all of a sudden passion suddenly

[bflagsst]

For What or Whom

Anybody but yourself,
you wouldn't have tossed
my books out the window,
carried a crutch conjugating
verbs in your head, recluse
with the things you've read;
and when I thought I'd let you win,
you went and drew me out
a circle in your garden--
just to keep me in!

 

[butters]

well, poets, put your sweet words to the test
choose your babes, be sure to pick your best
but please take note and read what Byron wrote
'cos Byron spoke and Byron said it best:





"And must the Bard his glowing thoughts confine,
Lest Censure hover o'er some faulty line?
Remove whate'er a critic may suspect,
To gain the paltry suffrage of "Correct"?
Or prune the spirit of each daring phrase,
To fly from Error, not to merit Praise?"

*

"Ye, who aspire to "build the lofty rhyme,"
Believe not all who laud your false "sublime;"
But if some friend shall hear your work, and say,
"Expunge that stanza, lop that line away,"
And, after fruitless efforts, you return
Without amendment, and he answers, "Burn!"
That instant throw your paper in the fire,
Ask not his thoughts, or follow his desire;
But (if true Bard!) you scorn to condescend,
And will not alter what you can't defend,
If you will breed this Bastard of your Brains,
We'll have no words--I've only lost my pains."

"Yet, if you only prize your favourite thought,
As critics kindly do, and authors ought;
If your cool friend annoy you now and then,
And cross whole pages with his plaguy pen;
No matter, throw your ornaments aside,--
Better let him than all the world deride.
Give light to passages too much in shade,
Nor let a doubt obscure one verse you've made;
Your friend's a "Johnson," not to leave one word,
However trifling, which may seem absurd;
Such erring trifles lead to serious ills,
And furnish food for critics, or their quills."

Hints From Horace

 

[bflagsst]

Costume Dress

Get a bruise,
hide a cigarette,
little heart cut-up,
draped over brick,
scantly vulgar,
flutter-fly doll.

Here the editing eye
discerns
the silky smooth
from the razorburn.

 

[loststar]

Dr. Seuss Summer rain
patters on the asphalt
in fits and starts
soaking the apartments
in july disappointment

 

[normal jean]

predictions of a rodent kind

a large spotted toad has taken up
residence in my tomato garden
ignorant of the knowledge that
a curious cat lurks close by

for days she has stalked and
drooled, although the drool
could be a factor of age
or boredom, but the frog should
take pause to worry

as the vole family, all eight
disappeared, some time late last week.

 

[tungtied2u]

i visited a dark place
briefly, but too long
then found her grace
eyes a beacon , spirit strong

i rested in her embrace
comforted by her song
found myself in her face
and the will to carry on

 

[vampiredust]

The woman I see at the bus
stop opposite the Burger King

drive thru looks exactly like Frida
Kahlo, right down to the hair

twisted like a pretzel and skin
the colour of oiled canvas.

Sometimes I swear I've caught
a glimpse of her wandering

London: At Kew Gardens,
noting which exotic flowers

to place in her hair, taking
pictures with the other tourists

on a river cruise, smiling
at the executioner's block

at the Tower of London;
staring at offal in a butcher's

shop, as if the heart was a reminder
of everything lost.

 

[tungtied2u]

They wrestle in the blue pool
midnight moon in full glow
Mars casts his influence
while Venus dances in the dark

She shimmers, droplets scale her
drip like diamonds, illuminating,
sending chills, an SOS of sexuality
a treasure chest of temptation

He sips silver from Her lips,
traces facets, discovers depths
that tell of Her journey from earth's core
where She dwelt among dirt

Rough hewn, She found Herself
plucked, chipped away at by time
and testing, dipped in the acid
of anquish, parrched to purity

until Her essence became evident
He becomes captive to Her heart,
born from the universe's creation,
as they entwine for eternity

 

[bflagsst]

darks and the desolates

my Portuguese, she
shuts the lights off,
closes bedroom doors,
lets me brush her hairs,
tickles me to the floors,
hides her evening prayers
under stacks and stacks
of records and piles
of clothes

my Portuguese, she
walks in muddy waters,
balks at any bothers,
between her feets
and floral decors,
because she knows
she can't find her ways
home from the desolates
with shoes on

 

[champagne1982]

sugared confection spun round my tongue
as I swirl it through candy
floss floats on burnt sugar scent
and then melts to syrup
I can only swallow

 

[bflagsst]

I forget how the sonnet goes,
Right before I climb in bed,
I forget all the sentiment,
My head's filled by your scent,

I forget how your sonnet read,
I can't complete a thought tonight,
Nor lament a friend long dead,
Right before I climb in bed,

I forget what your sonnet meant,
When I spy you from your bed,
In your mirror or changing clothes,
I seem to forget my day's intent:

The things I'd once opposed,
Even the basis for this text.

 

[bflagsst]

Undone/Unshared

 

[Epmd607]

I love you like so many girls, like so many girls with their language plain and teeth so white and stockings without so many runs in them—or skirts without wrinkles. I love you like so many girls, like so many girls who've written their lyrics then sung them so quietly—who've collected vacation seashells and put them in bookshelf jars. And I love you like so many girls—like so many boys love their girls, in button-down shirts.

 

[champagne1982]

Fatal Flaw

Sometimes the dark reminds me of a sleep
that held me down so deep my dreams
could not escape and I let the wonder
of survival enfold my heart to grace my face
with a smile of gratitude that mankind
has come so far that my genes
aren't able to kill me, so far...

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my OHS. Thank you for being my support.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Field of Play

She tells me
it doesn't pay to look
beneath the surface
for those hidden meanings
or stare too long
at the light.
There is a reason
for reflective surfaces
and shaded eyes
see more of the open
field of play
but it's not play
it's deadly serious
isn't it?
I don't reply
I'm concentrating
on the movement down there.

 

[AoNoDoY]

She tells me
stay down
she tells me
stay on the couch
she tells me
I'm going out
I'm going to work
I'm going to church
She tells me
the vodka's in the freezer
She tells me
Start in the sand pit
and work your up
She tells me
to own it
She tells me
she wants to do it outside
She whines
She takes pills
She doesn't sleep
She loses weight
She yells at the cat
I tell her
I like her face
When she plays air guitar
And she never does it
The same way again

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Neighbours and Lovers

..................

 

[AoNoDoY]

There was a ruler involved

Bedroom light
second floor dormer
flowers in the attic
flowers for algernon
vc andrews said it best

Paul
flapped his arms
and laid out papers
in his second floor bedroom
two rows of six stacks
a grid of papers
on a saturday night

 

[AoNoDoY]

We are ghosts of each other

I reach for the door
the glass door at work
hundreds, thousand, millions

of days, of hands, of souls
have reached for the door
before me

I am a ghost of those souls

Today I reached for a beer on the boat
Because some monk
five hundred years ago
reached for a beer

we are ghosts of each other

and four hundred years ago
another man man reached for a beer
and three hundred years ago
and two hundred years ago
and one hundred years ago
and yesterday

and today I reached for a beer
and all those men
who reached for beer before me
were like puppeteers from the past
pushing rigid sticks
that connected to my limbs
that moved my arm for the beer

all those souls
who walk into work before me
are me and I am them

and that is more true to me
than reason
and that is more true to me
than needs

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

It’s An Art

These days we talk
in undecipherable code
angry words at cross purposes
bypassing the truth.
The softer the better
to threaten.
The sweeter the smile
the more sting to the hit.
We practice our art
on unwitting strangers
left confused in their innocence
or, as you see it, ignorance.
We never swear choosing to use
sharper words that cut clean,
leave scars as remembrance.
We lie in wait for one another
always with a ready barb
to take out an eye or gouge
our perfect skin.

 

[Lady Reiha]

all of a sudden passion suddenly,
the moon shines brightly beside the sun.
all of a sudden passion suddenly,
The wind, sea and dirt form as one.

 

[AoNoDoY]

Hate for the Bait

The forum
at BuenoBooks
is an art form
or at least
it should be

Bait people
It's the only way
Repeat their words back to them
Process their words against yourself
Share the results of your processing
Extend yourself
Be polite
Earn their trust

Then destroy them
(If that is what's in your heart to do)
Or discover something about yourself
Or join in the group mind meld
And trip us all away

But you can't do that Jane
I thought it was because you just don't care to
But now I think you just don't know how

You don't have a fucking clue

You think you are something special J
But all you ever say is
We'll have to agree to disagree
We'll have to agree to disagree
We'll have to agree to disagree

Can you engage the fucking disagreement
on a more complicated level?
Can you take a risk
and try to understand
something fundamental?
Did you know that people
are communicating
something more
than meets the eye?
Did you know we are reading between your lines?
Are you familiar with that expression?

I'm sorry if
you had your feelings hurt
when you were five
and you lost your
capacity for empathy
like you said in post blah blah blah

That doesn't excuse you
from being a rigid, frigid bitch!

If you really want to hurt somebody
earn their trust
understand them
then destroy them
have you never read The Art of War
Have you never watched a fucking movie?
You madam, are an impatient dumbass
The forum is an art form
It requires patience
Nobody is going anywhere
You've been doing this fourteen fucking years!
Have you learned nothing of how this works?
You have no idea how to even have a simple conversation
You don't have to blow your fucking wad at the first sign of disagreement
Embrace the friction
Embrace the tension
Embrace the manipulation, the sarcasm, the hate
It's fucking
It's fun
Have you ever pooped in your whole life?

But C is the one who gets kicked out?

Witty
funny
caustic
fucking smart
catty
manipulative
creative
brilliant C?

C who can talk circles up and down your ugly mug all day and all night?
She's the one who gets kicked out?

And you know J, C was right
You are a snob
You are a hater

Snob and hater
You threw her out for that
Laughably benign
She broke the rules of polite conversation
Jesus Fucking Christ
You suck J and I hate your fucking face

 

[champagne1982]

Dear Patrick

I thrilled as you lifted me along your length
and told me that you had the time of your life
with your hands, with your touch
to guide my own against my breasts.

Sweet Ghost

We will find a cure and an end to pain
to clear the blight that shortened your life
with our touch on a tortured brow
to battle on so the afflicted heal.

 

[AoNoDoY]

Sweet Pea

Did not hate
as a general rule
Her name was Sweat Pea
for a reason, you know

But when she did
She was ashamed
At first she wasn't sure
If it even was hate

Like the first time
She had sex
With a fumbling boy
She wasn't sure
If she'd even had sex
I mean, technically

But after awhile
She honored
her imagination
her feelings

she found it was sex
with that boy
she found it was hate
that she'd felt
that she'd written
the word was right there
she was still ashamed
but the shame changed
and she decided
she would honor
her imagination
her feelings
even more
but she wasn't sure how

 

[Palba_Noruda]

Everybody Else

Everybody