Long Stifling Poems

Dad hit me only once, an upper cut to the solar plexus. It nearly lifted me off my feet. I was 17 then and already fairly tall, 6’1.” He was 48 and of medium height,...

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I got up this morning in a good mood 
searching for solitude in the distant skies
And watching the clouds rolling by
I stopped and listened to the sounds around me
While contemplating my sacred destiny
Barking dogs and...

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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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I made a U turn at dusk as dark night creeps  upon me
I tried to catch my breath from the horrible smell that was stifling me inside
I did not know which way to turn...

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Standing up for the kids standing up to sleep in overbearing heat clothes damp from their pee, God made night separate from day, but with lights bright all night as well as all day, the...

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Hello, there. Rise and shine. I think I’ll call you Adam/
Who are you? Your creator. The maker of all you fathom/
You can call me God. This place is the Garden of Eden/
Why’d you make me?...

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foisted upon her was the merry go round crystal chandelier

it stuck in her beautiful mind like a beacon of flaming desire

of clouds fried by a cuckoo with an indestructible socket

her eyes wide upon pupils dilated...

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I am given to you by Creator Himself
My Limbs long to grow straight and tall
Bathed in sunlight from above, paying homage
Fulfilling my God given task
From the dawn of creation, in the Holy Books I’m told
A...

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The sun burst out from underneath the clouds
Ploughing through the merry crowd
The impact of nature is closing in 
sucking the joy  from within
Trucks and cars  littered the streets
Adding more pain to  the...

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recognition of our true constitution reveals
we are not merely limited mind-body combine
our soul being encased in five sheaths or coverings
of which the first and grossest is the material organism
the second our pranic energy field, which...

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A couple weeks ago today, while I was sleeping in,
And lay so very unprepared to have the day begin,

I thought I heard the doorbell ring and slightly twitched my head…
I hoped I had imagined it,...

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If out of darkness comes light, then my life must be one ginormous ray of sunshine right about now. Coming out of a 14-year classroom coma, I am now awake, yet I continue to slumber...

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Chains, so heavy. Binding every body part.  
A cell: its cold metal bars blocking out light.   
A wall, originally meant to protect, now a barricade nothing penetrates.
A net, once safety, now entangling,...

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                                  The...

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I'm reading this book called
"Systems Thinking for Social Change"
by David Stroh.

Although this is not his paradigm of systemic choice,
He talks about WinWin strategizing
for optimal outcomes
Rather than WinLose compromises
for suboptimal conservation
of the miserably under-performing status quo.

Future:
A....

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Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania circa early 1970'S

(just in time for end of summer reading...
recounting emotionally disastrous campy turbulence)
intended food for thought indulgence. 

A boys' life aborted
miscarried golden opportunity
for adolescent romance to be courted.

Amidst a raft of fellow...

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In borrowed plumes, a masquerade we stage,
Thoughts echo doctrines, passions preordained.
From broken families, where fractured spirits weep,
Mothers of sorrow, 
With eyes that never sleep.

We inherit canvases, pre-primed with societal skews,
But the brush trembles in our...

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In nineteen forty four on the third of September
Is a date in my mind that I'll always remember
It was the date of the last train to Auschwitz in Poland
From Westerbork transit camp in the Nederland.

The...

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My eyes open with the morning to witness the break of dawn and we waited quietly in the room for the signal to begin our journey at noon.

The instructions were clear and everyone was briefed...

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In Ouachita's murmurs, where pine needles sigh,
I trace the mountains' ancient, weathered crown.
Silvered river forgotten secrets float by,
And fills my heart, a sonorous chamber now.

A flame ignites, dispelling shadows deep,
A beacon for lost souls on...

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Regretting Cake Takes Two

Rachael looked sheepishly like a hawk in disguise claws clenched meticulous sharpened
yet hidden her sullen face pressing wrinkled no motion frosted lips the icing on the cake
It had meant to be such...

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When I was a youth the earth was our friend, as it was our means of escape.  We would run and chase each other across great distances, far away from the confines of home...

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The 42 Inch Hallway

We’re stepping along the musty hallway now.
I am taking us on a fast-moving memory ride;
A mind-bending groovy slide to 1965,
When Dylan music was seeping loudly like a germ,
Down the green-carpeted hallway of...

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When the enchanted 
jailors of life, 
siezed my soul 
and those
sepals unfurling
manipulative
manuscripts 
ceased to 
script a twinkle 
above screams, 
I became a 
slave to my 
own silence, 
chained by 
granite wings of 
masked butterflies, 
who...

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Fragrance of Life  ©

Cool rain drums on blistering 
asphalt, the scent streams into 
the nostrils--hot, grassy smell of 
summer, freshly cut-smoky 
cedar lingers on the air 

Fresh popcorn drenched in 
butter, I sit in...

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