Long Niceties Poems

- - Chapter 2: Adult Responsibility (With Some Breaks) - -     

By ten years old, no weekends off, 
Or Saturday cartoons, 
Although I did have cash to spend, 
I felt my...

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           Your past, your romantic past, is a shadow. Like all towns, Port Angeles was a combination of rain and clouds, sun and mist, with a chamber of commerce, barrooms and boards of directors, the known...

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Zero.
By which nothing is divided.
No zero
no negative
no opposite
no hope
no Adam, no apple, no marriage, no morning.
No mirror
no knowledge
no God, no soul, no ear lobe, no Iliad, no Odyssey.
No universe
no black hole
no zodiac
no hero
no mission, no...

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His looks and physique,
Add on to that someone else's mind and brains,
I am sure it will be like salt to the season-less.
Add to all that someone else's generosity,
It will be like spice to the spice-less;
And...

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A slipper stained in a knot is appearing to emulate a wanton soup. Wanton soup is grinning a beaming smile. Whirling around. Nine noodles nimbly nick niceties. And the prawn dance begins as they fling...

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Run Bacon run, the sound come echoing from the gun, run bacon run there is nothing to fear hold on to the third and the fifth gear. The oil is in the hip, grease your...

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‘Twas damp, cold and lonely - not much bigger than a closet.
But the little room within me is mine.
It has no niceties such as a bed chamber but
To one side – when pressed upon hard...

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Oh Christmas where can I find you, 
in Bethlehem or under my light filled tree?                    ...

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RAIN FORESTS
 by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS

When I consult my pillow each night
The question is how to solve this planet’s plight
I’ve narrowed it down to a fork in the road
Take the left, utter destruction full overload
Take the...

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Dreaming of a pot of gold, you came to town
It was sprawling, this metropolis, you knew none around
Your earnings were scant and engagements, irregular
The overseer assured steady income in lieu of a favour
You succumbed to...

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Drop dead gorgeous dark eyed bus boy chased
Peer assured status, focus of my fascination
High fiving idol guffawed and elbowed adjacent
Mates in droves, admirers in rows, dreamy Damon


Enriched to glimpse soap opera face as I boarded
From...

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When tons of doom filled nights fall upon your head,
embers glow fierce and fires burn unabated.
Recalling her last breath and wish you were dead
in poem's last line, you've been beat and castrated.
From the heavens, a...

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I heard a story once about people up north.
Where there’s long days and long winters
And the snow piles higher than houses.

They hunt wolves in winter,
Finding ways to do it safely.
Horrific and brilliant methods.

Take a knife...

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when the rich wage war, it is the poor who die
overflowing their bank accounts as they lie

hiding behind niceties as they make us slaves
wars made to control us, which they create and crave

when will we...

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Fowl woman collected feathered creatures of all kinds; they came to her
Approached her from all sides, followed her about her work, they adored her.
She was ostracized by the townspeople who did not understand. 
This was...

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Camping is always an adventure you don’t know what will happen day to day
but as a microcosm of life we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Yesterday followed that pattern…as once again we felt blessed
To have...

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The canny hitman wears many faces
His smiling face he calls democracy
Were you to hear him chanting..
You would be forgiven to believe
Freedoms.. rights, democracy..
He utters and funds yet.. SEE
Do you SEE your fallen statesman
Your struggling economy..
Your...

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Skyscrapers, our societies pyramids
Built with a work force in need of these jobs
But these meaningless buildings are made for the boss,
Where the only way to lift your spirits is to take the elevator
To your top...

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The telephone rang, I answered cheerily
When the niceties were over, the voice inquired
"How is it going with the gardening today" quite sincerely
I could not refrain and out of exuberance, desired
to extol the virtues and due...

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She contemplated her imperfection
Her eyes gauged on the mirror's reflection
with fear; with let-down.  Dispirited
as a vanquished exile flower uprooted-
her story an epic memoir of misplaced hearts,
at Christmas.
An endless recital of Holiday songs
where the music...

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All avenues are amphibious arenas
Bubbles belch-burst, bitter Bacchanalian bombs
Clouds' cast-iron crescendo creates cold cantankerous caricatures
Drenched - darkness descending, daylight dying, disappearing duskwards
Every eye echoing every eye, emotional evidence enveloped
Fake furs, fashionable fools, firm friends fleeing...

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This christmas you’ll know how great I am
Ya I’m the man. 
You want diamonds and a car? I’ll do better by far!
Porsche extravagance and a solitaire 
brighter than the North Star.

The present I want to...

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My belly of thoughts clings to my backbone
Never hungry, always starving of poetry
Which can not exactly capture your spotlessness
Mama learned me this knowledge of nature:
A full stomach of ideas suffocates the mind of reasons
And hypocritical...

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Here we are, not knowing what to say
To each others' face, as we both are confused
Which face do we say it to?
The faces we show, or the ones we hide?
We put the niceties on display,...

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Written: September 08, 2023
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In the realm of truth and its design
Let us embark on a quest to refine,
To explore the truth, both wild and tame,
And demystify doubts that whisper our name.

Validation, the yearning to improve,
Space...

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