An armadillo leaned on a fence,
too wilted to muster a proper defense.
His cowboy hat slouched
like a biscuit overbrowned,
his dignity having long since left town.
The relentless sun blazed down with cheer,
roasting the pasture for the fifteenth month this year.
Grasshoppers staggered.
Mesquite trees panted.
Even the buzzards looked disenchanted.
The dillo squinted west and sighed,
I reckon I'm medium-well inside.
One more degree
and y'all will see
roadside jerky where I used to be."
A bead of sweat rolled down his snout.
He watched it fall. He watched it sizzle.
"Autumn," he grumbled,
"has missed her exit.
She's probably lost near Abilene."
The fence post offered little aid.
The shade was merely shade-adjacent.
He tipped one claw
to his hat and said,
"If anybody spots October,
tell it I'm awaitin'."
Weird Witch cunning most sitting with scary ghost
eating rotten mutton toast and burnt butter toast.
Octopus spinning twisting terrifying tentacles
Witty Witch showing black magic, doing miracles.
Ghostly Gibbous Moon peeps through clouds, winks wizard.
Nocturnal owl whirling eyes turns back to attack limping lizard.
Eight eyes of black widow sparkled through wide window.
Moon cast ghostly shadow os shrubs in adjacent meadow.
Vigorous going on scry Halloween Dance.
All are exulted , hated to miss the chance.
Violent Viper always hyper continue shedding tears
' I love you , Dear' to whisper close to my ears.
Wicked Witch danced in guise of Fairy.
Suddenly showed her face weird scary.
Emerald eyed Mini Cat chased macro mouse.
arranging party in dark haunted log house.
Jumper Vampire hugged me swift to inspire.
gifting , a shiny sapphire : Me ! About to expire.
Vultures and Hawks coming in flocks ringing gingle bells.
Me in party at haunted house trembling and heart fails.
Sometimes I sit and I ponder.
I ponder about my lacquered erudition.
I ponder about my varnished rectitude.
I ponder about my penning acquiescence.
The insipid tedium of my veins questions my oblivion to a stupor so stark to the glorification of my solitude.
I ponder its adjacent to the extolment of my void.
The seething flame sanctifies the feigning rot of my lungs as I inhale the melancholy of your lips.
Something so soothing.
Something so soaring.
Something so laboriously stinging.
I desire for the salvation of sin;
To tattoo your words on my tongue.
To swallow my decay in your blood.
To fuse your disparity on my webs.
I sit and I ponder.
Am I so inured to the metal of these bars, I distort the culpable intimacy of still yet existing in one?
And thereafter, I ponder whether my silver ashes will ever dare to utter the sinister sacrilege of my syllables.
Elizabeth Willing Powel: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarch?”
Ben Franklin, leaving the 1787 Constitutional Convention: “A republic, if you can keep it”.
~ from the Jame McHenry Journal, Library of Congress
Power to the people, as they say.
The founding fathers wanted it that way.
They had to be brave and risk their necks,
write a constitution to put the powers in check.
They didn't want a king or autocrat,
so they had to fight and not lay down flat.
Now, in its two hundred-fiftieth year,
let's make sure it doesn't disappear.
According to the constitution's plan,
too much power is not in the hands of one man.
If we should become complacent,
we'll become dictator-adjacent,
and as the story history will tell
such countries don't turn out so well.
The founders told us we must fight,
to preserve our every right.
SIMPLE GESTURES
frequent
figures
presenting
emotive
rhetoric
& active
commune
ideas
in
encounters
sustaining
split-minded
monumental
eccentric
adjacent
spheres
in
stark
holistic
prismatic
intellectual
kindred
senses
captivated
affinity
proclaimed
&formalised
in
purist
murals
depicting
contemporary
trapezoidals
The Hawk that we share within
Horizon leading to the cos of event
Adjacent, hypotenuse opposite intent
The Hen we find in the sin.
A driving trip to someplace new,
Complete with water views,
Made my birthday very special,
Just the weekend I would choose.
Included was a mansion tour,
A river walk and meal
At a lovely local place, which had
A cozy, warm appeal.
Of course, throughout the day were lots
Of texts and calls for me,
Plus an ice cream stop to make the time
As happy as could be.
The weather held, the sun came out,
Our room, adjacent to
A marina, with its bobbing boats -
All better than we knew.
Today we drove past wineries
And farms with cows and sheep,
Enough to fill my dreams
When, one year older, I will sleep.
Ahhh! Ahhhh!
So close, ever so close
Adjacent I see you
Such colorful view
Immediate all eyes on you,
Beloved Beautiful
Though far away
No distance in prayer
Whispers
I hear you close.I see you close.I feel you close a witness of this.You're my host hush just be still
If It's to be His will. Our Father's will
He'll be Our host close
Adjoining devoted
I feel.\nYou nearby
Concluded dearly bosom
Future covenant touch
Ever so close , i've noticed you consciously observant is to breathe the breath
We soul share so see me sotoh me when you touch such ooooh ahhh
Just be a host we'll be close
3/23/26
Written by James Edward Lee Sr 2023
261.
My 41st Leaf
Removed thee from twig
That is not so big
If closely observed
It's stylishly curved
Unfamiliar one!
A Nuk-Nuk owns thee
Not able to see
I am with classmates
Enriching our faiths
We're with our teachers
From beach I've just been
Where sunrise I've seen
Beautiful morning
So fresh everything
Ninth day of third month
On Baybay seaside
Domicile beside
On landscape simple
Ad mired by nimble
Adjacent to porch
It's our Retreat Day
This pretty Sunday
MAT Soc. Sci.
This moment we're nigh
As Filamerians!
-03/09-10/2014
(Dumarao)
*My Toladas Collection
We waited for the coat check
Since our winter garb is bulky
And schlepping it around could make
Us feel a little sulky.
The Met was far from crowded
Yet the line was barely crawling.
We inched along impatiently;
As members, it was galling.
At last we made it to the front;
No claim checks were presented.
Instead, you tapped your number
On a keypad; none dissented.
When we were set to leave,
After a lovely afternoon,
We lined up once again,
Our crawl repeating much too soon.
But as we zipped our jackets up,
I noticed that adjacent
To the line we left was one where
Not one person was impatient.
For it was meant for members,
Which describes our situation.
Had we known about it sooner,
We’d have saved some aggravation.
Kissing feels tender, a disguise for the horde,
Horde murmurs compliment, their voices very showy,
Showy rings of consent, heavy inside,
Inside the stillness, factual hotness must skin.
Skin the cuddle, keep space in prospect,
Prospect of love trimmed down to courteous,
Courteous shrugs remain, but craving is departed,
Departed remains the hug where affection once excelled.
Excelled like a blaze, now dimmed to a kiss,
Kiss without arms leaves something erroneous,
Erroneous seems the heart that shrinks to appear,
Appear stout outside, but feeble when adjacent.
Poem by N. Mugisho
The river was slender, like mysteries ineffable,
Ineffable the lane where guilt takes hold,
Hold of his heart becoming as heavy as stone.
Stone was her past, engraved abysmal in skin,
Skin bore the veracity, though concealed within,
Within his pledges, sadness did mature.
Mature like a shadow, stretched in the darkness,
Darkness was a reflection rejecting the nimble,
Nimble of her purity, gone like the torrent.
Torrent had banks too adjacent
Adjacent for a body to slide easily
Easily to stretch for fear of hurt.
Poem by N. Mugisho
If prayers can be heard, so ought my thoughts;
Some parts of me wish to establish a permanence
while omitting any whisk of a thought;
Persistence relishing in the absence of any consideration of a cost.
More parts of me wish to be of service
to a world with a growing desire of distance;
With a recipe for creating treasures that can never rust nor find the fingers of thieving hands;
leading corrosion away from trust.
A batter for the desire to live within expanding opportunity, sacrificing a self for the growth of an "us."
A foundational stone to a community.
A structure to bear difference
Like the strongest pallbearer's palm.
Yet before anything may ever become.
Please refresh my sights upon the world where my own visions have unwittingly grown tyrannical in efforts to enable of what I hope to be an Eden;
Let it be
And let it be greatly inimitable
for all
52.
My 9th Leaf
Got thee from small vase
Old décor replace
Host plant of 1st Leaf
Thrown away no grief
Diff'rent “fortune” plant
Planted by father
Installed there after
I was there when placed
A little so fazed
First leaf's host no more
Third day October
Sunset was nearer
While feeling not well
I'm under cold spell
Drinking I fruit juice
Just inside our house
Living room, oh browse
On vase first leaf was
‘Lil water still has
Buddhas adjacent
Simple day only
Not planned – truthfully
Just went to Passi
Withdrew some money
Wilted 1st Leaf host.
-10/03/2011
(Dumarao)
*My Toladas Collection
Breathing droplets, a nail in the coffin.
Here lies the fabric of hopes and dreams.
I need her.
But what do I need her for, I wonder?
I can’t rewrite the history of my heart.
One sided mirrors, a headless coin.
Hearts ablaze, weapons high.
March into battle, afraid.
Quicksand amongst a graveyard of flowers.
Frozen water on The River Styx.
Look at what you’ve wrought.
Until your heart is truly freed,
you will be enslaved by thought alone.
I can’t see the end of the horizon.
Her hand is out of reach.
Why can’t she see it?
My intangible soul claims another pair of eyes.
Red, yellow, and white roses adjacent to worms.
As the day dwindles into night, an awful truth dawns.
In the mist of the icy purple fog,
the blooming dies with the dying light.
Arise, my black rose.
It’s not possible,
King Hades’ prophecy is the law.
Immobile in the snow, my skin peels.
As she walks centuries away from where I stand,
I have no choice but to collapse into the roots.
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