We hold them until the joy 
Runs out of their faces
And they give up 
Any notion of escape

Once broken
They walk around timidly 
Mouthing what we drill into them
Without too much stuttering

A few are more difficult
To break we defer to 
The more experienced amongst us
To show us the advanced techniques 

Of course we are constantly 
Monitored so any sign of sympathy
From us...

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Nudes

you insisted 

we’d visit your nudes

time ran out 

we got back to work 

they were something

you carried with you

snapshot thumbnails

looked very good 

I tried to impress you

with sculpture

you squealed something

like approval 

If we ever get back 

to that room 

where the atmosphere 

felt like freedom

lines curve throu...

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Comfortable

we live at the bottom 

of a shaky structure

it’s stable here 

winds are softer

sun shines 

over the clouds 

stress dissolves 

under water

if everyone's a winner 

then we're losers 

take off your pretensions 

get comfortable

it only hurts 

a little at first 

then you find that 

brilliant freedom 

we live outside...

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one day everyone will say
this was your best work
the images, fire
all devices worked

desperation
crept under our skin
from your mouth we heard
what we could not have dreamt

you were distraught;
violent with friends
now It all seems charming
we’ve seen other things

We think of you framed by time
the current self is a story
we don't really understand;
you're still writing

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Academia

Looking for higher ground 

None to be found

Just that rotting corpse

In the library

How you wanted fame

You'd settle for a name

Extended by letters

And small salary

Researching drinking habits 

Of that syphilis-infested idiot

You mark quality time 

With his descendants

Citing your lover's work

She won't touch you with a fork

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aw0Y9uSZ_Q

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they’ll feel overdressed 

for sure

inserting privileges 

where there aren’t any more 

a mess 

some will continue 

like they’ve always done 

in less interesting times

there’ll be those prone to act 

cosplay apocalypse 

retinues of disappointed men

shooting themselves up

as in your favorite horror movie

one will survive 

with a mixture 

of ...

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tonight

been mostly faking it

the few times I’ve been real

I think you know

I’m shocked 

by my own ignorance

as much as by 

the happiness of others

I hear the circulation in my ears 

look at the stars and wonder 

if I’ll have time to read 

all the books I’ve bought 

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this winter

in his life 
you search for meaning

in his life 
something is written

you couldn’t read
when he was breathing

in his absence 
you take the silence

wrapping it around you
like a childhood scarf

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The war on people

a big part of us
needs to know
when the shit comes down

a tiny part of us
had it so good
it'd kill out of boredom

an invisible part
feels like
It's not attached to the body

and would willingly
replace salvation
with stark appraisals

just to
feel
something new

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Dual Diagnoses

funding criteria stipulates 

two co-occurring conditions

efforts made to match 

couples based on algorithms

proven to yield results ranging from 

“satisfied” to “vaguely disappointed”

as an agency our mandate 

stipulates that we provide 

a “minimum baseline of well-being” 

interpreted as meaning providing:

a childhood wi...

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I become more difficult 

Is it the end of the world
Or am I having a bad day

There comes a point 
When things merge

And I just let things 
Trail off

With my beliefs
That much more tightly held

Occasionally 
Someone will come along

And validate 
Most of what I’ve said

But in general 
I become more difficult

It’s something 
I’ve grown to accept

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XXX

The exes come one by one
Bearing memories wrapped in the present

After a few drinks they insist on
Chronologies you can’t remember

Their eyes start to twitch as you 
Attempt to stoke dying embers

To the night they proclaim
Their judgements you were

An asshole and 
They’ll never forgive it

And then you make out 
With razor blades between your teeth

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The distant sofa

Since you’ve left
Everything’s wet

I hold my breath
As the door swings open

I swim to the fridge
Pulling the spaghetti off my chest

I pretend to have an appetite 
Downing my portion

Making it 
To the distant sofa

Hyperventilating 
Cousteau drama

I tell myself I’ll be rescued soon
Then drown in the bedroom

Rescued by an alarm
And a government job

...

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Prayers

Goddess of Monday hiding my keys
rearranging all my memories

got me counting reasons I work 
searching for quarters in a drawer

tease me with sex 
tease me with vacations 

I still can’t stand 
your fluorescence

I’ll be forever under your spell
I’ll never retire with this pension plan

you’ve got me running you’ve got me 
panting for the bx12

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https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ZT9TQV3ReO7WxL3ZkQVri

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better

everything you 

use 

eat throw away 

neglect

treat 

decide 

encounter

try 

bother 

are you better for it

does it make you 

last longer 

help more people

make someone feel 

safer

happier

beautiful 

shouldn’t that

be the measure

shouldn’t that

be what we’re all after

I look at how much 

I t...

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The Remission

At the financial district mixer 

Where the white women 

In line discuss how they 

Never have sex on the 

Second date despite

The cost of the meal 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t

Spend my evening talking

To the Dominican hustler

About end of the world 

Scenarios in Costa Rica

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When do you think you are? 

on the bed eyes on ceiling 

accountant in head flips a coin for morning 

heartbeat synchs to a bus schedule 

desires like cream in the styrofoam 

recite the mantra check the window 

porn on the phone overdraft notices 

she suggests another vacation 

a sickday dream of emigration

lunch feels a way 

to dreams clouding...

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impulse control

do you read me

impulse control

we’re going down

surrounded by sirens 

the entire mission's lost

schooled against temptation 

fighting an invisible enemy

bigger than our desires

we bow down at her feet

she’s the night 

we submit our tiny lives

for that feeling 

of certainty 

we haven’t been able to fin...

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the middle school history teacher 

feels like she’s losing her mind 

covering the state test in roomsfull

of kids who can’t see why 

we have to speak english

the president’s insane 

what’s the point of all these

meaningless names and dates

the middle school history teacher’s 

got two of her own two hours away

in the middle class suburb inherited

from the ...

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slow-motion collision

glimpse of you in the distance

signs warning of traffic conditions

swerving to avoid pedestrians

glasses hooked on the tail fin  

bodies with velocity taken

pulling at it seams like we’re children

without a seat inspection

we’re meat for vultures circling

arms reach out to trace

for something to embrace

mouths start to shake

...

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short-range missive

As the environmental
economic political
continue to deteriorate 
I mysteriously find
what I need
to maintain my emotional
stability available to me
direct with free
two-day shipping

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I don’t know what sex is

I watch the dogs jump

Their pupils tiny points

Students carve

Fertility signs on desks

Pensioners regret

Things that went unsaid

Athletes stretch

Before a competition

But I don’t know what sex is

My mind goes blank

Before running adolescent fixations

Like a GIF loop 

With strange proportions

You call my name

Like ...

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Recent Hits

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We're not here to talk
About love
Only extinction
How poetry
Makes sense of
Banalities
And seals
Our frustrations
In stasis
Validating our
Domestic arrangements
Humming along
To this beautiful
Ecocide we fit in
We’re not here
For our comfort

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they're a bunch of lazy assholes

quality control is low

they sleep on the day shift

waiting for inspiration to hit

a man pulls on a wire

and a pen descends on a line

the minimum is a page a day

now they're striking for lower wages

they say the poverty 

helps the soul

keeps their patrons 

on a roll

one guy worked a triple shift

th...

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seducing you with arrogance

walking backwards into plans

swallowing you with a laugh

here comes the leaving man

has that something else 

you just don’t understand

representing everything you hate 

that’s what draws you in 

curiosity mixed with disgust 

cracks the recipe when it’s heated up 

fatalism with a dark hand

blood and muscle un...

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Placeholder

remembering when things were great 

thanking heavens pinching yourself 

subsequent times haven't added up 

at least you've got a reference for what you lost

placeholder on the table 

dog ear in the novel

post-it on the refrigerator 

late night moan of lost love

much as you feel you can go back

each time you escape into a different ...

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as we’re burning things down to a crisp

I gotta tell you you look fantastic

vacuuming up the last chip 

wondering what you’re doing this weekend 

we could go watch the fireworks

spread all over the entire world 

arrive late to this horror show 

that started many millennia ago 

go ride the last elephant 

watch the tides rise until 

dive th...

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I look for my father in the eyes of men 

sometimes I see him everywhere

sometimes he’s hidden

behind decisions 

I don’t fully understand 

even as an adult

I feel myself move like my father

touching my belly and smiling

at people for no reason

just passing on the memetic energy 

my mother’s absence remains however 

a tear in the fa...

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We climbed together
Higher and higher 
Until the air was too thin

For heavy things
Like clothes
Attitudes and moods 

And when we reached 
The top we were
Surprised to find

Nothing
Not a drop of 
Moisture 

Both of us swallowed
By a gigantic
Whole

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Dark Matters

You just want to 
make love to Trump and May 

to take them 
into your arms

And persuade them 
there’s something better

It’s been a long struggle 
fruitless mostly

the darker part of you considers 
if things wouldn’t truly be better 

if you stared into 
the apocalypse

And met it with the presence
of a tiny death 

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closeted struggle

in the war against stuff 

we’ve lost a lot of ground 

(the poetry anthology 

doesn’t count)

three boxes came yesterday 

with nowhere to go 

that was six square feet 

excluding the cardboard

your retail therapy 

has been put on hold 

after six consecutive trips 

to the large parcel window

the post office all...

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heart don’t learn 

it can’t grow back
one dumb animal 

threatening attack

it’s slash and burn 

obvious traps
baiting mouths

tying hands

living without learning 

earning while burning 

telling ourselves

they’re losers and winners 

crying for mothers 

we’re false beginners

play things over

slow things down 

can’t get over the shock

the shock o...

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been given the wrong script
flipped to the wrong page

I’d never say those things 
situations don’t play that way

course I’m a professional
do the work I get paid

some people consider it art
more than some I’d say

but I don’t play monsters
must be a mistake 

have a heroic profile
I’m known in the biz

I don’t play monsters 
are you sure this is right

I’d like to thin...

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This next thing

I keep squeezing the app
Waiting for the world to change

Like worry beads or rosaries
I put the pressure right there

I run my thumb
Over the writers’ names

Maybe a comma will budge
And that will be the start of things

I tell myself 
I have some agency left 

I make the white man flash
when I cross the street

I console myself 
I can’t be so lonely

Imagi...

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it’s not ponies and unicorns in that moment 

she enters his dual screens

it’s the smell of months of meals in front of the tv

thirty years ago on a school trip to Italy 

nicknames thrown from dead uncles

the sound of the go-betweens

all cut under the blade of her life 

she could ponder the silence

at least until she sees him again

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I hate them 

as much as I 

resemble them

when I face them 

I make inferences 

about shining packages

micro-aggressions

suggesting mid-life 

disappointments

expectations

selective 

compassions

we take it out 

on ourselves

in inner conversations

until hostilities 

bend into furtive 

acts of public charity 

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https://dancingaboutarchitecture.info/2018/09/23/transportation-bob-gaulke-reviewed-by-dave-franklin/

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go hire a team of liars 

what we have to tell ourselves

and tell others and then repeat

for years 

just to get up to make a living 

that’s a funny phrase 

when you think about 

how much of everything 

we do isn’t much helping 

anything grow naturally 

lying is hard work 

and leads to other 

health issues 

conditions masked

and unmasked

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in the rush of senses
heat of moments
in young ambitions
on wheels of commerce

fleets of feeling
ping our sonar
pushing emotions
beyond borders  

into the happiness of others
what we discover
in looks of couples
in historical novels

in the happiness of others
pressing our desires
into shapes
we struggle to handle 

other people 
invade our dreaming
with hands and mout...

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love lies in pieces

half of it at home

big part with you

rest, out the door 

landing on billboard posters

taken with exhaust

of a fleet distribution network

interstate trailer trucks

particles on people I work with

particles with strangers in pain

molecules on pornography

quarks within the city state

what's the use of gathering it 

pu...

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he never had nervous ticks; 

he wasn’t Zizek

lately he’d been getting

into the habit of choking himself

it wasn’t a fetish; that he’d checked

rather it came after

a series of bodily warnings

that he was coming out of himself

he started pruning hairs 

in strange places 

he started to sweat 

on the top of his head

he had to shave now 

almost...

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live your life 

in a deep state of uncertainty 

nightly

slaughtered by a thousand

doubts lined up 

in artillery squadrons 

on the furrows 

of the brow 

hormones 

echo through the morning 

ricocheting 

through plumbing

search for survivors

won’t be called off for another eight hours

still time left

to get in and ou...

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what we crave

everything we make

what's baking us hungry 

minds can't stop eating

replayed again and again 

meals in miniature form

no need to explain  

know the taste when you taste it

somebody loved you too much

they couldn't get enough

an empty stomach

full of disappointments

three directions at once

always out to lunch

trinity screa...

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understand 

the nature of things

when everything is

flailing around your head

survival 

might depend

on a flashlight

loaf of bread 

arrogance of man 

splayed for all to see 

saints sinners flung toys 

on a sandless beach

tragedy feels

satisfying somehow

when we lose everything

but raw bleeding love

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cheap watches

we met on this poetry blog

her work needed work

mine didn’t stop her 

from telling me what to throw out

cutting adverbs

until we were throwing 

knapsacks 

against lamps 

pants against 

the glass

moments laid out 

in cheap watches

red lines against black

sensing satisfaction 

furtive at best 

when ...

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you play the game desperately

desperately is how you play it

with the luck of a beginner

and the fatalism of an expert

at any moment you could surprise us

with a brilliant move

at any moment you could quit

with an expression that stops us cold

we tell stories about you

we're telling them about ourselves

ripping a hole through our myths

you'...

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I wanna crawl into you

the world is too cruel

Into a ball into your fur

make that tick-tock stop for good

you’ve got a calm 

I could never achieve

I’ve got anxieties 

you’d never believe

they wait for me 

outside your door 

I could give you all

my energy 

you could take it

turn it into heat

burning through this life

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Collectors

you have to flatten people

it makes them more collectible

then you put them in categories

arranged by how 

helpful they are

to you in your life

sort them by situations 

attitudes 

or intuitions

of course they might 

occasionally

surprise you 

and do 

something

inconsistent

but that’s one of the 

dangers

...

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draw

take your crayons
use my pen
mark up books
leave ink stains

scratching lines
paint them over again

try on sizes
see what happens

mix in some pain
and some happiness
two sides
of the same process

we’ll call it a draw

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Janella at the NYPL

I always felt like 
I was the daughter of 
someone important

that this woman
whom I called “mom”
was little more than a servant

I couldn’t belong
to such a family
that appeared so ignorant

I heard about 
myself in songs

caught glimpses 
of myself in films

and was certain
I could learn 

who I really was 
from books

and in this
I wasn’t wrong

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wake up in pain
expecting the worst
mind driving again
you’re reassured

fine tune frequencies 
they still work
everything’s alright
life continues

aching you feel
doesn’t subside 
it only finds
new places to hide

obscure pleasures
continue their work
extreme measures
appear practical
 
dailyness takes 
what it claims it deserves
leaving you scratching at night
a hung...

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Venn Diagram

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personal spam

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one view

I can’t help but think 
some people have a death wish
mixed with a fatal sense 
of grandiosity

It’s not enough for them having
fucked up their own life 
they want to take us 
all down with them

they are trying
to chew on 
the whole world 
swallowing the joy of others

and they dream of a cataclysm 
they desire a cataclysm 
as a fitting frame for their 
childhood dis...

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Scientists are on the verge
of replicating human touch

over the internet, individuals
at home will be able to reach out

and experience the emotions 

of others as their own

pornographic entrepreneurs,

police departments

military consultants,

and the ministry of the

Rev. Earnest Angley

have created a consortium

to further explore the appl...

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everything you love
is born out of tension 

and resistance to 
things as they are

you might be feted 
amongst friends

as some kind of 
worthwhile person

but that doesn’t go 
far enough against 

a world trying 
to destroy itself

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couldn’t stop eating

I felt something wrong

I needed to see you 

you were out

struggling with myself

I wrestled the floor

waking up 

I suddenly went out

feeling something stirring

seeing colors in the air

harmony and agony 

waxing in a dance

something dissolves

disturbances pass

I see myself reflected in others

I’m wondering why I never l...

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as everything is measured
every pleasure
as digital judgement narrows
as the water gets deeper

as the medical gets technical
the theological becomes obscure
as the financial's irrefutable
we emerge from a haze

you can be too careful nowadays

as the concept of practical
floats out the door
as we're discussing sensuality
with dissected souls

as if talk about common dreams
...

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The Lack

hold the lack in your hands

in the shape of a guitar

take it everywhere

nobody notices

talk about it sing about it

something warms

carrying you through

your own busy thoughts 

comparing your lack 

with others

spending time in their holes

they're warm and friendly

but you prefer your own

filling it with flowers

books and cats

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Any bit of compassion 

Any bit of art 

Comes about 

Despite these times

Against these laws 

Besides people 

Who’ve turned

Hard

How rare it is 

To find someone

Who’s preserved their 

Softness

Not given in to fear

Hasn’t twisted 

The knife

Counter-clockwise

Sure we’re all in pain

But there’s a strength

Of humanity greater

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I bury my parents daily
Sometimes they just cry

And I have to remind them
I’ve got things to do here

I’ll see them soon
It’s all just a matter of time

I tell them I see them everywhere
In the faces of the young and old

In the lady crossing the street with a walker
In the baby out of a sepia photo

I scatter their ashes nightly 
With a look at distant stars

Thinking of t...

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I'm him 

you're her

he's me

she's you

they're us

we're them 

that's it

all at once

alive

at the same time

walking the earth 

as humans 

with sets of genitals 

what a coincidence

we were made 

for each other 

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French Films

Memories you can't claim as your own

Moods delicate and painful at once

Beauty you can touch but not hold

It's there if you know what you want

If those directors 

Worked with me at my job 

Following me 

With my unnamed thoughts

I'd gain an immortality 

Of a type 

Like a melody 

Stuck in my mind

Memories you can claim as your o...

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EOD

I taught nothing 

nobody listened

I eavesdropped 

on conversations

remembered 

tried to imagine

morning came 

sometimes I relented

but I was there 

head full of danger  

heart full 

of mother

even when 

I could’ve killed 

the people 

I was working for

I still wore 

the button- 

down shirt 

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she was what you needed

now gone

someone to tell your story

in a highly novelized form

it won’t be a play

poem or song

made for TV movie

mural on the wall

you’ll haunt her memories

that’ll be enough

Isn’t that

what we all want?

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About the writer's turn-ons

Publisher's parent's third-world cons

What's behind kearning the font

Who the agent was married to in 1941

How much the B&N display costs 

Where the paper was sourced 

Which forest tribes were lost

Intentions under misogynistic plots

Thoughts of students attending the conference

Symposium’s drunken recommendations

I...

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distracted corrupted 

turned on interrupted

end of the day 

little to say

tracing these lines 

helps me 

understand 

exactly who I am

I’ve held on to your 

memory

by drawing a spiral 

leading to you

kept in place 

with emotional objects

praying they’re not 

moving too soon

dreams of intimacies 

I’ve never known

push me 

w...

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If you could only locate the pleasure
If love would only hold us together

The train nearly stops at the corner
Unfortunately we live with a moving center

That man used to be your lover
Now he’s another wounded animal

Lived in this home now it’s a hospital
Tear down, renovate, and call it progress

You always seem like you’re busy
I wonder now if it’s really the story

No pla...

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men were too dumb

never hung around

couldn't stand their feelings 

had no feelings for art

margaret worked in a lab

flavor tester for Tops Brands

after an accident she 

pushed art into a vat

girls all use top brands

to stimulate their tongues

delicious secretions from salivary glands

they chew on sensual gum

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Hone Avenue

I took a room on Hone avenue

It was as close as I could get

With a job that fills me full 

Of starch and cigarettes

Watch a lot of old movies

Between people at my job

There are no flights of stairs  

The street opens on the hall

TV on at the neighbors

Children’s voices behind doors

I close mine and silences 

Start to car...

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something to be admired

in those who block out the world

going about their business

with the confidence of fools

ignoring what’s changed

despite mounting evidence

such straight postures

such calm moods

nothing to be desired

in breaking all those rules

others come at you

with their collective wills

flittering like an insect

between beaks an...

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all day in front of a big screen

all night in front of a smaller one

escaping into our pockets

dream of living outside of one

all the time in your head

amused to death 

when we connect 

it's somehow different 

got this synergy 

that turns us on

technology is amusing 

but give me the human touch

got this synergy

we could go o...

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Indignation protects you

sealing your pores

focus narrows

you connect with its source

jumping between

"should" and "is"

The whip uncoils

Held back for this

The object moves forward

Shedding its properties

An animal growl

Screaming obscenities

For a split second

The world's defenseless

As it responds

You smell a win

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Two people sketching each other

One gets the nose right

Couple of a hundred writers

Running run-ons all night

Someone tells you it's ok

When it's absolutely not 

Someone to hold you close

When you're all you've got

You've got the you-ness 

The cumin in the recipe

I've got the me-ness

By itself it's a little sharp

I put you on r...

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Everything I learned

was proven wrong, twice

I threw up my hands

and renounced my former lives

As thieves came to power

there I resigned 

In time to escape

with my tiny life

Things are not what they

once where here, either

The talk is smoother

we swim with the undercurrent

People are more orderly

In their beliefs

It'...

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Got a little place 

Where we all hang out

You'll stay here forever 

Rent's not a lot

It's around approximately

Thereabouts 

Not on a map, 

It's South of South

Your money's no good, sir

Take those quarters off your eyes 

These ladies won't consider 

Spenders your size

Stick out your tongue 

Let the wine flow out 

Bottles open backwards,

So...

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keep on writing 

follow the line it 

wraps itself around 

everything’s rubbing now 

it’s all shiny

take your time 

spinning it in mind

it comes out thick 

smoking honey

keep on writing

stick it in blood 

carving your thoughts 

out of the walls

keep on writing 

till you break your arm 

then change hands 

and do it backwards

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living in the 

constant now

where the future fights

the past to a draw

hands get wrapped up

in things I never thought of

leaving all certainty

in knots

having more fun than 

could ever be allowed

throwing wrenches

at the gears of the strong

soon to be after us

with science and guns

safe together

one step ahead 

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the women of earth 

look ambivalent

cracking a smile 

growing indignant

looking to the stars 

as if for a ride

the men know there’s 

nowhere to hide

the women of earth 

survey the morning

finding cities 

still in their dreaming 

while the men play 

in burning buildings 

the women of earth 

tend gardens 

ch...

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Noise of the World

When the noise of the world

Gets under my silence

I bite my lip and think of you 

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We’re the news

your brand and my brand

got into a fight

my brand 

is apologizing

your brand is sensitive

to perceptions of hostility

my brand is about

creating understanding

my brand is making love 

to your brand

your brand is 

staring out the window

your brand has a tremendous 

marketing budget

my brand has 

close to zero

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Flatiron District

sober 

we run against ourselves 

against our natures 

we face the velocities of others

in our interrupting 

in our getting it wrong 

we learn too late about

the easy way to go

sober we run out

screaming of our homes

into the city where girls

once jumped out of flaming windows

one hundred years ago

or las...

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Create

Creature

Creationism

Object 

Objective

Objectify

Real

Relax

Re-laxative

Subject

Subjective

Subjugate

Take

Taken

Taken out

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acknowledgments

the audience would like to thank the performer
for doing all the heavy-lifting in her corner

we offer these tokens as an acknowledgement
of the price the performer’s manic obsessions have cost her

As we return to our warm lives and cold children
the audience hopes these said tokens

will allow the performer to travel
deeper into her subjectivities

enabling the aud...

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I swallow your bullshit

because I love you

all your pathetic attempts

at money or art

all your petty recriminations

I second with enthusiasm

I’ve even skewered a few

of my friends for you

I dip your lies in chocolate

when we’re together

pressing into each other

with our own form of vigilantism 

we take all that badness

use i...

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All at once the mask falls off

He's shaking everyone in the room

You can't be serious 

Your ideas are ridiculous

You have no idea 

What you do

Taking the wrong bus 

Getting off at the wrong stop

The technology 

Doesn't work

Then she comes home

And the meal is cooked

A sense of calm

Returns

They continue 

The dialo...

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after you scrape the ads

swipe off the phone

dial down the sugar,

fat, and tobacco 

stop worrying about bills

department manager

to-do list and

tiny revenge scenarios

how's it going in there

how's the quality of your solitude

forgetting the music

voice to exercise

pornographic Gifs

translations unrealized

what frequencies do you he...

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I could love you 

for what I’m not 

I don’t pretend to know 

what that is 

but I’ve rubbed my face

in its consequences 

and I’m crazy 

for its smell 

I’ve traced the 

cake trail back 

to a very

arrogant kid 

encouragement

lost at a point 

where extra hands

could have tied up threads

It’s gotten a bit late

the ingenues have...

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I think we should remain

One nation apart

If we get any closer

Our images dissolve

We can't remain behind 

Photos, poses, and stances 

That explode upon meanings

Revealed in romance 

You can have Germany

I'll take Russia

We can meet in Italy

Make lunch in Yugoslavia 

We shouldn't always remain 

One nation apart

Translation gets heavy

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Heart of the Empire

Under concrete and glass

Trucks whizzing past

In a booth at the bar

She sits at the heart of the empire

Picking at her salad

Reading Perec 

Keeping phones vibrating 

She can't take your call

Tracing plans against the window

Forecast is for chaos, clearing later

Tv ads for the medication

Used by the dudes at the bar 

Whe...

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everything's been curated

everyone demands

that you enter the space 

on their terms 

I'm open to negotiation

before the dialogue begins

but don't feel I can be 

a character in your film

the salary is problematic

and there's 

a lot of work to do 

on the script

I'm problematic

I can admit to that

maybe we can

do som...

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Insomnia

scratched on the walls 

of this insomnia

are faithful transcriptions

of every failed romantic conversation I’ve had

its cumulative effects 

are breath-taking 

the stalactites attract 

emotional tourists from the world over

there will be always be 

another tragic accident

bookish type wonders

too close to the edge 

s...

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Content

in this city you're always meeting

people working in content 

serving deeply stupid morbidly 

obese racist viewers programs

these people are charming

go to their parties 

meeting their vacations, 

wives, children 

eating while talking

about side projects

and what they want 

to be doing, ideally

how their ideas are making

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Teeth

Teeth like cities 

Teeth with buildings

Buildings with an apartment

You'll be renting

Teeth flossed

Brushed and sharpened 

Into my neck

Like a graveyard

Teeth with tongues

Slithering over them

Teeth with seductive words

Breathing through them

Vampires disguised as

Doctors and dentists

If we only knew

How we’d be examined 

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Your Hair

is it long in front like a seventies teenager

tied in a bun like a crabby teacher's

done in waves gold in the sun

spread in the sand on the lap of someone                                            

between your fingers twirled mindlessly

brushed in anger when you think of me

cut short talking to your mother

sticking straight up, a barometer of pleasure

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between

automatic tellers 

opioid addiction

sushi proliferation 

species annihilation 

data-driven instruction 

driverless delivery

social media

invasions of privacy

organic hypermarkets

global starvation 

latest science

current president

I create 

space for myself

few microns 

round my head 

enough for 

...

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The other guy

I always thought I was the other guy
It took some weight off when I tightened the tie

vanity never knows limits
the technology gave up in a pool of spit and sweat

he looks like me 

but with hairier lips

if I had a jeep instead of a bicycle
I too’d want a thing like that to go with it

never understood your cat now I know why 

he was being fed lot of crap 

un...

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memories  

crumpled on the floor

animate 

she paces with the mug

dog logic 

watching over 

problems

of another decade 

smokestack 

trumpet valves signal 

triangulate

with moods to produce

many beautiful songs

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States matter

Reach out and I'll be there

Texting on my phone 

Head full of ambitions

Fears I barely share

We pass through one another

Always in phases

Although we look solid

We're dense with gas

If I could bond with you

Even for a short time 

Something greater 

Could happen

Something we can't 

Fully appreciate 

In our current 

In...

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Shots

shots break the calm 

pierce your thoughts

what you think about 

don’t matter what 

you could pretend 

nothing’s connected

then again 

you could be dead

hear the kids

think about children 

what happens next

no one says 

listening to students 

rapping through phones 

safe in your classroom 

lockdowns as jokes

shots ar...

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When the logic breaks

put your logic away
it’ll break 
use their logic instead 
they feel comfortable like that

can’t get anything to work
head is starting to hurt
go back to what you meant
everything is burnt

put your logic away 
become fluent in theirs 
to the point where you can translate
exactly what they said

lot of extra work 
many migraines 
few minutes to yourself on...

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Buried Things

We forgot the plan
But still followed it

We didn’t recognize 
That particular stress

To a man we thought about
The opposite 

And how what we were told to do
Rarely made sense

Before we could give up
Before we could let go

It came back to us
Light through a broken window

And we found
The strength to continue

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Without selective compassion

We’d go mad in the streets

Outside of bubbles

Things get deadly

Well-designed products

Reassuring labelling

Consumed without drama

H&M, IKEA, Aldi’s

But the Guardian’s front page

The NPR story

The man on the corner

Doubts go on hiding

I see you tomorrow

I hold you closely

While that figure in the window

G...

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Blue Sun

We come in like the rain
Splashing over stones
On our holiday
Dreaming far from home

Wanting to taste something
We can’t have everyday
Wanting to feel something
To carry us away

Itinerant explorers
Homeless shoppers
Cheeses with holes
Heads full of images

Tiny dreams 
Flutter then escape
Under a blue sun
Between drops of rain

You remind me of so many people
Loo...

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English teachers on vacation
imagine the furthest point from the classroom 

dream of inspiring indifferent students 
with exploits they won’t give many fucks about

ordering coffee with indistinct accents pretending they’re not American

yet insisting on knowing 
exactly where the cheese is from 

tipping generously 
to offset the perception 

that they’ve had too big a hand 
...

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Crowds of student protesters 
Were met with trucks of flowers

The president declared
A national sandwich discount

Your doctor recommends 
Several weekends a day

Side effects include
An exhibit at the Tate Gallery

The rebels announced
Their allegiance to open space

The stock market soared
When all shares were given away

The weatherman cried 
At the sight of spring

Y...

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Inappropriate

you're very inappropriate
in these situations

causing me so much embarrassment 
think about the children

do you want them thinking
the world is a ridiculous place

overrun by pink monkeys 
destroying everything

do you want them feeling 
there's some escape

from a state curriculum 
we're completely dependent on

mr. gaulke, please
act like a professional

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Thrive 

what just happened to us

what did we come through

how deep did it cut us

do we still need hospitals

clean sheets 

and caring eyes

machines and tubes

to keep us alive

out here it’s different

why, I’m not exactly sure

so much is there to hurt us

most of it is beautiful

to get ours 

to take mine

to drag it home

for it to thri...

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you caught what you saw in me
gave it space to mate and eat 

now it’s running around 
with its own sense of entitlement 

maybe we can 
never be free of it

It’s going nowhere baby
taking us along

come go nowhere baby
something will happen

I buy everything I don’t need
surround myself with things

time spirals in carpets
surrounding us in cinder blocks

but I’m going n...

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The Codes

While that bacon egg and cheese
Works on your stomach
And the empty savings account
Haunts your future

You start your day in earnest
By reciting the launch codes
Telling off your boss colleagues
And customers to their faces

Hopefully that day will never come
But it’s part of the vital defense
Of our nation to keep those words
At the ready on your tongue

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Thursdays

Bring the drugs

I’ll get the beer

Come over

I’ll be here 

I want to feel up my solitude with you 

We can go out

We can eat something

Talk about people 

Who don’t mean anything

I want to feel up my solitude with you 

There’s nothing tricky about it 

You don’t have to move around 

Be in the know or even 

Have something to t...

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Loss Department

She lost her passion
And the world’s upset

Her passion 
She can’t buy it back 

Imagine living like
A ghost on a set

The magic happens
All somewhere else

We remind her there’s 
Work to be done

Her anger burns
Holes in a wall 

There’s a danger
She might hurt someone

I work her double shift
At the sex museum

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Capitalism

Shut up

We're making money

Shit 

Everyone's dead

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I just met myself
I wish I could say 

It was pleasant;
It wasn’t

I could admit
Some respect 

For his work, his persistence
But I wouldn’t call him brilliant

And I didn’t like
Being judged

By someone so
Intimate

I couldn’t help think
How fucking pretentious

We went for a beer
Then I ran into him at another function

We exchanged pleasantries
Kept our distance

It g...

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Tribulations

baby I need you so much

I’d do anything for you

I think of you night and day

spending all my love on you

because I can’t think of anything else

with lines from a pop song

we don’t talk about the world

just our own emotions

so let’s burn down banks with love

kill administrations with our touch

takeover workspaces with thoughts

torture ...

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They took hammers 

To clock towers

Stuffed wet towels 

Under doors

Kept TVs on 

24 hours

And all car 

Doors locked 

Used a lot 

of exclamation marks

Felt a strong feeling 

of purpose

Tracing the outlines 

of the struggle

In this they wouldn’t 

feel useless 

Against the future 

Against the future 

United

In disbelief 

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link to song

Your Hair

is it long in front like a seventies teenager

tied in a bun like a crabby teacher's

done in waves gold in the sun

spread in the sand on the lap of someone                                            

between your fingers twirled mindlessly

brushed in anger when you think of me

cut short talking to your mother

sticking straight up, a b...

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when we lost our sight

we knew we’d be alright

when they cut off our arms

we were not without our charms

when they lined us up 

knew they had had enough

blood from our wounds

would make the sea bloom

how hard it is 

not to be human

how seductive the money 

and memory kicks

to erase the laughter

and what comes after

t...

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as we tried to put it behind us

It reached out to remind us

our grip on reality was tenuously held

just then its tentacles appeared

we washed it out with bourbon 

bleached stains of its semen 

framed it in our memory behind thick glass 

as it disappeared we couldn’t look back

that weird year what was it about

we can almost start breathing out

...

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Role again

Hey you you gotta survive

Like a piece of gum

On a steamroller

Coming for our lives

Here comes your 

Role again 

As the world’s 

Nicest policeman

Here comes your

Role again

Did you get my order

Hold up those onions

Shot by both sides

Somehow crawling 

Through the insides

Of your own thing

Imitation is flattery

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goo.gl/RfakKV

Summer of Thinking Too Much

Summer didn't end                            

It just kept on melting 

We swam in pools of sweat

Licked off sugar coatings

We eventually went in

There was air conditioning

But didn't dry ourselves

We were just too thirsty                           

In the summer of thinking too much    

I just wanted to ...

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women warned

cats scorned

knew when you 

were born

what they were 

in for

distractions felt

below the belt 

In the battle of sexes

you're a nightingale 

problems you’ll never know

outcomes taken on

punches felt

wrapped in a tablecloth

feelings can’t be reasoned on

when people stare back

whispering when 

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I run up against edges
of your tight reality

fluorescent lights
wall-to-wall carpet and concrete

I hold it, bend it
rewrite it try to forget it

I don't trust my
memories of it

yet here I am again
In front of it

I start talking back

to the elevator

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If I left the pan on the burner
People will stay at the emergency shelter

I’d call Ralph Nader
To testify about the burner’s lack of
Safety features

I might get off with SSD
Quit my job with the DOE
Start over as a guitar pick collector

If I left the pan on the burner
I’d have to accept my nature

How I’ve lived without learning
Earned nothing while burning

A hole through...

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some of us are confident

start to accelerate

others slow down 

cautiously pumping brakes

one or two stop 

pull over for some head 

all feel anxiety 

mixed with excitement 

negotiating curves

everything works 

why does mature 

mean mean and serious

each of us take it 

some with a touch of grace

it comes with your name

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golden hours stretched 

over cottontails 

senses engaged 

without words to say 

feelings make marks

in dirt with rubber boots

play never leaves us 

we leave this place

you decide at once 

you’re an adult

you forget these 

pleasures and pains

sadness and longings

of childhood 

replaced with distaste

for children of...

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It’s colder by the water

Everything we are

Implores us to move closer

Despite fears and loss

I try collecting moisture

Had half a jar

Spilt on your carpet

I wake up thirsty now

I’m sixty-five percent water 

Thirty-percent tears

Twenty-percent piss

The rest, blood and beer

Built close to the water

I have no fears

Of drowning in drea...

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to escape this loneliness 

there’s only one means 

through the origin of the world 

said to be obscene 

still figuring it out 

shooting the dark 

every beat of the drum 

strum of the heart

Emmanuelle can’t 

How could I 

reconcile passion and reason

with your lifestyle 

Emmanuelle can’t

neither can I 

say goodbye 

...

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I'm an artist

You're an 

Industrialist 

We're the same

You with your money

Me with my paint

We make things happen

You with your factories

Me with my openings

I like the dinners 

At your house

My kids like to eat

I'll give you validation 

You could

Buy something 

I'll put you 

In my work

You could imagine you're me

...

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I like it rare
not too done
precious
uncommonly put on

would you dare
leave things out
make something
by your own hands, untouched

contradictions
are the only things
that interest
us

in situations designed

to drive us mad
I'd play the eccentric
that's what you'd want

you'd play the skeptic
holding
your heart
too close to my chest

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I pull her shoe off 

into the dessert

she compliments me

on my tape playing

starting the evening 

with an altercation 

that leads to a lovely

working day 

sky turns burnt orange 

at midnight 

people emerge from

their somnambulant ways

violence always excites us

we return to bed

for tomorrow 

to be replayed 

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We woke everything was new

We tried to hold on to the feeling 

We thought of everything to do

The world pregnant with possibility  

Nothing would ever be the same

As much as we tried to imagine 

The moment was here we changed

The difference measured in seconds 

We found ourselves full of gratitude 

We felt a shift in attitude 

Energy was flowing with abundance 

The...

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