I need you to be 

This for me

I know it’s not 

Who you are

But it’s a start 

And I’ll be

That 

For you

And sometimes

We’ll trade places 

Without 

Telling each other

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it started out promising

it was somewhat difficult

the humor the quest

the predictable romance

It was smooth going just until

the second part of the middle

then I started to flag

overwhelmed by the spectacle

and the ending was shit

how they all succumbed

to the various diseases

and other health issues

I guess there’ll be a next

g...

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everyone hurts
you’re here
to save them
seeing several people at time

night comes fear you’ll
run out of patients
coming from that
snaking endless line

professional
your stoicism
allows for a rationing
of looks desires smiles

back on your back
you can enjoy it
beauty to this chaos
blood shit sublime

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I loved a woman 

with four bodies

she didn’t have children 

so instead divided her time 

between helping strangers

and looking for happiness

took me a while to figure her out 

have to say that I never did

I blew my chance

all four times

but we can laugh about it now 

in our long chats

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she insisted on keeping her distance 

told me she knew how to use it 

helped bring things into focus 

putting them in a wider context 

didn’t mind feeling uncomfortable 

though I never fully got used to it

never met in the same place

don’t think she really had one

see her everywhere although 

It’d be a stretch to say 

she ever looked “comforta...

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I’ve betrayed you so many times
With so many looks so many lines

And a small part of me, the outside
Thinks you’re stupid to love me

I’ve imagined sex with all your friends
And magazine covers on lonely weekends

And we could never share
The mountains of pornography

Yet here you come like a puppy
With something just for me

And all my thoughts of infidelity
Dissolve in the laund...

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All I ever wanted to feel 

was safe

So I attached myself to things 

Greater than myself 

And I failed as dreams 

Kept me awake

I started living my life twice

Once for me and then for my fears

I thought I was being generous

With myself and my time 

And that feeling of feeling safe

Slipped away

Leaving me  to face

My dreams al...

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"Sadness has been busy
Innovating in its laboratory

Don’t be fooled by
Brand awareness 

We have to keep up
We’ve become complacent

Thinking that sadness
Stands still–it doesn’t 

Not even for a minute

We’re not polling well
With the under ninety-sevens

We need 
Some sort of lift"

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The American appears to cough
While mouthing an obvious lie

Relying on a charm 
He’s stolen from another guy 

Laying out a vision
Suspiciously familiar

As the other actors at the table
Poke at a cold dinner

While the Canadian seems to choke
On her hemp salad

The Chinese envoy excuses himself
To send another message

The American proposes a toast 
To friendship and progress 

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go with that approach
to a certain point 
til it gets too messy
but oh what a ride

don’t go backwards
can’t even fly
stuck behind it
most of your life

it’s problematic
how it resolves
whichever way sliced 
there are missing parts

problematic 
how we go out
contemplating the mystery
until its done

take another metaphor
slosh it around
drown it until
its color runs out

...

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I want to live to see the day 

when we can’t believe 

how mindless we were

how we could let so much 

go to waste 

and think somehow 

it was modern 

sophisticated

or western

we’d put our minds 

in tangles 

to make sense

how our compassion 

by necessity had to be 

studied and selective

wanna live to see that day

wanna live to s...

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Don’t throw it out
Change yourself 
Or doubt

Your own acquired taste
Lost on many 
Gone to waste

On the dozens 
Who can’t swim
Or live on a limb

There’s something 
Else
Waiting for them

And when you do connect
And it feels deeper than sex
That sense of relief 

Felt with someone
With whom 
You really get

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I need to know that you’re in love
That it’s still working for some

Even though I’m an atheist with it
It’s nice to think that it might exist

It’s strange to see you acting out
How you breathe life into 

The worst cliches as if
They had a value beyond ironic

And now that the season comes
And everything for the young and dumb

Assaults our intelligence
Glad to see you can still ...

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she was like a sister to me
weekdays after three

I stole my mannerisms from him
Decades later I learned what they meant

She told me I was just like
Some actor she had crushed on

Until I didn’t act like 
Happy ending expectations

And I keep looking around
For someone to shout “cut”

Listening for laughter overdubbed
After these scenes play themselves out

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We kill people
Eat animals
Destroy planets
Yet remain comfortable 
Somehow
Far away 
We’re just like 
Star Wars 
Or something 

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All my desires
Ambitions
All the anger
Those decisions

I try to keep in mind
Not going blind
Remembering
We’re water

Your beautiful shape
My giant lips
Your garden my snake
Drowned to our tits

There’s nothing to hold
On top of these bones
Just a couple of drinks
Under fancy wrapping paper

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You enjoy highlighting
Your reproductive qualities

As if there was a shortage
Of people in the world

You project an image of 
Cool confidence in plastic

Your mantra is “No drama” 
As if the world wasn’t spinning

A thousand miles per hour 
On its axis

And I want it
Although it’s bad for me

Rotating at 67000 
miles per hour around a star 

And I think I’m in love
But I do...

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the best thing about 

being rich would be 

you get to have 

nervous breakdowns

where you do 

nothing 

but eat prepared foods 

and have nurses 

for several months 

whom you later marry 

and your bills are paid 

and you don’t get fired

don’t have to sell guitars for fifty 

and favorite books for twenty 

and people seem 

...

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one makes you feel safe

one tears you apart 

one wants to submit 

one makes you bark

you play scenarios 

over in a loop 

with one life to live

to give up the goods 

you go for a split 

you can multitask

where’s your head at 

you hope no one will ask 

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my rationale

I’ve lost my rationale

but I haven’t told anyone

I go around mouthing my lines

with just a hint of enthusiasm

I stand back where I used to bite

I take more pleasure in viewing

where these children get it right

how they respond to the discipline

at night I look around

methodical without permissions

searching for interesting sounds

to t...

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The pressure pushes down
On the children

They respond by 
Creating a future 

We’ll never understand

And whether we help them
Or hurt them it’ll make no difference

As it won’t be a world 
We’ll be welcome in

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I’m disappointed to discover

I’m not your only friend in the world

I took the responsibility seriously 

And gave you my undivided attention 

during our speakerphone 

cleaning sessions

I’m trying to decide 

what would give me

satisfaction 

at this point 

I’m leaning towards 

painful silences 

interweaved with barbed comments

and m...

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I never learned how to share
and now it’s too late to care

people will look at certain
aspects of me and think,

“she’s missing something
crucial there.”

But I won’t hear them
What’s more I wouldn’t listen

You see it’s a pretty
good system

if you’re just
so happy with yourself

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I made a mess over there

I feel better over here

don’t want to go near it

don’t want to think about it

the mind demands 

something else to compare 

to suggest 

we’re getting somewhere

if we had to go back 

and confront it

there might be 

some kind of damage

we move to a third place 

for context

now given 

the proper distance

we ca...

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the art of flim 

we were in love for 

nine seconds 

enough time to caress 

the outlines 

of a poorly-lit 

photograph

in love for minutes 

of zooms

captures 

and lenses 

I saw our future 

and past 

come together

in a slow-motion scene 

of incomprehensible

loneliness  

captured for

eternity 

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Everything stays busy
As you bring the world into me
All its collapsing grinding acted out 
On the bed of the world

Everything passed from you to me
Extracted transformed 
Disposed of
Unceremoniously 

Without taking a second
To ponder 
What it all
Could mean

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In another body
I lose myself
I pretend I’m someone else
Up to the point
Of a little death

In another body
We flip the planes
Adding dimensions
Yet we can’t cross over
It doesn’t stop us from crying

As we grow smaller
Then disappear 
Into a day 
The size
Of a molecule

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He swallowed the matter
Now the matter’s screaming

Bent over double
Completely revealing

His insides cry
Like any other

Louder at times
With the stench of sulfur

To get the full picture
We go to private places

What goes in what comes out
Says more about our existence

Than what we believe
What we preach

What we do how does it
Connect to what we think

Doubled over fac...

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New Poetry Collection

https://www.amazon.com/Ickyness-Catalog-Pocket-Blues-Gaulke/dp/1086683501/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ickyness+catalog&qid=1571071298&s=books&sr=1-1

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can’t stand it anymore 

this desk the way you talk

can’t hold on you know 

need to run my fingers 

along the wall 

clicking against the grout 

give me the pass

need it fast 

the only escape 

I can make

the bathroom pass 

hallway stairs 

where my friend’s 

waiting 

he’s on the stairs 

where we prepare 

the ...

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why do you write
there’s nothing to do
the tv is broken
books I own are too small to read
goats already scratch the ground

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for some reason
I keep going back to this typewriter

hoping it will be inspired
enough to write something about me

I check it daily sometimes hourly
I try to sneak up on it

waiting for some sort of
big surprise

it’s happened before
I can’t remember when

but it did happen
so I keep checking on it

like checking for new beatles

in england

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I enjoy contemplating 

how wrong you were

I endlessly go over 

your every move 

right up to the point 

when I confronted you

and it all came down 

shattering like crystals 

I’ve relived the scene

a thousand times 

bought the dvd 

watched the concert live 

but I’d give it all up 

for a second of your time

just to tell you 

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what passes for 

personality 

are just 

preferences 

your morality 

guesses 

night comes 

and you embrace the opposite 

survival of the fittest 

someone wins the other submits 

you try these poses on 

like underwear twisted 

at the foot 

of the bed

and you think about

all you’ve consumed

and what you’ve 

cre...

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When something is new
They’re the first to grab it
And use it to smack you
In the face

Now it could be a tool
But you only know it 
As a weapon due to their 
Tremendous reach

And just as they’re 
Bending double
To gather the next 
Shiny mystery

Some of us might 
Find a moment
To figure out what 
The last one’s purpose truly is

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After their trust 
Is gained
During a certain 
Pause
While their friends
Are in conversation 
The boy will ask you
If you think
there’ll be a future
And you owe him
The truth

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Just a reminder
For everyone’s benefit
This is a humor-free workplace

We can’t risk anyone feeling 
Offended due to differences
In caste, race, or class

However you are reminded
That responding appropriately 
To a light-hearted remark made

On the part of your administration
In your direction

Is to be considered an appropriate 
Response to their display
Of human warmth

Pleas...

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Over the next few decades

I’ll be investing heavily 

In pain

I didn’t know if you’d 

Like to jump in with me

In it now

I’ve had a recent run 

In outbreaks 

And rented a lodge

In Sciatica

There were rivers of it 

With fresh waterfalls 

And the news 

There’ll be plenty of news

To set the mood low 

You can feel it in the air 

Le...

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I was just thinking about
How simple my happiness is

I need friends
I need to make money

And feel in some tiny way
I’m not making the world worse

Pretty illusive
All in all

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In your absence I’ve assumed your positions 
Taken up your points of view
I guess I was always jealous
You’d gotten there first

I practice my apologies
And head tilts
Imagining Marcelo Mastroianni 
As I rehearse

By chance I call your number
It’s always a surprise
How you sound 
And I discover you’ve taken up mine
-Still no common ground
 

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you got a shiny new bike

all I ever got was love

doing headstands on a mountainside

all I ever got was love

in a world of shiny things 

you’ve gone insane 

maybe I can help you with this 

in my own way 

you want everything 

all I ever got was love 

past the point of embarrassing 

when jungles are burning up

and you’re spinning in yo...

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every time he paves a park 

burns down a lot

calls the cops on  

children's songs 

we get sent this bill

payable on delivery 

his wife insists 

he talk to someone  

he only agreed 

after certain conditions 

were met– 

he didn’t have to pay for it

he says he did it for her

in the helicopter 

she suggested maybe 

another museum 

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...serves as a warning.

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When were we?

I see you again
I forget when we are
Have we just met
Are we exes
Did we survive a war

Your voice plays over
Speeding cars
While nothing moves
Inside me struck
An innocent bystander

And these memories
Mix in dreams 
Recomposing themselves
Army dolls
In home-made dioramas

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when the clock shatters to pieces 

and the mirror starts to bend 

and you can’t remember the names 

of those you called your friends

you can’t go back home 

everyone’s gone 

strangers without baggage

gotta keep moving on 

finding love, your purpose here

a beauty in others, an end to your fears

you keep it moving on a train in a car

you keep it m...

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Everything’s a metaphor

enslaving us 
in its nothingness

while our jobs 
are to sell-

something we can 
never possess

it keeps us happily 
depressed

and skipping on our way 
to our ends

without ever even noticing 
the passing years

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I cry easily and often 

at sights of injustice

to a well-written song 

in a happy mood 

at the thought 

of my parents 

and the state

of the natural world

and I think

what good does it do

and then I realize 

that’s not really the question

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Someone’s gonna die tonight

Someone’s paying the whole price

For something we don’t understand 

To them it’s perfectly clear

Someone’s fighting an invisible fight

Making the ultimate sacrifice 

For a higher ideal 

That gives them reason to live

We’ll read about it later

Watch a tv special

Maybe there’ll be a statue

Or a day off school

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they’re over there on the couch

while I’m lost in thoughts 

you see something in me you need

that I don’t get at all 

when you come to my house 

everything starts to bounce 

you remind me of why I feel 

the need to work at all 

come touch 

my enormous doubts 

they get bigger 

all the time 

come touch 

my enormous doubts 

near where 

...

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When I showed you all those things
Shared my secrets 
There was an understanding 
That you wouldn’t use them on me

When we took it all apart 
A thousand pieces
Behind the couch I thought 
We agreed they’re ours to keep

Now you’re in my newsfeed
On my tv loved by millions
Selling it cheap and my heart
Is back on the floor behind the couch

In pieces that scream
You’re the reason 
...

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you must’ve been a beautiful child

loved too much held too often

you sensed you possessed something 

desired sought after fought for

it must’ve felt like a crime 

lording it over the less fortunate

or maybe something inspired 

by a religion yet to be written

and here you are now

holding onto the world for your life

climbing between its ha...

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You lined them up 

By height and weight

On paper they’ve cost thousands 

Their descriptions sounded professional 

Yet now make you cringe

You watch the audience’s expressions

And you adjust your figures

As dreams and memories blur

Your past is constantly changing

Allowing you to produce  

an infinite number

Of recently-refurbished...

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Reaching for you

I don’t understand my life

why these aches why this job

what’s now

I’m going to make a break

For that unspoiled acreage 

You’ve got

Lost in forests, down over hills 

Gliding through backwoods

Knee deep in mud

You can visit my city 

Clean busses run on time

Got scary parts unsafe at night

But I don’t understand my life...

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I spent my last ten dollars 

buying you that drink

figured once we were lovers

I’d come clean 

doesn’t always happen this way 

you’re holding the high cards now

we know how that changes

when images dissolve 

I’m still strong inside

despite this rising tide

I know you and I 

could be stronger

your skeptical nature 

my creative imm...

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Working on it

Daddy I’m still working on it 

keeping my 

mouth shut

I remember how 

I embarrassed us

In front of 

the conductor

famous artist

rich people, and your colleagues

how I went on to be fired 

from twenty jobs

but I just wanted to you to know

I’m working on it   

I'm gathering it up 

saying, “I love you” to the people w...

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please include a brief biography

with your submission

to color all your meanings in pleasing 

shades

so we can draw inferences all over 

your face

and make who you are more important

than what you say

sometimes it’s good to be reminded 

who we are 

and who we are 

against 

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as they rob the bank

drain the pool

cut the power

melt the schools

I’m cool hanging onto myself

as they slit the throats

fill the moats

burn the coats

unleash the goats

I’m good on a deadman float

fight them on the barricades

in the airports and on the plains

using the ammunition

they left us with to play

meet them in the parking l...

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body and mind

conspire to take you 

out of the moment 

memories and dreams

mixed into a fine paste 

smeared on your face

licking your fingers

during the work break 

biting you with the teeth of zippers

which can still almost zip

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we’ve looked at what you’re bringing in
and what you cost 

and we can’t escape the conclusion 
we’re operating at a loss 

all those years of encouraging 
I know they’re gone 

even if we sued 
it wouldn’t add up

we can’t afford you 
you don’t earn your keep 

you don’t add enough value 
for what we give

perhaps in another context 
we’d be lucky

but we only have 
this one...

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once you’ve known 

hunger 

you’re never 

completely sure

you’ll ever 

eat again 

you can never 

be full 

with that worry 

filling up your brain

worst of all 

now you’re eating 

all the wrong things

when what you needed

after all 

was simply 

just being held 

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this last piece of chocolate 

could find a home in your mouth 

that vacuuming robot 

would receive so much love 

perhaps a new kitten 

would make nights not so lonely 

I donated monthly to to the cause 

I guess I was born yesterday

he sponsored his whole family

out of a sense of obligation 

she insisted on volunteering 

on her exotic vacati...

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nothing stays on in the dark
I snore
somehow 
we’re still here
I’m starving
you didn’t kill me
maybe you like me
when did I get old
monday’s coming again
bugs control the world

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twenty left

make the list 
eggs bread
spaghetti sauce bananas

take a glance 
at the library 
and the guitars

nap until 
I get notices 
from the bank account

cancel all plans 
on account 
of diarrhea

gotta have that you gotta have this 
dancing check to check

will change your life and it’ll ship free
next day air

following steps with representatives 
in Manila

my ...

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you be lightning

I’ll be slime 

be single-celled organism 

I’ll be time 

you be the reptile 

I’ll be the worm 

I’ll be the feathers 

you be the bird 

you be the monkey

I’ll be the banana 

you be the land bridge

I’ll be Siberia 

be Jesus Christ 

I’ll be the jews 

be Julius Cesar 

what’s there to lose 

civilization takes two 

my ...

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I live in a world of things half-done

it keeps waking me up 

on days when I have the energy 

I can see what needs to happen 

projects, boxes of things, 

emails to be written 

on days when the world 

comes after me, I stay hidden

and dream of knocking it all to the ground

a child crying for forgiveness

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I have no secrets 

screens for hands

moments dribble 

out of my pockets

clock needles 

pierce my skin

your profligacy my silence 

sleep side by side on the bed 

your movements my stillness

give us reason to reflect 

we embrace our differences

in a delicate four-way gesture

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with time I appreciate differences 

signs of life appearing in scratches 

does it evoke pity or understanding

deeper I go the more commanding

what I fear becomes a recipe 

finished in someone else’s kitchen

what you’ve broken is a challenge

for someone who can fix it 

leaning against each other 

finding love amidst the hunger

coloring in conve...

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The thing I wanted to know about–

Sent out texts and calls 

A desperate stop on the bus

Before the silence falls

The light stays on for an hour

Before the power shuts off

You made a gift of a flower

And a handwritten postcard

I bought three ready made dinners 

And cans of soup for lunch

Ready for this summer’s winter 

Getting ahead on the wash

And...

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Poverty

You’ve only known poverty
You can’t imagine love

In a world of things
You feel you have everything

But you’ve never been touched
Anywhere near your heart

You tell me about all the people
You know

You show me all the places
You go

But you don’t know a thing
It’s almost a tragedy
 

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I’m crying now 

like you used to do

how strong I felt 

next to you

now there’s no one 

holding these tears back

that’s how irony 

works as planned

I’m crying now

over every little thing

my therapist tells me

It’s helping 

now that you’re gone 

I’ve been practicing

I’ve been perfecting

all my little routines

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are you up for this adventure 

do you have somewhere to go

did I mention it’s dangerous 

you might fall off a mountain top 

you want to be with me

based on our experience 

of being together in a small apartment 

with mail ordered meals 

and I scare you with my attitude 

what you take as nonchalance

is a comfort with this world 

it’s everyth...

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we inhabit different planets

gravities, landscapes, elements

you learn about yourself

when you leave a safe environment 

try my skin 

be selfish

see through my eyes

you’d be surprised

walk through my heart

don’t step on it 

get sucked in 

it’s endless 

you world is about all the angles 

mine is mostly water 

when you cut throu...

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Unseeing

What have I done to myself
To make these people 
Look like monsters

They’d vigorously reject
Any attempt to brand themselves
Less than upstanding

What do I see in their eyes
That reads as horror 
That speaks to a lust

For the unimaginable suffering
of a world that will pay 
For their childhoods

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my girl wants to do these 

crazy things

in public just to imagine

what it feels like it’s not quite 

real but I gotta play along 

in the neighborhoods where 

nobody knows us we act out 

whatever she’s thinking of 

it gets her hot to imagine 

I’ve got a job and we live 

on the other side of town 

and we decorate our place

with e...

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My eyes are on backwards 
I just can’t see my life 
Until it passes

Then I try to grab it
With hands that never work 
That just hold onto wood

As a kid I wanted glasses
I thought they’d make me smart
Now I feel too smart and it hurts

Or I feel too hurt and it smarts
Either one works
As that sadness of my youth returns

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you ask too much 

from your nap

that you will be transformed

and the world will be different

yet there you are with your 

faculties intact as if you 

could pretend to enthuse

on what’s profoundly stupid

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Shit on the sidewalk
Streaks like hiragana 
Trash for weeks
Natto in your amana

Bachatta on a ten dollar
Bluetooth speaker
Cuts the reggaeton and trap
Like an ambulance siren

Oh my dirty city
I plead the filth

Crying like a child 
Denied ice cream
Crying like a satisfied 
Blow pop queen

Crunching insect voyeurs 
Under the sink
Sweating in my arms 
Under the midnight i...

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No matter how many times 
We’ve done it 
Under what conditions 
We’ve run it

Everything is 
An experiment
The outcome
Always in question

That we’re alive at all
Is some kind of miracle
How we drive these bodies
Harder than rental cars

Where we stick these moods
Frozen and burnt 
Forever tweaking the recipe
Infinitely varied outcomes

Tethered together
On a journey towa...

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see a lot of people 

walking around

with scratched

-out faces 

rubbed out with a pen 

or a fingertip

they seem to go on with things 

with less enthusiasm 

not letting themselves 

be stopped by relationships

I was one of those people 

with scratched out faces 

I drew over it 

a smile and mustache 

For a while 

I just ha...

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Your obligation to the child playing

next to you on the bus

He needs to knock you

Just to make sure

You’re not a robot 

Plugged into a usb slot

He needs to feel 

The heat on your skin

In case things go wrong

And you have to carry him

Out of some explosion

Any look of indignation 

Coming from you

Only confirms that

The planet is sufferin...

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Teaching bad children

Guys you have to keep 
Your hands out of your pants
And you can’t watch porn 
During school hours 

And I agree with your 
Assessment
Of our colleagues but
I don’t want to undermine them

And please don’t call me after work
They’ll think I’m a child molester
But I do love you it’s just that
I’m supposed to be a cop

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Other people’s bodies

I don’t understand them
I want to command them

They become myself then
Turn into a weapon

I crave a distance
Just to feel a resistance

Then I wanna get hit with
The power of a kiss

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spending too much 
time alone
in 2019 means 

feeling face to face
with the stupidity
and greed of others

a dull relentless pain 
feeling
electronically chained 

to a world bent on 
destroying itself 
trying to enjoy itself 

at the same time

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You take it to the breaking point
You make it sound so innocent

What is it in us that must
Hang out on a ledge

Craving our own destruction
At the hands of someone familiar

What is it that’s so unknown
Within ourselves

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I was never crazy about the sacrifices 

and definitely think she’d go on 

a little long during 

the Tuesday sermons 

but it was the quality of connection 

I felt was lacking in my life

you just don’t meet people

of that sort on the outside

of course there’ll be certain things

I’ll miss-

ice cream, situation comedies, condominiums

but I was missing 

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We’re bringing back books
As edgy accessories

Imagine that you’re rich enough 
To have the time to read

You’re so wealthy you can afford to
Disconnect while doing it

We’re going to open up
A series of “bookstores”

Designer boutiques
Everything under glass

The catch will be pricing-
The mark-up will only be

500 percent as we’ve noticed
Something funny in our research-

Th...

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Of course I remember 

And it’s not the exactly 

The opposite

Of loneliness 

Other people’s bathrooms

And pulling my arm out

From under your head

For the blood to rush back in

And suddenly much

More of me feels lighter 

With just a small  

Space opening up

For a new set 

Of anxieties

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The fabulist 

The fabulist has been 
Out of work for generations

His tales have all been broken
Its messages replaced with slogans

His children have found jobs
In marketing

(When he wanted them 
To be doctors) 

Scientists have cut 
Deep into his market

Today he does what he can 
To warn them 

The truth

Is never enough

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To the people at the next table talking about their adult children

I’d just like you to know
That I’m 
Super-successful 

I’ve never killed anyone
Based on what my company
Has manufactured

I’ve never ruined anyone’s
Life 
Based on my family’s ambitions

I’ve never sent anyone into
Therapy based on 
Broken promises

I’ve never left anyone
Questioning the meaning 
Of their life...

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I said that the kids have to 

read for pleasure

if you want the writing scores 

to improve

somehow that didn’t sit well with 

data, targets, 

spreadsheets, and minutes

with the group

It was as if I was demanding 

that they were fed 

chocolate for breakfast

or allowed to play freely 

we’re a poor school 

and long ago

they cleaned out 

all ...

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climbing out of a lie 

she had to use what she had

which were other lies

smaller ones which fit 

in her hands 

they could 

take her only half way 

out of the bigger ones

then she’d have to float

on even bigger ones

to get herself across 

to other people 

and their gaps

thank god for credit cards 

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very polite to the ticketman
is working at the day spa 

visits her mother every Sunday
thinks about getting a small dog

play acts having a boyfriend
treats the apps as a comedy 

is as enthusiastic about zumba
as she is about leaving her
job in publishing

always likes their posts
talks to strangers on a train

thinking about novels for children
and taking up meditation

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Trauma Department

The doctors scream at the nurses
The nurses take it out on the patients
Blaming them for their illnesses

At night they join together 
For a performance 
Wherein everyone switches places

And lives with 
The outcomes 
Of the operation

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The prices have gone up

I’ve had to adjust

There’s less of me now

And it’s more sharp

I run quieter

With a more efficient motor

Backwards compatible

Using less resources 

Still got that connectivity

Attached to the evil empire 

But there’s a new outlook

Designed for today’s challenging world

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Moving Forward

I want to enjoy this 

please don’t spoil it 

don’t wanna know 

its ingredients

politics 

or ethics 

it doesn’t mean 

I’m a fascist 

it doesn’t make 

for a contradiction

I’ll be with you 

on the barricades

in a minute

but I’d just like 

to finish this chocolate 

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The ghosts in my life 

Take the time to touch me 

Then disappear 

Changing faces

Changing forms

They’re always there

Saving me from 

Darkness

And even worse 

If I start 

To pursue them 

They come only to haunt 

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range of motion 
constricted to morning thoughts

sounds of the ocean
beating on distant drums

tracing planes
in the sweep of a brush

thoughts of escape 
paused with new promises

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The boys ask if I’m a virgin
I tell them “yes” and I’m not lying

As something closes up 
When you’re gone and then

I forget what you smell like 
And I forget what you touch like

And I feel like Richard Harris
There in the rain

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Under the new contract

It’s definitely a new game
with these rifles 
they knocked off 
my left pinky

but I had enough wet wipes
to stanch things and clean off
the desk before 
the next class arrived

Samuels is doing amazing work
from the floor after yesterday’s blast
he simply turned the testing into an art
project-talk about teachable moments

the kids haven’t been the same
s...

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The re-election

I’ve decided to become a racist
I’ve decided not to care what I do
I’m never going to recycle again
Taking my employer’s side on every issue

I’m cheering on the fascists
Eating endangered species
Buying the largest SUV 
With police stickers on the windshield 

Just to get along it feels so good
Giving up my humanity 
It's such a small price to pay-
What has it ever...

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Jogging

We estimated its height at twenty miles
Its triangular base 9 miles a side and when one of its feet touched down, it left a crater three miles in diameter. 

It moved in a slow wobble as if spun by giant fingers. Our best mathematicians could predict the landing of one of its feet to an accuracy of 98.5%. 

Accurate enough to work for twenty years and raise children under that shad...

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not this

what is it 
that preys upon us
without naming us

that leaves us
spectators to our 
own demolition

as long as we don’t 
speak of it
we can’t describe it

we can plead
a certain 
ignorance

to whomever
whatever 
comes next

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I’ve done my part

in keeping up this charade

when it was our turn

I kept on the party face

as the night went by 

in a dylanesque parade

I stayed true  

to our agreement

tried the conversation 

and failed 

looks suggested 

something else in the air 

now I gotta say 

it’s getting late

time to make a move

or we’ll get sucked in 

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staring at the son

can’t touch it 
can’t look at it sometimes

thinking about it

brings tears to the eyes

can only look at her 
through reflections in time

think about it too much 
go mad, dumb, and blind

done through mirrors
slivers sliced thinner

than blue
paper onions

still see her
staring at the son in the mirror

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Squeezed laughs

“They’re really crazy today,” she laughs.

“Well, we’re testing them to death,” he laughs.

“Do they get to go outside?” she laughs.

“Not with their behavior,” he laughs.

“Have a great weekend,” they leave, smiling.

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his secret word

he couldn’t keep his word

it flew around like a bird

promises, money, and friends

were to him beating wings

and I really liked this guy 

but he wasn’t a child I couldn’t try 

to convince him to act 

with the decency

he expected of me

so I hope one day he will learn 

but I really don’t have the time 

to do more t...

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https://youtu.be/HdKJDVwHnZw

A song from the service industry

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Sorta poemy-song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2ztfyV6ag&list=PL6Y4YJO6z5QuxnKPs_n1Cjbm9vBTe92Ll&index=4

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Song made from a former poem of the week. Click link for video. https://youtu.be/kugcGV7UQ5g

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the animal in your face

wants to escape

chained to a body

that’s too polite to inhabit

she waits patiently

for an opportunity

then jumps

on her prey

after dinner

and a movie

just before

the boredom sets in

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And they move with precision
And they’re not listening

To you or by one else
You’ve known

And there’s a man
A throw’s distance

Asking for a pittance
And it doesn’t even rate

As an unpleasant
Episode

The middle’s come out
It’s been gobbled up

And although they didn’t want it
How they benefit from it

And although they hate him
They can’t stop what they’re making

...

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those late nights
trivia fights
money leant
sheets stained

trips cancelled
tears raining
mornings up 
rents spent

he wants it back
with interest
as if the past
was his investment

he posts memes
about a single theme
as if his dreams
weren’t enough

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Deep Fakes

You’d need some training

To tell them apart

They’re almost identical

Down to their hearts

Touching on wide themes

Echoing sentiments

Assumed universal

Yet rareiy articulated

And they get you

Way after it’s late

Invested, gone public

Part of the calculation

You’ll ride it out

Further into trouble

It’ll b...

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first impressions

you think, ‘what a fucking monster” 

but your job is to be charitable 

so you gaze deep in his eyes 

and see the humanity and pain

and he responds with laughter 

and tears, touching your shoulder

while eating an entire family 

without spitting out the clothes

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you’ve got to be quick 

you’ll need protection

but not in a group

think like a tree

something to cling to

but don’t trust big 

it looks to you 

as a meal 

might seem friendly

but that’s part of the deal

and you need to cry 

just as long as no one hears

if you cry long enough 

it’ll sound like a song 

to an opposite’s

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Click

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Neverlook

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acknowledgements

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In Absentia

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$9

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Playing Adults

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spectrumdisorders

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atthepoetryfactory

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Evil

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boys hump the furniture 
while the girls stare silently 

game of pool breaks out 
between phones 

red-faced teacher
paces against windows

jimmy wants to know 
who’s getting jumped after school 

teacher from upstairs 
stares down the child with earbuds

smartboard is zooming in and out
of its own accord 

certain fates are being 
decided downtown 

class’s waiting for 
the...

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you demand 

clarity 

it’s different than 

transparency 

you stand for 

integrity 

it gets a little 

lonely there

her eyes 

suggest something 

deeper than 

you can fathom 

and it stands 

to reason 

you haven’t 

fully grasped 

the paradigm

you can’t 

reason 

your way to love  

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Polaris

I was wondering where they went 

thank you for showing them to me

now you won’t give them back

my true feelings

they had left me sometime around 

my mid-thirties 

something in me dawned 

something else walked out early 

I just went on doing 

what I’m still doing 

momentum and muscle memory 

explained in detail in the documentary 

y...

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On Amazon. Cheap: 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bob+Gaulke&i=stripbooks

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The loss leader

I'm filing these outcomes
In alphabetical order

To appreciate these moments
After they've been forgotten

I'll hold onto the smell
After the faded photo

Fails to evoke what you had in mind
And what was agreed upon

There'll be no new notes to make
Across a torn border

No reminders needed about
How far we've come

We know in our blood
How much further

We ...

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You Little American

Foreign policy decisions
In the dessert order

Racism apparent in
Choice of flavors

History of oppression
In the name of your team

Conscience of a colonizer
Evidenced by your sneeze

Making love like
A clumsy army

Small talk in a scene
From a hulu series

Choosing friends based
On their utility

Vacationing like
An olympic team

And you tell me
Ha...

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The Next Assignment

The names will be different

The faces the same

There'll be a desk with a printer

And a lot of people in pain

You'll share the laughter

You'll cry over your check

Mondays will still be Monday

You'll have the weekend

And those thoughts in your head

Those terrible thoughts in your head

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Ex-introverts

Lot of explaining to do

Lot of catching up

Now that they've gotten

A taste of who they are 

There's a world to celebrate

Every hidden flaw

A net full of people

To explore meaning through

If they weren't abused as a child 

They will be as an adult

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Pyromaniacs on the event horizon

I'd give you fire if you could use it
We could burn trouble for a while

Take you to the room full of secrets
Make love to you just for a smile

I've spent my life entirely naked
Wearing arms around my chest

Sending flares to the event horizon
Asking for a little help

Rescuers come in uniform
Blankets and trucks make a mess

Never waiting for th...

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Pace

Make it faster

Don't think about it

Want to see the ground 

Blur under my feet

We know it can't last

Drive me harder

There'll be a pain

To remember at least 

All those faces, 

Those lives

Full of

Unexplored feelings

When accelerated 

You get 

A nice design of 

Colors and screams

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Dirty

It's dirty everywhere

It's filthy 

the smell

I don't think will leave

You should see yourself

You should see me 

Our composures left

Before we could

There's no alternative

No experts

We need to start to dig 

With our fingernails

It's inevitable

We could feel it

We stuck around

Out of fear and habit

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These appetites fall on a spectrum

From the base to the obscure

Leaving us in the middle 

Hungry and insecure

You dive to the right

I fall to the left

Something aligns behind our eyes

At best, it's a guess

At one thousand miles an hour

The planet spins 

Our bodies both moving and inert 

Take the hits

Into the middle of the spectrum

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Today was desperate

Tomorrow's out of your grasp

Give it everything you got

Every chance is your last

Memorizing pieces of plot

Don't help the act

Curtain comes down

On your sleight of hand

If you could change anything 

You'd ask for a cigarette and a mask

Is that a second-line you hear

Every chance is your last

The girl appear...

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They put me in a shape that didn't fit 

I'm not out of shape; just out of it

Hit me once just to try it 

It was a hit so they milked it

We go from indifference

To bursting at the seams

A glitch of biology

Without meaning

Start the discussion

About the shape of the room

The emotional repercussions 

Of all those angles 

Cornering me a...

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Oh! the people 

You'll meet

Who will go 

Through you

What'll stick

Who'll leave

Monuments 

Under surfaces

It's a wonderful 

Thing she says 

To no one 

In particular

While looking 

For an actor

To fit the costume 

She keeps

In the back 

Of her closet

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Bandcamp

Others 

We dedicate our lives to others

In an uneasy truce

Helping them in our thoughts 

They respond by giving us work

And we ask for more

And they ask for more

An escalation 

Without pause 

Everything's gone

Dangerous and beautiful

We're left trying to remember

How everything worked

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New Spoken Word

BandCamp

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Want you to know 
The empire is listening

Present you with some 
Graphic organizers

Feel you’re not completely 
Useless

Secretly wanting 
To be loved 

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I keep an ironic distance from you

When you’re eating people

I telegraph my disapproval 

To those in the know

My actions are subject to interpretation 

By a certain circle of theorists 

New research will confirm

The ideas floating around

And when they scream in pain

And I slightly flinch

It reads as solidarity

To readers in distant markets

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The stupid adults 

Tell us what we do is wrong

What could they know about

Being young

They’ve forgotten

They’re scared of

What we’ll become

They can’t imagine 

Where we go

Where these thoughts take us

What do they know about 

This world they’ve created

Beyond their control

They never got it 

Now it eats them

Whole

The stupid adult...

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Executive time

There are pictures of you in a swimsuit
Pictures of you with a fish
Of you on a camel
Of you in Tibet

But we eventually come to
We eventually meet 
The sad reality 
Beneath your feet

Like photos on Instagram
Donate to save the bees
Attend the conference on children
Vote for progressive people

But when you’re alone
Charging your phone
You’re one on one 
With t...

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You can find audio chapbooks of my work here:

https://www.audible.com/author/Bob-Gaulke/B07MNRL18Y?fbclid=IwAR28LyMjgbf-eITy1nvzaiQQFnl3uIBOeZvJKBy_YTyRzPT-y77fc6LUufM

Thanks for listening, Bob G

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teacher dreams

he wanted to retire 

to never learn anything again 

to walk upside down 

with his pants on his head

his scrotum behind a pair 

of glasses and a mustache

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The hard rely on the soft
To remind them when they’re wrong
To comfort, soothe, and forgive them 
For what they’ve done

The soft hold onto the hard
To do what they don’t want to think of
Without a word mentioned 
Just to ease their guilty thoughts

And when the pressure comes
When time slices on the diagonal
And confessions fly off the handle
There’s no looking back 
Just forwa...

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Me: $&@“”@@@-/::;(;;
Him: [}#%*¥€#££*£><~~~
Me: <>^^#<\\??!’hcsff
Him: :;)):3;)7&@“9&

Back inside:

Both: How may we help you?

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Construction Time

out of the ground after months 
the forms rise and multiply
 
on the horizon straight from your mouth
its concept’s been realized
 
you have to block out everything now 
got to be blind to the chaos 

got to climb those walls 
maybe then it’ll exist 

behind closed doors 
schemes are planned 
money changes men 
love’s opposite 

you can’t get close 
can’t sta...

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I’m stuck in an era 
I can’t get out of
I’ve tried several times 
nothing’s turned me on 

the dancing lacks grace 
the painting’s a mess 
and the sex is nothing 
to write home about

what’s up with the kids
they want to grow up 
when exactly did it all
go south

all this shooting 
with predictable faces
it’s like they’ve never 
heard of love

time machine’s broken 
but you’re...

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there’s a part of you 

the lower half of you

that’s attracted to something 

bigger meaner stronger dumber

all that common sense 

education logic and science

sheds on the floor 

torn like clothes 

and that part of you

that karmic part of you

wants to know how 

it feels to the world 

to do what you’ve done to it

how you’ve stepped on it 

used ...

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She just keeps yelling
Threatening to call his mom
Give him detention

Why can’t he be like Leslie 
She reads perfectly 
Has her homework ready

He leaves the room
Stealing the bathroom pass
Looking for his friends

He takes a book off the shelf
Told the class is doing something else 
Reaching for his phone

Forgetting it’s not there 
Comes over to remind him
Another zero an...

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The men are served hot chocolate 

In a wide cup without a handle

They are offered a variety of baked goods

Inevitably choosing the chocolate chip cookie

The servers are thin, traditionally attractive 

Female college students

Evoking feelings of melancholia and desire 

while the gentleman at the register demands 15 dollars

Their shock at this price i...

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The Perfect Death

I visited the place 
Where I was once stuck
And had time to take in 
The scenery for once

It was overwhelming 
In its lushness
Almost sensual
Overpowering memories

As I walked familiar ways 
Reminded by the music 
We used to play I dreamed 
We were back in those places

Sweetness almost nausea
Overcame me
I laid down under a tree 
A sweet whiff of methane c...

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Mondays

You take pictures of yourself 

When you’re alone

Being in both places at once

How to hold yourself

That’s yet 

To be worked out

Movies speak to you

Songs sing in your ears

Dancers press against your body

(If you could only do

Something with your hands 

There’d be less to worry about)

What was skill was maybe luck

Sense of p...

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The minute you stop screaming
They think they have some 
Freedom or something

They pull things 
Out of their pockets
They adjust their hair

And start touching 
Each other
Which is very not ok

So even though it’s hard to think
And scream at the same time
You must do it it works

It’s tolerated 
if not encouraged 
By higher ups

Institutions 
Like ours 
Thrive on silenc...

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Everything’s breathing 
Expanding contracting
In a rhythm 
Climaxing like my
Bank account 
Sometimes I go 
Against the rhythm
Enjoying the friction 
As much as anything else
That reminds me 
I’m alive

(Pasta for dinner again)

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situational insanity

in another context we’re lovers

in this context we’re enemies

sent pictures of your kitty

after I finished the painting 

interviews about the mission

pretending to trust our opinions 

buried now legalese 

threatened but feeling open

body works automatically

skill covers enthusiasm lacking 

but at some point we were...

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Wait Staff

we pile out between the kitchen 
and dumpster to catch our breaths 
reliving highlights of what seems 
critical to us and meaningless to them

we inhabit these moments for minutes 
can take them out and shake them 
until they’ve been shot through 
with enough laughter and indignation

to drown several steaks in butter 
and sometimes we get stuck on 
the inanities of the w...

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I get so angry 

seeing you use 

all my little tricks

my hustles exposed

done over 

with different accents 

I wanna give you 

the lecture 

to hit us where it hurts

anticipating 

your indignation

I’m there at the net 

I play things over

and over in my mind

with slow-motion analysis 

then I see you

and 

everything d...

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enacting the rite 

sending the signs 

she got the code

you got the lines

gift you can’t touch 

love you can’t hold 

nuns folding laundry 

statues in the dark

on a trajectory 

you can feel

familiar figure 

behind the wheel 

familiar tragedy 

over as farce

piercing zero 

only once 

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