Long Stucco Poems

1. Non-fiction

The bathroom faucet gushes nectar
drowns my hands in never-laughter,
"Sorry" is a specter
when you told me "0" I felt disgusting,
hopelessly deluded,
naked.

Last night I dreamed
that New York City was nuked,
another Twin Towers Lost,
everyone radiated.

But then I...

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Misshapen limbs of the Palo Verde trees add an artistic touch to the landscape. While 
Honeysuckle twine about the old rail fence and the spiny Ocotillo flash scarlet plumes. 

Mesquite trees, older than the homestead,...

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Classical infusion Beethoven’s “ode to joy”
Playing on blaring audiophile speakers annoy 
Purposely looped to destroy vagrants with electronic music
Blends of subversive elements and anxious acoustic 
Solution to loitering the bodega doo dropping
Spicy Shiitake broth smelling...

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\

 Hopped out early from his bunk bed
 Jumped into his old blue jeans
 Slipped his hand into his pocket
 Found enough change for a drink

 Put his tennie to the kickstand
 Hopped aboard his...

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Foreign Travel- Portugal

It is all that is unspoken that gives a  place its atmosphere.....the endless turmoils that come from living....peaceful Celts conquered by Romans 
after centuries of resisting. The conquerers monuments still dominate large...

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Chapter One 
Boy into the West 

Dawn upon my cloak 
Urged and so converged were the guns 
Seeding myself with the rest 

I broke in the eye of the Sun 
Settling my mind on the...

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We’re all just Scattered splattered rainbows on Skyscraping Walls. 

That’s some graffiti, the graffiti is the name. 

There’s graffiti with some face paint 
Looking out us all, with eyes on everyone... peeking thru city walls.
A...

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Its an old building of spires and dirty stucco 
 on Wednesdays filled with men 
 some in worn and dirty clothes that have not seen
 a washing machine for weeks or more,
 others keep...

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By Laura Dee Battle
July 16, 2013
(revised July 11, 2015)

There’s no clarity when she’s feeling this way
Blinded by the crippling fear in every yesterday
Crying as endless missteps repeat in her mind
Remembering the missing sun behind her...

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The lazy consciences
of the long yawn, credulity class
work so hard
to be an American Idle

“Care less” is their toga motto

You gotta have Roman candle aspiration
Pleb effigy be the 
burning goal of a finger-twiddling nation

Fiddle sticks 
always...

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The morning sun stretches across the sky, 
charging a palette of blues, greens and chalky coastal whites.  
The smell of salt is carried by the early morning humid wind, 
and seagulls search for their...

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Extraordinaire, he raised the ice.
He told me this when I was a child.
He said he heard his neck pop.
He laughed and said, “That stopped my dare devil’s persona.
As you see, I am short.
I liked to...

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They're getting older,
five brothers and sisters,
all with degrees, jobs, families, 
nice homes, good lives, happier 
than most except when they must 
fly to the home of their childhood 
and settle their mother's estate.

They gather in...

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Auto-da-fé at Plaza Major



Sixteen-Eighty was brutal on saints and their hissing cats.
A turgid June, thickened as it was by an immature sanguinary wine
that failed to quench the civil mob.

Above the birthday cake façade, the pink...

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SIX DAYS

Sleep in that short summer
drifted like sweeps of bleached sand.
Stone rooted with age. Florida.
The lone cry of a dolphin. Men
reaping folds of the sea. Herons
falling out of the sky like
white rain.

Before six days, she...

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Sixteen-Eighty was brutal on saints and their hissing cats.
A turgid June, thickened as it was by an immature sanguinary wine
failed to quench the civil mob.

Above the birthday cake façade,the pink and cerise porticos,
the heavenly-frocked casements,...

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Flora

Season of love and natural propense,
In youthful exuberance with wholeness of innocence;
When Flora casts off her wintery shroud and bursts into flower,
Screaming to the world, “I’m alive; I can’t hide any longer!”

Intoxicated by her aroma...

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Indigenous woman—rarely accompanied by their
white sisters—or their men enter 
through the side door
of St. Peter’s Church.

Here they are boxed in cool stucco,
and stained-glass. A flock of Mexican 
Madonna’s shift today to encompass 
their fairer sister:

Dios...

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I caught last night's performance though it wasn't meant for me
Thanks to Lily, Rose and Ivy for saving me a seat
Held in a private location far away from prying eyes
Reservations were not taken because it...

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the still life paints in water colour as moments dissect the day

an autumn leave falls quietly in tangible peace of the quiet soul

a tranquil hand brushes a humble canvass serene and at peace

memories from summer...

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Tired War,Release the Monkeys

They tried to nail my boot to the floor
No nail puller  
My influence won the day
I was the monkey man

Earn the right
I want to ask 
Just for a little more time
Growing...

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“Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?”

My hands and nose press against this glass. 
Behind it, he prowls. 
Restless, at once. 
At once, ravenous.

I would disappear in his long-toothed caress. 
I would vanish like drops of water on...

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Remember me?
I remember you.
My home-
Where the meadowlark laughs
And the sun paints the tranquil sky
Over the ancient hills-
A familiar majesty,
The sagebrush and thistle,
So strong and hardy,
Ugly to most,
Dear to me.
I long to wander those hills again-
Anthills...

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6/5/22


Underneath the night sky
No more Mr. Nice guy
My my, how time flies
F*** all these white lies
To you it seems out of this world and Sci-Fi
To me it's natural like a hippie wearing tie-dye
Another high tide
Rarely...

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Kaolin ceramics shelved for display
A framed mirror suggests a window into time
Fortifications in a continuum surround this fortress

Inside a Southwestern style is secured
Bulldozing nature for architectural delight
Rich in warm tones and textures of stucco
Baroque oval...

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