Poems: 261221 - December 26th, 2021

051221A
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This new day 
feels as if another 
not right 
only sort of day 
timed out 
out of sorts
sorted out
and time spent 
sort of ill 
and at ease
ill at ease
the disease
checking it out 
on a calendar 
seeking clues
as to what it is. 

The nothing 
that is always 
looking 
for something 
caught up 
in between 
being and not 
being whatever
ceased 
and no longer 
really cared
that it did not 
not want 
made to want
failed to be 
and whatever. 

Those habits
of filling in 
expanded emptiness 
with nothing 
much 
or special 
and left out 
pulling strands
of stranded 
submergence  
step stepping 
the stones
all slip slide out
to nowhere 
makes its splash
in a random wash  
of histories. 

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071221A
------------ 

The love machine
is wiping out
all the love 
in the world. 

Love is the impossible 
of your being loved
by anyone you love
and then turn it around. 

Whichever way 
and inside out 
going backwards 
and forwards. 

It never comes 
from where it goes 
misplaced
amid rumours. 

Unfounded drivel
filling in 
casual conversation
small talk obsessions. 

First you are
the exterminator
then you are
the mouse.   

This way 
then that way 
until it is worn out 
in agitation. 

That mechanical cat
already dead
when it leapt in
to the microwaves. 

Bits of death 
trickled down 
from a burst of door
onto a kitchen floor. 

Marks out spaces
where people stood
during another party 
that disintegrated. 

It made certain 
no one went home
with anyone 
they didn't arrive with. 

It is about nothing 
other than learning 
how to dislike 
all the ways of love. 

------------------------

091221A
------------ 

Always the time
of left 
and for dead
social battlefields.

Survey carnage
break of dawn
after the clear out
gone rats' nest.

Take your things
and go 
mining the heap
of dumped. 

We are junk 
bonded 
to recollections 
turned bone toss. 

Objections 
in memorium  
collects hard fact
good byes. 

Such a large part
of the human brain
is a cemetery 
dotted with monuments. 

Old habits 
derived from graded
sorted out 
then score carded. 

High school kids 
drifting an old age 
channel hop 
between reruns. 

Proverbial trains 
on schedule 
instant replay 
is an endless same. 

Protests of youth
long ago silenced
knowing recourse
is more loss. 

The useful card
that was dealt
was Ace of Spades
so keep it close. 

Sometimes the only
actual bargaining chip
but lucky 
if you have others. 

Drop of a hat 
something else falls  
each tensed
ambitious moment.

People were the same
in great granddad's day
but the weapons
have all improved. 

-----------------------    

121221A
------------

Do remember what
it was and like to
feeling up happy
memories vague
uncertainty eats
away tasselled edges.

Frayed frail 
happenstance repeats 
prescribed stories 
serving to deny
owned insignificance  
to any larger public. 

Do and not know 
what about and there
arguments mounted
up the last trail
thousand years
debated interpretations. 

Sleeping it off
dead lands of lost 
dreams none of them 
really mine and only
borrowed from
other sleepers. 

Those fingers 
too cold
for retention hopes 
at the reach out 
far as you are 
gone from me. 

Knowing nothing 
concerning any
pertinent lives 
given pretension
to being one
and of the living. 

That ended
long ago 
leftovers to ghosts 
played out games 
using decaying bits
that are wannabe.  

Convincing and not
identifiable with others 
the inevitable steady
rise silent
not a thing in common
at wins or losses. 

No longer out
chasing stray
tendencies in passage 
realized converse
other subjects 
confirmed disinterest. 

The latest trend 
in appropriate responses
a chewing gum  
comprised of vague 
jaw motions 
that prove threatening.  

No longer 
feeling in the mood
for too polite 
intrusive strangers
and not want any
of that really know. 

Taking turns 
being one of those
other side of similar 
intercessions into frequent 
demands too much
and feign of generosity. 

Screams night air 
exhausted rage 
at the never 
and rushed to slow
paced disasters. 

--------------------

141221A
------------ 

Those readers
intentional listeners 
target shot  
and don't be afraid
shooting them 
with short bursts
of quick language. 

You have them
against walls 
and want to hold 
some to attention 
repeatedly shocking
with strokes of detail
against exposed secrets. 

There is the whip 
leaves nothing visible
as to any marks 
needing further revision
across careful pleats
of that folded skin
bathroom shelved. 

Today's audience 
unwilling to drift out
to becalmed boats 
and languish reveries
you machine gun them
with short burst 
staccato paralysis. 

They cannot 
pull out and away 
from those obsessions 
at the push pull
wrap up surprises 
tantalized as they are
by gift boxes. 

Don't let them 
wriggle out 
trap-pity trap  
until the last page 
making them 
crave more of more
than ever gets. 

A cruel game 
always to remember
ten or more paged 
Victorian novelettes 
vanish as seconds
quick edit duels 
for silver screens.

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201221A
------------      

It does not matter
but it is useful 
so it goes like that 
while trying to unravel
the whole universe. 

That rabbit hole
continues to evade
and the Red Queen 
has messed with
the mirror. 

Clouded visions 
crazing a glaze 
surface morning 
spit and try to rub 
away the glassy eye.

It was once 
but it isn't any more 
and you can't stay
on any track 
that they destroyed. 

An army of cards
having passed through
your peripheral gaze 
crossed all the lines
of a grim sight. 

Leaving the scene
with memories
as to those left behind
presumably counting
the casualties. 

There are cards
and unanswered letters
strewn about 
across a battlefield 
where the band played. 

A banging on drums
in the distance 
becomes hooves 
on ancient pavements
all galloping away. 

Clamour of metal
striking metal 
sounding same 
old notes of a world
that are played out. 

A search party 
had been sent
finding nothing 
before melting 
in a drenching rain. 

No trace located
in any newspapers 
indicating existence 
and museum artifacts 
all relabelled. 

Eyes eventually learn
there is no point
to looking 
at so many ghosts 
of no one nearer. 

Moments of attraction 
flicker dark 
endlessness forgetting
failures of imagination
gone a bit too far. 

One grows weary
flipping pages
thick catalogues 
containing everything 
that is unobtainable. 

Make a wish list
including every wish 
that never comes true
if only for the sake
of accurate records. 

------------------------ 

261221A
----------- 

We never met 
in the midst 
of anyone's conversation
between any mention
that stirred 
vague traces of desire 
from frigid embers.

Creeping passage 
days that die out 
in that usual manner 
turned sudden ends
made by birds' feet 
prints trailed 
across damaged snow. 

There is no knowing
who made those
varying arrangements 
where we appear 
as misplaced sounds 
threatening an orchestra
with its chaos. 

Another vast mess 
comprised of notes 
mixed with feelings 
proving so expensive 
a jostling for positions 
doing solos 
that break it all up. 

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