Long Untreated Poems

Mark Hurlin Shelton is a Poet from Cape Town South Africa, born in October 1967. He was raised by his grandparents in Three Anchor Bay, near Sea Point, where he attended his first schools: Ellerton...

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Perhaps there should be a hard rock band called myasthenia gravis. A rare disease for which there is no cure, MG doesn't kill anyone right away but unmanaged it’s hard to live with. In time,...

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Here I sit vigorously trying to escape from behind these crimson bars of doubt and shame
With yet another thought and looking for someone else to blame
Tears fall from my weeping eyes dropping to the dirty...

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Crocheting needles waved her fingers from a self-disclosed mind

Texture and pattern set lines like predictive text and autocorrect

Wool over her eyes would know how to stitch up her soul-scape

No matter whether blanket or poncho woollen...

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On a sunny morning in September 1984
My mom’s best friend Linda drove to the grocery store
With her four-year-old daughter Becky in tow
Listening to the radio, Becky amused herself in the back seat, looking out the...

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Let’s face facts you’re a motherloving no one
couldn’t find a flow if you were looking at the ocean 
I’ll stand and deliver like I’m living in a river
Your thoughts are all flops 
like the tap...

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Ears, two appendages I fear, 
pressure applied against the one who steers.
Pain distracts all sight, 
light drives agony into effect.
Tears fall as visions fade, Strength summoned deep within, 
pain ascends.
Blinded beneath tragic grief. 
Heart cold,...

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I am beggar 
I am thief 
I am Eve 

Buried by belief 

I am leader 
I am breeder 
I am Adam 

Narcissistic feeder 

I lie inside the doorway 
Unable now to die 
I see the...

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Although the people, place, and time were different,
it was rather clear to me that I had seen this picture
in 1973. It was as if history was repeating itself in 1992.

The year prior had ended on...

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Don't take this as an ordinary joke

While I was in the middle of an
Enchanting dream,
You blew my pathetic mind 
I tried to sharpen my senses
Shadows were encircling my eager soul
Rising from dimming skies
Chasing after the...

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"Fits the Need" 


All people want 
is a stable house
a place to call their "safe" home

to "LIVE"
outside of all cages -
free

live life 
how "we" 
were meant to feel

to have no hell 
continually raising chaos
in this...

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The people of this world are like the three butterflies in front of a candle's flame.
The first one went closer and said:I know about love.
The second one touched the flame lightly with his wings and...

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Somedays, I wake up and my mind is a buzz with the low hum of drunk bees. Other days it's the homicidal scree of the Purge siren meets the absurdity of Happy Gilmore. Those days,...

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The company wishes to research an idea.
Creating slotted aluminium frames that 
Would be 18 inches thick centered between
Two areas.the external area would be double 
slotted to house a poly thermal fiberboard which
Is housed behind a...

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*This poem is based on Type One Diabetes Mellitus, which I have had for 14 years. A
hyperglycaemic attack is when there is far too much sugar in your blood, and it causes
symptoms such as: Dehydration,...

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Do not mistake me my friend
I appreciate your concern
But it is not needed believe me
You analyze all the small things I do!
You worry about things that are not problems!

I am fine!

So what! If I get...

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The groom will keep his name
whilst she will change hers
to his. We talked over these things
as we constructed a home
that would become home to the new couple.
Some laughed when they asked us
to construx the place.
We...

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The cut bashed from a hike in the woods , and the roll down the 

Hill and the wound  if not washed and dressed with the proper 

ointment will fester and have a malodorous...

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THE SILENT PANDEMIC 

The silent pandemic, a global problem ignored is mental illness.
Mental disorders, like depression, substance abuse are worldwide.
Nearly one billion people around the world live with this sickness.

Mental illness, if left untreated can...

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We all I say things that we don't mean- sometimes lack consideration.

But once those things are recognized-
(shouldn't) we seek reconciliation? 

The truth of that, it lies within-
the depth of someones love. 

And value comes unveiled-...

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I am a stranger in an alien land,
Always searching  for eternal youth,
Controlled by an aristocracy with
Little time for honesty and truth.
The food banks are booming
Hardly a state of joy and glory
As the world prepares...

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Untill when they will be harvesting in you What they never planted
And you keep living by Aid
Africans open your eyes and see

Africa until when your learders
Will stop being killed in vain
Untill when your own sons...

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Well over half of the body's weight is made up of water. 
Doctors think about the body's water as being restricted 
to various spaces,called fluid compartments.The three main compartments are
1.Fluid within cells.
2.Fluid in the space...

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The majestic Statue of Liberty has stood with dignity for many years.
She has been a Beacon of Hope for the hopeless seeking new frontiers.
She weeps with joy welcoming new immigrants to her shores.
Alas, she weeps...

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I have always loved spiders
The basement in our house
was loaded with spider webs
They became our pet spiders
We captured insects to feed them;
bees, dragonflies, you name it
Throw them in the web,
two legs appear, then a quick...

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