Long Yurt Poems

[For the uninitiated and for the avoidance of
confusion, this poem features a Penguin
called Pilchard and a Pilchard called Penguin]
_____________________________________

Pilchard the Penguin had heard a loud cry
A reindeer was plummeting out of the sky
He quickly re-counted...

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A cold and calculating problem
I see
is finding resonantly warm motivation
for resilient employment
by following mere capital short-term acquisition norms
for sacred vocational gravitas,
and maybe a smidge of gratitude--
where "smidge" is warmly defined
as the opposite of cold hegemony.

Back...

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"The Golden Chord"

I have stories
caterwauling
to be told,
I will caste them out there
no matter how bold.

They will not drown,
they’ll survive
soaked to the bone,
transfigured transporting
they’re magic
for the one who sits absent
on her Royal Throne.

Some are parked on...

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LIVING OUT OF SUITCASES
There was a time when everyone lived out of a suitcase!
Not just the homeless, the free spirits and the spirits of the free!
But everyone did live out of a suitcase.
Today, we are...

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In the valley of the culprits 
be patient. 
Remain planted on your legs 
to be struck 
by the newcomers and leaving them 
never look behind you, 
so that each one can see 
the hairstyle on...

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Ytb! Ytb! You understand we had a contract?
But what happened ytb?
You were such a savior to many,
A dream come true for many,
Why did you abandon us ytb? 

We came to Turkey you were nowhere to...

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Eccentric Emma, third world charity advocator
Posts smiling foreground photos in mud slewn villages
Personifying inconsistency wafts remote mantra
Mind realm torrents when Followers Like - limitless! 

Travels to India restore her heart's connection
Finds enhanced spirit to spruke...

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We live in strange times, my brother 
men make money 
with war dances 
and occupation... 
Do you not see the bombardments 
and the pillaging? 
Under the boot 
you are worn out, 
these days 
the sweat...

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I went to my neighbors
To ask for a favor
And said may I borrow
Stuff I need tomorrow,
But she stopped me short
With this stunning retort:

“Do you need sugar cane
Drano for a clogged drain
Or perhaps some flour
Or did...

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I miss some information while the news drones on today,
and lose a favorite TV chair, while commentators lie on air.
The coddled cats, now cozy in my spot, have no respect for playing fair. 
Their clawing...

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Absent Motility Against Staid Inertia

impossible to describe listlessness
     bedeviling this body electric aye attest
motivation to counter glumness
     seizes motility temporarily

     to stave off...

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You live in your own inner city, which you bought in a 
silent auction.
You were again unable to cancel your debts.
Under your blackening eyelids you try to feel certain 
things.
Without noticing your withdrawal from self,...

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Without making you feel at all
In lands very distant from you
I raised flowers which you like
I know
I left you by yourself
With unforgettable memories... 

Every so often
You felt uneasy
Because of my badly digested words
You stayed sleepless...
During...

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It was warm in the yurt; the desert was unyieldingly hot.
There was the slight scent of ylanylang, it was sweet.
The guy wearing the yarmulke had a captive audience
He was yacking to the point of yammering,...

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As Commander of the weird
Member of the phurst church of phun
An ordained member I am father and I am mother
Of the rubber chicken

Juggled between one George Bush and the other
Between camps, I break my foot,...

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What species of humanity are you?
Whatever kind you are, you don't worry us. 
According to hearsay
you were willing to lay your hands
on small items
deposited by my mother
to the communal account,
close to a bank.
I know that...

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The hunter has become a guide for the birds,
his two faces
against two wings.

He has chopped down trees
to make a post
with small dried branches
for the birds to roost.

He has broken off flowers
to decorate this small tree
to...

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When you get bored
Go at the edge of the Seine
Be the friend of swans
Divide some bread into pieces
To throw to them! 

Don't be in charge of shippers
Letters remain in consciousness
By dancing northward
Consider bottles
Carried away by...

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Today I shall choose one of you
A child on whom falls a shadow, wedged in a corner between lines...
A daisy bringing us some suffering from his home
Silent in the middle of a blue turning grey,...

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'wind is pounding in my heart'

It tears across the steppes and plain, it guides my mind and eases pain
Whithin the yurt, upon the road, it whets my mind; eases the loads
I've rode it's Breast ten...

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Friend, you’re not the guilty one
The guilty ones are the evenings
See how they drag you down into this obscurity...
Trouble not yourself
Everyday’s "Love’s Labour Lost"
Vanishes away
Your eyes have learned
The meaning of love anyway
Learn how not to...

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Brother, garbage sweeper,
Don’t sweep anyone’s hopes away
They’ve tossed into the streets... 
Tears, you know,
Cannot smudge
Our Avenues...
Folks on the whole
Keep their regrets
All bottled up...
No you can’t guess
How they feel
When they don’t go outside...
Those garbage pails
You’ve emptied...

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Most kids ride the school bus twice a day
School buses don't often have wood stoves
or beds you can sleep the night away
Ours did though

More than once I lived in one 
Some painted like a forest...

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I wrote my poems
with my heart
I strolled abroad
With my manuscripts,
drew my expectations
into my drawings
The avalanche of suffering
crushes me. 

I put years
on my back,
stored secrets
in my memory
Often I could not end
trips... 

I was annoyed
by the hypocritical
before...

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By his attitudes
your uncle resembles
a machine with laughs in brightness! 
With some difficulty
most people stop themselves
from laughing.
Besides, are they are in a state
to laugh -
poor people?
Their problems exceed their means,
high costs exclude...
their children are untenable.
Their...

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