EPC Collaborative Poem #12

A Concerned Parrot With Slim Braveries In A Leather Suitcase

Contributions through August 20, 1997

Poets seeking publishers in vain,
   may pay dearly for the privilege.
Poets who become household names,
   are finding different paths and other ways.
Avoid the publish or perish mythology,
   vain glory makes a sad anthology. 
(RRC)

We write poetry:
Null invocations
To a disenchanted world 
(CEJ)

I have three bucks
I'm also hungry
the bucks must buy
the following sundry 
(G.R.C.)

fast wisdom cups cups
and fingers spill cups let out
let out and walk go out go out for a walk
wisdom evaporation wet skull
contents wet let out
fingers in 
fracture
he cupped he pills he was let out
cement
fracture rebar for a walk on skull
crossed up 
   and now the street is quiet again 
(Z.O.O.)

numb
I sit with my mother
numb
father is upstairs
numb
last breath escaped unnoticed
numb
we look at each other
numb
we don't notice the sunrise
numb
something howls, very far away 
(sjn)

I see "naked" as a concerned parrot.
   (other parts of the brain related to tail formation or fins.)
And, can you tell me what supplies different trees the affinity to die
     by a party ingeniously accomplished.
Logo editing motion of same-year cross-inclined not to believe.
I say "orthodox," you bring six pairs of limbs and a well-developed mouth
    paddling whose protest to the Winged Turnip King.
My flying scenery used in stir practice.
What's so cooperative about this smell?
(MMB)

here's some bad stuff here        some good stuff here
"Frasier"                         "Millenium"
serial killers                    one-time killers
phish food                        goo-goo cluster
goo-goo cluster                   phish food
no face                           fat face
"Frasier"                         "Sesame Street"
we would have won                 kudos to the better team
great!                            appropriate!
(MMB)

The stolen harbor felt bitter with each breaking icicle.
The water did not care
The fish were just innocent
The ground held fast
The sand erroded its yellow spine- Whats new with Silicon!
The ice was brainwashed water to think it was still
the stolen harbor was brittle
It cracked under the violence of wind. 
(INF)

Wicker baskets hold only slivers
torturing the hand of the holy
where are they that see
and feel
and here
is there a beginning
or only the sliver 
you see 
(rm)

I cannot express how much this lady
means in my daily life

She understands my needs aplenty
though she pretends not to be my wife
(JSLC)

Auburn tresses blown to the wind, 
With thoughts blown further still.
Liquid cold courses through hot veins, 
Chilling even the warmest of memories. 
(lkm)

stories being told as they unfold
I see myself a mirror reflecting on itself
and what I see is me underneath
all the white lies and disguise
waiting on the other side of the cultural divide
for you 
(E)

I have searched for my own kind,
lost in multiple pathways,
down to the spiral staircase of learning.
As images falter,
I soared through labyrinths and worlds of mad geniuses
of our time gently reaching out to the deaf, blind, and the crippled.
Now I arrive on night's purple legion,
my haven!!!
(cmm)

i join the bearded men asleep in their chairs
no longer howl down the street with
little trinkets jangling in my pockets
i try other names;
Edward The Bird, Edward On Fire
Ed-Gone-To-Town, One-Bike-Ed
here freedom means no more than
thinning hair stuck to sweat scalp
and wisdom a long cable endless
spinning in the dark
hush children 
what does not rise
fails 
(ES)

thine eyes have seen the glory
my eyes, the pain only
violence breeze by so fast
tears dry before formed
(CdH)

and so i sit,
lonely--
upon lavender wisteria
wistfully longing
for you. 
(dc)

Lost from the time I left the Harlan road,--
This is the plain where Flynn lapped rivers with
His tongue, bowed in fever's wrack, bared all
His neckcords, and then fell slack, on an army cot.
***
A crib of talus heaps, flint-rock chips and spalls.
Brood herons by the creek, a cradle-song. 
(eas)

Feel the ashes creak
Hear your blood moan
As the masses speak to me, As the masses speak to me 
(HH)

your face has maddened angels. 
(d)

Kindly grandmother opens her hands:
chameleon dust,
mask for the mating dance.
(kjs)

	In the heart of all there lays a crossroad
	the roads by which diverge in all directions
	And here I stand in the heart of it all
	The choice of paths for me is quite simple
	for no matter which road or which way I turn apon
	the path I walk always heads back home
	to where I stay with all my things
	all the memories I hold belong there
	And that is what matters the most									
(f)

It is an elemental thing
to watch the edges of the day
flow past flower petals
and to feel the weight of something
older than your mother yet as soft
brush by and flutter the pollen
on the backs of bumblebees 
(NET)

Grey, the wintry day
sullen not April at all
missing those in warmer places
begging, with the sun, we plead Return
Return
(DOD)

If so, How does It taste?
Is It redder then mine?
(DD)

Hell is a cold shower
on a December morning
in London
when your late for work
and the trains won't run
but it could be heaven
with you. 
()

imagine closing your eyes
to escape a crazy world
only to find one more insane 
(m.s.)

D. grade?

hmm...yes.

D+

D-

D...does not pay attention in class 
(l.6.)

The rimless sun confounds the sky.
I am boundless when I look up,
and time changes substantially. 
(AMS)

i once kissed the belly of a snake
as she rose above me in a thunder cloud
her hiss sounding the rain  
and her bite struck as lightning
she danced 
shes a dancer 
spellbound i was 
she was deadly
being the best sex i'd ever had 
(ds)

...standing East of Eden, as if kissed by the quil a rose, 
the moist dew on my lips ascends into the black waters 
where stars turn in their sleep... 
(f)

the skies are falling dark blue haze 
improvisation is a sin/skin
berlin 1977 endtimes neCrO fill ick
dreamless noise of hollow vision
is harmful to the mu(S/T)e
swimming in the cU*t that is time(s gone by)
leather fantasies says police mormon vision(airy)
harsh ginsberg realitied
living past/future shameful grinning souls
modern poetry is dead/pseudo get off the stage
(f.b.)

you have fallen 
fallen down a hole
you are calling out to me
i throw a rope to you
(nmz)

what your legs
have loved i
find in your
fingers aged
with beauty,
formed by pain
traveling in
circles about
the knuckles,
wrinkles
worthy of
(s.)

the view is not clear anymore
children are laughing and screaming
I long for an overwiew like the feet
of silence 
(C.G.)

A bond of love aged half a century
Was turning to pain for one
The illness, taking askew the bond
That's why it had to be done. 
(RPO)

Destined
     to be unknown

Not Known?
  Pushing for Freedom!, Land's pride, place grown.
The union is placed left, the world bows, sheds a tear

   and prays for Detined Unknowns... 
(RPO)

Touching Black, in sight, Just.
Searching colors, Red, Red, Black.
Fear is red, Black holds fear.
Dream, Dream the black.  
(RPO)

starving me 
with slim braveries. 
(sr)

just kidding
Myself through 
the large, the small 
and indifference
of friendship
it ends

in fear of 
(tsw)

Daylight ends 
and the grass stirs,
softly warming bare legs
lying flat and motionless
content with it all. 
(CSA)

Helen is wearing scarlet lipstick.
I read recently that men like this.
It promises sexually dominance, they say.
Helen lives in a pink house, imagine.
(Mj)

Day was dawning for now
they could make out the mountains
rising to the east. 
(jh)

Action and adventure hero/heroines personify the lore,
while it seems, only villains die...to even up the score. 
(RRC)

Silence is among us, though many words need to be spoken,

Tension is in the air, though hearts may be broken, 
(MR)

your voice is not poor
it is caged
and your spirit is that of a crow
but who is to say that the curve of your wing 
is not beautiful

I would measure your found fragments
against that which is given 
(rcw)

Every second rains opportunities,
Every minute seems coming with gain,
Every hour polutes me with hopefulness,
But the day is about to betray,
etc. 
(E)

I'm a biking lunatick
a cycle of the soldered 
(f.e.z.)

Allen Ginsberg, we're gonna miss you
 more than you probably thought we would
Three generations of us, all knowing
You are Walt Whitman, and more 
(dgf)

a pile of blanketed lies
mount the stage
fostering fraudulent
recipes for dank 
acts of sin. 
(ydk)

intellection is nothing but
a categorizing down
the subtle built-in daily astounds
thousands of you seem familiar
(ljt)

in the shallow waters
pebbles glisten
in the ebb and flow,
bared on the beach
as the waters draw back and back
the brilliant blues, greens, corals
diminish become dull
grey in the lingering heat 
of the evening. 
(mkl)

form and function each follow the other
are cattleguards to keep the cattle out
or the people in 
(msr)

Crawdads enjoying the summer shine
Thru crystal brookish winds.
More aware of danger from accustomed predators
Than from human children enjoying beautiful days
And the funny little animals.  
(dab)

mental Mike Tyson wannabe/shadow boxes
on 93rd & Union
to the amusement of the privileged
being poor @ the moment/I am disgusted
& wanna go home 
(K.P. McL.)

reaching forward
on our fingertips
wanting the whole,
the loss-breaking
vision.Cityscapes are good.
We stand apart 
from the toytown ,
chartered dormitories
self-distorted
by a thermal
(dm&LM)

the two armies are now about a mile apart 
(pu)

floating up   do
                wn  toward? 
(LOR)

composed of equal parts millionaire and journalist, she
evolved toward the south, her thin hands
timorous, but the news of the earth in general
good. she lifted her eyes from where they'd fallen,
twin gardens of the patient apple. whatever you need,
that's what I'd like to deposit for you, in a small
and tender place.  
(g)

When did attention become synonymous with fertility
and who keeps peddling rights to live.
Comma. "Excuse me, Sebastian, bastion (of
far-removed, circular, sight-seeing clatter), champion (of wedlock evince yet towell-gone
loose-I'm-woo-hah coldering to market), legislator (of this bill, that one,
the other one that gives you more money and me less ((and them even less)) ),and
all-around lummox-federal-Philadelphic guy about town: how in the heck are you
and wear are my clothes?    
(MMB)

I see
What I don't want to see
Plug my ears
So I don't have to hear it
Go numb
Make a wall of ice and fire
Strong
To protect me 
>From myself. 
(JMW)

to be a bird
flying 
escaping from sorrow and pain
joy and love
spiraling
up to the sun
diving
through oceans of air
not caring
what you've left behind
just gone 
(JMW)

Run into the night where are no faces
Run until out of breath, your heart races
Who you are, you are now close to forget
It does not matter, you have no regret.
(MT)

My arms will grow flabby
when I am old
triceps will droop and flap
as I walk
in my family we measure
each other
by our fitness
eyes press and pinch 
(kck)

On that day, something
(that should have changed
everything)
happened
and nothing changed. Not
even a little. 
(MN)

this machine
is booked
try later
 try 
(id)

if we were all really this
hip we wouldn't be 
ascared of death ever
or 
we would be so ascared as to be dancing  
(H.H.)

People	
Predictable
Happy, sad, jolly, here
Sometimes unpredictable, called
Homosapien 
(T.S.)

(I say this tentatively, 
that he is not a misogynist bastard.)

be reconciled to one,
lost to solipsism.
Infinite plurality, flung
and embedded in
(k)

fundamentally first-rate
																		nether 
topsail drift awakes
insolent receivers to senders 
(DF)

For example, in bright dot, acute
Angle, Pissaro sequestered 
Those hurtling boulevards of French democracy:

horn adrift, what crown 
lost 
(gfr)

finished painting the tiny closet
tomorrow, more paint,  another room
got Beezer, our baby Timneh Gray Parrot,
his first time glimpse of computer room, skittish,  then
finally perched on  bottom rungs of chair under my robe, safe from the technological marvels, content to doze. 
(jb)

a window open on the world 
      transparent, clear

what do I hear, here
in these sighing, singing 
     woods and fields
re-creation . . . rest

this subtle rainbow wide
(DAF)

todaysyesterdaysmorrow
tears of joy sorrow
allbecomeone 
(NSE)

...I fantailed the Scotsman with an array of mourning.
A sketch of wiener schnitzel incumbent shrink--
I'll catch one in full mess ache of inspector.
Lean and learned, my picture radiates share qualities
not like our Founder's covey.
"It's me ya Mom: your thing."
Let us not maintain time with a small instrument.
The pool is won by a player whose airplane doesn't exist.
(MMB)

i walked into the land of candy
i rotted in the moon 
wanting everything stopping at nothing to find my way
home
from the land of candy
hope of anew
loss of a soul 
we look into the light hoping to the way, but we blind ourselves in ignorance and greed
i walked into the land of candy and came out happier 
(e)

That's not really the end
But that's where I stop
whenever I tell the story
That's where time melts
all down along my between
And I get a ransom
                   all stuck
in the saffron of my head
(A.S.)

Today it rained 
only in our backyard
where you slept your spring slumber.

Berries on the tree
swaying on your face
an affectionate shadow
(L)

alone awaiting inspiration,
attempting to transcribe
thoughts and feelings; fascination:
observe what is here inside.
(jls)

Mist vanishes in hidden hollows of rock -
A wreath of blue sparks evades into the night
To mould the lightening, the ray, the star,
Piercing the crystals, the light-splitting height. 
(MSL)

the loss, the sense of loss, that never before or after or ever
again, the wind, the solar flare that burns or the water
rising up in air to splash and burn like acid might someday
come again, but not restore what's gone, now almost 
unremembered except for the dim outline of the ghost's
clear silhouette, its sheer light like gossamer; and, oh,
how dry tears fleck the bedspread that no one shall now know
it is gone, forever, gone to be no more. 
(cmm)

Reflections of the darkness
Soothing melodies in deaf ears
Anticipation of yesterday 
Memories of to-morrow
(krsm)

Up and down,
here and there,
eternity to eternity,
omni - present,
ever present.

Great!
(krsm)

Are you my life ?
I mean, the reason I breath
Or, the life of all the years I had
To cherish the role I played on stage 
(krsm)

I couldn't see the typo for the trees it was printed on.
(you're not supposed to be affected by things like
tarnishing your company's image--why? Because you're
an individual...better than....)
NO. I MEAN it was a TYPO against humanity!!!!
(Hey-suess Christ! It couldn't've been--)
It was: I had these people coming into our
bookstore thinking we gave free readings
of all poetry books requested.
You know no book store gives a shit about poetry
--not even the Tattered Cover in Denver. 
(MMB)

big screen meme too gotta big mac 
brain drum blip blip local necrophile 
guts godly polis patent gene split klein worm
spits up lao tze detergent inter mars probe maybe
october link to capital bracket 
incoming  
(s/z)

When I come home and find you
weeping by the fire
your hair dull and mattered
your sweet face grey;
fingers frantically
twisting imaginary ropes
it is then that I 
(MJ)

It is when the light of day lessens
That the mind imagines an end to living,
Or at least questions what living has become. 
(BM)

to what do i owe this wondrous day?
that a lost soul hath found her way!
she may rejoice till the morrow,
for God hath taken her sorrow.
she made a deal with the lord
(TJS)

not leaves but stones
oakstone, maplestone,
ashstone, birchstone,
the dead weight
(jpm)

"The cyclops eye won't rub-off"
Notorious
across the shallow calm day
the most grueling conditions
establish a poem. 
(BR)

Buffalo ˆ il mio ragazzo, non stava buono, pensava solo al sesso
cosŒ l'ho legato al letto, ma si ˆ liberato; l'ho lasciato, ma ˆ tornato.
Infine ho preso l'unica decisione possible: l'ho presentato ai miei genitori e l'ho sposato. 
(b)

and done 
partial ellipse stain here
wiser men burn their stars
sugar for a herding farm: go home 
(ks)

The ceaseless wind
oboes past isinglass
Mrs. Klein feels the
passion, the loneliness 
(WWD)

Walking upside down in the mirror of laughter 
I saw the man with a gun shooting at shadows 
till his face melted in the microwave oven 
and George Bush sold cocaine to little kids 
playing basketball in the poorest neighboorhoods.  
(SS)

I found nothing to find.
it gave me cramp
Walked through it
even so 
(ax)

what is it in me that opens
letting out the butterflies
letting in the snakes 
(vb)

Are you there?
I am.
Oh! Y'ain't kidding?
I am.
Good. 
Bye.
Yes. 
()

it was a blue dress
containing a red figure 
lean meat needs you to lard it 
(mlpm)

It is the time that no one remembers.
The time before mystery.
I came there looking for light and found endless darkness.
Do not go there! 
(lj)

It is the time that no one remembers.
The time before mystery.
I came there looking for light and found endless darkness.
Do not go there! 
(lj)

Hi there

I`ve never been
that far away from home:
just a brief breath and
-gone. That is because
I still have dreams. 
That is because we are. 
(w)

enlist y'all fleece fuzz 
--yes, my domain honey, kiss the threads that
find your lips through the "DARK"
and, honestly, fling your commerce 
(MMB)

That symphony of challenges fell on deaf ears.
She picked up the bread.  The laces of her shoes
were snakes, just like her hair.  "Oh no,"
she gasped.  Gotham was no longer... 
(TN)

Sitting in the garden together,
In the evening
The sky rosy with the sunset glow
And a whole flock of birds,
Black against that gentle light,
Went flying home. 
(SLG)

the bay's spring bloom
hundreds of jellyfish
pulse in the shallow brown water 
(HS)

Sometimes things happen to alter your life
And you sit and wonder is it for better or for worse
well I'm here to tell you that everything is fine
At least it is on this hellhole we call earth 
But life is not to sad or not to hard at all
We just have to be careful of the fall
even if ignorance is bliss we still must know
we must live even if we must let go 
(J.S.)

so we are faded
in memory and covered
bright spots and solid lines
interrupt our pale landscapes
so we are  
(iap)

It's hard to be, in this world of confusion, where ignorance
spreads, why does this have to be, I can't take it any longer,
relax, relax, all I want to do is to hold on to my sanity, 
what is this unexistent force I pretend of? Now ask yourself,
is it a journey of interest or a lost one, this life is so hard in it's
simplicity, does this really have to be? Meaninglessness I
see, I don't know what is meant to be or if it is. 
()

in whose veins runs icewater

you build it out of fences

juniper oil bitter on the tongue but itself a kind of time

and the bluffs from across the river 
(bt)

abandoned plunge is all that's true
what the darkling shore leads us to

roiling murky milky mystery
soothing promise of flourescent sea 
(GD)

In darkness, collaboration bumps head on fridgerator door.
Sans Co-, cant laborate.
In Just -- 
(es)

butter the bread and
bring in the girls(or)
better yet why not just 
go home and start the
whole thing over 
(mw)

a kinder, genlter way to break
    a heart,
    a promise,
    a way
i've never found
(jt)

There is a blanket tightly covering my only exit
Into a rational world
I've fallen into this large hole and I look up
Through holes in the blanket I see clarity
in their minds and bodies
I look for that in myself but the blanket 
(CLB)

the thrill of microscopic fame
leads us to this prostitution
this forced neo-trendyism
that is oh so fashionable
a billion people all trying
to be heard with an individual
voice, pure as honey
(KMC)

Songless days and joyless nights
Strings of my heart are silent and brooding
Living in the Silence of a Presence
And knowing the Absent One
Coronets of stars
Moon-beams riding on the clouds
Snowflakes falling
Marble-white nights in mourning
Wind-storms whistling the birth of grief
Its renewal, assault and its challenge
A necklace of tears
(Aftl)

Surprised by this.
Not "liken it".

Just *liken it* when
what it is not (is)

listening for babies,
my love's fat stomach.

No singing
in the inner ear. 
(M.H.)

Breathe to me 
(lms)

Breathe to me 
(lms)

I'm walking down a quiet road
abandoned by the raging crowd
All they left is mud and dirt
bended grass still feel the hurt
of footsteps made by armyboots
and noone knows their roots 
(V)

taming my coffee with sugar and cream
and wishing for william carlos williams to have shared his
plums
it has all boiled down to belief.
we are not first in knowing our wants,
although we live as such... 
(x)

a fact
                 or so
                                     for god creating saturday        
(DN)

She haunted me
In the sand of winter green --
A strange woman!
With numb lips but ...
With eyes deeper than
Death!
I was howling with the
Wolves
She wrapped her faces
(RCC)

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(ps)

thunder,lightening,sheets of rainsummer laundered to death,shrunk to a few barely adequate weeks 
(mw)

my eye! I said
and why would I do that?
My sweet will be home soon
and from then on
(for the rest of the night)
it will be nothing but good. 
(A.L.E.)

Newness alone should not
be the goal of poets' pursuit.
Beauty, emotional impact
are more worthy objectives by far. 
(DT)

Get it "lonely" bastard-- and all the shit kelp flog nanny.
If the pseudo-McCullough got a jammers paint re-do
     velocity nudge--y'all so so so do so so so like
     apparent dress to sleep across noggins.
Peel, and then go peeeeel, for dignity tries
      and never fucking succeeds--unless it is a friend
      --a good friend.
      Then, you're not "lonely" fucking lying cretin, if
      you have a friend like that. 
(mmb)

go you must so go with (what's his name).
the bell the bird all the little bird
sang unfurled.
watch me "fly" kick a stone kick a star trade places
with where you are
but the bell wouldn't budge 
(cch)

of stones, meow, or selfless
scotch tape, ales of
sordid & slant relax
in the needy supernal pine 
()

I am here
because of you
and our mutual inconvenience
to indulge here,
so let us
praise each other
and laugh
(rrf)

To love, with heart and soul, is to hold 
its flame long after the fire consumes itself 
and dies.
but that is lost, as our hearts are 
   seen before the sun and are gone, and our 
   dreams left us, like so many dead leaves upon 
   a breeze-bid them farewell, and send a tear 
(V.V.)

All good things must come to an end...
bad things, too, 
such as this poem...
(RC) 

I wish that every poet could take the time
To write their verses so they really rhyme
No, it's not a very pretty picture
When verse sounds like a schizo lecture 
(TG)

sweetie I can't find my book
put me in          um        M.
do NOT turn off please click Home
will you help me find my book? 
(M.)

I wish that every poet could take the time
To write their verses so they really rhyme
No, it's not a very pretty picture
When verse sounds like a schizo lecture
(TG)

flocks only flocks when they flock
snap-cord poles got memory designed in
stick together - a bundle in your bag 
(JmP)

I love my car and her rocking arms
her cold steel, fiberglass, the simple key 
to turning her over
putting my hand to her switch 
(sb)

Too many work to live, not live to work.
The car & the train are vehicles for paychecks.
On Friday I drink & drive before the bills come in.
My wrists are broken from handcuffs. Where were we? 
(DM)

i wish simply to say that there is 
beauty in half as many teacups 
()

The nude does not always need to be naked 
(P)

before the execution
time drizzles by.
something about the gathered crowd
is unnerving.
if she was scared to arrive late 
it didn't show.
the ghost goes out with a bang.  
(LEL)

The blood gave vision
to the roots of the rose. 
(JW)

Bolded off me coat. My family tree will die. No it'll just
fade. No it'll just fade ever so so so slightly.
"If a falling leaf can't help me," I'd be an acorn. ('nd
then, be its foil.} So, where EEE go is all wEEE go
with with with with with with with.
With the f--k WHOM!!!!!
Bleeding, bloody hell not with you or anyone!!! 
(mmb)

It stops you in your tracks,
And leaves you standing still,
It can relieve all inhibitions,
But also make you ill.

It gives the weak new strength,
And deducts it from the strong,
It's just a game of chance they say - -
But everyone plays along ! 
(BD)

He patterns his breath on cracks in the skyscape
and uses fog to capture verbs of motion.
--ignite-sputter-fathom-shatter--
the sky hovers where it waits. 
(dkl)

There is a true pathway to love,
Frequented by many sure enough.

Young love is mere infatuation at first sight,
The first bite of a cherry - but not quite.
(BD)

stuck in the cottage bed
sucked in by an old mattress
inversion begins
feet rise saluting the moon
heels over head -- a mosquito
dances above the bar-b-que grill
near the hole in the patio screen 
(kjps)

Soon that day will come, when my hand shall open the door, and the one inside will say welcome home 
(G S W)

strung out - strummed bludgeons from Koto
Miyako spread upon,  Miyako wanting
here.. now..anyting...yoo...won, 
I taste seaflower, trans-pacific apnea 
(w)

Like my razor, I only remember the bridges when I leave. 
(Q)

I snuck into your bed
and rolled around in your sheets

felt what it was like to be you
in your counting sheep sleep

fawned over the warmth
felt under the gun
(Q)

Deep breaths cannot be held
sacred forever.
The slow filling of chest with empty space in an attempt
to ready one's self for the unpreparable
is sometimes simply the precursor to a
slow sigh. 
(j)

		The piss was good.  It was clear, not yellow, a characteristic IÆd always attributed to drinking and pissing without having the urine clean out your system of all the waste that would normally make piss yellow in hue.  I flushed, zipped, and looked in t


he mirror.  I thought about doing the same exact thing in 10 years and felt a small wave of nausea.  Yes, there were dark circles under my eyes, those reminders that I should stop the party once in a while to get the sleep I needed to perform at my crank-


greasing proletarian CRT screen jobber during the hideously bright day.  But I was happy that it was night.  I opened the door and plunged back into the hazy drugswirl that made my shithole apartment look pretty cool. 
(q)

I want to push the world aside
and make my soul afraid 
(S)

Does your head get sunburned under that bald spot?
Does it hurt if I pull out the hairs in your ears?
Do you use shampoo on your arm? 
(rp)

My conceding lies will tell all truths. 
(EH)

As I gazed out upon the trees
bending to the wind
thoughts of you blew through my mind
like a soft summer breeze
whispering lust in my ear 
(MAB)

each lope loved
in the good fire
in the throes of having
lost 
(GF)

Now money is the bottom line
For those who bathe in bubbly wine
But freedom is the cost you'll find
Buried in every poet's mind
Imprisoned for a petty crime
Connecting words which strain to rhyme
And sharing thoughts that beg to scream
With biting truths that dare to dream. 
(AJ)

     I dove into the heat of a giant fire,
     swimming the backstroke into the belly
     of a volcano exploding into crimson sky,
     wailing of my sorrows , stripping skin of grief, 
(NC)

I sleep with the fear of losing you to my dreams,
and wonder why,the day will come when this will all end,
well walke away not even friends,Idread the fact that you wont be the one,wouldnt that be neat wouldnt that be fun?
you spend your time looking at me and telling me im wonderful,
but whats so wonderful about the sun??
I spend my time telling you the truth and woundering if it will ever sink through,
as I ask my self the question do I have the time to sacrifice my life ti sacrifice time,
as eight words enter my head "I WOULD DO ANY THING TO SEE YOU DEAD" 
(s.d.h.f.)

Gasping deep harsh breaths in the heat
And staggering onward one step at a time,
The journey with no end and with long-distant start
Would soon come to an end for the Traveler,
Yet wind onward, on and on and on for any other Follower.
(jw)

Facial explosion;
cranial matter -
sprayed 
across this
cankering landscape.
My fury is such.
Fields of betrayal
(B)

a philosopher has a dream about the world.
in the dream the world is a leather suitcase.
the suitcase is filled with water.  the philosopher
is a dutch philosopher.  the dutch live below sea-level,
and so they often dream about sea water.  in the dream
the philosopher now thinks it is their dreams
that weigh the dutch down below the waves. 
(dd)

The eyes that haunt
 have gone blank
 no feeling 
 no hurt
Just eyes
Please fill them once more
love has gone but will return
(ck)

Wind always the wind bothers the ice-creamed summer of 
Miss Laforteza the winner of this year bloody subway contest
in the center of wind that is always the wind like
the comment grand-ma was used to say: she's too thin for you
but I never knew why as the wind always the wind leaves 
the book without any blood left her eyes without blood are
always her eyes who covers my tango of green leaves but
the wind always the wind bothers the incestuous talk
(dpw)

intuition is memory of the future 
()

We meet but we are strangers.
Our eyes look deep into our souls
but we can never really see.
Our hearts beat fast as we breathe in the passion from 
a breeze as we pass one another
allowed only to be friends, never lovers. 
(CAS)

Mammal whims come milk and warm weather.
Manatee, West Indian homeground, the slow
slow undula--
like guitar, but fatter
like a wall, but softer 
(dh)

Meridian Truck Stop

The truckstop smells
of cinnamon toast and diesel fuel.
The sound of men's voices
pushes me full awake.
Milk tasting coffee
and the click
of the table record selector
washes night out of day.
(mg)

took the train to work
and back at the end of the 
day 
(JD)

Lonely anguished feelings  inside 
I shelter in cries 
Invisible to staring eyes
My mind resides
In shame, insane
(A)

The Place To Be
As I sit patiently on the cushioned ground
I search ambitiously for the place to be 
Wondering how love goes round and round
Feeling the calm cool breeze tickling me
I silently taste the air caress my lungs
Watching the joyful leaves dance
In the trees, so strong
My mind slips gracefully into a trance
(p)

took the train to work
and back at the end of the 
day 
(JD)

Reached out and spun
 the catbird's seat like a typist's chair 
(ka)

she never knew that sugar was a food group
so she ate soggy flakes that never stay crispy
and tripped over yesterdays paper dashing for the carpool 
(LDG)

But then I thought
all these questions about where one should live
are SUPERFICIAL.
As are questions about work,
that is, making money.
(jm)

10,000 soldiers march in line
Their leather boots keep perfect time
Vultures keep a distant eye
as two armies prepare to dye.
With a clash of armor, the dance begins,
A feast is set for those that win
Swords and lance stir an ungodly stew,
the aroma soars to where the vultures flew.
Reflected images off polished brass,
(rc)

Ripped and caressed,
Discarded and derived,
My hate is pursued in the desert of passion,
Breathe and expire.....place pennies on the lid of your desire. 
(CJL)

city light roam me to back forest green grit split at the slit  
(RD)

DIE BUCHBINDERHAND
gl„sern / dicht vor deinen Lidern/
sie will Augendeckel/ mit Augenblicksf„den/
EINBINDEN 
(m)

fearing your Don Juan instincts
I fall into the space
your body opens for me and wonder if you'll
catch
my heart is hungry
and your lips starve me 
(g)