Long Tonics Poems

Masalembo
2016 © Fleetwood


Blue-green ocean tipped with whitecaps rolling toward the shore
Plane is humming with the pilot talking about life and your ride is there parked on the hill for easy starting next to the palm...

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You all walk past me and you don't bat an eye,
Not even when you can see the pain in my cry,
You tar me with the same brush as them all, that you cant deny,
But ignoring...

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A Garden In The Sky—by Michael Anthony Butler

  
I positioned myself by the pool
at some hip-posh happening hotel
on the sultry Sunset Strip in L.A.
The adolescent afternoon is hot and
fussy.  My lover draws closer
With...

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I was walking down at Green-bank park
Rather frightened as it was dark
There I fell into this ditch
And came across the most gruesome witch
At first she scared me half to death
As she sat there to my...

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As soon as they entered the club Malik 
pulled Kenya onto the dance floor.  The 
song Blue Love was playing which was 
one of Malik's favorite songs.  Kenya 
started grinding her hips and...

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There was an old lady, a frumpy old bag
who people called horrid, a witch and a hag
And 'though she was ugly and danced 'mid moonbeams
all was not quite as it might've then seemed

Old-fashioned black clothing...

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Chains, hay forks, knives, and a hollow whisper,
become more true and sinister.
Halt in the middle of the moon light, 
and a waver image soon is no delight.
Voices run a muck in the head, 
so not...

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The witches of Backwater were two sisters who,
Never caused harm or concern.
One lived in the swamp well away from the town,
The other chose wages to earn.

She taught the town's children as local school marm,
Reading and...

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My Astrologer, ‘Sex and Love’ horoscope, for Halloween, is grim and on-trend for me.
(Libra) “Get ready to take some chill-time - give yourself the space to recover. People pleasing is out, boundaries are in!” Yeah,...

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New York, New York, the road in the fork  
   of the events, the places and folks who've buttered the pork

Like Rockefeller, Moynihan and Andrew Cuomo
   Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong,...

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When I was just a nipper
My Dad used to take me to the barbers
The Barber would put a board across the chair
so I was higher
and he could cut my hair.

It struck me
how the barber was...

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My head feels like it has a lava lamp inside
The skull has a long crack going across the front

I think it’s time to rotate the winter Mucha
Slide up the spring beauty with her berries and...

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'Tis a twisted, tawdry tale !!
Poor Tom the Turkey is in a tizzy !!!
Tom's tongue is in a tangle, too terrified to talk !
Taunts and threats taking a toll
Tormented by a tip from tattle-tale townfolk
That...

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tonight 
cold rain fell as heavy snow 
flakes fat with polar dew 
roads turned to sideshows 
skies black as crows 
but the java tastes off 
(beans must've turned south) 
as I haunt crowded coffee bars...

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Singapore tryst
Old times bordering;
Restored trade regime


Old Chinatown alleys
Winding streets await;
Takeaway souvenirs


Buzzing bazaars
Colourful wares shout;
Attractions ply


Smith Street
Chinatown circuit;
Oriental stuff


Strange name
Telok Ayer Street?
Meaningful glimpses


This Chinese temple
Tourists assemble;
Photo snapshots


Old men playing
Chinese chess;
Stone table forum


Street vendors
Crafts and wares;
Brisk commotion


Somnolent...

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Curl of light
Dawn sparks;
Birdsong

~~~~~~~~~


Mall crowd
Feisty spree;
Window shopping

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Food court
Hungry agendas;
Appetites dash

~~~~~~~~~


Morning papers
Bad news again;
Apocalyptic surge

~~~~~~~~~


Another typhoon
Wet dreams intrude;
Flooding moments

~~~~~~~~~


Broken hearts
Sadness glimpses;
Mail order tonics

~~~~~~~~~


If you must know
Time does not heal;
Grace inspires

~~~~~~~~~


Neighbour's kids
Noisy birdsong glee;
Sing-song savvy

~~~~~~~~~


Ancient evenings
Here at...

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Her world is a paranoid marketplace.
Fear is the zeitgeist and panic her shame.
She’d married her psyche to a dog whistle pimp
Who’d promised her he’d drain the swamp.
And sure enough, he did. 
Drained it right into...

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Digging, digging, digging...
She defeats the dry sand.
Red dust enhances her resistance.
Thanks to the underground cables
and her sweat,
lest our telephones won’t ring.

He’d filled her womb with transient love	
and vanished behind the crowd, 
but she won’t let...

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I say, let’s hit the road,
when it’s nice and cold. 
I’m a single woman,
I scream alone in my room, 
with no cat, no kid, no hubby;
I don’t sweep much with my broom. 

I say let’s...

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Badabee bada boom

Cabaala vroom vroom

Up in the sky

I fly on my broom

Valleys and vales

Over dry hay bales

On wispy clouds

My twitchy broom sails

By the moonlight dim

Those sighting Grimm

I search far and wide

They’re my next victim

Dissecting their...

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Bazookas In The Bed

We have a mosquito problem
It’s in our house.  It never ends
There’s nothing we can do but shoot them
Then shoot them over and over again
You see…You understand…They’re not our friends
Potions, tonics, sprays...

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Tempting balm tonics reposed fantasist,
Panacea liquifies mirage views,
Crafts allusive lofts energies persist,
Twain heart's favor lips a desire to schmooze.

Elixir defines the gist of lovers,
Exposes the length of listed measures,
Hearts and souls, supernatural pleasures,
Cascade gifted juice...

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Yesterday the birthday girl,
Her rainbow tutu swishing,
Blew out (with brother's help) the candles 
Lit for birthday wishing.

From playground, train and parachute,
The 4 year olds were romping
Until the time for pizza came,
With juice and lots of...

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Say good morning to the cold bathroom floor-
mouthwash tastes like a reused mojito
vomit erupting from a molten core-
in the sink, fermented blood starts to show
from sacrament taken on Thursday night,
my last supper. Judas, feel what...

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The beach ran into the surf
exposing her body, showcasing a creature
heavier than the vogue
yet graceful in the swell and spume,
more adapted and fluent than the leaner
more angularly lank ideal.

Water turned her curves,
curled endearingly over
her aqueous...

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