Short Absently Poems

SENRYU 1/25/2017


THREE SLICES OF BREAD
ABSENTLY TOSSED ON THE GRASS
MANNA FROM HEAVEN


John G. Lawless
1/25/2017...

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Greased, thoughtful, sad but..
generating beauty from sadness
Saturating the body in the earths finest ales,
Sound waves as variable as the sea,
Breaking at chance intervals of..
unnerving calm.
Almost like cutting through foam,
where pockets of air appear from nowhere,
allowing sounds to reverberate around the gaps provided....

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I am in the winter 
of my life feeling snow 
Soft as it falls 
my façade cracks 
Ice does find its way 
deep into the skin of history
shadows gather in my rooms
something sits on the floor 
they linger in the corner
These images of you
Memories of them
I am the winter
Of a lost life
A façade cracks
The snow falls absently, softly...

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just a tooth pick


I pick up a toothpick 
from a half empty glass jar
stare at it dreamily 
actually some where else,
absently stroking its texture,

this was a tree once 
birds nested in its branches
squirrels stole its acorns
hid them, for the hard cold times
it was tall and stalwart
filled with life.
 
I pick up a rock, 
I hold a mountain....

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Looking in the mirror
A stranger in there
Watching TV late
Absently stroking hair

Playing solitaire at noon
Eating breakfast at four
Getting dressed at six
Crying out; no more

Taking out the trash
Avoiding neighbor’s eyes
Having one more drink
Telling yourself lies

Looking for a job
Desperately seeking pay
Feeling like shoe dirt
Hoping for a better day...

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A is for Absently staring at you,
D is for Dazed thorough and true,
A is for Agony coming undone,
M is for Maybe you might be the one.

A is Arousal my body's on fire,
D is my deepest most hidden Desire,
A is Allured, enamored to sin,
M is Magnetic pulling me in.

A, I'm Angry you cheated you lied,
D, i'm Dead feel nothing inside,
A, i'm Addled don't know what to do,
M i'm Madly in love with you....

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the sodium arc light hums 
into the frosted night
Bathing all in acidic 
sickly amber that of a toxic wound, 
splashing through the skeletal trees 

the snow flies on invisible currents 
snow drifts glow in that sickly yellow 
the wind is sharp cutting 
the branches dance 
there in the night 
there in the harsh street light 

a shadowed figure standing 
just out of sight its flock cloak 
flapping absently in the wind...

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Photograph 3: Rain

Dancing in the rain
umbrellas twirl, not a care
Chilly rain dampened hair
Clothes cling suggestively to the skin
Under dark skies, lightning flickers
Flashes, distant rumbling echo

Dancing there in the rain
umbrellas float, not a care
Rain drums absently 
Wet clothes soaked
A laughing cry
a cry of delight
Or of surprise from thunder, high

Just dancing under a dark sky
Lights from an outer car come...

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Ribbons of silver light
Crimson in amber strings drift ahead of me
Red, Gold, and Green sway absently
As the engine hums into the night
Passing the shop windows of industry
People bustling along the lane
Heads down headed home
From the daily toil 
From arcane factories
Or crunch numbers of finance
Horizon a dying ember
Heading into the night 
Blinded by silver ribbons 
of light and crimson taillights
The wind tumble after me…...

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The happiest moments of my life
I owe to you entirely
Without you I would’ve been
Less than I am, less a man
The best memories of my life
Will always bear your name
For after you were born
My life was never the same
Now that you are gone
I will never be whole
But you are always near
Picking up the pieces
I absently leave behind
Constantly breathing life into me
The life you once lived
Now must sustain me
And I promise to honor you...

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We seine them up
like dust
in pollen-stained hands,
briefly weight them,
balancing them in minds,
determining worth,
profundity. 

And like those before,
we toss them absently
into wind—
winnowing maple seeds—
whirling them from us—
as we shape lives,
change destinies.

Now, 
they seem to flit
to nothingness,
like us—
pale night insects
pestering
opal moons,
infestations of night
thickly settling
on the liquid glass
of our tongues....

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My eyes watered
from the sulfurous stench of your disdain
as you turned those empty eyes my way

My skin crawled 
from the leathery touch of your insensitivity
as your talons absently clawed my flesh

My soul shivered 
from the the cold wind of your indifference
as you flew away on your mighty wings 

The fires that may burn in Hell
to warm a Devil I have not met 
hold no fear for me

For I have lived all these years
in the cold, cold shadow
of the Devil I knew...

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Daddy always kneeled--
but it was Momma who prayed,
as he spread lips that couldn't dissent,
no matter how much they trembled.

She was always naked for him
bleeding babies upon the floor,
while he explored their cradle,
fingering walls absently--
assessing her foundation;

Momma prayed for simple things,
blankets and frigidity--
anything to create separation;

Where naked wouldn't matter
under the cloak of autonomy
and the only grasping thoughts--
would be her own....

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