Long Grating Poems

Skin of Terror
- Daniel Henry Rodgers

(The stage lights come up slowly on Michael's face, which is crisscrossed with wrinkles from his fuming anxiety. He peers out into the gloominess at the wheel and tightly clutches...

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Erlenkönig also pushed forward the idea of the Council of Six.
Which was a wonderful idea in theory.  The council eventually became the
most powerful force in the Elfin Clans, one representative from each of...

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WINTER, 1948 [40 Saxton Street]

for W.W

The winter nights that pass now
are so unlike the winter nights
that passed before, that I often
struggle back in those suspended moments
when sleep grapples for a hold,
to once again hear the...

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 POTD 25 Nov 2020

Manage your Stress … a peeling faded poster boldly declares 
I do get it about advertising campaigns. 
Enough to know that,
‘strategically placed ads’ catching the eye, is huge. 
But this poster...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV Part Two
                 II

The first signs reek tell-tale
Buffer-to-buffer...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV
 Part One                     ...

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Out with his boys drinking, feeling rowdy
Special occasion
Rolling the way they do
His lover is not with them
She stayed in for the night
He misses her company
But enjoys his time with the guys
He'll swing by later

A local...

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Visual surroundings-
Some of it are monotonous -
Tiring are Some of it sometimes-
Maybe traditional scenes
Unknowingly builds the pinnacle -
Of the dreamless minaret.

Or-
Talk about rubbish
That rains incessantly
Disturbs the Subconscious.


Rather in the darkness of decade
Or-
It can be seen...

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for Ronald Hindmarsh-Midwood 
                               ...

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still the climbing green lianoid lass


her tender tendrils torn  


massive metal lying like a cutlass


in her lap forlorn


                ...

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Summer 1967
                           None of us ready for heaven
 ...

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Did I say What I said You said

You said looking a little forlorn
						a little redundant
	the contradicting crosses in your eyelashes
   thrusting forth the brazen prophet in you for the day
   ...

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Electrifying, the ache
Trembles in my thoughts,
Bringing sparks of memory alive
Sacrificing my sanity for immorality
Driving out the beauty, 
The tenderness, the soothing
Reaching beyond the sensitivity
Into the darkness, the black
Fear that echoes in nightmarish screams
Terror blazing beyond...

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 Part 2
4th Delirium: Lost Souls
Sunken cities , pilgrims peering.. gawking,
squinting eyeballs, blazing sun
Janus facing, shepherds chasing.. stalking,
friends embrace before they shun
Tearooms steaming, tumult teeming.. talking,
lovers listen, poets pun
Broken stones unanchored, quaking.. rocking,
slipping, falling, one...

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True add verse situation,
     whereat me mission
     trans send dint state didst ache
after yours truly nearly
     did nearly break
chassis 'pon took drastic
 ...

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Picture it. 
		3:00 AM 
Niagara Falls, Canada
We are rudely awakened
by an intermittent buzzing
      	 very loud
irritating, nerve grating.
“What is that?” I ask.
“Fire alarm,” he answers.
We get up, wide awake now.
“Maybe...

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Line of Inquiry
“I wasn’t sure what it was he said but it meant a lot to me.”

When there was still daylight lingering,
And the wind was upon the leaves,
And every leaf trembled at its touch,
On my...

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"Colorful language is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience".  Dale Carnegie
______________________________________________________________

O, colors, enthrall us through their splendor
Infuse the mundane world with vivid shades
Dazzle...

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it is one of those dinners
leaning in the doorway, she is working
to her, this is a simple one
spaghetti ala Carbonara
she explains it to me as she processes
pancetta is meat from pork belly 
salt-cured in black...

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One cold night, deep in thought, and curled in fright,
From folklore tales aimed to scare;
My rigid poise froze to a screeching noise
Outside, a voice not like I've heard before, to leave I would not dare
“It’s...

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Nights of flying  dream world,
who might chase a raucous laugh,
or seek indeed  mirthful excitement,
the sort that has embroidered twists,
as is generally perceived by intention,
but epic hurdles formed in still frame, 
city snores past...

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the girls  
He will not let you forget. 
You will wear his hands around your throat, a chain of honey and sweat. 
His calluses grating across your thighs are still carved in memory, 
And...

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I hear her 
When, in stillness – peace,
She surrounds me with her promises,
Light, mist on the morning, hope
Lifting away all the doubt, the darkness
With a feeling, a soul stirring scream

I hear her
Beating, in rhythm –...

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Embarrassed of her age and getting no praise,
she cut her gray hair with a furious face;
oh, it seemed the color of glittering gold
strewn with silver curls! What made her think
she was unattractive and way too...

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We had been married thirteen years. 
We had two daughters aged four and one year old. 
I had no idea what she wanted to talk about that day. 

We went into our bedroom and closed...

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