Thank you so much Frederick for reading and your like - the young man in question was left with mental health issues that will plague him for the rest of his life. He is unable to work, it is another 'if only' story.

Comment is about PAUL ( A second time round for this poem ) (blog)

Original item by Flyntland

A great poem, Russell. Yes, we only have one life, so why waste it on Ant and Dec?

Comment is about Death in polite society is quieter. (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

Point to ponder upon. Hope it falls on deaf ears of our government.

May be some good soul prayed to God To save humanity at the start of pandemic and God accepted her prayer. She can pray again. 😃 😊

Comment is about Question (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

Thank you for your comment. May souls heal indeed. God bless.

Comment is about A Lie To Break Your Heart (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Second coming of Jesus I believe the world awaits to restore and reorder everything.

Find peace in the chaos
Find tranquility in tornadoes
Pray and soul feels rejuvenated instantly.

Comment is about A New Horizon must Dawn (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

This is beautiful. 💕

Comment is about Lady Desiree (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Intense. May our souls heal.💕

Comment is about A Lie To Break Your Heart (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Many thanks, Stephen.
And thanks for the Like, Julie.

Comment is about THE PONTEFRACT SHAGNASTY THREE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Very funny,and a little sad. A celebration of life, in a way, and with great intelligence of feeling. Fabulous Russell.

Comment is about Death in polite society is quieter. (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

Spot on,Stephen. I've certainly felt the same. Love the ending. Very funny and quite sad. Bravo! 😀

Comment is about Reflections (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Thanks for the comments Russell and Stephen. Love the feedback. 😀
I didn't have to dredge my memory much. It is yesterday I can't remember! 😂
Thanks for the likes Flyntland, Stephen A, Frederick and Nigel. 👍

Comment is about Not Long Ago (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Thanks for the likes.,

Comment is about Innocent And Young (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

Thanks for the likes and kind comment Keith.

Comment is about First Of September (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

🤣🤣 classic

Comment is about THE PONTEFRACT SHAGNASTY THREE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I think you are speaking for all of us 'oldies' - in a nutshell, who can we trust? where can we turn to regain a sense of security?
Your last line is not exaggerated. I shall retreat behind our tall trees - shut the front door - and turn to my laptop.

Comment is about A New Horizon must Dawn (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thankyou, Stephen. The wonderful culture of West Yorkshire.
And thanks for the Likes, Russell and Frederick.

Comment is about THE PONTEFRACT SHAGNASTY THREE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

One of my earlier 'haunts' 'In another lifetime'.

Comment is about lamborghini 1.jpg (photo)

Original item by Grant Leonard Aspinall

Another of my earlier haunts in another lifetime.

Comment is about Casino Square Monaco. (photo)

Original item by Grant Leonard Aspinall

One of my earlier 'Haunts' 'In another lifetime'.

Comment is about lamborghini 1.jpg (photo)

Original item by Grant Leonard Aspinall

It takes one back, John. "Brut furty-free splash-on" - I can still see the advert.
Great poem.

Comment is about Not Long Ago (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Brought tears to my eyes, John.

What was that someone said about jockeys? "Those little blokes never go short in that department". Now we know why!

Champion stuff.

Comment is about THE PONTEFRACT SHAGNASTY THREE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Frederick , Stephen, Holden and John thank yoou all for reading and liking my poem

Comment is about MOOD MUSIC (blog)

Original item by Flyntland

My youth, including the Hai Karate

Comment is about Not Long Ago (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Thank you Moonlight 😊

Comment is about Death in polite society is quieter. (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

So true Nigel. 🌷

Comment is about Pause (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Beautifully written Nigel. I appreciate your words. Thank you🌷

Comment is about Garden of sleep (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Life n death immortalized in this piece. Marvelous 💖

Comment is about Death in polite society is quieter. (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

Thank you Nigel.🌷

Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Have a lovely day Nigel 💐

Comment is about Have a nice day (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Yes. Its a strong powerful and impactfull transmission😇

Comment is about Few good men (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

It's always God's power working in us. We on our own can't do much.

Thank you Nigel🌷

Comment is about Divine power (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Troubles never end, we only master the art of facing them boldly and strongly.....

Thank you Nigel🌷

Comment is about Unlove the love (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

A very strong boat indeed. Thank you Nigel🌷

Comment is about Hello friend!!! (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Thank you Nigel. And I'll definitely continue.🌷

Comment is about Good morning 🌹 (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Heart, soul, body and mind.....with Peace and divine happiness......its bliss Nigel.

Thank you🌷

Comment is about Blissfulness (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

That of course we should Nigel. Right guidance, straight path.🌷

Comment is about Queries (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Ivory— The Collection (2022) by Valencia (Lenciaga) Benjamin
Intro
Subsidiary (2022)—
By Valencia Benjamin
The world’s greatest portion// was given to thought/to the power of it//to slumbers in winters//to the cries of silent children/who never whispered to the living. —
when I was younger/I practiced dying//to focus on the living//it was traitorous/to the vessel//but I did it//thought to protect it//this vessel/those/ parts of me//not worth losing.
Me.
Humph/a cliché for your thoughts— a little poison/ for/your/life; to know me.
The parts that happen (ed)// a cliché;
/and when there is silence/and you become all of what prophecy left you//will you devour what is left to live?
//for your thoughts…to give;
//Only to see what a God meant//a cliché.
The Brave Heart
… to hide behind words//I’m too much of passion for that//I get too much from passion// for that. So, all— no, every word I have/ is full of dramatist//and despondency//and triumphs; sacrifices//and heartbreak/s.

In total silence I can create a thousand worlds. And in a world of a thousand/I can get lost in anonymity//to be free (of it).

I could never surrender the only freedom that binds me. So, I search between the irony//the words/to get to the truth//
to actually live.
And so, I found a pen/and a binded tree//and I learned a little more about me.




Broken Islands (2022)
The word is indigo; intuitive, like rainforests.
There is something else there, searching and wanting.
Underneath the climates is human flesh, pulling and kneading summers out of thinned airs.
Upheavals, there—
shining light on hollowed dirt.

Only,
they missed the message within it.
The soil quaked; ached, and gave more.
Within its belly were veins/and/vines, which pulsed and sent out fragrant letters// whispers even.

Growing from all of this, were the smiles of children, whose teeth were stained with the melons, with the strawberries— and the red berries. And here//there, was no poison.

The word is indigo.
Intuitive.

There are African tribes in it; and there are no flags in this.
The wind met its lover, which is the rain;
And, perhaps, the children stopped smiling when they made love.
Perhaps, the rain hid their tears/then.

Every space has meaning/just as the words do.
Every orgasm/too.
And human flesh knew the meaning of it/because it was the flesh that had been broken for love.
And there, in here, is the woman who bore the first bruise//where it had been bro/ken.
She levitated and stayed behind shadows, like a ghost.
Time had plucked her like a harp; and her whimpers had turned into fables, which turned into songs, which turned into slang; everlasting. She is where forever goes to see/ again.
Inside, behind the skin, is where her music plays; this is where we learned her word.
The word is indigo.
Extended:
Captured.
Intuitive;
And everlasting.
The last part of legacies: the smiling and weeping children in the rain.
The children of oceans//and reefs.

Venus (2022)— Valencia Benjamin

Welcome to the sex palace:

I am the one who will give you the orgasm.
I will speak explicitly to you// and you-will-come.
And what is the purpose of any of that? —

Look at my thighs.
Look at my caramel: ain’t the skin all golden/and sweet?
See where I open and release (?); note where you should be.

Give me lilacs for my body’s poetry,
and I’ll make it lavender and sweat, and …sex.
… and I’ll make it plume and ascend;
I will give you your thirst; and you-will-come.

Look at me,
All skin and teeth,
with breasts that speak,
and lips that part with the setting.

Give me your plot and tone and I will make-you-come.
Call me home/and/heaven; and I will open gates with worlds inside/ like planets;
far from satellites and nebulas.

Part my lips and taste my song.
Open my belly // lick/ my sound.
Caress my thighs with your tongue and hands;
tell my spine your secrets.
Place love inside of your liquids/ and I will make them oceans and lakes.
Kiss my cliffs/ and open my silk//again.

Look at me.
Love me. —
Come.

Dissociative Countenance (2022)—
Perhaps the valley made something of the mountainous light;
the rumble from thin air makes me think of you
… it’s ironic because you are the love in me that shadows romance.
And in love I make countenance/a covenant// a promise; no paper could ever sum it.

And, this:
I never told you anything.
You don’t know what my life turned into//without you.
Outside of it/ no spite grew.
I became insightful; spoke the words again;

ignored your soul— the wind, made me notice//defend.

I don’t especially know when, but//
the concrete within/released and piqued. —
I love you.

There are fundamental things that we/didn’t speak.
And that had become a ritual/habit/u/al/ly meek.
We’re artists// we meet—
Had met in cesuras on rhythm/in drums/on feet.
Every society saw your face/I- fade into streets.


Who you love attacks me.

It’s quite frank, quite obvious.
Another ritual; a different reason/ to pause/ in this.
Humph//we’d/ make/ good strangers/ to one another.
Like good intentions in parliaments.
I won’t waste your time w/applausin’/ shit.

We/ have work to do//I understand the excuse.
I understand you’re profuse;
And it could be abuse.
I was unhinged; I am few.
I turned around; it was you.
Don’t understand that one clue,
cause where you stand was in two/
like there is me, there was you.
Anew.
And/ I knew,
Like know, that I’ll get attack for the glow.

Time has been merciful to me in some sense;
I can breathe in the love.

It does not smother me,
Or weather me,
Or make me forget;
I love you.
Quiet Happiness (2022)—
I can accept it;
And it is just as well that I celebrate you.

People expect me to be concerned with their perception of me/of you//
It’s almost pitiful/could be//if I wasn’t so empathetic//prophetic.

I understand the distance;
Could neva’ make it about jealousy.
People want to hear the hurt in me; I get it. —
But I won’t live it.

I can express myself without being livid;
speak sincerely, even when angered.

But I’m exhausted…
I’ll send you some energy/still.

…there are things that you don’t understand.
There are things that have happened to me that you do not see,
That you will not seek.

So//understand this once movement:
I /celebrate you/with the foolhardy and the insiders//
And without envy or malice.
I understand the distance//and the affinities between us.

It is not a chasm/or some special void;
Nor is it the categories that classicism constructed,
I am your shadow//not your flesh.

Anubis rising in the phoenix/ to meet the abstract creation/spinning symbols into emotions that flipped the tide in you//
celebrating your crushed velvet/admiring the flecks of gold in your eyes//that made you shy when you were younger//because you had perceived the definition of causes inside of bones that had whispered to you, many lessons; celebrating your reflections, your redemptions//your hidden mentions.

Salud:
To your preludes,
To your monologues,
To your poetics,
To your song,
And to your dance;
To the ethics that made you share them,
To the purpose of your land.

thank you.



Ivory Hearts (2022)—
Don’t blame me/ ‘cause I don’t give a fuck.
I’m some like stone too.
Feminine/with shackles to break at 3.

Shit, I wear gold on everything;
And I got diamonds for teeth.
I make notions knowledge.
I finished/ everything/ I started.

I make love;
I don’t- give- a- fuck.
And that stone that I mentioned// completes the preamble/
I grew up.
- I fucked, and I made love,

Learned which one was worth more the hard way.
Humph, wasn’t made for the class.

In brass, I turned in on myself and made myself a lover.
I eventually found another.

I told the truth— my truth.
Gone in poofs, like shunned Arabians;
Nomadic.

They turned me invisible; homeless.
Unshackled.
Outside of prisons and matrixes.


Purposeful.
Exploding.
Magical;
Unlearning the social condition.

Black/
And beautiful//
Attacked matter;

Flesh broken and bleeding; open-ed/ without the scar to prove it.

The Mind rendering the minds, until everything looks like the universe again;
Until normal becomes the malady/and the nightmare;
Until intelligence conceives the reality in a manner that makes empathy go to babel.

Make stories turn to pure light,
Until my daughter’s lips sing, and my son’s eyes search the trees for the winds I know.
…until they tell their elders about the moors in their bones// that talk of secrets and legacies//I know.
Until my own lover sees what I gave her too/ and let her own mind meet// with my heart.


A prayer becomes a manifest,
and the ivory of elephants picks up my soul and carries me home.

The trumpets bleed for my wounds, and I heal.

And, I will bring back home to her; and she will smile genuinely at me;
Because/ I had made love of it; and/ I had given all of me.

Comment is about Ivory (The Collection) (blog)

Original item by Lenciaga

Thanks for pointing out that line Graham, I was aware of the terrible finality of the act.

Ray

Comment is about PIERREPOINT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Ray, the last line is the killer (literally)!

Comment is about PIERREPOINT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thank you Frederick, Holden, Stephen, KL, and Massoud. Yes, in our arrogance we dismiss too easily that which we fail to understand. As you say, hopefully, in time, our minds will open to all those unknown unknowns that surround us and we know nothing of.

“Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
― C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Comment is about Against the Grain (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

To Stephen Atkinson and Holden - - thank you.

Comment is about SOLDERS OF UKRAIN (blog)

Original item by Flyntland

Thank you Keith & Julie (it'll come Julie 😂)
And for the likes Frederick, Ray, Holden, Stephen & Purplemoon 🌈🌷

Comment is about Reflections (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

I align myself with Germanic mythology surrounding trees.

It is easy to dismiss the followers of GAIA, at least for now...that may not always be so.

Provocative thoughtful writing, as ever.

Comment is about Against the Grain (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Maybe with a little help from the spirits of the wood? People dismiss the 'fanciful' at their peril. I hope the decision turned out well for you Ray. Thanks for your continued support. John

Comment is about Against the Grain (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you Greg it is rewarding to get comments.

Comment is about SOLDERS OF UKRAIN (blog)

Original item by Flyntland

We should let him guide us
Then if getting it wrong
He will guide us again
To put us on the right path.😳

Comment is about Queries (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

To have all of the above
You would not seek any other.💕

Comment is about Blissfulness (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Each day something new
To read a poem
From a Moonlight view.💗

Comment is about Good morning 🌹 (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

From the pool
I pull hard
To board a boat
I call friendship.💪

Comment is about Hello friend!!! (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Your heart shed tears
Your spirit stayed strong
Your troubles when ended
Your heart loved once more.😰

Comment is about Unlove the love (blog)

Original item by Sunshine