Long Shrugging Poems

Village in the Valley left behind, and then it's a fine find
Mountain in the making...in the dark alleys of my mind

You're a flashlight
In the night
You are a friend 
Till the end
Bite the bullet
You're the village...

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In Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"
she paints a nationalistically wealthy saint
where also lives a monochromatically utilitarian narcissist,
sucking on attachment to fame and power
for bought and sold ZeroSum accounting Souls.

If the perfectly powerful pure patriarchal patriot
were your...

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( A university-life vignette)

It’s Saturday morning. Lisa, Leong and I were in the common area, lazing about. “This is what happened to us (Lisa and I) last night.” I said, beginning to explain last night's...

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Saturday, September 23, 2023  

Coincides with first day of fall
and Autumnal equinox for said year,
where colorful splash kindled like tinder.

After I riff flecked about thee August
Autumn Equinox 2023,
this seasonal polymath teached you 
fall Equinox...

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Hold the phone, hold the freakin’ phone. Lisa’s got a boyfriend!
I’ve never seen Lisa with a boyfriend. Lisa draws men like fireworks on a dark night, but I’ve never seen her keep one. I mean,...

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This was last Saturday night. We were at a rooftop party in downtown New Haven thrown by ‘DocHouse.’ Doc-House is kind of a frat-house, owned by Dr. Melon, where he and seven doctoral students live....

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Noise ,Noise, Noise
Bickering and ''whoremongering''
Dirty money for campaigning
repudiation and gallivanting
mudslinging and maligning
Brainwashing and false promises

How did you get on this bloodstained road 
Who advice you to  follow Uncle Pan's  path
A path that is...

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The East Meets West Philosophy Association
had their annual 2020 conference in Rio,
when and where anything multiculturally lusty
is more likely to happen,
especially between sunset
and sunrise.

Coincidentally
and existentially
and phenomenologically
and ecologically
and ethologically
and epistemologically,
and astrologically,
and metaphorically,
it was necessarily
and sufficiently
and justly
and...

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It’s Friday afternoon. Anna, Lisa, Leong and I are sitting around our common room - sagging actually - after a long day.
“I need a break,” I said, “now’s the time - today, this day -...

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(a university-life vignette)

It’s a Friday night, Leong and I are at a small restaurant close to the dorm called “Ordinary.” We’re in a cozy, pleasantly dark, little red booth—waiting for Lisa—who’s running late. This is...

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Midterms are over and I killed ‘em (Yes, even physics) - yeah me! I spent the last two weeks like prisoners do, marking off days until - freedom. Now the pressure’s off and I can...

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Fred’s feeding his neighbour’s pet parrot,
He replaced its water with claret,
Poll dropped off her perch
Now Fred’s in the lurch
and claiming it choked on raw carrot

Big trouble is looming for Fred
As Polly is very much dead
The...

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My penchant for writing was showing
The comments I received were ‘glowing’
But at the end of the day
I get another N/A
My success in contests is slowing!

WRITTEN BY JAN ALLISON ON 1st September 2016

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO...

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(There’s a song for this: ‘Confessions’ by Sudan Archives)

I remember it like it was yesterday (it was yesterday).

I arrived on a cool (42°f), blindingly sunny New Haven afternoon. It was as if they’d opened up...

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In the late 1970s, I was going home on a Friday evening,
and needed a little more fuel in my truck, 
enough to get back to work on Monday morning.
I had $3 on me, pulled into...

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Insomnia welcomed courtesy high test coffee

consumed later at night than usual
finds me bright eyed and bushy tailed
amply lively to learn 
about an American radio 
and television personality and pioneer
Wee Willy Weber,
who prominently and popularly reigned...

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Ghosts of Christmas Past

I do not fear the ghosts
of my Christmas past.
My yearly visit with each one
is a gift
a present
for this one day

I drive out to Lantzville Beach
and bring my dog along
My mother loved dogs...

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It’s Monday afternoon, the first day after Fall Break. Several of my suitemates are here, relaxing a bit before we hit the dining hall and then scatter, like debris from a bomb. There are a...

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Recalling moments stored in memories with people I miss
Staring at a star-filled sky sometimes it's nice to reminisce
Seems like it was yesterday if only a short while
Cruising along my own time machine with thoughts that...

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A Poe-M
(The morning
I felt the sun
in the mode of Lip sync,
In feeling in me and my mom)

How are you, my cello sun?
I got a tremendous deal.
Just in need to be blissful,
in the best counseling zeal.

In...

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Was it worth
Butchering the butterflies 
We gave each other? 

Were they not 
Pretty enough? 
Or were they just too fragile 
For your unstable world? 

Your world of
Mismatched jigsaw puzzle thoughts 
And drunk high school riddles...

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Who is the man in the mirror that stares back at me through eyes of blue that can scarce seen behind lenses reflecting bright light?
Those eyes appear so young and vibrant, though cast behind a...

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11. They came to devour and sin.
I was briefed by a cornucopia of beings:
From Torchwood, ARGUS, SHIELD and their kin;
The Talamasca, The Shop and MiB Greens;
A BPRD agent who was burning in Hell;
The Syndicate, Consortium,...

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There once was a west ham 
Went to Hollywood with a plan 
Thackray was her name 
She loved the American cheese game 
Everything seemed fine 
Sorority House filled with cheap wine 
Doing the nickel and...

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Teeter totter

This is my voice, writing from within too without
For a long time, I wasn't listening to my soul.
I was wearing shoes to protect 
From the stones and the mud and the bugs in the...

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