Long Blankly Poems

Just enough to make it just
I want this to be enough to make this
The last song ever, the last note ever
The last romantically, poetically sad excuse for an apology, epilogue
But I've already messed up the...

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“Son”...”say goodnight to grandpa”

Spurred by mother dearest 
as well as other politesse
drummed into her second born
fobbing blandishments as incentive
tumbled off fingers of prodigal son
tripped wordsmith to splutter forth
forthwith the following lines.

Back in the day 
quaint...

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     by how many badbyes can you measure the length of your day

                 first comes...

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After serving six long hard years at Methacton State penitentiary...

as mini reunion number 
XLV fast approaches 
Saturday, April 30th, 7:00 pm 
until 10:00 pm
at The Trappe Tavern, 416 West 
Main Street, Trappe, PA 19426
regarding graduating...

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I loved my job as a librarian, and today I was walking to work,
In the warmth of a summer morning, when golden butterflies lurk.

I had some extra time, and it happens I took the scenic...

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It's styles of a nameless brand pristine day
an exclusive star-sheathed shadow after 
overwhelming luminous glare fainted
a somewhat true-to-life footpath in
a back of structured quaintness

Encountering myself at a passionate spring
oozing its life gliding o'er its rocky...

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Blood spilling in the east running all the way to the west
Forming rivers of doubt in the north and South
An army of men converge along the river bank
With long guns strapped to their sides
And big...

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I’m sure you don’t remember me
Yet forever branded upon my memory is your evil spree
I was far from your only victim
You and your pack bullying ever so gruesome 

You first noticed me in the 7th...

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Vets Know
                  by Odin Roark



Deployment
(Via Refrigerator Magnets)
 
Sweetheart

Should have told you

I’m sorry
I’ve buttered
the last piece
the heel
you never eat

Can...

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I stood on the corner this morning
Absorbing the fresh morning air
listening attentively to the morning news
That has everyone so upset and confused
The morning sun is just peeping out
with its orange and yellowish color
Stirring lazy bodies...

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_____________________________________________________________
My two neighbors' homes view my full yard in the back. 
The younger man has a dog and the elder man has a cat.

They knew all ought to be,  || Dog was first, ok'd...

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Past unconcerned hens that distractedly 
Scratch
Under frowning protestations from the
Sheltered Lee;
Into the cloaked shadows lain across the 
Cobbled courtyard,
Behind which squats the twisted form of
The old brooding, arthritic apple tree.
Past the neat little cow-byre 
Hosed...

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"The Day(s) I Saw That Fate Exists"

6/17/19 
"What Makes You Flinch" poetry contest
Sponsored By: Julie Leigh Rodeheaver

Today began as most of many days do
Today I woke, a tad bit hungover

Opened my eyes, rubbed my head
Said...

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My name is Bedford Schiller-Smith,
and you’ve probably seen it before
on the book racks in airport shops,
usually just inside the doors.

I’ve made a career of writing,
tech and spy thrillers are my bag,
but if you don’t’ recognize...

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To Crush Mar a Lago Estate, and lower the Economic debt ceiling...

Now that DACA docked amidst 
marshy tidal outskirts of Poker flats 
(readied to be sunk) off shore 
(beach combing divers – ectoplasmic flotsam 
glorying...

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Umm and Err can never decide
On things to do or places to hide.
Which clothes to put on? What games to play?
What food to eat? They cannot say. 
Mum asks them again, again and again,
So many...

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A bit of a strange person who lived quietly even secretly
none of his neighbours really knew him except to nod in passing
he would scurry by with barely a nod in return almost mincing
never a light...

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Staring down at the pavement beneath my feet, 
shoelace has loosen from the knot on my left shoe; 
draping close to my ankle, as it pauses on the floor. 
Gritty, re-cemented road, older than the...

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Just breath
Don't think about being judged, mad, angry or sad
The feeling of words and fear stuck in your throat
About to choke
Don't think about it
The pit in your stomach
Twisting and knotting
Sensitive and rotting
I can barely breath
Hide...

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Somnambulant schlemiel schleps...and says Shalom...

to anonymous readers March 22nd, 2022
(blustery and chilly Tuesday)
reminiscing about mein kampf,
when precious irretrievable youth
frittered away within
emotional wilderness of mine.

Into lonely senescence -
more'n three plus decades 
plus three extra orbitz 
around...

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Was as thin as a scarecrow, Though he had no straw hat
Though he thought himself as decent, no one else had thought that 
He was a runt to some big farmer boys, he never fought...

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Tears would well her eyes, if there were any left.
Pray there’s none as one drop would flood the world. 
One, two, three, four and many more, she lost them all.
There remained is her loin no...

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It's been four years since I submitted my last poem, I was only one year into my addiction to methamphetamine. I'm currently five years in and boy oh boy do I have some perspective to...

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The wait gets longer and the frustration mounts, staying indoors seems depressive, you want to stay out long.
 
       When even the cool lingerie and the dashing ear-studs don't...

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It was my first day back at work…I was behind the counter in the store…when a woman pushing her baby in a stroller walked in through our front door.

I greeted them as I always do…Mom...

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