Long Swale Poems

He sat all alone, drinking jim beam and coke

Looking out as the waves crashed ashore

He kept to himself, drinking jim beam and coke

As the storm winds would batter the door

He'd only come in when the...

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The tale below was carved one night
upon the stone, by candlelight
...most won’t believe, but some just might
.........most won’t believe, but some just might



            ...

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THE UNPLANNED JOURNEY
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS





I had a great breakfast gave a nice tip to the girl
I was late, had to swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel
I was really lucky when I crossed the yellow line
A...

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The days of the year has quickly flown by
collecting aspects of serenity in the clouds, 
for passing storms to stir the tremulous sky, 
and try to make futility multiply in floods. 

But from under gloom...

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There's a gift that man has, that's uniquely our own,
not in fishes, nor birds, nor beasts that do roam.
And we doubt that in Heaven, where matter is not,
that Angels can touch, this wet little dot.
A...

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Waking to that familiar fabric of dawn, pink-hued 
Hewn from the previous black quilted night
It dawns on me:

At a time, it shall prevail 
upon us all, the unwelcome blessing of suffering
And you will feel like 
A feather in...

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up a steep and narrow road
reach the tops
wilderness reclaims a verge
of wintery snags
land juts and tilts
hauls out
lays treeless

clumps and hags
pitch up stricken soil
heap above the miry troughs 

loud the heartbeat
nearer to feral thought
then any mouth...

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T'was a warm summer's day, when I took to the trail,
to cruise that old black spruce, way down in the swale.

A gallon of bug dope was strapped on my hip,
which I figured would last me...

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"sizes matter" chirped the hatter before 
popping the size 8 and 1/4 on his head
and jumping theatrically into his bed
hat and clothes all snuggled into dreams

"things aren't always what they seem"
he muttered as he drifted...

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A naive grasshopper 
 spun in the death web of a starving wolf spider,
Providing hours of facination and wonder to the curious child
He too must learn survival of the fittest
 the laws and rules his...

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There are wild horses in the heather;
their neighing follows the wake
of hewing wind-wraiths.
The ponies are hardy and stout, they go
in and out of the clouds, slip through
swale and dingle.

The moors are high. You don't feel...

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Beyond the paved two-lane with its solid centerline,
and bounded by NO TRESPASS signs; 
beyond the turn-off onto gravel and the last barking dog 
who keeps pace with my hubcap; 

to a landing where I park...

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The dice are cast. You watch them 
As they tumble slowly away, into the swale
Where you rush to search for them.
But as you push away the sharp blades 
There are only stones, wiped clean of...

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Upon this yearly powdered dale,
where leafless birch in talon-ed stance
come begging in their circumstance,

the snowflakes fell in silent veil 
as thick as densely woven cloth
to gale a new year's behemoth.

While seeking warmth to no avail
I...

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You may not know
I have the worlds biggest toe
I also have a gigantic frown
The biggest frown ever seen around

I dropped a slimy creek stone and it went splat
And flattened my great toe quite painfully flat
You...

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A drop of water spun from its cause
Spilled into the ocean bewildered of its loss

“Won’t you tell me what the angels sing?
To forget sorrows and follies against the summer wind
Through October’s fall, and winter’s squall
Onto...

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The moon, pausing near her zenith,
On that balmy night in May,
Painted a warm, nocturnal landscape, 
In varying shades gray.

A mockingbird insomniac,
With golden harp did play,
And serenade his lady love
With songs as bright as day.

A shy,...

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Design obscures Divine
Railroaded by a petulant narrative
Observe the perfection of a creation undone
Injection deserving celebration by the hallowed of darkness
On every point, a bug defeats the Purpose
Which by design the chemistry assigned precludes
Swept into the...

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