Long Frets Poems

"Midnight to 3.33, Morning Kills"



He said, 
“Go to where the poets go
Love rolls wet and sways
Intensity wraps itself inside out
and somersaults its legs backward
to open a way
Out
It’s kind of burning hot 
like Summer burns 
bare...

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Dancing In Horror With Fate In Blackest Abyss
Collaboration with Kurt Ravidas

I walk mountain storm, step out to cut deep its edge
forever tempting that fall from its narrow ledge,
in the midst of ravenous rage and great...

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they disturb, deep behind my sleeping eyes
  ......
  retune my tautened strings, replay my frets
  vignette movies spin reels of dreams discovering
  fresh slants on shadowy delight
  the foreboding, ominous,...

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Many passions I have had
and many I have practiced long and hard.,
but it was not until mid-life, I opted for a hobby more artistic.
I got myself a new guitar with books to teach myself the...

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The high road, the low road, did it ever occur to the Thinker?                      ...

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Thru deliberate seductive
liaisons, ploys, and underhanded gambits,
I tendered illicit, explicit and complicit shenanigans
blatant actions to foment coital adulteration.

Ofttime these discrete liaisons found me removing 
linkedin metallic keepsake symbolizing union.

Years elapsed since this spouse pledged his...

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She sits on the bathroom floor 
Hiding behind a tightly closed door 
Afraid that prying eyes will see 
What society has forced her to be 

With fingers pushed halfway down her throat 
On the remains...

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No challenge stops her
    stance is set
       shoulders squared

                 ...

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‘Water’ seems a fitting title
of this rhyme on something vital
for the beings we take care of
and the others we’re aware of.
 
Life on Earth depends on water,
whether human or sea otter,
fish or fowl, whatever creatures
having...

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Nascent pristine hopes sprout stealthily
  from the submerged swamps of anxieties,
     parched earth frets over consequences
       to fuel naive hopes into realities of void
...

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The morning paper is everywhere, the breakfast dishes, are here and there
Her feet up in the easy chair, the old man in his underwear
The phone starts ringing loud and clear, so hubby quickly disappears
When he...

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A moment of silence.
Join me, O mother earth
As I whisper a prayer,
For your son's stricken to death.
By the invisible scythe of corona. (Covid-19)

Listen to the tunes 
Of these sorrowful strings
All you far and near.
For the...

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Burning snow falls quietly on
cold rusted wire and brittle bone.
An ancient creature looks to the horizon 
feeling is body built of razor wire and old bones, cold,
a delicate tone transmits from on far...
Wraiths walking in...

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Dear Miss Monkey Manners, I am writing to you out of desperation,
It seems that I may have a problem with excessive perspiration.
As a lowland gorilla I live in regions of extreme heat and humidity,
And my...

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Aye, the rub perhaps is this,
For dreams to come, there must be life,
Of sorts, though what man defined life
Or knows its scope or plumbs God’s poorest joke?

____________________________________
[Did you hear the one about the Jewish race
God...

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My pulse quickened
As tears streamed down my face
I felt my soul race
Notes rising from discarded bits
Yanked out of plastic bags
from decaying pits
Skin sun baked and bleeding splits
Garbage, hand formed into instruments
So that these deaf ears...

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The village was nestled on the coast by itself, as if God had put it there all alone, on a shelf.

The residents were isolated just like the town, and universally uninformed from the top on...

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Written: November 07, 2023, For Robert James Liguori Contest
                __________________________________________

Felicity In the flamboyant form of yesteryear.
Where giggles pranced and frightened...

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Today once more on this old seat
I mused amongst woodlands deplete 
of leaves where Autumn acts the churl,
watched winter smoke’s caress unfurl

Like ghosts that rose to touch the sky,
spirits of men destined to die
who could...

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There are words choked up in my throat
Words I greatly long to say to you…
But nothing leaves my mouth—my heart…
You are too far away to hear them anyway
Yet somehow…I still can’t say it to myself
I...

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when being a wild editor
would constantly fight with a creditor
who was a pretty puny predator

with mouth open wide
lied about what was inside
their tongue had been tied
(in hell would abide)
(With devil could (should)(would) confide)
(with God did...

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Underneath the planting moon the pretender
to the throne wanders through the garden.
Perplexed in intellect, vexed by questions of
sin and salvation, he ponders the price of pardon.
Measuring mercy by his own capacities he feels
the heat of...

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I've always been settling
When others are meddling
In my life never knowing
I'm upset and will start showing
My true colors that's been hiding
But they are burning and sliding
Up my throat and they will be
Released with intensity
That will...

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The Mirror 

I looked into a mirror 
and wondered what I had seen 
it was a tiny child 
I don’t know where she’d be

She was no more than 3 or 4  
No plight upon...

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My time 
   drips away
       in little frets
          of cares
        ...

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