Long Knifing Poems

Migrants on the move from violence
their only possession
breath-space on a smuggler’s boat
secured with back-bent harvests 
in pretzel-bent systems
weight of crates of strawberries 
hoisted on hell-bent backs
just trying to reach Spanish-shores’-east 
from Moroccan beach with a...

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Couched in the
     concept of a well,
     (which supplied the water
     for faded glory of "Glen Elm),"
     my boyhood...

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Encounter :Beginning
A wailing
jolted out of dream
forced from suspension
my liquid world
I feel then strangling me
the hands of anxiety
so starved for attention
so starved for nourishment
the world has come 
to open my eyes 
the journey of me begins
substance...

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You pop my heart     so heavily    to the rhythm of
                  “like...

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Blech - impossible mission to savor mug of ginger tea...

When the entire mug awash
with floating leavings
by golly by gosh,
sipping said herbal brew
analogous challenge
to eat spaghetti squash
with one chopstick.

Earlier yesterday February twenty fourth
two thousand twenty four
found...

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A STORY OF TEENAGE THUGGERY, JEALOUSY, TEASING AND TAUNTING - 
THE DESTRUCTION OF A PROMISING LIFE ................ 


Staggering down the rain-drenched street 
I see you, reeling drunkenly 
like a sailor trying to keep his balance...

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I fall a raindrop from stratus to stratum
birthed from clouds pregnant with thunder
a lion’s roar —a pride in the sky— fierce!
armed with lightning’s rip and slit
the scythe of claw and tooth finds its prey
knifing sunset’s...

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Famed gold crepuscular rays angling down
Knifing in between, through volcanic haze 
Hualalai and Mauna Loa’s crowns
Fire Goddess Pele greets fresh island day

Fuchsia blooms explode, steal attention
Pollens mingle on zephyr coastal breeze
Hallowed entry, this tropic dimension
Surf...

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Lower gastrointestinal war civil declared
because sweet tooth (er...rather dentures)
craved absolute zero sum game yoking,
wickedly villainous, x'acting tummy
upsetting Pavlovian salivating, romancing,

quid pro quo woe pea pie us, orthodox, 
conventional, nun habit forming (Lie), 
mouth watering, lip...

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"Love, Blood Red"

I trusted with you my heart.
I trusted with you my Special Love.
I trusted with you, with YOU..
Everything I'm made to, for, and of... 

I was willing to wipe all your mistakes entirely away,
Your...

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This is our world
where the savage is called civilised
The well dressed man can hide his perverted nature
and posh talking woman can pretend she is not a whore
Wars can be started by a country or a...

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plasma barrier
force field
pressed against
yielding bubble
slipping through
where have I been

precious energy
spent with 
no return
foolishly
so many verses
wasted

treasure hunting
down helpless
vapid creatures
left inviolate
monster medicine
not

cold heart beating
icy breath swelling
preening scales
ticking claws
filing sharp
words
swishing long
slithery tail

pheromones 
of worthy prey
lurking invisibly
close
deep rattling sigh
reptilian...

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Might you have a poet deep down in your gut
That you try to keep tied up and gagged?
Do some days make you feel slightly stuck in a rut
For a fear lives that you might be...

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Why Crippled America?

Any presidential nominee thus far, 
Anyone ever in long history’s past, 
Could’ve called America crippled, 
A high look upon disability to cast. 

Disability is now curable sometimes, 
And healthcare stands sturdily tall,
As a...

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Dame Gravity

As a dear friend battles
nocturnal EMT home invasions,
fainting spells, falls, forgetfulness, 
fading like a plucked peony
my health guilt increases--

what right have I to two legs 
that hold me (today)
while others fold under the impact
of...

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imbedded in memory  
unknown

 
Suns crossing sky   
just before silken slide   
of evening's light into dusk  
are like a string of moons  
skimming an Alaskan winter-  
...

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Every time I lose your love,
Every time eyes open to dreams
That can't corral your quiet flame,
The silent corners of what’s real
Wash out, their angularity softens
As before a clear night sky
That has no moon or stars...
Still...

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Chris Risum

1865 – 1920

She was the only woman who listened to me.
The only lady who cared enough to care.
For within my own dead marriage
I was sadly alone, pathetically ignored and ridiculed.
For while I was alive,...

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Ethereal, fleeting, incandescent
I grasp loosely at the airiness
So vibrant on the escarpment
X-rays pass through bone and flesh
Leaving no mark
I hold emptiness

Where are the diamonds?
Filling my fingertips?
Brushing my lips?
Tickling my tongue?
Lingering within my heart?
Eternity breaks open
Inverting...

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Do I have a choice 
before knifing the page
for a meaning, when I was
drowned in a nostalgia ?

Cinchona bark. This was my 
keyword for living bitterly
under a tryant inciting
the riots of colors.

The digital death comes...

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Silent cold screaming loneliness is all that can be heard here,
It splits the air as a blade that has just left the bastard file,

A sky dark grey blankets my cares, warms my cancerous apathy,
These days...

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Take your love back

Please, get back your love, pull out from my orphan soul
You took your desire and magic into my fast-beating heart
Stop killing, stop knifing, my tears are a river of your boat

Enjoy your...

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A Poem is Not

a lifeline to grab 
when your foot slips
near the summit
and the heavens suddenly lurch and loom;

nor a salve for knifing rib pain
when your beloved falls on black ice,
and has to sleep for...

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Cherries pale yellow tinged with red
Colorful umbrella, mercurial spread
Mellowing veil hovers overhead
Hand staid until dark color, pungent odor wed
Nature's rhythms from youth nurtured in my head
In fowl, tell tale signs providentially inbred
Knowing beak is quicker...

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Play a Krishna mantra
Hear the rain pattering down
Cars knifing wet wind
Distant dogs howling
Even the tinnitus 
ringing in my ears
Anything but the 
narrative 
playing in my head
Poison 
from the well of 
quiet desperation
of loneliness 
of false...

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