Long Offhand Poems

With thoughts of getting fish-faced on a Friday night, 
I dropped anchor in a portside bar 
To contemplate the crooked path to closing time; 
Couldn’t guarantee I’d get that far.

I ordered a tequila, called myself...

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The loving people of our fair town needed a vacation one fine day.
I wasn’t about to argue with them, I’ve often felt the same way.
The journey was a family trip, with the entire menagerie along.
The...

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1
i know the world enough to where i can walk through forests &
dodge each blade of grass, defy the likes of definition & let my breath
just pass. magic is meaningless, tricks & illusions based upon...

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She reminded mi of Liz thou prettier than Liz
She was engrossed in her smart phone... me relaxed
next to her chat chatting business... i could tell shes engrossed
not in her smart chats.... but in my chat...

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Last Halloween was scary
with evil brewing strong
when Peggy planned a party
and things went off all wrong

In tatty robe, her hair awry
she slaved all day with care
her neighborhood to satisfy
with an elegant affair

Fine treats she baked...

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My hands are elephant hide.
I mean old, weathered, rough, 
a shady glen of crevices with ink stain valleys.
They are the window to my soul tonight.
They sleep off bumps and bruises from
me moving too fast, as...

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When you are confused, anxious, in pain, your stomach in a granny knot.
Near the end, nowhere to go, no friends, no family that understands.
"Stand in a field and scream," it helps, they say. I can...

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Written: May 18, 2024, For Unseeking Seeker Contest

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Languid breath dwindles, scrounging panacea air
quiddity remorse core...

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In the deep of the snow, In the dead of winter,
Under the Aurora Borealis taking our breath away.
The snow turtles jostle, and skittle, and Skim the snow,
All in a beautifully quiet nights, bountiful, wonderful play.

Man...

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It seems as if confusion governs my life now
I just can’t get away
It’s become so common and frequent 
That I find myself rejecting anything that makes sense
And even that confuses me
But I’m trying so hard
To...

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Eternal Surprise Productions presents
the It's Time For Your Enema show
bringing news of the day coast to coast
reading every offhand inflection
as though it were a rescue beacon
from the constant din of battle
between intensity and superficiality
being close...

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I leave the auction sick, my mettle frayed
A ghost, I fear, in oil clutched near my side
No doubt, a ghost for which I've dearly paid!
How best to next proceed, I must decide

The painting I have...

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60's Child

I found myself at the tail end of childhood then,
Coming out of its long sunny sleep;
The days and nights of pleasures, terrors and wonders
Strung together to make up the pitted landscape
Of being small
Still filled...

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The death penalty.
What a laugh
And their pulling on strings
To keep this going
As their money bags swing
Lifelessly
From left to right.
How dare they take an old mans
Walking stick.
How dare they beat their wives,
Breaking the rule of thumb.
What...

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So many more. Just a sampling of favorites, per contest instructions.
For each poet I have included a sampling of titles in parentheses.

THREE OF MY FAVORITES

Gershon Wolf

Gershon lands me in stitches.
In his wise and funny hands,
I...

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Some people don't have habit to listen
when one talks, it seems words go in one way;
speaker regrettably fails to convey;
May be one can find, why they don't listen.

One can speculate for days on reasons;
Is it...

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A sure shot, he sets up a can, and digs his heels in the sand,
with feet spread, a hat on his head and gun in hand, he looks grand.
Cloudy skies shade the sun from his...

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The screen draws a hopeless biology

An image of an empty cleaner leaving downstairs
Why won't an idle client advertise?
The bath washes

An inevitable dinner tosses a converse arch

The adjusted approval flies against the clique
Chaos yawns beside a...

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A pity I couldn't comprehend
What is happening to my homeland?!
Utter disarray harming my stand
Lives in the clutches of evil hands
The paths we are to walk have no ends
Face demons or bury heart in sand
Bend to...

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from: "Me to You", by Alastair Reid

"...write me about the weather.

Perhaps
a letter across water,
something like this, but better,
would almost take us strangely
closer to home.

Write, and I'll come."
. . . . . . . . ....

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Clouds loom drifting, passing by,
The west wind gently tempts them on
Though no one knows what cause them cry
And no one hears their pleading voice
As all their acid tears well dry.


Snowy white, in rank and file,
The...

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BLODGIFIED


When Her Royal Wifeness  spots a trivialosity in my dress,
Perhaps discovering  that the  scarf I am holding
Is ill-suited to my suit,  or that the trouser-press
Has produced  sloppification  or mistooken...

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Turn the sod to find a hand in your hand
   Lord of your dreams come to haunt your reason
Rot Rot O Heart soiled through the muddied land

One mistake too many mounting offhand
 ...

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You yell at me,
Blaming me for things i seem to be,
I try to see things through your perspective,
Because your my relative,
I thought I would understand,
I try not to seem offhand,
You yell at me,
For things that...

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I do like poems I can understand
Written with plain everyday words
Thought out, not merely offhand,
Observing basic poetry standards.

Written with plain everyday words
I want to feel the rhythmic flow
Observing basic poetry standards
A poem that has somewhere...

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