Long Badlands Poems

Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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Recluse by dint of circumstance

Proud anonymous troglodytes 
forerunners of mine
confronted threats less horrific
than forty fifth commander in chief
of United States of America.

He/him (matted hair, ratty, scrawny, 
and tetchy ugly villain)   
scurried into dark...

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The Ending at Wounded Knee

This is what happened:
Two worlds collided,
And the elder one died.

Pony soldiers and Indian police,
Triggerhappy and jumping at shadows,
Killed Sitting Bull at Pine Ridge;
     His horse pawed the...

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A rising sun burns like a solar flare
  from St....

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The boss aka Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen 
born at Monmouth Medical Center 
in Long Branch, New Jersey, 
on September 23, 1949. 

His nationalities include hodgepodge 
of Dutch, Irish, and...

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"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows." - Native American Proverb

             ...

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Coloring smiling faces donned with faux missing teeth,
and waxing poetic lip schtick adorned with moustaches

Swarthy, spooky, scary carved
pumpkin faces thickly materialized 
out of thin air
as Halloween holiday loomed near
yes... just an innocently naive fickle kid,
who...

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this cautious man (bobby jean) born in the u.s.a.
grownin’ up in the badlands of atlantic city
bonded with blood brothers 
felt born to run along backstreets
in brilliant disguise that did cover me
frequently blinded by the light
of...

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of terminally opinionated snake charmers
for art's sake of course
well what else could define our course of action
when the end of unknowing
is only a mouse click away
when we'd still rather quack like a sinking duck
and bark...

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Tumbleweed Billy And One Eyed Sam

Banked off jagged hills, pushed on by memory
Cause and effect took turns churning the sidewinders
Tumbleweed Billy and One Eyed Sam (The patron Saint of snake eyes)
Dragged down from on high...

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III.
He kept off the roads to avoid their eyes,
through scrub and dry grass, onwards he did ride,
skirting north of the ranch, behind a ridgeline,
until he stopped to see what he could find.

Sol crested the ridge...

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Heretic condemned to burn at stake
reprieve eleventh hour granted clemency
commuted death penalty
criminal sentenced solitary isolation
rat infested dungeon ultimate punishment
doled out after protracted proceedings
courtesy amazing graceful puffed dragon
unwittingly delivered merciful respite.

Cowled ascetic busied himself
exotic gaseous/ liquified...

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A man named Ben stood on a slope looking at the gates of hell,
He swore they’d never turn back, him and his best friend Del.
They knew the bandits came this way, they’d left a sloppy...

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It stands on the edge of civilization,
fed by a ghost town road
A starving artery leading into the desert
Only desperadoes and Death Valley aficionados
pass through this lonely stretch of land
But there's a diner sitting at this...

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we saw nothing
but elbows
and heard the fist pounding 
the skin.
their long black and brown
leather coats hide what they
were doing
the cries of the men
on the ground
could be heard all the way
at my room
when I got their
the...

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The wind blows through the ocean between waves and the sky
Through the islands where dragon of Komodo lives it will fly
Wild tiger the soul of India it will pass by
While arctic wind with it is...

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Armadilly came galloping into Troll Lake, bent on seeking a new life, to unwind.
He’d rode out of the Badlands, leaving only a trail of blowing dust and leaves, behind.
His steady stead Jalopy had been pounding...

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Artfully dodging explosive solutions
pretending shackles restrained prisoner 
lobbed pseudo Molotov cocktails 
kindly, loosely, and mutinously linkedin 
liberal short (make believe) chain
leashed faux abysmal isolated confinement
former courtly poet,
who consumed prison fare 
equalling bread and thin gruel
poetical,...

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Living in dark days 
of the last generation of Noah
Evil beast animals now rule the Earth
Peaceful human beings
are perpetual moving ark targets
In constant danger from the archers’ grip,
the meek souls pray always to God
that the...

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I’m about to die
But before I do,
let me tell you why
There was a savage battle
between some Apache scouts and my frontier men
And as they like to say
down by the Texas border,
it was a Mexican standoff
Neither...

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I have traveled the world over but like the United States best
From Maine to California, north and south, east, and west.
Born in West Virginia, I live in the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Have visited Vermont, New Hampshire...

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Back in 2013 the President 'resetting,' drew a line in the sand
  Syria sprinted across it; faced no response from our end

So, Bashir Assad killed his own countrymen with chemical gas
   hundreds...

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These forgotten badlands are arid and parched. It’s felt the blistering, desert hot winds.
Turbulent gritty sand storms have crossed these lands. What was once lively, thriving is 
now only a desolate, thirsty terrain. After being...

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The notorious Jones gang had robbed the bank in town
And as they made their escape a man was gunned down
It was Bill the mayor and he'd tried to stop the gang
I'd been walking by the...

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I, Mustang, am the stuff of legends
               Roaming the Northwestern badlands 
         ...

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