Long Rheumy Poems

*Image of Many Meanings by KWC.

Likeness ssenekiL: Part 1

(HOMONYMS: Homophones & Homographs)

He'll heal his heel.
They sow so they sew.
His aide aid with an ade.
You saw a ewe eat a yew.
I ate on the ait eight...

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I dread the United States presidential 2024 outcome...

Whereby yours truly presages and doth abhor
nothing short of an imminent civil war
dwarfing insurrection on January 6, 2021
oddly enough even reducing
ordinary decibels to a mute whisper
madding crowd trumpeting...

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In a house high on a hill an old man grows weak, many years have gone, he lays in his old bed,
Back in the day, a dashing young officer with a brilliant red uniform he...

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"He made a difference."

Gramps, my mother's father, 
Dave Luke -- my grandfather, 
a tall unlettered white (decidedly white) 
Louisiana man -- was born August 1888.  
He lived 87 years.  He grew under 
the...

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Ronald Rump reasonably roasted 

Remarkable – recourse retaining rickety 
rambling reverence regarding “r.”

Ronald Rump
repugnant racist republican reviled - 
rickettsia re:itch ruler.

Rapaciously ravaged 
revered reverential rubric.

Radical ruthless renegade 
rapidly riotously ripped rigged ramparts.

Refrained retaining remnant 
redolent...

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Cut to the chase after tan hat man!

Though reading horror stories 
gearing up as strawberry spring fest
full throttle danse (macabre),
an only every now and again predilection
genre crazy wave
washing over me like
a killer tsunami,
harboring pier rill...

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repugnant racist republican reviled - rickettsia re:itch ruler. 
rapaciously ravaged revered reverential rubric. 
radical ruthless renegade rapidly riotously rips rigged ramparts. 
refrains retaining remnant redolent regal, resplendent rafters.
riches rudely rupture rooted rectified rights.
ruckus ricochets revenant...

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Cut To The Chase...And Tan Hat Man!

Though reading horror stories (macabre),
     an only every now and again
     genre crazy wave
washing over me like
    ...

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let me take thee dear reader rabbit alas and alack 
on an imaginary carpet ride whisk king ye dis family back 
rheumy eyes started to water from nostalgic clack
until reverse time warp registered 

 ...

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Cavernous warehouse filled to the rafters
With all of my memories; forgotten laughter
Boxes unmarked, heavily taped, a dusty cluttered mess
Haphazard narrow walkways disappear into the dark abyss

Before I came to this wretched place…
Horrid, medicinal, cloying reek...

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I turn and run down to the wet places where fawns remedy  their 
thirst from the waterbrooks.  Panting, I fall to my knees and gather buttercups, 
crowsfoots, hellebore and peonies and grind the...

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I am slid into the core of the big white tube.
It will reveal all my moving parts
all the flagging and wheezing organics
that reside in the same apartment block,
share the same airducts and plumbing,
but otherwise hang...

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old man friend of mine

old man friend of mine
skin of leather
heart of stone
sits alone
a dying old thing 
in an age old chair wearing his old man clothes
two decades of sweaters buttoned up to his chin
heavy...

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all poetry begins with presumption
should you expect anything different here?

I would not hold a full lung's air too long
would not bust a bronchial capillary
in the waiting for its novelty to find you

my preconception is that...

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A needle: a small, thin object
with a sharp point that mends
our open wounds. 

Sewing needles are polished
and used by seamstresses
to keep our clothes 
stitched and tailored.
Acupuncture needles,
a traditional remedy believed
to heal the body and mind.

Fresh...

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Over sixty years of friendship,
But sadly all things end
As I look at this remnant of 
My tried and trusted friend.

He’s got an unshaven chin
Watery rheumy blank eyes
And when I shake his hand
Shows no sign I’m...

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I come in from the rain before I catch a cold --
No matter what science says, I have experience!
Once I thought facing down a draft rather bold
With age I have started trusting commonsense.

No matter what...

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If only I could be ElaineScisorsHands, 
under tonight's half moon;
on the precise sec past midnight
I'd creep into deep shadows
and slice evil in two.
SLASH! SLASH!
Black cats and black rats and
even blindass black bats, 
would go cross-eyed...

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Down the street as I was drifting with the city's human tide
It occurred that perhaps a million were in this streaming flow
And I..I knew not one and cared not that I was here alone
For there...

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Closed the door…
locked it tight
For the final time 
and then no more…
Gazed all about
At the yard…
The flowers…
Where I spent 
So many happy hours
and now would spend
no more

The Oleanders 
at driveways end
Lantanas blooming
Now as then
Our yellow...

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I’m going to lock it up
I’m going to build walls 
No, sky scrapers 
Im going to surround it with thorns 
And fire will burn all the way around 
I’m going to lock it
Turn the rusty...

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The old soldier, rheumy eyed and cold
Sits at attention in his wheelchair
Bemedalled chest heaving gently
Thinks of comrades not there.
Now just bones in cemeteries 
Some not even identified 
anonymous bodies collected
From where they died
To be laid...

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Madame Sosostris, the leaves are running away
With the springtime wind, into the University café,
Mr. Scogan, what prophesy of apocalypse do you bring?
The grass smells oh! so fresh and green
Budded with cupidity and sin,
In shadow behind...

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She lifts her head and blinks
seeing no one she remembers.

We are visiting,
straining lumps of silence through encouraging smiles.
Clouds revolve behind rheumy eyes.

Workers glide through the retirement home
tending to the restless,
the thoughts of dream-talkers are swept...

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Radiance

A radiant being
descended upon
her old home
today,

The place where
she grew up –

---

Sunlight,
filtering through
slats
& faded window shades,

Brightens
& shines more clearly
as she passes,
bringing
contented purrs and stretches
to the aged
and bony cats
who lie aslumber
in the path
of the warming,
dappling rays

---

Dear Old...

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