Long Unmapped Poems

for Alan Painter

I have put into many ports
                           ...

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The aftermath -  J.F Baker
You are the bucket to my mop

The twisting rope that whips the water awakening a bucket

My two hands wrap themselves around you, one above the other

Gripping firmly the silver pole...

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strapped to the mast, I recite it so
to show what I saw, I had to know
  no dramatisation of emotion took place
            ...

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The clean slate gleams, almost blinding.
A stark white canvas where vibrant hues once clashed,
or perhaps faded into a tired monochrome.
No comforting smudges of the past remain,
no familiar landmarks to orient the gaze.

There's a strange liberation...

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Unrestrained, my essence glows between worlds,
in the deep tenderness of twilight
across a bridge, along a nebula gliding--
this ride held by the spirit of the wilderness, 
a silence immense…
where light’s universe becomes 
music to my soul...

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it seemed everyone was locked in a dance of platitudes and if I spoke it was like I interrupted the programme, to fit in was to also switch off

falling, falling, falling. Stop.
I'm cushioned, enveloped, stilled

intrigue...

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Upon a midnight of lone decent
The death of my love I long repent
An eminent maiden from days of yore
I evermore grieve in absent adore

My rest is halted by commotion
Of which I have the least of...

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Back when girlish daydreams rode the ether like coal-glowy-clouds
featly feet kept a beat in spring grass as I flounced with Romany wind
breezy-gypsy-lips brushed my cheek as I whirled in his arms
‘til I fell over on...

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I still remember that day
When we were two strangers on a bus
In a city where we didn’t belong
On a journey unmapped
A destination unclear
With no means of survival, but hope

I still remember that instant
When our eyes...

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In the quiet hum of the screen’s glow,
fingers dance, tapping keys,
each touch a spark, a ripple in time.

I am filled and emptied,
a vessel for voices long silent,
echoes of dreams, shadows of thoughts,
memories interwoven with the...

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I lie here spooned against you in the dark, my arm draped across your softness, but I remember those lean and muscled days – do you remember mine? 
How is it now so many years...

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The tongue, a nimble acrobat,
leaps across the chasm,
a phrase so light, a breath released:
easier said than done.

It dances on air,
unburdened by the weight
of calloused hands,
of sleepless nights,
of the stubborn resistance
the world throws back.

The mind, a...

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"Life is either daring adventure or nothing at all." 

                         ...

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Democracy devolves into tyranny, Plato cautioned.
Flooded by the frigid torrent of factionalism,
will we certify his prediction?

Blinded by the prevarication of public discourse.
Numbed by the inundation of disinformation.
Crippled by the conspiracy of doubt.
The real deep state...

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Once within a break in brambly fields
something stirred its fearful head in sleep:
Though it be woman or child, work or vision
something that dares not hold me in derision

But till that lingering day bares your face
with...

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Open the clasped and ancient doors!
There are mountains of footage
to peruse.
Thousands of long years to sift through.
Who did what or who did nothing
are of great import - apparently.

Who was that fellow
and why did we follow?
That...

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Coldest mountains, sharpest peaks
Lonely, quiet there does lie
A better end it still seeks
Body under light blue sky

Its corpse has flown far and wide
Glassy eyes and foggy skin
Tumbling through river tide
None are there, no next of...

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Got into that a mirage
Unmapped in all its grounds
Where no lifeline could exist
Cautious distrust kicking in
An area where sorrows spread
That the beings had spoonfed
A stipulation of a well-crafted hat
Intruding two thirds of real hope
In that...

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A deep pit with a crumbling edge.
Far below,
is a muddy pool swarming with crocodilians.
There is someone with me, a boy.
I shouldn't have taken the child here.

I am slipping, taking him with me,
he won't let go...

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Morning has come
To this hamlet in the hills,
They have an internationally funded hospital
(Net of ‘inflation’ artistry in contractors’ bills).

Lady Macbeth, rinse your hands,
You will nurse in the hospital now.
The Companies have this experimental drug
For schizophrenics.
They...

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Love is a gentle touch, warm and constant
through the years. A slow dance to remember 
as youth’s burning fire falls in an instant
from flames ablaze to glow of soft ember.

Love is two hearts shaped into...

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Terra Incognita 

Hidden!
Uncharted eternity birthing
Roiling! 
In a slow dance
The pregnant pause of terra’s faults
 Breaks o p e n 
   In slip strikes
Earth’s fiery magma
Spit back into the hands of Heaven’s potter
Churning!
 Moody
...

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wanderin' soul, wonderin' mind
wanderin' 'round tryin' to find
that joyful day was put somewhere
memories of past seem so unfair

wanderin' eyes, wanderin' lips
wanderin' lands like oceanic ships
worlds away from where we started
surroundings unmapped, now uncharted

wanderin' hearts, wanderin'...

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Too dimensional, demented intentions allure, 
This was not intentional, trapped intellectual 
Engaged in mental battle with endless herds 
Of sheep infected with conventional intellect 
But I escaped insanity as I began my search 
Far and...

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FACE REALITY - YES BUT

What is this world we see with eyes full closed?
As ‘real’, unless we mean by others shared
‘Untrue’, you say; ‘with my hand, cannot be disposed’
Yet my own ceiling clear, each detail...

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