Long Coddling Poems

Where to begin
in the middle of cold and dark
winter's solstice,
healthy green life's time
of impeachment,
excommunication,
dormancy?

Where does this all rightfully
and sacredly left end?

These are expansive gadfly questions,
problems,
issues of complexly dipolar reason,
leftbrain dominant
either-or thinking
we are either thinking or...

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My youth minister once told me that seventeen was too young to have felt the pain that I'd felt. She told me that seventeen was too young to be so corrupted, so scarred. According to...

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The Old Lady In The Shoe
November 22, 2013 at 5:57pm
Dedicated to all my children around the world;
 
The big and small of it.
Some appreciate the little
things that encourages
them to do big stuff.
 
Some  won't...

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Addiction takes on many disguises
You feel left alone with your own vices
Yet, you don’t think there is a problem
Which is the problem you can’t see
Once your family was willing to help
Now you’re trapped in a...

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The fog of dull moist clouds cloistered Earths hills

rolling slowly quietly assured with December’s presence 
uncovering the steal bleakness of chills
the grey fox sought the superlative time stalking
hunting, one catch, the hare eating thorns, is...

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everyone knows
heart telling tales
that get a dog's tail
wagging after being
rescued from abuse

and so the same for
cats and other animals
that grew up or were forced 
to grow up on the shady side of
town not meaning out...

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Brilliant poet
Whose life was consumed with tragedy
Existence filled with bitter losses
Happiness forsaking her life
Passionate romance 
With poet Ted Hughes
Swept her away
Bringing magic into her dreary life
Relationship intensified
And they became united
Living in marital bliss
Coddling their two...

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Remembering Mother on Mother's Day

While I was growing up,
I remembered
The time my parents
Bought me a brand-new pair
Of rubber-soled, hi-top, black
Canvas running shoes.
To say I was as proud as a peacock
When I donned the footwear,
Was an...

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She is
 sallow-skinned, salacious, seductive beauty,
  secure, safely sequestered in seclusion;
   sinking, shaking, shattered, submerged 
self-contained, self-centered in selfless solitude
 
she sleeps, 
 a slip of a slenderized, spindly silhouette 
 ...

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Upon a drunken path I seemed to be confronting doom
Upon my shoulders I seemed to be carrying a cloud of doom
There I fell crumpled and spiritually shattered
Coddling a heart beaten and battered

Lonely pleas of mercy...

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I am not in love 
When I am not  ready from  the morning  to see  you at night 
I am not  in love 
Shed tears unintentionally  when  I...

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Don't buy it,
Scatter the wishes,
However (desperate and maligned),
For all of them,
The (murmur) and the (mesmerized),
Youth-paid homage,
Ill-afforded, unattended and
Graciously subversive,
By aged animals nodding
Approval against the (backdrop)
Of their worst intentions,
Hope that eloquence, depth,
Perceived connection and
Immersions of familiarities
Will...

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The stars are black tonight
they understand this indigo grief
to honor you they dip their crowns 
into the ink well of infinity...

The stars are black tonight
mood pared by garish green
even the sun tastes of old dried...

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STINGRAY

She took you for a ride on the wild side
Taking you through bushels and thorns
You endured the pain of the splinter and shrubs
Swerving through highways and by ways
U-turning to where disaster resides

She played foul
Destroyed all...

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Pigeon Man Frank,
buried underneath the
morning fog coddling the
fractured arteries of
urban sprawl
which mill humanity
against civilization's grindstone

Pigeon Man Frank,
bears wounds of scorn
as a foul wraith that
dredges along the
peripheries of civil society, 
Lo! the herpes sore
squatting on the
public's...

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They're polishing their broomsticks
and sharpening their hats
Catching little spiders
and feeding them to bats

Howling at their cauldrons
and cackling to cats
Cradling wooden stir sticks
and babbling for spats

Mixing up their potions
and yelling out their spells
Rebelling that they're no...

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Dear Tapan.... 

I find myself hoping that you'll stay a friend
In whatever venue you happen to end
Though demons get high marks in your repertoire
The one who serves God Sir is really the star

The thrill of...

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Two Fridays ago, a fowl thief 
Ruled over hearts, pets, relationships
Broke in (burglary) during my absence
Took Mr. Five (her half- brother) for his unearned pot
I just pray Kaalnek, our baby & pet, was not
Twice victim...

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Driving in sought direction, a new desire visible 
Slick road delivers destined distance, crystal gleam
Wetness formed by years old tears, bidding for
Proximity begged obligation, historic tenuous team

Mother does his washing, aged forty dependant
Criticises his seldom...

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Who we are begins at birth,
Our DNA a start,
But every soul upon the earth
From others stands apart.

Our personalities are there
From when we take a breath,
Remaining with us everywhere
'Til we succumb to death.

The quiet, shy, rambunctious,...

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Parents get caught up in the politics of crossing the lines,
feeling too apprehensive to discipline their children,
for fear that it will be misinterpreted as brute force,
Although sensibility tells them that if they don't 
intervene, their...

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Built somewhere between 1887 and 1889
she became a spot
for lovers
who overlook the city
in amazement at the Seine
as it flows lazily through the bustling city
of narrow roadways
and glimmering lights

She rises from the ground 
this immense metal...

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Said a dream about the future
In the back of his mind to lay quiet
A past to put in trash barrel
His vision is a NOW
Forsaking external pleasures for internal time
He would fail in every Job that...

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One
plant,
Shasta
Daisy, owns
such easy beauty—
belies it's enduring nature. 

Needs no coddling; infiltrates, sprouts boldly year on year.

Tall, erect, flaunts pure white petals around a golden center; resists hungry 
insects. 

Wizard of plants, Luther Burbank, absorbed fifteen...

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Lucia is growing up to be a lady, her mother said.
She is too old for hugs and kisses.
She is eight! I protested. Still a baby.
You are coddling her. She has to grow up.

Understanding her mother’s...

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