Short Masque Poems

smiles and snarls
a confederacy of lies
the stoicy of masks


John G. Lawless
7/18/2020...

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Aroma so inviting
Beneath a masque of stench 
Charismatic to the naked eye
Desire is what they quench

Are they that naïve?...

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Fit In Masque

It's as
Flimsy
As that
Film
You
Wear:

FEAR

All 
the
Time.

[STOP.]

-Gray Squirrel

05-03-2024...

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Rhyme
to mask the message
Rhythm 
to drive it home
Trapping words
in cadence strong
Cutting
to the bone

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)...

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How does one reason with something dead, and or dying ?
The moon is full tonight, dangling in the sky this ancient light..
As poison, 'seeping into my flesh; discerned, her masque of red....

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Don’t ever bare your soul,
Conceal your psyche’s role
Behind your metaphors and metric lines.
And don’t undress your heart,
Disguise the tragic part
It plays inside your poetry’s designs....

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Hear ye, Hear ye, one & all
  Your official invitation
To my 'Mask-erade Ball' --

Come one, come all, short or tall
  Masque your face; else as you are
    ~ Behind each mask, may be a star!...

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Embracing the myth,
I hide deep within

More Devil than Savior,
aboriginal sin

Excuses my sacraments,
grace bartered for lies

Judgment internal
—redemption denied

(Dreamsleep: February, 2020)...

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Every book has a hundred messages
  trying to get out

Every song has ten inside of it
  waiting to sing loud

Every painting has a hidden image
   fighting to be shown

And every poem has a secret voice
   —dying to be known

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)...

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Timeless tales of love unspoken and poets
Writings go unread

Minds go on masked, unbroken and miles
left to tread

Hearts are easily shattered
unbreakable and fortunes left untold

Distant clouds break free as my life begins
to unfold

At once night was my masque and joy
was not a liberty I knew about

Though through many years of struggles hope
begins to sprout...

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Stars on strings dangle.
The prance of a lovely angel,
Infatuates those who know,
She will go against your foe.

Curtains unveil new life,
A dreamy eclipse reflects a knife.
Dull metallics do show,
She will greet your foe.

Lights from the heavens rain,
Luminating a growing pain.
Darkening course veins flow,
She will adore your foe.

Crumbling walls ungulate
Destruction writes a fate,
A bruised demon doth crow.
She is your foe....

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