Poems: 240121 - January 24th, 2021

240121A
-----------=20

Gut wrenching=20
jazz blues=20
played in the way
they don't=20
play anymore
to broken clefs.=20

Nothing getting=20
in the way now=20
of now and then=20
drab intonations=20
of uniform dismal
between antagonisms.=20

Some still believe=20
in fairy princesses=20
and knighthoods=20
without the white horses=20
of rock and roll
adjusting vertical hold.=20

Some still believe=20
anything they are told=20
if it is coupled=20
with a sense of orgasm
that seems to cum=20
from systemic sources.=20

Nobel laureates=20
debating the futures=20
of isn't and wasn't=20
under wild cascades
of digital note
rush of paper cuts.=20

Pen letters=20
lacking muscle=20
could never push=20
in to shelter caves
in the seasonal rains=20
of economic collapse.=20

It certainly isn't=20
the world you made
up as quilted=20
scraps of optimistic=20
statements of mind=20
reflected in bank accounts.=20

Collecting reward points=20
as if you can trade=20
for a dream lover=20
on the black market=20
behind the box stores=20
of a treadmill mall.=20

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240121B
-----------=20

Sitting around=20
in the usual scatter=20
of attention deficit=20
trying to spot=20
the properly medicated
glass eyed stares=20
in a jittery crowd.=20

Stare into the glass=20
of the failed escapes=20
that went too far=20
and are now productive=20
members of obsession
re-purposed utensils=20
concentrated on making.=20

No one makes out=20
in this place anymore=20
dues and concepts=20
having changed=20
as to what you can buy=20
for a daily ration=20
of scratch.=20

Historians will debate=20
old school ideas=20
of truth and love=20
worlds of postage=20
bringing things=20
on approval
to give a sense of choice.=20

We can spend time=20
itemizing all the errors=20
apportioning blame=20
to each and every one=20
still pretending=20
it could have been=20
something different.

What you really know=20
is they still won't=20
ever really let you=20
held waiting game=20
between choke holds=20
and tight times=20
of running out.

Some have found=20
an instant fix=20
of don't really care=20
while others wonder
what the secret is
that the others have
hidden in a pocket.=20

Feelings are expendable=20
same as people=20
and it doesn't matter=20
what comes undone=20
as long as it is done in=20
as something=20
been done before.

----------------------=20

240121C
-----------=20

There is talk=20
of razored wrists=20
and bleeding out=20
into some warm red=20
seas of politics.=20

I knew a girl once=20
who demonstrated=20
the scars running=20
length of  her wrists=20
into finding a god.=20

If you listen closely=20
it might convince you=20
it is all about a sea
of sticky red flags
dragged across floors.=20

Per capita decapita=20
counts as millions=20
along the scrub =20
of machine gun fire=20
cuts public school lines.=20

Red rover, red rover=20
let the next one try
to come over=20
into another take down=20
knee capped life.=20

Terminal existence=20
measured overtime=20
listing insecurities=20
and always trading off=20
for a Popsicle of meaning. =20

Crab scuttle=20
along the bottom=20
feed decay=20
leaves a shell game=20
of pointless guesses.=20

Laughter sucks at=20
take the dreams out=20
smoking hot=20
farts from dead pigeons
into broken wind pipes.=20

The inhale=20
of the asphyxiate=20
signifies another=20
variant of dead ending=20
under a fresh sheet
in a popular morgue.=20

-------------------------=20

240121D
------------=20

I always envied=20
those who could pound=20
the real ivories=20
pushing them past=20
the tinkle tonk=20
out of tuned misery.=20

Never one of them
past tangle fingered=20
Frustrato tones=20
pounding the skins=20
of ear drums=20
with sharp sticks.=20

Piano wire=20
being a garrote
played Sostenuto=20
into a soft twist
of a silenced night=20
cuts hard across.=20

Why so brutal=20
all the nocturnes=20
marking time=20
and intonations=20
of so much loss=20
always played out.=20

Played out=20
but never really in=20
before the big lie=20
and the twist of fate=20
dictates ending=20
worse than before.=20

Life goes=20
the way it goes=20
a bad score=20
from a bad source=20
turned sour notes=20
down memory lane.=20

Honky tonk wiz=20
rattling keys=20
creating illusions=20
of someone being=20
actually free=20
from traffic noise.=20

It has all gone=20
but don't ask me=20
where it has gone=20
though I know=20
we lose a little=20
more each day.=20

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240121E
----------- =20

Stopped imagining=20
finding something=20
that someone else lost=20
somewhere out there
on some city street=20
of all that sometime=20
midst of gets nowhere.=20

Stopped looking=20
into open doorways=20
knowing nowhere=20
anywhere when and  more=20
where someone lost
something I would want
into chanced find arms.=20

There are others=20
who try to walk in=20
to somewhere in mind=20
who mostly never really
ever know why=20
they passed through=20
into someone else.

Caged bird caged
in a cage without a song=20
no more dance to dance=20
having imagined=20
something else=20
as to something found=20
that would be alright.=20

That isn't the way=20
but I don't really know
what really is=20
and what isn't or why=20
when it comes down=20
to finding something=20
that some called =E2=80=9Clove=E2=80=9D. =20

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