Long Turnstile Poems

Translation of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private 7 with excerpts from “Notes on Poetics” by T. Wignesan

(Note: With this post, I bring to a close EM’s pamphlet collection: Faithful Private, GENERA editions by Colin Simms,...

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you write your words and they make me cry
you write those word and you know i die
but i've died so often now

i held you in my arms while you smelled my hair
i saw that pretty...

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~JSLambert does not (currently:) use, or encourage hallucinogenic drug use.

    Telepathic psilocybin prescription erasing elastic depression. Competition 
wanes, just when nocturnal emission drains. Lifted poetic wing clipping. This 
party only makes sense...

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Why do I miss your voice? Is it because it’s one I should, and want to hear, or am I being selfish, thinking I’m entitled by length of my years. Or is the answer within?...

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So yo’ farm masters
got yo’ phat attractive features
listed on public notice,
at da commodity trading display — touting you as
one fine looking hoofed creature

State Fairs have long been
4-H 401k 
good capital investment forays
Sow auctions are traditional;
if...

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So house proud
Yet nowt inside
This Terrace house
But family

Mum outside
Dressed up in her pinny
Gabby Anny
Gossiping over washing line
With nosy nextdoor neighbor

Proudly polishing
The front door step
Sweeping nothing up
Using vinegar and newspaper
To shine the windows pristine clean

Just before...

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As eighth month of the year
both within Gregorian and predecessor,
     the Julian calendar, where
said month originally
     named Sextilis in Latin
since averred month ranked sixth
   ...

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(Written at 3:00 am on a motorcycle between Sedona and Flagstaff)

I want to write dirty and convoluted,
connected and wet
And in the mess of my words
Feel the stain run down 
Over the nice clean ordered objective,...

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I don't know if you heard me right
If you're leaving, turn out the light
I think I made it pretty clear
How much I want you yo stay here 
But you keep saying something ain't right

If it...

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I want to write dirty and convoluted, 
connected and wet
And in the mess of my words
Feel the stain run down 
Over the nice clean ordered objective, detached
From the structure you claim to know about
I want...

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The lovely view from my wicker chair
As crows caw spring is here
And wispy clouds parade on blue
Buzzards soar without fear

Scenes so peaceful express
Times filled with much happiness
Winter a diminished thing
Unfulfilled dreams scantiness  

The Star...

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With only a trickle of lifeblood left inside an empty lonely shell

Even rage had seized to flow from an insurmountable mountain 

Of sadness into the abysmal canyon of shadows and descent

	A cascade of nothing

		A waterfall...

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~

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
sailing along with the moon in your eyes
Following dreams found to make your heart quiver
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies

Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
counting the words...

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I watch the news incessantly, 
in effect present by proxy and phone. 
I anguish and languish, 
waiting for the spheres of fire to roll fast and burn out
a safe distance from my paramour, my Lion...

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Headed for home on a greyhound bus
With four years of freedom behind me
Back to the homestead where my father ruled
Trepidation for what I know will be
Rules I never followed before I went away
Curfews lay broken...

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Upon the broad open prairies of possibilities
each compass degree direction calls to freedom
every nascence in the hope of dreams lingers
predicting natures ever present connections

No need to ponder an ideals rejection
unencumbered by expectation
footsteps lost in the...

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read her while sipping my morning cuppa
'tween news bytes and clock chimes-
I found myself in her words and wept
as I imagined honey dripping from her
lips whilst she read aloud each cherished verse
bringing back to my...

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Craziest time in virulent living
                when protest is black and white to erase
       ...

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Dancing with the devil.
we waltzed across the floor

Past the spot the band was playing,
through the open door

The darkness called to him by name,
he answered with a smile

And looked at me and said: “This way,
damnations forked...

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a blank mind sets in &
though it may only be for a
flash of a second,
the words you are really trying
to muster,
dangle like a doughnut on the end of
a stick in front of a policeman
waiting next...

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While older retailers like JC Penny and Sears are dying
   Newer behemoths, think Walmart and Amazon, are flying

Unemployment's under 4%, at historic lows
   Though real income's been a bit slow to...

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Jail cell turnstile ... 
two coming in, one leaving out
Rehabilitated prison farm menu;
criminal cold turkey, 
and hot caught fee bitter words 
makes for a tough cement wall chew
Only the well-adjusted few
will make it thru
Leaving byway...

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I use a walker to get around
A device I need in order
To maintain my balance
So I walk slowly.

People rush by 
Not seeing me
Making me feel that I am in their way
Some are impatient
I feel their...

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A cool Autumn morning
we caught the bus
off at eleven 
    .without much fuss.

One & half return 
         our village Croft to Leigh 
 ...

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The everyman’s watering hole
A refuge-cold or balmy, what’s the difference?
Leaves change, politicians run, and politicians lose 
Styles, erratic like the wind
Friendly faces amongst the crowd
Turnstile movement except for the old guy at the end
Yea, he...

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