His proprioceptors on fire
Johnny jumps higher and higher
His hand scrapes the rim
He dunks the ball in
Wrong rim, Johnny, howls the umpire
Being sad
Isn't bad
It's okay to cry
Once in a while
You just feel like you have to sigh
All your problems just pile
Depression is like recession
You can't keep filling up a jar
Not expecting it to overflow
It can only hold so much
When you have to stop you'll know
When the water passes the rim
All your emotions will come out
You can't stop that on a whim
But youu can control if you pout
Don't be afraid of crying
No one wants you lying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wire rims~
thin as a whisper,
holding the weight of every page he turned,
every clockface he squinted at before dawn.
Now they sit,
empty orbits on my desk.
I lift them,
and the world bends~
not as he saw it,
but as I imagine he did:
The morning newsprint smudging into prayer,
the stubborn lawnmower that refused to start,
my childhood face,
always slightly out of focus,
as if love itself were a thing
that needed adjusting.
I wear them like a ghost.
The bridge rests light,
almost apologetic,
as if they knew
they were never meant to be mine.
Through Pop’s lenses,
the light is softer,
the edges kinder.
The coffee stains on the counter
look like continents he never visited.
The crossword puzzle~
half-finished,
pen dropped mid-clue~
becomes a map of all the words
he didn’t have time to say.
I take them off.
The room sharpens
into my own life again,
but for a moment,
I swear,
the air smelled like his aftershave,
and the light was gold,
the way it is
just before it fades.
Looking hard too close
reality frays, unravels—
its seams loosening
jarring certainty open
imagination pours in.
Reality stays
sharp only when unchallenged
The moment you ask—
its borders smear and soften
its lines are smudged by your hands
Edges hard and sharp—
dim, drift, and start dissolving
with a close-up stare
inviting luck, risk, doubt, chance
to sway and reshape the view.
At the fuzzy edge
even time begins to shake—
fixed truths shudder free
all that is solid quivers
in the mirage deforming.
Relentless desire
makes things fall apart and bleed
with your inner want—
casting phantom shapes that stir
over the stark truth revealed.
The universe got smaller
as my mind expanded out
The limits of imagination
endless in redoubt
Each flash the moment changes
passing light that rushes in
The cosmos but a blinking eye
—when out beyond the rim
(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)
As I reach my hand twords the light, I see you. I feel you. You must see me too, my love.
Its almost as if your still here.
You we're the one person that mde me feel, the one person I could rely on when I was in need.
And I killed you.
I shot you.
I shot and killed the one person who could make me feel like an actual person.
My dear Rim, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Hand's Up Dashing, Feat Moving, Ball Grasping .... Let's Soar!
Sound's Fill The Gymnasium, Nothing Blocks Our Chore!
Inside, Outside, .... Up And Down, Once, .... More!
Basket Bucket, Rim, Rim, Shoot From The Floor;
Bounce Tap, Dribble Tap,
Great We'll Score!
Past An Orange Ball, Above Two Rim's Of Red.
Catching Signal's Sign's Running On The Power Lines.
Adding On The Score To Winning, ... Time.
Adding On The Score To Winning, .... Time!
A Chance Rest's Up To Win The Cash, Let's Jump!
Shuffling Feat Quick And Neat, Strongest On The Backboard Please!
Gain's From Our Strain's Leaving Nothing On The Past;
Up And Down The Backboard, Up And Down The Backboard!
Gain's From Our Strain's Aren't Fading In The, .....
Basket Bucket Rim, Rim,
Shoot From The Floor.
Bounce Tap, Dribble Tap, .... Great We'll, .... Score!!
!
"rim baud"
was it
a dream that
i seemingly seemed
to lift
your hips
up and down
not pounding
upon me
but
all
ee
ve
ate
ing
me
pain
stake
ingly p
lease
release
me from
this
dream
AYE CANT LOSE GOTTA STAY TRUE
STAY TRUE CANT LOSE GOTTA STAY
TRUE GOTTA ELEVATE ELEVATE
ELEVATE ELEVATE ELEVATE
JUST ELEVATE
JUST MOTIVATE
JUST PLATE
STILL LIVING IT GREAT
THE GREATEST LIFE OF BEST DAY
BETTER THAN EVER SO I CAN GET
MY SWAGGER UP YUP JUST
KEEP GRINDIN KEEP SHINING
MEEP RISING MY SWAGGER
ALREADY 100 TIMES THAT
AND IM RIGHT BACK ON MY JOC
YEA CUZ IM LOVE
MYSELF CUZ I LOVE
MYSELF YEA TELL MYSELF THAT EVERYDAY
Grand Canyon darkness—city nights,
towering votives in wingless flight
Elevator to the desperate peak,
ninety-nine floors above the waiting street
Torment and doubt ride to the top,
buttons numeric finally stop
Ten steps to the railing, writhing in pain,
the cure within reach—calling your name
(225 West 57thSt, New York: June, 2022)
They would have all of our thoughts
align in eclipse of the truth
blot from our eyes cold tears
not shed at reasons death
No more the fiendish touch
of tempting speech
to challenge questions asked
and why
Nor does the hand of wonder
dare reach to touch
for fear it might enrage
the gods they praise
Thus do the lemmings march
to chanted hymn
along the darkened edge
of freedom's rim
John G. Lawless
3/1/2021
Is identity a reference
to all that I’m not
or something else again
Is what I’m becoming
and what I am
in contrast clearly plain
Or then is it more
and crossing over
to what I’ve not yet been
The border amorphous
where gravity pulls
—to dance beyond the rim
(Rosemont Pennsylvania: February, 2021)
R-im
O-f
B-asketball
E-njoys
R-emarkable
T-reys
V-igorously
I-ntroducing
N-otable
C-ager's
E-xceptional
N-umerous
T-riumphant
J-oys
A-s
W-in
O-ffers
R-apturous
S-mile
K-ept
I-nside
Topic: Birthday of Sen. Robert Vincent S. Jaworski (March 08)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
which words
makes him stumble
those he wishes to hear
or those he longs to hear
which words do she want to hear
those that causes togetherness
or those that divides loneliness
might the two be the same?
Assuring a zig-zagging zebra a zinc zim-bam-boo
without cash, is so brash! As then you will have to give two.
Insuring a zoo master a zebra might rim-ram-roo
Practically tantamount to mashing a crashing bamboo.
As if you need any more trouble, my quim-quam-quaroo.
On your dash I shall lash a mashed mangled measly mad macaroo.
A sillier more gnashy poem I could try to get you.
But first let me throw in some trash, and a rash for us two.
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