“Welcome”
a robot effigy of painted aluminium
on its face a vestigial smile
chill, uncharismatic and instant,
voicing through it
like rasping metallic file,
a platinum echo, distant.
Its unmoving countenance
worn like a habit, a shiny mask, ill-fit
the smirk of a smile sewn on,
with crayon drawn on,
it did not move as if to prove
a robotic ability as ventriloquist.
I was transfixed
with words that keenly gnawed:
“You have been thawed.”
I looked around with icy perception,
with roving eye and no movement of limb,
where had I been?
As my body warmed and my limbs gained inflection,
so my mind was pierced with icicles of truth
of a previous existence and a distant youth.
It’s all coming back now,
it had worked somehow:
Cryogenics.
A tall fellow strolled on a beach abroad
Along a cream-like sandy shore unflawed,
He tripped on a small shell
And fell with a sharp yell,
Lying on the ground while all his teeth gnawed.
beneath the golden hues
lurks the befall of proud expanse of greens of yore
sun they chewed!
colour facade
gnawed warmth, melancholy gore
what fraud!!
In lust
of nature's core
dust!!!
beneath the golden hues
gnawed warmth, melancholy gore
dust!!!
more so than gnawed wishbones
cold on a plate in the sink
next to an empty wine glass
(still purple)
Last night left room
for more than life can offer
My feet are here on old carpets:
all orange, blue, raging yellow patterns
(the coarse and unforgiving fiber)
I misalign meanings
while angles insult me,
tilting this house I call a home
while everyone I love sleeps
I stare at the circle
on my leg-
ringworm and a swollen tendon
on the same side
God stopped looking
when I needed him most
and the goldenrod is growing
so I know that fall is here
I am not Odysseus
“Just as this snake devoured
the sparrow and her children, eight of them,
their mother making nine, so we all fight
this war at Troy for nine years. In the tenth,
we take the city with its spacious streets”
Me oh my I spy with my little eye
The climate crisis they still deny
The sleuth’s proofs they will defy
Ruthless with truths they just lie
An evangelist tryst as we all fry
Oligarchy malarkey is their ally
Shout read the book of Malachi
It either floods or is drought dry
Biblical not whimsical we all cry
Facts cloaks with pacts on the sly
Pokes broke folks as try to get by
Acts wry impunity from on high
Tracts of woke jokes.. on the fly
Elite phalanx craved the whole pie
As each raved I am a stand up guy
Banks our future on a computer tie
Skanks everyone thanks really why?
Everything tanks but saved by AI?
Fossil fuel fools with a limited supply
Flawed but adored as no rules apply
Share prices soared on the vices rely
Fires roared here & abroad we reply
Renewable’s doable & cheap to buy
Maraud with their fraud we all sigh
Abhorred just give our planet a MRI
Everything gnawed comply we all die
Sandwich board says the end is nigh
So if there's a Lord look up to the sky
This place —cold and famished,
abandoned —
Recalling issues of broken mortars
And mildewed, hinge-leaning pestles . . .
Desiccated and forlorn,
Like a lychgate in a church of battle,
This place reeks of unholiness, with the
Spring of wild, rioting grass, invading
Where we hitherto gathered and sat the
Setting sun out of the wilting clouds.
Fragile fraternity hangs on the decaying soot
Of fireplace metal basket, rusty and time-dispersed.
The unknown saw has gnawed mightily
At our sacred trees and our shrines have crumbled;
Broken doors and lintels devoured by wood ants
Raise questions about wood dust lodging at
Our lungs.
There’s cold serenity here, my kinsman —
And a rift of dismemberment.
My name is Captain Thomas Blake
William’s company commander
I am very sorry for the loss of your son
at the hands of a sniper
I did not get to know him as he was assigned
to my company only a week ago
I have enclosed his personal effects:
1. a sepia toned picture of a young woman holding a
baby boy with Mom and Me in black marker scrawled on the back
2. an envelope with the name Susie written in feminine hand on
the front containing a love letter from her
3. a well gnawed penicil and tattered notebook-
your son was an excellent poet
4. one dog eared Gideon New Testament
5. the Scot Terrier token from Monopoly
wrapped in a zip lock bag
It is with deepest regret we can only return these enclosed
items and not your living son.
With humble regards
Capt. Thomas Blake
Co. A
1st Battalion
504th Inf. Reg
82nd Airborne Div.
One more soul succumbed to the darkness
The darkness slowly gnawed at their brain
An isolated battle fought in silence
As complete darkness pumps through their veins
At times the darkness fades
Allowing the light in ….with hope to endure and reign
Though sadly those times are short lived
As the darkness returns deeper and triumphant again!
In the land of Wonky Woo
big tuxi cat meowed a moo.
By crone spells he chewed cud
He rolled about in sloppy mud.
A squeaky mouse feared no flack
and sprang upon his spotted back
to weave a nest of bouncy moss
show moo cat who was boss.
Grey, tiny forms and wood lice
gnawed his ears with tasty spice.
“Blank page, so much potential,”
the demons chant with the devil.
“Winning over their souls is essential,
we need to use them as our vessel.”
“Blank page, there is beauty in the flawed,”
the angels roar while praising God.
“I know the path ahead isn’t an easy one to trod.
I’ve seen the battles you’ve fought—scratched, clawed, and gnawed.”
The soul meets God face to face.
The devil’s there, making accusations and pointing blame.
But Jesus stands on defense.
He says, “I already took your place.”
written by Lillyana Little
Soft and fragile, the black petals lay.
A hand plucked it, tucking sorrow in its pocket.
A venomous sting struck the chest;
desperate, agonized, the body convulsed.
Shallow breaths lingered—
pain devoured the blood of the soul.
Prickings gnawed at flesh;
a scream rose for release, alone.
The rose mocked the trembling frame,
whispering: “Pass me on.”
Its constraints laid bare,
it warned of bleeding more petals
for the next to bear.
The offered chance was welcomed,
unaware of the treachery it held.
Since then, the hurt loops endlessly,
leaving a black, glimmering petal
upon each bosom.
The cursed rose still hunts a worthy hand;
humans pass it on,
wrapped in bruises and despair.
Everyone bears a petal now—
while one shoulders
the ever-growing curse.
And the black rose waits…
for the final heart to shatter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was born of trembling stone,
cold and sharp, unnamed, alone~
then the rains came, soft and slow,
whispering, You must flow.
I carved my path with silver teeth,
gnawed the earth beneath my feet,
sang the songs the rocks had taught me,
wore the valleys down to naught.
Men arrived with nets and prayers,
called me holy, called me theirs,
built their temples near my back~
I drowned them when I chose to crack.
Now I am old, but not yet tired,
my body wide, my voice entire.
I swallow sunsets, spit out stars,
while the moon strokes my scars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The windmill groaned before the dawn,
her hands already chapped with dawn-tasks,
his fingers practicing Braille lessons on the kitchen table~
both stiff-backed and deliberate,
both heavy with the weight of wheat and words.
Fifteen names,
each one dug into the earth like fence posts:
Clarabell, Dulce, John, Stanley,
each syllable hauled up from the well
with aching shoulders.
The schoolhouse smelt of ink and sweat,
of small hands learning Braille and
the shape of silence,
while their own children ran wild
between rows of corn,
half-feral, half-holy.
Drought years gnawed at the ledger,
but the well never ran dry~
only deeper,
only darker.
At dusk, they counted heads by lamplight,
his thumb brushing her cracked knuckles,
her voice a rasp of hymns and harvest.
They buried two.
Thirteen grew tall as sunflowers.
The Kansas prairie took what it was owed~
calluses, sweat, sleep~
but left them standing,
left them leaning into each other
like split-rail fences
in a wind that never stills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
an octopus inks
through neural currents—
that gap between synapses
holds the ocean's depth
no illusions dissolved
silence stretches
till the Ego snaps~
its craving a rusted trap
gnawed clean by tides
abandoned on sand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
her gaze pinned on that crumbling silhouette~
ribs of stone gnawed by centuries
as violet bleeds through the parapets
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