 

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Slayer

My apology is my 
greatest weapon 
like hellfire down 
from heaven 

just when you think 
I’ll escalate 
I’m on my knees 
or prostrate 

genuflecting 
to the goddess 
Desdemona 

how “sorry” works miracles 
how “my fault” cures cancers 
how tears find their victims 
in the heart of these skirmishes 

and it ends with the warmth of love 
it all makes everything 
back itself up 
...

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Typing Pool

days of nothing 
then work comes 
all at once you get busy 
the speed is dizzy 

you’ve got another minute 
to get it down 
without thinking 
that’d be messy 

everyone’s cool 
in the typing pool 
they ain’t replaced 
with a machine yet 

maybe it’ll happen 
then things would end 
but as long as inspiration’s there 
you’ll have a chair 

and you’ll slave 
for that muse 
beaut...

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Good Mourning

We find ourselves 
in others it cuts in half the pain 
to discover what was lost 
can be found again

that easy laugh 
the shared decades 
we understand to have gotten 
this far demands a certain grace 

how easily the sun rises 
how the muscle memory responds 
how the aches taped to memories 
finds a place to sit down

it not given lightly 
it’s a miracle to be around 
to fight t...

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General Obvious

General Obvious

Poetry won’t feed the hungry 
Songs won’t stop the war 
That painting’s doing nothing 
to combat global warmth 

but in between the barricades 
I might steal a kiss 
just to remember what 
we’re fighting for, General Obvious 

I used to think everybody 
had rich interior lives 
that art was an aristocracy 
in which everyone could fantasize 

now that I’ve been in ...

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Throbs

everything’s connected 
everything pulses 

glowing on 
frequencies lost to us 

sometimes someone 
pulls in our vibration 

and then life feels 
like a song 

dark’s punctured 
dirty streets shine 

dull and monotonous 
are transformed 

it just takes you 
and a little smile 

where it goes 
we don’t have to know

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Midnight Buys Me

Could somebody stop me 

before it’s too late 

would you walk with me 

to my fate 

 

I’ve been drop-shipped 

too much of late 

I’d just like to face 

what I’m dealing with 

 

I’ve tapped out 

everyone I know 

I don’t blame you 

treating me as a ghost 

 

got one last chance 

to get it under control 

before I’ve spent 

the whole rent on my soul 

...

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Stoned in the park

Stoned in the Park  

 

there’s nothing more to do 

than put sun 

on our face 

on this beautiful day 

 

as the world slowly turns 

I didn’t turn 

on the news 

or even get dressed

 

I call out sick from work 

close your computer

we meet at the park

saluting the commuters 

 

you brought something 

to cheer me up

and I’ve got 

something for y...

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Prices

Prices

If you’re lucky 
you hit the three-sixty 
full tour back 
from where you came 

many only get 
one-eighty regretful  bitter dies 
their name 

some only do
two-twenty 
turning it around 
a little too late 

with you 
I’m a constant ninety forever  
wagging my tail 

every day with you 
is no gamble 
playing that 
numbers game

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The New Thing

You gave it to me 

now I got it 

and I spread it 

and I could be impatient zero 

 

 

I could be a villain 

or hero 

depends entirely 

on how you see it 

 

the new thing 

changes us 

and we can’t 

go back 

 

we can’t pretend 

tomorrow won’t be different 

we just have to adjust and 

take notes from the young

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In the dark

In the dark 

 

our eyes adjust 

the light’s gone out 

the spark’s just a part 

of our imagination 

 

with this black 

we stand out 

what was taken as fact 

has become a doubt 

 

and we hold ourselves 

as if we were someone else 

as if we could tell 

what the point of this was 

 

we practice an end 

again and again 

doesn’t lessen the shock 

...

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Potential

Always keep some potential
ahead of you
you never know
when you might run out

I’ve known too many people
who’ve peaked at thirteen
that’s a long skidmark

I start over every morning
sometimes I don’t start
jumpstarted by a key
attached to an alarm clock

I nibble on that potential
in moments on the job
that stare often takes me
unaware lost for hours

I’d suck on your potential
...

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Me and My God

me and my god 
go out for a walk 
sometimes she’s silent 
sometimes she talks too much 

about the state of the world 
her favorite perfume 
and anything else that 
crosses the block 

if I can get a word in 
I sometimes ask for 
small favors 
whether I deserve them or not 

my god likes to test my faith 
she hides my keys 
sends me idiots 
on Mondays 

to teach me patience 
t...

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Woodies

I’ve clicked and travelled on vacation 

shopped and gambled on location

 

become unraveled with the notion 

this world was made for you and me 

 

from politicians to corporate interests 

from religions to tribal kingdoms  

 

to wholesale slaughter of the innocent

this world was made for you and me 

 

As I was talking in line at Staples 

people in front of me ...

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The Blood of Poets

life happens slowly 

then quickly 

in the eye 

of a hurricane 

 

everything is silent 

and still 

on the outside 

destruction rages 

 

things change 

we recover 

we rediscover 

ourselves  

 

we’re overtaken 

slowly but surely 

by the ghost of 

everything else

 

You saved my life 

without you 

I would’ve died 

 

a long lonely d...

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Truth

truth that ole butter knife 

just might save your life 

why bother with lies 

you can’t remember 

 

oh yeah money that’s why

everyone needs survival 

but I don’t think you’re gonna starve 

not with that body  

 

truth yeah you cultivate that honesty

and you can’t keep a job with it 

or a relationship 

but you can live with yourself 

 

and make the polit...

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Not even ourselves

We make the bed 
like we believe in tomorrow 
like we’ll get there together 
with some anticipation and follow 

that long hard day 
with a celebration in flesh 
not wasting a drop 
of this moisture and dust 
known as ourselves 

we make the bed 
with the neighbors watching 
the cats inspired 
and your thirty pounds of laundry 

knowing nothing comes 
for free 
not even 
ourselv...

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Send More Tomorrow Now

I don’t want to dwell on 
disappointments, 
regrets, and fears 

I’ve had enough 
cruelty and greed 
to last me years 

if you could make 
a dream come true 
I’ve just one simple request 

perhaps we could 
make that wish 
or send several prayers 

send tomorrow here 

I want to believe 
the scientists, 
mystics, and my mom 

that tomorrow 
will be brighter 
and my problems...

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The new un-natural

It’s not just the depressed teen
grandmother in the home
dog on a leash 
representative on the phone

everyone feels alone 

from the closed bars 
to the richest man in the world 
from the visitors on mars 
to your new crush as a girl 

no one has a clue 
and fewer still know to ask

some are too proud 
and the rest too ashamed 
to let it crack aloud 
to do something sane

ever...

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Dreams are Documentaries

Dreams are documentaries

 

I dreamt you were old and lonely 

you paid me to come over 

to give you courses on something

 

I dreamt that I felt sorry for you 

doing it strictly for the money 

feeling a certain contempt 

 

coming over from the next town 

taking a golf cart on the expressway 

feeling dread about your intentions

 

I woke up realizing that the ...

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