Long Flats Poems

I believed that I was rural … that I lived in country style,
where the city was close handy … that big distance was a mile.
Trains and buses ferried daily; a freeway ran close by …
comforts...

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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At the footbridge Sue was meeting her beau
(He was married to a woman called Flo)
Sue soon found out his deception
She dismembered his erection
For his love life it was a massive blow

To the hospital fled poor...

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My Last Las Vegas C.E.S. (1)
(A Memorial Poem)
I long counted Steve Bristow a friend (1) and we'd fly off to lunch
some days (Steve would get 'hours in' he needed for license - small planes).
It was...

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By George (burn hing* hard), I Shaw tried to be a stinking playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from...

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Excerpt from “fake” encomium given years ago... 
at Lake Wobegone High School (my alma mater), 

and recently discovered ridiculous rough draft
amidst plethora of junk emails
while practice reading some lines 
regarding Midsummer Night's Dream 
upcoming performance.

Arch...

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By George (burning hard), I Shaw tried to playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from other pedestrian applicants 
seeking...

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We’re on October break, which is a 6-day weekend. For the last two weeks, everyone’s been making plans.
“What do you think of Cancún?” Sunny’d asked me.
“The only people going to Mexico are on the cheap...

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Lisa and I went to a reception, yesterday evening, for students who’d landed summer fellowships at a particular hospital in Boston. (Yeah us!) It wasn’t formal, so I wore a crimson cropped sweater, a beige...

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I circled around the park three times and continue journeying towards the west
On my first cycle I met a couple sitting on the corner watching me like big brother
The young man shouted at me in...

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Who suggests a trip back...rides to this bit of nostalgia in the middle years of the Great Depression aboard a Chicago elevated train, "the El." We hurdle head-long above asphalt blanketed streets that are determined...

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   heroes?

there are none here, now ... ever ...
      don’t feign to look, for your eyes will
         beg their smiles,...

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I had an old auntie called Mable
Who could drink men under the table
She’d tell folks of her gout
Sup up six pints of stout  -
then stagger to the loo when able!

11~23~16

WRITTEN BY JAN ALLISON


My paternal...

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There's an event in the country that few city people ever know,
It's called the Greasy Pig Competition held at the local show,
It's a novelty event put on when the riding's been all done,
A greased up...

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I

'Fine boy looking ugly',
Dread lock,crazy jean,vassace palm,
Gucci wrist-watch,Iphone 7s,painted roof,
Eight damsels,twelve olosho and three extra
phones.
Frosh!

12-5am; his internet vigil.
Hunting wealth in wealthy forests.
He doesn't give a shit,if the culprit is his
niece,
Or rather blood bond of any...

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Your time worn hand rests on my shoulder
A gentle firm touch
Ancient fingers stretching awake
And for that moment in time, I receive you
My body marinates in your history,
Delicacies, trauma, and wisdom

I sense you riding within my...

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Sun setting over the dark green fringe of a shivering lake on the last day of winter
An old man still unbent sits on a deserted wooden bench
   with the load of his cares...

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Every day you awake you need to give thanks, I am the past
and the present; You are the potential.
I am the essential.
You are the future; I am the now!
I am the reality in that order...

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Some folks will be down in the dumps 
Hillary lost … Donald came up trumps
Britain made their exit
They voted for Brexit
I have a question …are we all chumps?

JAN ALLISON

11~09~16


I think we're all sick of the...

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COMING HOME

She was an airport
on the flats by the river,
her signage, lights and markings
outlining corridors that couldn’t
be seen in the sunlight of day
A black silhouette from a full harvest
moon, he landed in her life full...

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It’s Harvard VS Yale this weekend, the vibes are just starting now. Everyone - and I mean everyone - has been asking about my game tickets, because guest tickets are $25 a pop. I’m more...

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Across the ridges, flats and ranges, in print, on radio and stages,
you may hear this tale wherever you may go.
Sometimes a stranger may confide, about that famous ride,
in the rodeo at Mildura's annual show.

For a...

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———

2016,

Sheep.
Magpie.
Mule deer.
Mustang, colt, mustang...upon the ridge.

Eagle's nest, bald.
Oreo cows, in far field.
Running baby cows.
Sheep.

Felled branch...100 mph winds.
Controlled burn, left quiet;
but not, as it turned out,
without embers enough
to catch to flames
and race up the Sierra,
down the...

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  On white lines on valiant wheels
I head north leaving behind the City of Sails
       with its humourless streets,
    its casino steel and glass Sky...

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