Poetry Game, Anyone?

[kdnxdr]

a touch,
soft caress
of knowing
speaks
the strength of being
and the shattered
pieces
of who I was
begin the rennovation
of who I am
becoming

new word: speaks

[black winged fighter]

My lips part
to say
what it is that lips say -
but my thoughts stop them.
That is what thoughts do.
I long for
three syllables.

Next Word: part

[Eveningsdawn]

I scuffle with the part of me
that will not let me speak
that seals my lips
that thinks too much.
And I force her to the ground
so that she cries, Mercy!
I let her up, and we make a deal-
I only want three syllables,
but they are heavy ones.

next word: scuff

[kdnxdr]

lost
and left behind,
an incidental part
of what was once the whole,
my heart
lies forgotten
as the memories
of your face


next word: face

[Unique]

You see the face
yet walk away
but would you see
the heart
If you were blind?
You fall in love with
what you think
you see.


Next word: choice

[black winged fighter]

If I could choose,
I would choose to hate
and let my wrath corrode
my love for you.
But,
my heart is sky-wide
and you are clouds,
and a sky without clouds,
is blue.

If I could choose,
I would choose to forget
and think no more of what you said
and do not say.
But,
memories are blood and rain,
and my heart runs with both,
or not at all.

Next Word: both

[kdnxdr]

passing through
we brush the other's soul
and leave a scent
of mischief,
both
the child
at play

next word: mates

[black winged fighter]

Nude,
not naked,
and crude,
the two twist,
play to win -
changing love
into a sin.

Next Word: sin

[kdnxdr]

silent
inward
nothingness
solemn
introverted
no where
solely
incapcitated
no one
else
to share
my love

next word: nothingness

[clarity_jane]

If only you could see me with a blind mans eyes...
see the beauty within me
Instead of the obesity that consumes me
I am nothing

Next word: Consumed

[black winged fighter]

My heart is hungry;
it has eaten life,
yet yearns for more -
more heat, more light.

There in the darkness,
it sits and it craves;
it measures the hours,
it measures the days -

But not in seconds.
No, where my heart is concerned
I have yet to live;
I have yet to burn.

Next Word: burn

[kdnxdr]

the fire
that's never quenched,
the consumer
never satisfied
ferocious appetite
that feeds on life itself,
the burn of hell
eternal


Edit: next word: Insatiable
(Edited to make room for the rescued poems (lost in transit))

[kdnxdr]

By ricahardo

Moth


More and more, on and on,

Constant rays of liquid sun.

Synthesizing endless light

Wanting more, avoiding night -

Somnambulant, drunk on day,

Endless worship any way -

A luminescent fix is sought

And with death itself it will be bought –

The final form of satiation -

Incendiary illumination.


Next word: Illumination


By Black Winged Fighter

Mauled without teeth,
my life hangs limp
as rags -
leaves to fall from trees,
and twitch in the wind.
My mind spasms -
again the insatiable question! -
Why?

Next Word: clue


By Eveningsdawn

A clue on the wind
a scent of blood
footsteps to track-
The hunt is in my blood;
I must follow the trail
to the source,
or die.

next word: fate


By kdnxdr

while you wait

I have a date
with my friend fate,
my friend
is grim
and I respect him.
Relentless,
he will pursue
eventually
he will get to you.
so, while I wait
for my friend, fate
I suggest you
get a clue.

next word: pursue




By pb10220

Pursued by the ghosts
of Christmas past, she fled down
familiar wet streets.

Next word: deluge



By kdnxdr

stormy love

rain upon rain,
thunder
in the morning;
caught
in the deluge,
your image
burns
within me.

next word: within



By Black Winged Fighter

Without
lie smiles,
the glances and the guiles -
it is within
the skin
where we find
sin.

Next Word: skin



By Eveningsdawn

I've
seen/heard/felt/tasted
them do it-
synesthesia
where music is tasted
and kisses leave colors
on skin.

next word: taste


By Black Winged Fighter

I taste his name,
as it leaves my lips
(like eating it backwards)
and the taste of ripe peaches
warms my mouth.

Next Word: ripe


By kdnxdr

lushes

when the sun beats down
and the juices swell
the sweet becomes
much sweeter,
when the flesh is taut
and the color bright
the smell
drives me to eat her.
a Georgia peach
your saliva will thicken
when it is ripe
and ready for pickin'.

next word: bright


By Paint

Bright light

Bright night
filled with sullen moon.

No quicksand
did I see for sinking.

Deception of
my own words.

next word: sullen


By Black Winged Fighter

Anger in my shoulders,
depression in the eyes...
but I store my sullen in my mouth,
in the corners,
where I can still taste your last lie.
Your last kiss.

Next Word: deceive


By kdnxdr

in the garden

the deception
was mine;
always first to deceive
the self lie
a trap,
beguiled by my own
reflection
thinking you
were me;
my head talk
never one for truth,
I want too much
and I'll sell my soul
to get it;
always whispering,
twisting,
turning from the light,
I can only hear myself
if I never learn
to fight.

next word: reflection



The next post will be following the word 'insatiable' so the word reflection is 'floating' perhaps someone can incorporate two themes into one poem - whoever uses the word reflection that way (as a dual theme in the game so that it doesn't lose out in transit) will get a rep from me.

[black winged fighter]

And the night is so hungry,
it has eaten the years,
it carves them with shadows
and a march of small fears.

Next word: fear

[black winged fighter]

Darkness would not be terrible
but for the promise
of light.
But without darkness,
light would be the killing shine,
purity to blast away the imperfection
of life.

Next Word: Promise

[Eveningsdawn]

she finishes the poem
i'd promised to show her and
looks sideways-up at me
and says
you sure you don't
have a crush on her?
i laugh,
shake my head,
and say, i just write
what i see.
(believe me, hadley,
when i write a love poem
you'll know.)

next word: misinterpreted

[threedogpeople]

Floating insatiable desire
I can smell you
hot and inviting.

I want to taste you,
feel you in my mouth,
I've been dreaming of you

Sweet anticipation,
I've been counting the days,
now counting the heartbeats.
Ah, delectable treat

Drumstick, please.

====================
next word: misinterpreted

[black winged fighter]

I would not let
him understand,
so eager to be
ahead of the game,
now left behind,
wondering what went wrong.
Analysis,
don't fail me
now.

Next Word: now

[Paint]

It isn't what it was
It is what it is.
It isn't what it will be
It is now.

Blink
It is over
It is now was.

I did not kiss you
or smell your hair
I did not tell you
of my caring.
It is a new now
was is over.

new word: blink

[black winged fighter]

Minute muscles you never
think about
contract,
and the world
is unborn.

Next Word: backwards

[threedogpeople]

You live your life backwards when
you love with your head and
think with your heart.

You live your life backwards when
you think about getting healthy after
you get sick.

You live your life backwards when
you treat friends with respect only after
they forgive you for hurting them.

You live your life backwards when
you cherish your children only after
they are grown and on their own.

You live your life backwards when
you value your parents only after
they are gone.

You live your life backwards when
you die surrounded by family but
spend your life alone.

Think with your head,
Love with your heart.
Cherish all those you love.
Live forward.


New word: drizzle

[black winged fighter]

Why must I sum up
my existence in
a drizzle of words?

Next Word/s: college / college applications

[Paint]

Inuendo whirling
Nuance dance
Feelings flirt
Like hands
Behind your back.

Grinning mask
An anger game
College prankster
Be a clown
Or die.

next word: nuance

[kdnxdr]

insatiable;
reflection, Narcistic glare
the stare
of me
to me;
I long
to linger, the craze
to gaze
with nothing beyond
compare;
you outside
my inner self
have yet to meet
the match,
I love
no other
but the eyes,
I dream
to catch.

[kdnxdr]

couldn't resist the challenge of "insatiable" and "reflection". So, I won't post the next word. There's already a long line of good ones.

kdnxdr

[Paint]

Upon reflection
in mirrors dreary fog
a glimpse of tears
on downy cheek.

Cold blood runs down
from neck to arm
I hang waiting
watching
for deaths last breath.

My love-now gone
My love-insatiable.

next word: dreary

[Cassie88]

I love the gift of this dark day.
As the rain reads a story,
I sleep half of it away.
My pillow cradles 'round my head,
And teeny crumbs fall in my bed.
A friend complains on my machine,
"The day is dreary, wet and mean."
But I am suited to its mood,
Surrounded by my books and food.
I melt into oblivion,
And sigh because it's almost done.
If my lazy wish comes true,
Tomorrow's rain reads chapter two.


Next Word: Rain

[Eveningsdawn]

Death

Hate to rain
on your parade
break down
your preconceptions
like this.
But I don't care,
not really.
It's all one to me,
whether you're
poor or rich,
white or black,
got a wife,
or a husband,
or kids.
Whatever.
I'm just
filling my quota.
Doing my job.
You know how it is.

next word: merciful

[kdnxdr]

full of mercy,
merciful
you are to me,
full of grace
you gracefully
set me free,
full of love
lover
of my soul,
now forgiven
I am told.

[kdnxdr]

grace

[Eveningsdawn]

If you make
one more joke
one more play
on my name
-by the grace of god
grace under fire
will & grace
graceful
graceless
amazing grace-
I swear
I will kill you.

next word: strain

[kdnxdr]

i strain
my brain
and try to drain
something
i think is
significant;
but I cant
and so I
won't
hopefully,
you can.

[kdnxdr]

gnat

[black winged fighter]

"Kill it.
I'ts just a bug."
I peer at the black speck of dazzle
on my thumb.
Think of the parts,
the moving parts,
the little eyes,
the wings,
the heart.
"It's just a bug."
A speck of life,
I open the window,
and let it ouside.

Next Word: caring

[kdnxdr]

each twig
of fallen tree
and lace
of withered
grass
sown to cradle
the object
of my caring
even as you
leave


next word: fallen

[Alphabet]

I am down here
Where you do not need to notice
I am down
Here where you do not need to notice
I am
Down here where you do not need to notice
I am
Where?
You do not need to notice.


Next Word: Notice

[Cassie88]

Have you noticed?

I'm missing the small nuances
In your voice these days.

The world seems to be spinning
To my left, to my right, and
Somewhere over my head.

I'm not hearing
The words you're not saying.

Next time you're trying to
Tell my something,
Hold my head in your hands,
Look in my eyes and
Please,
Make me listen.

Because whatever it is
That's muddling up my brain,
It has nothing to do
With how much I love you.


Next Word: Nuance

[black winged fighter]

Nuances happen
when words
twist their hips,
tantalizing...
and you're not sure
if it's meant for you
or not...

Next Word: puzzle

[threedogpeople]

Confusion often reins
supreme at my house.
It is a puzzle,
left by an accident,
without a solution.

Where am I going?
Where have I been?
What is next?
Too confusing.

Who is to blame?
I can't remember
their name.
Do you know?

Next words: hockey puck

[Alphabet]

Hey.. the next word was friends!!! You changed it? Or did I hallucinate that part?

Well friends,
I prophesize
One day I might be leaving
Days do move on
And with them
Come a brand new sun
One day I might be following

If I do
You ought to know
It won't be without memories
Keeping me company as you always did

If I go
I prophesize
It won't be without purpose
And loving you, as I always did.

Friends

Next word, Hockey Puck (OK?)

[kdnxdr]

YOU HOCKEY PUCK!!
I WANT TO BEAT YOU
WITH YOUR
STICK!!!
SUCH A NESH,
YOU DUMB HEAD!!
i'm leaving
and you don't see
i'm crying
and you don't care
i'm losing
the only love
i want.
your fame,
you lame brain
is all the love
you need.


next word: lame

[Eveningsdawn]

My stomach lurches
as he goes down -
I cling to the saddle
and hold my breath.
I drop the reins
and let him find his feet,
hoping against hope...
but he comes up lame.
I dismout
and cradle his head
in my shaking hands.
Oh my darling,
my clumsy old man,
what am I to do
with you?

next word: pride

[kdnxdr]

it's a headlong
hurdle
down a slippery
slope,
the black hole
of my psyche;
i long to look
and come back
oft,
borne on the winds
of pride.

next word: psyche

[black winged fighter]

"Psyche?"
A flutter of wings,
a search-quest.
"Psyche?"
He knows he's
done wrong...
but love conquers all, right?
Right?
So uncertain of himself,
of his essence,
he calls, "Psyche?"
He finds her in a dark place.
He apologizes -
can she even hear
him here,
in this place?
"Psyche?"
He brings her back to light.
Is all forgiven?
He waters the ground
with salty questions until
a hand touches him.
Soft. Pale. Questioning.
"Eros?"

Next Word: forgiven

[Pat~]

Mercy washes guilt
Grace then clothes in spotless garb
I am forgiven!


next word: clean

[kdnxdr]

untainted
untouched
unadulterated
pure
simple
clean

hot
fresh bread
from the oven
drives my senses
mad


next word: mad

[threedogpeople]

pitch a fit or
lose your mind
I don’t care
because I find
that crazy people
are much more fun
than those that are
the normal ones
I’d rather live
a life of fun
than spend my days
acting like a nun

I’d rather spend
my days with those
who understand
that creativity flows
only from inspired minds
a hope of friendship finds
me in that place
where those few
from the human race
know how to give
and when to take
and lifetime friendships
craft and make.


Next word: preposterous

[Paint]

Get married?
Me?
Preposterous!
Never happen.
I'm happy
with my house
my world
my cats.

Ohh there he is.
Blonde hair
blue eyes
sweet smile
well
maybe.
Love.

next word: hair

[black winged fighter]

Little lines in the wind
l....o....n....g short
c
....u
y ... r
....l
s
t
r
a
i
g
h
t
...
So much variety, so much it could've been...
So why am I stuck with this?

Next Word: choices

[Eveningsdawn]

Sphinx

She is black-eyed,
sloe-eyed, sylph-eyed,
her wings and body
(golden tawny amber
shades all mixed)
sleek-feathered and
close-furred;
velvet paws
knife claws
a lashing tail
a sharp smile
a hidden secret.
One wrong answer
to her single question
is all it takes
to end you,
but remember-
it was your choice
to take the road
to Thebes;
you knew full well
what waited there.

next word: destiny

[ricahardo]

Quo Vadis?

Speeding like a meteor,
bouncing off this asteroid and that,
pulled by one solar system and another,
we fly,

irreversibly,

out of control,

toward that as yet unknown point of arrival -
our destiny.

Next word: Unknown

[KTC]

Unknown

Late night record shop,
Neon spinning pink swirls
Sams
Back racks
70s glitter
T-Rex electric dream
Neon unicorn
reaching higher
swivel hips and electric lips
unknown music
on the loud speaker
circa 98
Not the electric pony
I was used to
when top hats were in
and dreams ruled the sidewalk
outside the electric neon pink vinyl
spinning wheel.
Have you ever seen a woman
comin' outta New York City
With a frog in her hand?
Neon still slips to the streets
turning faces to horrid shades
not even a mother could love,
and their hips,
as they saunter past Sams,
they still sway in time
to a musical unknown.


Next word: Turtles

[Unique]

I'll buy you a leather turtle
If you buy me a leather frog.
Best friends since gradeschool
til one moved away.
The one who wanted to leave
ended up the one who stayed.
So poor Chop and Suey
their weird ways unravelled
One moved and stayed
The other left and travelled
By chance they got together
in a dark and lonely wood
Chop said to Suey
You never understood
You wanted a leather turtle
maybe a leather frog
I lost the lead banana
out there in the fog.

Next word: missing

[Paint]

missing digets
missing toes
missing eyeballs
missing nose.

Search for the missing part.

Nothing is forgotten
You only need to look.
It is abstract art.
Never by the book.


next word: book

[black winged fighter]

Someone calls -
she doesn't look up.
Real life isn't good enough
anymore.
Moments must be
distilled,
fully-filled,
compressed,
then pressed between the pages
of some book.

Next Word: Author

[Albedo of Zero]

Met a four the other day
when three was on vacation
two iamb-ed its meter
from one through supplication.

The letters of the alphabet
who in themselves were
quite religious
Joined the song in congregate
becoming authors of salvation.

Tone and meaning came into view,
their intentions colored gray
They claimed the sky;they claimed the earth
they claimed the night and day.

A blur and a blend during argument
walked into matrimony
begetting twin fears named change and choice
(the hell with patrimony).

A war was waged as ante
to a pot eternal full
the game will play within its yard
till the author is anulled.


next word: eternity

[black winged fighter]

Forty days and
forty nights
are not as long as one evening
spent
without you.

Next Word: Next

[kdnxdr]

in the next eternity
I want to live
forever twice
because
in this one
I've loved you
thrice

next word: endearing

[Eveningsdawn]

whoever knew
that a red-haired
blue-eyed demon
with a tendancy
towards biting
and a penchant
for colors
could be so
endearing?

next word: enamored

[black winged fighter]

She smiles,
shakes her chains gently.
She knows they're there.
He looks at her.
Awe.
Captive to his captive,
enamored
of a caged beast.
He doesn't remember chaining her.
This bond may be everlasting...

Next Word: Everlasting

[JustRite]

Grownups tend to take
things for granted.
Not so, you, my little one.
For you, the world is full
of wonder,
of possibilities,
that exist
as close as the tips
of your fingers -
recently discovered -
that so
enamour you.

Sorry I posted after Black Winged Fighter. You can use her next word.
Next word: everlasting.

Next word: Discover

[kdnxdr]

Betwen the rocks
and crevices
tightly sealed
away
crystals capture
with intensity
the beauty of the day.

Held for eternity
all that glitters
gold,
exchanged
for the price
of life,
requires
your very soul.

Molten rivers
once again
will revive the sleeping
fires,
all that's naught
will drown you,
in your final
tears.

[kdnxdr]

I goofed.

next word: rocks, unless I don't get to give a word 'cause I didn't use the one I was supposed to.

[Paint]

She lived in a canyon
thot walls secure
and safe.

Nothing could get her
neither man, wind
or beast.

Stepping out her doorway
to admire a rocky view
boulders rain from above
mother nature is amused.

next word: view

[ricahardo]

A shimmering outline is hazily dispersed among
the fine drops of drizzle.
I drop another coin in the slot,
alternately looking through the eyepiece and
then,
uncertain as to whether my mind is playing tricks,
I peer through the spray with my naked eye.
I return to the eyepiece,
my time running out,
and suddenly I am rewarded -
as my ancient seaside telescope lense
is filled,
in a fleeting moment of clarity,
with the outline of a majestic sailing ship,
riding high on the waves.
The whirring mechanism becomes silent,
a persistent trickle runs down my neck
and blackness replaces my vision.
And yet my glimpse remains,
indelibly printed on my memory.

Next word: Majestic

[Cassie88]

She struts down the alleys
That are her runways.
Her head high,
She sniffs the weather
Like lines of cocaine,
And chats with the young girl
Who used to love winter.
Standing on stacked boxes
Over the dumpster,
She uncovers red leather boots,
Rimmed with matted fur.
Pressing her nose into
The cracks, she inhales the
Faint aroma of the majesty
That lingers still.


Next Word: Misplaced

[Paint]

Santa misplaced his reindeer
or was it his evil twin?
He was sliding down the chimney
when they took off again.

Standing on the rooftop
Cursing out the stars
Wondering if they would return
Or had they flown to Mars?

At dawn he found the beasts
sipping martinis down at Joes.
With all the third shift workers
That's just the way it goes.

So what about the children?
Waiting snuggled in their beds.
Will they get no Christmas?
Or is it just in their heads?

No trains or dolls to play with
No great books to read
No mixers for mama
No ties for daddy's need.

Santa grabbed all the reindeer
"To rehab you must go!
Messing around with Christmas
Is the lowest of the low!"

The reindeer now are sober
And with a jingle of their bells
Are ready for next Christmas-
That's all this story tells.


Ho!Ho!Ho! next word:rooftop

[threedogpeople]

Reindeer Rash


Is there such a thing
as rooftop rash
or was it a reaction
to Mrs. Claus’ hash?

The reindeer are scratching
and scratching with glee
their bellies, their ears
and the parts we can’t see.


Santa is thinking,
there must be a cause
he thought, then he asked,
“What do you think, Mrs. Claus?”

She said, “I’m not sure,
it could be the roofs
but they have a red rash
from their ears to their hoofs.


It could be the
hash that I cooked Christmas Night
but they finished it all
and now they have blight.

It could be the roofs,
it could be the snow,
it could be the hash, that
‘caused the rash down below.


I’ll give them a tonic
and tuck them in bed
in a nice warm stable
with fresh hay for their heads.”


Santa agreed with the plan
and called his chief elf
who helped Mrs. Claus
with the stable, himself.

The next morning was
met with smiles all around
for on each and every reindeer
no rash was found.

It might have been the roofs,
it might have been the snow
it might have been the hash
but we will never know.

“cause Santa and Mrs. Claus
talked and agreed
that hash wasn’t good
as reindeer feed.



Next words: wise men

[Godfather]

gunfire sounds,
dark coats run,
hearts pound.
instinction supreme.

barricades, seemless
escape may prove dire
these heavy coats?
needless!

our numbers, ten.
far, we run
around a corner,
stand three wise men.

with guns.

[kdnxdr]

wise men
confounded by the foolish
can only stand in awe;
prostrate
offering gifts
of love


next word: gifts

[Cassie88]

Home for the Holidays


Her eyes ricochet around the room,
Envying the gifts the others have opened.
"Why didn't someone give me that cd?"
She sighs, under her breath.
A sister holds up a vase and
Everyone oooohs and ahhhhhs.
"That would be perfect in my living room."
She flings the words,
But they bounce away, flatly,
Like missed tennis balls.
They know her living room is
Gagging under a piles of clothes,
Dirty towels, books, magazines,
Chinese food cartons, teacups,
Spoons, final statements,
Cancellations, and the piss of a
Feral cat she had to save.
So they ignore her, pretending to be
Tangled up in torn wrapping paper
And conversation.
She can't see them or
The pity in the
Slant of their heads,
The anger in their jaws, or
The pain, helpless and drowning,
In the liquid of their eyes.
She can't hear them.
The hole inside of her
Has grown into the size of a
Canyon and only her voice
Echoes there.
Tomorrow, on the free miles of a
Sister, she will fly home.
One by one, they hug her goodbye,
Saying, "Come again next year."
But she is already obsessing about
How to carry her presents to the car,
And she misses how tightly they hold her,
How lovingly long they press their
Cheeks next to hers.
And then, she's gone,
Returning to a life of chaos and
Denial; Where
Hope is mortgaged,
Faith is overdrawn, and
Happiness was repoed,
A long, long time ago.


Next Word: Unhinged

[Godfather]

i bask in my own self-righteous glory,
preach to the wrong,
knowing so and so that i am right,
but in knowing, i am utterly wrong.

i frown upon any who might question my word,
on any doubters.
i frown upon everyone.

i ask so much and expect it of so many,
and do so little myself.

i am obnoxious,
arrogant,
and above all i am ignorant.

though i shall not recognise it.
no,
so long as never.

one wise man appears,
speaks a few sentences,
and i become unhinged.


Next Word: never

[JustRite]

They say never is a long time -
I'll tell you that suits me just fine.
I never want to
hear your voice,
see your smile,
tremble at your touch,
again.
But then, I think of you,
and I melt.
I will never fall
out of love with you
again.

Next word: Vacillate

[kdnxdr]

In the village where I ate
here I sit and
vacillate.
swayed one way
and then
another,
should I eat fish
or have the liver?

next word: fish

[Godfather]

my darling soars through the sky,
like some supreme goddamn angel.
like a fish,
a mermaid.

i desire nothing more than
a taste of her succulent body.
her sensual,
sexy,
utterly required body.

just a morsel.
thats all i want
of my sweet angel fish.
my sensual,
sexy,
utterly required angel fish girl.

oh to have but a bite of her
would be to own the world.
from the bottom of the ocean,
to the farthest reaches of the skies.

that kingdom would be nothing
with out my sweet, universal
angel fish girl,
my sensual,
sexy,
utterly required sweet, universal,
angel fish girl.


Next Word: kingdom

[Albedo of Zero]

In a kingdom of sand, he rules
-benevolent in his innocence
-indifferent to fear

Castle walls crumble
-from lack of sea, from lack of tears,
from sunny days -only sunny

No darkness hides
under the drawbridge
where knights and jesters come to and fro

Dragons are
only in dreams
under a drawbridge
crumbling
but fear nothing



next word: imagine

[Unique]

Imagine a world of coconut dough
pretty bells singing all in a row
cases of walnuts, acres of lace
nothing much left of the whole human race.

All wars have been fought no winner in sight
The moon still shines blue all through the night
The armies have perished like dust in the rain
No humans survived to try it again

So roll 'em and smoke 'em and mark them with 'X'
The people have left us no more will they vex
The animal innocents left in this world
They march under banners and when they unfurl

They tell a new story they sing a new song
From the animal innocents one million strong
From ocean to ocean, seashore to sea
Late at night in my dreams this they whispered to me.


Next word: cracked

[black winged fighter]

I was wearing a smile
today,
and it cracked.
Shoddy workmanship -
so poorly made,
and I paid full price, too.

Next Word: gypped/gipped

[kdnxdr]

the gypsey
gyped me,
the whirl of the dance
a laugh,
gold thrown high
whiskey brought low,
in the back of the van
I lost.

next word: simple

[ricahardo]

Whist! and away went the muse,
not that she stayed long,
but now that she's gone,
I lack her advice, her emotion, her views.

Pisht! Not that she helped me
consoled or compelled me,
but she controlled and availed me
of things that I knew.

Misht! To hell with elation,
from her inspiration
She was but a pimple
and now life is simple!

Next word: elation

[black winged fighter]

I've lost my purse,
can you help me?
Only, I keep everything in it!
My Money,
My diary,
My Make-up,
My heart,
and my emotions.
I wouldn't be so worried, but,
you see,
I keep my elation in there, too.
A touch here,
and a touch there,
and the day's a better world.
Oh, could you help me?
I so wish I had that feeling back...

Next Word: feel

[Cassie88]

What are you feeling?

She sat silent.

I don't know.

I feel

What do you feel?

I feel

I feel

I feel nothing.

And then,

For the first time in years,

She tasted the salt of tears,

Real tears.


Next Word: beginning

[Godfather]

a beginning
is an end to something
else

a beginning is
neither good nor bad

a beginning occurs most
every day

because you see
a beginning is not just
an end of a thing
it is also a beginning,

martha saw this
once everything good
in her life ended,

that was the beginning
of everything bad in her life

and the beginning,
was also the beginning
of true knowledge for martha

she is now dead.
an end to her life

a beginning to something new
a beginning to someones grief?
no.

because everything good in marthas life ended.


next word: knowledge

[Eveningsdawn]

The knowledge is always there
in the back of my mind
that soon, far too soon
I will be called to fight
to carry a gun high into the air
and shoot a man from a mile up,
or run decoy, a moving target
with my wings bright-colored
and shimmery-reflective
to draw their fire
and distract them from the one
who flies behind me.
But it's a knowledge I can,
sometimes, forget,
when my partner wings beside me
and the air is clean and cool
and the light is clear,
when the landscape below
is bright with the dawning sun-
and all that matters in that moment
is the freedom of flight
and my redhaired girl.

next word: falling

[black winged fighter]

So this is what it feels like
to have your feet
so suddenly
without your consent (or was it with?
You never did decide)
touch down on reality.
No one ever wrote a manual
in prose (not romantic enough).
You always wondered
what it was like
to fall out of love.

Next Word: out

[ricahardo]

Out! Out! Foul bird!
Fly not through my mind,
Drop not your filth on the windshield of my imagination!
Pluck your feathers briskly,
leave no downy debris,
and fly south for the summer
to some other field of contemplation.
Leave me my clean cold winter -
the pure white snow of perfect focus.


Next word: Winter

[alanna]

Winter Paradox

White snowmen dance before a fire,
trying to get warm while staying frozen.



next word:: dilemma

[Paint]

Unclear dilemma
vision impared
a misty veil.
A tunnel with no light
wall of rock opaque.

To turn away
from the sight
of dreams
unmet.

Fog lifting gently
as the psyche can withstand.

Fall down, fall down
for it is no more
the tale
of you
of me.

next word: withstand

[black winged fighter]

The fog is falling to the ground,
world weary and ready for
slumber, but
all else is waking,
aching with a sense of
flow.
The fog is settling, curling up like
feline grace and hound loyalty,
all in one,
the earth moves, and green breaks free
of a brown and rotting cage.
What element can withstand the supreme force
of a tender spring shower?

Next Word: supreme

[Eveningsdawn]

It is a supremely odd fancy of mine
that after the Baby's birth
the angel stuck around
like a friendly relative
loathe to drive home in the dark,
petting the sheep
feeding the oxen
playing with the donkey's ears
teasing the camel,
congratulating Mary
encouraging Joseph,
and joking with the shepherds.
And then, when he finally departed,
leaving the Christ-child
with a golden-white feather
clutched in one tiny hand.

next word: midnight

[black winged fighter]

It's midnight now,
and there she is.
Not dead yet.
Walls are thin at night,
and now they are tansparent-frail -
the world comes to dance
on her eardrums
and she can feel creation spinning her
about.
Thud-thud
Thud-thud
there's a rhythm to all,
and her heart's blinking is at the center of it.
In the shallow darkness of morning
short of breath,
she knows she won't die tonight.
Safe to sleep now,
somehow disappointing.

Next Word: insomnia

[Albedo of Zero]

Pillow prickly puffy pat
bedbugs bitter bite
caffeine crinkles in my brain
and in my sleep tonight
nerves electric demystify
doughnuts sugar rush
eyes closed
lips dry
could all of you just hush
gas gurgles whispered pains
I toss, I turn, I sigh
it's morning now
but it was midnight black
when I tried to close my eyes.


next word: bitter

[black winged fighter]

The way I cannot hold you
tastes bitter
in the corners of
my mouth.

Next Word: Mouth

[kdnxdr]

bats exhale,
the cavernous mouth
yawning
an awakening night;
chilled desert
stirs
feroucious,
lit up
in the dark.

next word: implicate

[Eveningsdawn]

the implication of a date
-a kiss at the end-
has me shivery and stopping
tasting fear as metal
as blood in my mouth;
silver on my knuckles
and fingertips
calms me.

next word: jitters

[black winged fighter]

If I lie
it's acceptable -
why shouldn't it be?
oh no -
and suddenly
no lie in the world can save me
as the jitters end,
true fear sets in,
and the act is on.

Next Word: true

[Eveningsdawn]

my poor little ramshackle
everyday presentation
of myself, of who I am,
is cobbled together
of true things and lies
and stands on legs
that wobble.

next word: tired

[black winged fighter]

She was tired of the lying,
bone deep fatigue that eats the marrow,
and she felt like trying something new -
like imagining a rain drop
falling upwards -
or a leaf floating
up
to join a naked branch -
or the land spitting snowflakes
at gray clouds.
She is weary of regurgitating untruths
to feed a squalling world.
A gun has truer words to
shout.

Next Word: Gun

[Godfather]

(you couldnt have given me a better word could you?)

Click.
Bang.
A fools touch,
a violent answer?
Correct or incorrect.

Death,
from a boss?
direct or indirect?

A long black coat.
A fedora perched on his head.
Those are unsubstantial,
for a gun sits in his hand.

He carries orders,
is he bad?

Has he simply been misled?
by that magnum clutched in his hands?

A gun, in itself, is a temptation.
The weak carry guns.

For the strong don't murder,
And the strong don't fear death.

In that case,
why don't we all carry guns?

[Paint]

He hides beneath
his long black coat.

A demon's smile has he.

Sleeping under low-drawn brow
Eyes of bluest steel.

At night I dream
Sweat and twisted sheets
hold me.

I am behind him
hanging on, strong thigh
hot lips to his neck
clutching the rearing steed
breath
raspy pulls.
The beast roars
digging hooves
charging to our death.

Awaken to a lonely world
He does not live here.

next word: brow

[black winged fighter]

Sculpted curves and
painted brows,
light touched cheekbones,
and delicate shadow
at the base of the throat.
But the eyes are weak -
they have a lot to live up to
and they're tired
of trying to be
parfait.

Next Word: Perfect

[kdnxdr]

in never being
impossibilities
infintessimal
stare me down

a reservation
kept for one
abides
eternal

perfect transformation
a template
drawn
before my time


next word: new

[black winged fighter]

New is not the word
for how she feels
sagging inside
a
sagging skin
that did not change
from one second to the next
like the calendar did
at the stroke of
dark noon.

Next Word: Twelve

[Eveningsdawn]

at twelve
I drank my toast
and kissed my friends
and greeted the new year
at one
I read my book
in bed
until I was tired
at two
I had been asleep
for a quarter-hour
from then
until nine
I dreamt (but do not
remember it)
at nine
I woke
at ten
I had fallen
back asleep
and was dreaming
(this I remember)
at eleven
or just past
I woke again
and ran out the door
to do my barn chores
as I was expecting
an enigma to meet me
for lunch.
at twelve
I learned she was still asleep
and at almost-two
I learned the same.
Enigma,
do you know how much
I long to see you?
Please,
all I want
is for you
to wake.

next word: disappointment

[black winged fighter]

A lover sat by
a road
a road
a road like any other,
awaiting
a lover
like no other.
She waited,
and waited,
sighed and lay down,
for her lover,
her lover
never came round.
She lay,
could not leave,
the roots of her hope,
so down,
child, down,
into ground
she did mope.
And there
just there
little flowers did grow,
to drink of her tears
and ease her pain's flow.
Now the Watcher,
wide-eyed white bud,
grows by all paths,
lost dreams,
and mud.

Next Word: Mud

[JustRite]

There he sits
smiling;
his smile belies
the mischief he has been
upto - his face
muddy brown -
the color of
chocolate.

Next word: Chocolate

[Shane]

there's one bar left
quickly take it
in dark brown heaven
theres no theft
its not yours
but you dont care
hurry up before you have to share
savour the taste but make haste
oops! someones coming
quick hide away
too late the evidence is there clear as day
all sticky and dark
you know it was wrong
but hey its chocolate come on!

Next word: Coffee

[Albedo of Zero]

Day old coffee is your voice,
quickening, bitter,
as we sit in a pile
of papered snowmen and St. Nicks
unloosened
from their holiday nooses.

Gifts are in the giving
I think to myself
Can you hear my face?

This mug is the only warmth
in this room,
in my hands.
Yours hands are contrived
and cliched,

-stilted with sugar substitute
and frothy
with non-dairy cream.

I blow, I sip,
I lean back and sigh.

While you,
fresh as eight-hour brew,
strong and black, grind
to be free of the pot
to swim in styrofoam.

I wanted a mug man.
You weren't on my list.





next word: gift

[black winged fighter]

A gift,
by another language
would be poison;
tomorrow sits stark
in my rear-view mirror
admiring itself.
Don't check for teeth - check for antidote.
the gift horse is
unforgiving.

Next Word: Unforgiving

[threedogpeople]

Unforgiving
metal on metal
flesh yielding
unwillingly
painfully
to the impact

Bone shattering
life tattering
mind shredding
making
unrecognizable pieces
of me.

Life puzzle,
can you be
reassembled?
What will you
look like?
What will you be?
Is there even
a shadow
of the former me?

Pain
Drugs
Pain
Therapy

PAIN
Depression
PAIN
Anger

Pain
Frustration
Time
Persistence
Determination

Love healing
Soul tending
Life mending.
Rebuilding.
Healing.

Next word: conundrum

[black winged fighter]

My tall conundrum
sits behind me
on the steed,
and I cannot understand why
I am dreaming of him
yet again.
He doesn't exist
except in
the fizzle of a desirous
neuron that won't give in
to sleep,
everlasting or not.
He doesn't exist,
so I must forget,
but behind closed eyelids
I can touch and see and hear,
taste and smell -
like they say is impossible -
and then,
oh, the problem is real
and I can't forget the solution.

Next Word: fizz

[Eveningsdawn]

with a fizz and a pop!
the light goes out.
darkness swallows us,
not slowly
but quick as blinking,
although in this case
the eyes stay shut
and do not open again.
and in the darkness
come the nightmares--
oh, if only
this was truly a dream.
then at least
I would have a chance
of waking!

next word - nightmare

[black winged fighter]

When happy death
comes visiting
I clutch my round stone mama
gave me she
said I should never
lose it,
'cause then the black
would get me
and I haven't,
mama,
I haven't forgotten
or lost anything
it's all in there
in the shadow
behind my eyes
that comes out and plays
at night when its friends are
there to visit
but the stone,
the pebble keeps them away
Mama?
It seems so small....

Next Word: stone

[Unique]

One stone held
under the tongue
obligingly
until water flowed
a poetical drought
washed away
in a volley of spit.

Next word: held

[black winged fighter]

I held my breath
until you came,
gave in,
returned...
but was it too late?

Next Word: Late

[Shane]

It is too late
Just like you said
A fool to wait
When all hope is dead
Can't you see
Everything is gone
You are now free
So stop holding on
I waited as well
For another chance
Believing your lips will one day tell
Of our dreams and promises made
If only you'd come back
If only you had stayed.

Next Word: Gone

[black winged fighter]

"Gone," she murmurs
and crushes the wet sand
between fingers that
do not feel
much of anything
anymore.
Footsteps,
empty footsteps
are all she has left, and even now
her blasphemous fingers
are crumbling them
to dry dust.
She tastes the salt in the wind
as errant strands of hair
try to distract her lips
from a familiar
alien
wetness.
"Gone," she realizes,
and new salt falls to join the old.

Next Word: Join

[Shane]

What is there to join
When there's nothing left
Too many broken pieces
Of myself you have kept
Maybe if you return them
Give them back to me
Somehow we can be one again

"Join" you say as if so simple
Just a word like all the other lies
Sepearate, apart, no more tries
Are the only ones that describe
The distance between us
Never to be joined
And everyhting we've had that's now lost.

Next Word: Lost

[Paint]

a ring
put safely away
in a secret place
covered
lovingly
from prying eyes
and theives who would want
sparkling glory and light.

a year
of frantic search
removing shelves
peering under furnature
tearing apart dust bunnies
checking pockets
fear
awakens on long nights
did i look

have i

What is jabbing
my neck
in the back
under my hair
itching my skin?

a pillow
torn apart
feathers fly
i sneeze

a ring
falls down
light flashes
from the gold
from the stone
tears fall
a traveler returns
love lives
on my finger
again.


next word: traveler

[ricahardo]

Swollen tongue,
aching head, light in dark
and grey mid light,
when-
seeking sleep whilst lying down,
the best that's offered is
a twisted seat
and no leg room.

The constant vroom vroom vroom
of engines,
a baby crying out of sorts,
at least the drunks are quiet now,
and now perhaps some stolen hours
as I drift,

all noise forgotten,

warm,

blank,

nearly gone - WOULD YOU CARE FOR A SNACK SIR!
AND WOULD YOU MIND PUTTING YOUR SEAT BELT ON!

Such are the joys of the weary traveler.

Next word: Resolution

[black winged fighter]

I am resolute
in my distaste
for seeing things
made murky
by the licking of many eyeballs.
Give me a sight
so clean it
cuts the light into
a prism
invisible.

Next Word: Tourist

[Albedo of Zero]

Born to a barefoot road
teethed on a maple twig
crawled till my knees were maps that seedlings looked at

was embarrassed when the trees were stripped
felt scared as they buried the dirt path
overwhelmed by the way the sun looked down now
broken up in symetrical shadows

I fly when I want to
make green dough in a pastry maker
write gadgets that comfort me

because I can never go home
not even as a tourist



next word: nature

[Paint]

born on the third day
awakened on the forth
nature
ordered by God
knows it's own
unstoppable.


next word: third

[kdnxdr]

third strand strong
a witness
not easily broken.
whole, complete
three the sum of one,
before the clock
was set.
full of glory,
they see;
twice shown
and thrice,
three
will take me home.



next word: destroyer

[black winged fighter]

Sleep destroys the night
breaking it
into little
pieces of mirror
floating by in the lava
of a the day and
the Id holding sway
as dreams and acid both
the same
fine-tooth comb
the mind into
a blank.

Next Word: blank

[Albedo of Zero]

Stopped,
in tracks, in thought, incognito
A stare, then a step
another
another
found, discovered, de-sheeted,

Bang.

Stopped,
in beat, in flow, inconsiderate
bastard.

No blood.



next word: step

[threedogpeople]

a step above
a step below
it doesn't matter
how much we know

find the rhythm
find the rhyme
find yourself
in the book of time

it’s all a riddle
it’s all a rhyme

where’s the meaning
what’s sublime
what is lust
what is love
what is imagined
what is real

where are we really
in the end
have we finished
or just begun
is this the finale
or the overture

has our story unfolded
do we progress
do we move on
or do we digress
do we evolve
and find happiness

find the rhythm
find the rhyme
find the answers
in the book of time


Next word: overture

[Eveningsdawn]

All this
-the subtle
and not-so-subtle
flirting
and dancing
around the truth-
is just the overture
and it's drawing
to a close.
Now, finally
comes the first act,
so close
I can taste it-

next word: desire

[black winged fighter]

All I desire
is to melt into
the molt of the world
when I scrape my eyelashes across the sky
exhaling darkness,
then inhaling as light pours in again
to a hidden center,
a hidden burning.

Next Word: hidden

[flyaway]

I watched them at my wake
Gathered about me like weeping
Willows on the edge of a lake.

Every few minutes, they came close
To caress my wrinkled cheek one last time,
And allow their tears to stain my best blouse.

My youngest one looked down at me
And bemoaned what she never heard--
"We'll never know all her stories."

She was always a silly child;
Those little tales will surely keep
'Til she's with me, her soul mild--

And finally ready to listen.

Next word: Lice

[Paint]

the mice had lice
and they stood
in a group
sad
whiskers on the floor.

the mice had a slice
of orange one
by one
discussing and whispering
their unhappy delima.

the mice were nice
to the lice
and as they
went each
their own way
they were not lonely
had friends.

next word: whispering

[black winged fighter]

A whisper tastes
like lime-green-made ice
until it flows cool
forward to tickle
red lips.
But what the others don't know
is:
it slides back, too
turning powder blue,
and then it curls into sleep
in your center.

Next Word: Slide

[Eveningsdawn]

the moonlight slides
over my skin -
I close my eyes
and part my lips
to taste it.
it's buttermint
cool and silk-smooth
melting slow
in my mouth
leaving an aftertaste
that is sweet,
and indescribable.

next word: moon

[black winged fighter]

Hungry,
she left the ways of men
and went to search the sky.
Stars skittered away,
shy as horses,
and trailing flaring tails.
Clouds,
ponderous slow,
ambled on,
no pause in their search
for dry ground.
The night left her no choice,
and so she turned to the moon
and so gently,
she ate the round pearl of moon.

Next Word: pearl

[Paint]

Sea glow
Luster sheen
rich orb

proud
silken rope
laid on bare flesh

sand
that became
irritating


next word: sand

[black winged fighter]

A night I had
what seemed a long time ago
was full of sand
like beads,
shaped like my fears.
They dripped through
from future bulb,
squeezed by present
into past,
and they were endless
in a way
so dissimilar to
infinity.

Next Word: Infinity

[kdnxdr]

forever forever forever
an endless forever
of you is what my dreams are made of

looking into eyes of what's beyond
what can only be seen on
the other side
pools of time dripping into
pools of time and I find
myself swimming into
an infinity of you


next word: beyond

[Eveningsdawn]

Last night,
I dreamt of kissing
a redhaired girl,
tall and slender
with long, cool fingers
and shadowed eyes.
I woke suddenly,
trying to remember
the look of her face,
but I had passed beyond
the tenuous boundaries
of sleep,
and the waking world
does not welcome
dreams.

next word: peace

[black winged fighter]

Now I speak of the rest
that lies beyond
dreams -
but not the black sleep.
No,
to rest in peace
is to anticipate another day
after the unseen night.


Next Word: unseen

[kdnxdr]

I walked through a wall today
unseen, I slipped through
and there I was in full view,
you knelt to pray

and what did you say? I heard your whispers,
confessions of wants, despairs
and hopes yet spoken

behind the walls
you threw off all doubt
like a cloak, bare
you bore your soul to me

your words received unto my bosom,
a repository for the faithful,
never forgotten, the answers
a matrix - Alpha and Omega



next word: bosom

[Godfather]

i rest my head
on your fantastic bosom.

there is nothing between us.

i wish there was.

my head rests
on your fantastic bosom,
i hear your heart beat.

i look up with a smile,
your face is red.

and undserstandably so,
i had no invitation,
you did not expect it.
and presumably didnt want it either.

oh but i did.

what a shame!
i will miss that fantastic bosom.


NEXT WORD: embarrassed
(i remembered!)

[ricahardo]

Who blushes red and cannot speak,
who chokes and gags and cannot eat,
who wants your ear and cannot talk
who stands abashed and cannot walk,
who begs your eye and cannot see
who lives and dies in hope? It's me.

Next word: Hope

[Paint]

When a hatchling bird
breaks shaking
through a shell
to live.

drops of water
tumble from the sky
run downhill seeking
the lake to belong.

a tiny turtle
gives it all
mucking through heavy sand
reaches for the sea.

little black filly
stands on quivering limbs
raises a heavy head
seeking warm food.

A boy tries to do right
bleak labels that haunt him
questioning the answers
to climb away from poverty.

Who will say to these
there is no hope-
that hope is a flying vision
seen only by
a lucky few?

next word: poverty

[Cassie88]

Mommy, what's wrong with that lady?
She lives in poverty.
Where's that?
She's poor, honey.
Are we poor?
No, dear.
How come?
Because your daddy works and makes money.
Doesn't her daddy work?
I don't know if she still has her daddy.
How come?
I don't know.
Maybe she has a husband?
Not everyone gets married, you know.
Oh. Does she work?
No, dear, I don't think so.
How come?
Maybe she's sick.
If she's sick, why isn't she home in bed?
I don't know, dear.
Can we give her a ride home?
No, darling.
Why not?
Well, we don't know where she lives.
Yes, we do.
Where?
Poverty. She lives in Poverty.



Next word: Perspective

[Albedo of Zero]

In this place,
rainwater stagnates
before the ground
swallows.

Under the mud,
doghairs decay
after the skin
does.

Beyond the chain,
people pretend
until their poverty
howls.



next word: inhumane

[black winged fighter]

There was so little she could do
so she did less
and for that
inhumanity
she deserves
a fate worse than life.

Next Word: deserve

[ricahardo]

Bloody women are like bloody taxis
when you need one you just stand there in the rain,
when you don't, a score or more
surround you and complain

about every little thing you've done
that really don't deserve
the biting little comments
that eat into your reserve -

so what - you left the lid up
and forgot to pull the chain?
Who cares if the door's shut -
has the whole world gone insane?

Can't I take a pee
without incurring nature's wrath,
and when comes to that -
I may well take a bath!

I want to be the master
of this, my own domain -
but women seem to think it
a right and royal pain.

Still there are some compensations -
a women's gentle touch -
and I seem to find that with her -
I don't screw up as much.

So I suppose that bloody women
are like taxis in the rain -
you know that if you've got one
you're a winner in the game.

Next word: Winning

[dahmnait]

Lungs burn
With molten breath
Screams of triumphant agony
Drowned by the roar
Of the crowd.
Fists raised
Pumping air
Like so many little icons
Of success.
Her whole life
For this moment

her whole life
for this one moment
a bittersweet victory
for this,
her life ... whole
for this…it ends


Next word: Irony

----
Hi everyone. Can I play too? http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif (I'll have to introduce myself in the main poetry forum.)

[JustRite]

I have turned
into
my mother
and the irony
isn't lost
on me.


Next word: Lost

[black winged fighter]

I have lost
two lies -
they were old and threadbare,
worn smooth by constant use -
little touches throughout the day,
quick assurances that they were
still there.
They were comfortable
like day dreams and flattery
and now they are gone.


Next Word: Apathy

[dahmnait]

I would care
if I thought about it
I suppose
in a way
It is like peanut butter
with no jelly
And...
what do you know
No bread
oh well
I'm not even hungry


Next word: peanut butter (I know, technically it is two words. Peanut, if you are so inclined. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif)

[DenimSoul]

Peanut Butter:

Sticky little hands,
peanut butter breath
and grape jelly kisses.

Old pieces of lunch
stuck in the carpet,
underneath couch cushions
and 'what in the world is this
under your bed?'

“Just a piece of sandwich,
I left it there for the boogeyman.”

“Why,” I ask even though I’m not
sure I want to know.

“So he won’t eat me, Mom!” As if
I’m the most clueless person in the
world.

I probably would be if I had kids.
Being a parent, is it in me?
That's a sticky situation to ponder.



Next word: Mom

[Eveningsdawn]

I bite down on the word
Mom!
I have to do this myself,
deal with the way
my pony is acting.
Gotta deal with everything alone,
eventually.

I bite down on the word
Mom...
This is a secret I can't
tell, not yet.
It's too deep, too
significant. I'll tell,
eventually.

I bite down on the word
Mom.
If I say it, I know
that I'll start crying.
My darling, she says,
it's alright. We all have to go,
eventually.

next word: reconciliation

[Cassie88]

mom in the kitchen
dad in his chair
words float in bubbles that
pop in the air

dad with his papers
mom with her gin
working on crosswords where
words don't fit in

pat on the arm
kiss on the cheek
choking on words they
spit in the sink

reconciliation
clothed silent days
words never meeting
inside of the maze


next word: resentment

[Albedo of Zero]

Chickadees, wintered in feather fluff,
perch now and then on any horizontal
in my backyard-

-on the swing-set,
adding tiny bulk
to the gray-blue shadows on the snow,
a distortion to empty swings.

I listen to their predictive chitter
I watch their eyes.
I believe they only feel the winter cold.

I resent that they are allowed
to not remember their children
when they are gone.



next word: bitter

[Unique]

I took a bite out of life
and found it bitter
Fresh as a melon in summer
Juice dripping down my
chin
I held out my hand
for the rag she offered me
Wiping away the mess
I perused the fields
Looking for another
with a taste more to
my liking.


Next word: slice

[Paint]

To slice off my ear
like Mr. Van Gough
would not make
me a painter.
To put my eyes
under my chin
like Mr. Piccaso
would not an
artist make.
Only to put brush
to canvas
put word
to page,
put my soul
out for all
to see,
then
an artist
I will be.

next word: word

[black winged fighter]

She closes her eyes
against the world,
and smiles
a little smile
full of words.

Next Word: little

[Godfather]

Little girl,
little brain,
big heart,
bigger strain.

Next Word: Staring

[black winged fighter]

I am - unsure
surely you cannot
be aware of
of the way you stand
too close,
hand's width away,
the way you torque
and twist,
beguile -
you quoted somesuch to me,
and I was wondering if you knew
how much you said.

Next Word: flirt

[brokenfingers]

The push and pull of
your movements lures me
like a siren song.

A lingering gaze,
A smile across the room,
The silence that comes
after unbidden thoughts
fly through the ether.

I am captivated.
Such a beautiful dance.


Next Word: Desire

[dahmnait]

The tounge remembers
Slow summer days
Sitting on porch swings
Eating thick wet air
And sunflower seeds
Cool drops of laughter
Falling from our lips
As we explored
The newness of each other
Not just empty conversation
To fill the time
Rather a prelude,
An opening to consumation
Of what the tounge remembers

Next Word: exploration

[threedogpeople]

Exploration of my limits
Exploration of my life
Exploration of my tolerance
As a woman and a wife.


Next word: abyss

[brokenfingers]

As deep and as wide,
As the difference between
Right and wrong



Next word: panic

[threedogpeople]

The plunger is stuck
the drain is plugged up
I'm ankle deep in smelly muck
P A N I C!!!


Next word: popsicle

[brokenfingers]

Nothing like cherry-flavored
coolness on my tongue to
evoke childhood’s memories


Next word: cloud

[Eveningsdawn]

I sit under the skylight
in the school library
ignoring my book
(on Rome and religion and ritual)
and dozing in the sun
daydreaming warmly.
A cloud covers the sun,
and I look up, and remember
my responsibilites as
the shadow covers me.

next word: library

[Paint]

My passive-agressive behavior
is filed in a mental library
under rage and resentments.
Stuffing the shelves
with poisonous anger,
compulsive thoughts
of defeat and pain
become habitual.


next word: habitual

[black winged fighter]

It was a favorite habit of hers
to grant wishes
and heal the soul-cuts
of those around her.
She would not want
while others wanted -
she would not try
until they did not,
so she cut, cut, cut
at some see-through
silk deep inside,
until the wanting stopped,
then wondered why she healed
no more.

Next Word: grant

[dahmnait]

What gives you the right
to use my heart
as an origami flower
folding and creasing
in tight neat lines
only to display
in a crystal vase
where I can see
but cannot touch



Next Word: Pedestal

[JustRite]

She looked at the
perfect greek god -
the epitome of
such beauty that she
couldn't tear her
gaze away.
She ran her hands
over the statue,
paused, and looked
down - the
greek god had
clay feet.

Next word: Illusion

[Albedo of Zero]

You are rehearsed, limited
to open hand gestures,
controlled to make the dramatic
subtle-

a magic trick, I know.
I hear the efforts
of the puppeteers
to keep their own strings
from tangling.

I see no strings on you.
Still, even without strings,
Pinnochio was only a boy.



next: common sense

[black winged fighter]

In the archetype dream
I dreamt
the boy taught the girl
of things common
sense and sensual.

Next Word: archetype

[Paint]

archetype, cowboy
speaks quiet
around a waxed
moustache.
well worn clothing
made of hide.
Stetson hat pulled low
color of rain
crusted sweat.
voice
the open sky
eyes
bottomless river.

I want to go with him
sleep on grassy range
curled in his arms
run wild with coyotes
shiver and wail
feel alive.

next word: curled

[ricahardo]

The edges of yesterday's sandwich,
I didn't eat,
didn't touch or want,
despite being hungry -
until the waiter deftly slid the plate
from a tray of many plates.

I came there to eat,
why else?
that time of day,
that place,
I always come.

Like Russian dogs I drool
anticipating fresh loaves,
and their special odour.
The baker's dough has its own
clever marketing plan that
draws me,
relentless by the nose.

And yet there it sits,
untasted, curled,
an appetite lost to
an accident,
unwillingly witnessed,
in an unwitting world.

Next word: Witness

[ddgryphon]

shelter in the blackness of the night
falling between two buildings
white fear fills my eyes
still the thunder echoes
still my heart pounds
still the night goes on

i pray
blindness save me from
the savagery of their wrath

thunder and another life
drains red onto the grey concrete

i pray
silence falls
between the echoes

thunder and again the dull thud
of emptiness smacks the earth

i pray
each breath
that night might
swallow me

thunder
i pray
leave me
witness

*************************************

Next word: Storm

[threedogpeople]

Clouds gather
Sky blackens
Wind yells
Lightening sizzles
Electricity zaps
Lights blink
Water pours
Water dumps
Water soaks
Water streams
Water drenches
Water saturates
Water permeates
Puddles gather
Dust settles
Air freshens
Nature drinks
Earth renews
Life continues



Next word: Island

[Eveningsdawn]

it is as if
this ground I stand on
has become an island,
for my worldview
narrows to this:
a kiss,
crimson-purple
and brief;
but long enough
to remain on my lips
so that I touch them
and wonder
that my fingers come away
clean
and colorless.

next word: taste

[Paint]

Salty
copper taste
whiff of
war in the air.

Piquant tang
palatable fear
aroma
of death.

next word: copper

[Eveningsdawn]

Looking in the Mirror (Sunday Morning)

I close my eyes
and look at myself;
my hands and arms,
my neck, my lips, my face.
With my eyes open,
my skin is just skin,
but with them shut,
it is overlayed with fine traceries
of hot, smooth yellow,
coppery-orange,
a blue the color of melting ice,
and a warm crimson-purple
that I can feel (and nearly see)
even with my eyes open,
in spots and streaks
and patches the shape of kisses.
The other colors are fading,
but the last remains
hot against my skin.

next word: desire

[brokenfingers]

That such a small spark,
unnoticed, untended, unthought of -
could arouse such a
burning desire that
threatens to consume me,

Is magic


Next word: Distance

[black winged fighter]

She didn't know how to run
with her two legs neatly
stanced
placed so
but when she became a wolf
four legs eager and ready
even if the mind was not
she started running and didn't stop.
She's still running,
distant in the artic blank,
running from a spring she doesn't know
will come,
a summer she hopes never dies.

Next Word: summer

[Eveningsdawn]

For Dee

There's an uncanny sense
of déjà vu about this;
two girls, one tall, one not,
outside in the dark,
beside a car, alone,
just us two,
facing each other,
wordlessly.
I can't help but think
of that first time
(six months ago, or more)
that we stood together.
A summer's night,
and we held each other
(for the first time, really)
and it was hard to let go
harder to walk away.
And then a night
that couldn't decide
whether it wanted to be
winter or spring,
where rain soaks our hair
and wind makes us shiver.
And we held each other
and our lips met
(not for the first time,
but this was different)
And it was hard to let go
for you make my knees go weak,
and so much harder
to watch you go inside
and then drive away,
alone.

next word: lonely

[black winged fighter]

To be lonely
is that rarest of gifts,
known only to those species
who know love.

Next Word: rare

[Godfather]

justice,

something rare.
you'll be luck to see it.

though, when you do,

pure ecstacy.

[black winged fighter]

Next word?

[ddgryphon]

Next word?

Pick one from Godfather's poem or start the series over with a new word -- it has been more than 24 hours since Godfather's post.




Or, you can use: Random

[black winged fighter]

Next Word: Luck

Do I dare
to dance
and if I do
what does it matter
if my shoes are lucky
or not.

Next Word: Not

[dahmnait]

"Not in my house", she says
Hands on hip
Thrust forward
In anger stance

"Not what?" I ask
Hands out
Head back
In query slant

"Not in my house", she says
Lips quiver
Eyes twitch
In ire contained

"Not what?" I ask
Mouth arcs
Eyes wide
In question voice

"Not in my house!" she screams
Spittle flys
Fists raise
In rage confront

"Not what?" I ask
and leave


Next: Bait

[black winged fighter]

She curls up
writhes
on bed of sharpest silver,
flesh and inner red
so ready supple,
that the hook is sorry
(almost)
to pierce and end
that particular off-white pure.

Next Word: hook

[Albedo of Zero]

the hook makes one look
at the book
past the first sentence

the look isnt took
as a hook
if the second paragraph fails

the hook was an overcook
of gobbledygook
wrote by a shnook
who by hook and crook
unhooked
Oprah's composure



next word: fiction

[Godfather]

im sorry!

[black winged fighter]

When fevered
once
I saw through
the fiction of the world,
past the cloud of the real,
to the land of shadows.
Three of them watched me,
lying there close to
Dostoyevksy's brink of ghosts,
for it is left to the sick,
their eyes unclouded
to see
with minds unjudging,
those who still wish
to be seen.

Next Word: ghost

[ricahardo]

Ghost

One hundred rotten great coats
lay mouldering in a trench,
mud and blood and piss and gore
and bullets long past spent
lay there dormant now.

and also caked in deathly slime
are horrific smiling skulls
which lie atop some random bones
that reveal the one time hell
that was wreaked upon this place.

Above this foul chaotic soup
a neat carpet manicured in green
and ordered wooden crosses, white,
belie the ugly human waste
that scarred this lovely field.

But should you wander there
by chance, at twilight or at dawn
you'll see a soldier by the graves
who sits upon the lawn
and whistles to his mates.

He waits upon their sure return
and one day when they come,
they'll march again in comradeship
and talk of battles won
as they walk away from here.

Next word: Hero

[black winged fighter]

While she lie
dying in white,
drowning in oxygen
and disinfectant,
the something saying man
told her the truth:
There are no more heroes
left for you.
Good bye.

Next Word: Drown

[Paint]

I am drowned
in words
no more to hear
or say.
No air left
only the blanket
heavy
of dripping water
your statement
"it's over."


next word: only

[black winged fighter]

Only
lonely
solely
one
soul to share
with one,
only
lonely
one.


Next Word: One

[ricahardo]

Oneness.

the little hairs on the back of my hand,
my eyes and ears, my heels and mind,
shivers running up my spine,
my premonitions - unrefined,
my gut, my nose, the undefined
periphery that I divine -
that being there betrays a sign
that I am here and underlines
that what constitutes this self of mine
is not a disparate design
but a seamless smooth serene combine
of all those things as one.

Next: Periphery

[Paint]

Locked in the periphery
of my mind
the truth sleeps
patient.

o I stay in a tunnel
warm and safe
protected
in my dream.

It will not stay hidden
becons from afar
reality
I am more than a human.

next word: protected

[ricahardo]

Protected in the spa

Cushions soft, covered in orange velvet,

beneath my feet, as my body sinks slowly,

enveloped in a feather bed.

Candles burn with pumpkin incense swirls,

and lapping water calms the ear.

A gentle steam caresses me

and eucalyptus refreshes, first my nose

and then my lungs.

Tiny cymbals shimmer in the air

and, perhaps the finest,

the evenings sun breaks through

and kisses me delicately with its golden tongue.

Next: Kisses

[Ilovepensandpaper]

Kisses
When I am in your presence
I only want your kisses.
Oh, your strong arms
around my body
and your satiny lips
pressing against mine!
My eyes flicker you're in
for the night;
Please nourish me with your kisses!
Copyright 2006 Dana J.


Next word: passion
I hope I did this right!

[Cassie88]

Passion must be dissected.
So we do not have passion for a lover;
We have passion for loving.
We do not have passion for life,
We have passion for living,
but still, it is too broad, this passion.

We must have passion
for some specific aspect of loving and living.
Like passion for loving children,
or passion for living to cook,
And then we dissect again.

A passion for cooking home made pasta,
A passion for loving children as toddlers.

And then we dissect again and again
Till we sliced away every bit of the passion
we started with.

I'm passionate about this thread
for giving me the freedom to be
completely goofy and for not making
me write every poem with a passion.
I have no idea of what I'm talking about,
except to say, It's late and I'm all out of passion.


Next Word: appetite

Next Word:

[dahmnait]

Silent footsteps echo in your mind.
Malevolent glares from dead windows
Mock your hurried pace.
Glancing back your eyes catch,
Darkness within shadows.
An unseen evil lurking
Within the corners of your mind.
The scent of your fear emanates in waves
And your heart's blood pounds within my ears
Driving me,
Pushing me,
In a frenzy, I pounce.
Capturing you in my dark embrace.
Your utter terror and agony
Heightens my ecstasy as your
Sweet, salty life pours
Down my throat.

Satisfied and sated,
I look down upon the husk of what once was



Next word: Malevolent

[Unique]

When your inlaws are outlaws
Like a bad cast from Hee Haw
You just feel like running away
So pack up your troubles
blow 'em off like soap bubbles
And take a vacation today.

The sister's a floozy
her beer breath is boozy
and brother's a card in the deck
A smoker, a joker, but
never a toker
The guy is a living train wreck.

Ol' mama's the wild card
Hides money in fruit jars
But calls you up on holidays
Where is my present
Do you think I'm a peasant
It best be expensive, okay?

After years of my trying
I'm so tired of crying
These people are too hard to please
So I took that vacation,
left out from the station
And gave them back all of their fleas.


Next word: vacation

[Paint]

on the tall black tombstone
the one with the angel
and the sword
behind the water station

it reads

Here lies our dear friend Joe
husband, father to three
who in life
never took a vacation.


next word: three

[Albedo of Zero]

Times three but not on sidewalks crack
a broken back is strawn to slack
the step it takes to make or brake
the force before it shimmy shakes
a trust of god within a war
or sense of life within a jar.

What know of this the who and why
how santa sleighs and reindeer fly
but staunch of moral odor reek
the fantasy when one would seek
a calm of mind, a peace, a piece,
a slice of death beneath three knees.

Awareness, time comes through no words
but meaning for, from sword, is blurred.


next word: sense

[Cassie88]

Pretend this poem is your life.
Got it?
Okay, Cry.
Now, shut up.
Eat. Burp. One more, please.
Ta.
Listen and read the lips:
MOMMA
MAM MA
Forget it, no big deal.
Give the toy back;
It’s not yours.
Stop crying.
No biting.
Would you want someone to bite you?
Okay, then.
You’ve got to practice.
You don’t want to be the only kid
Who can’t kick the ball, do you?
The B’s not bad, it’s just that your
mother and father know you can do better.
Stop crying.
How long have you known this person?
Use rubbers.
Smoking stops your growth and gives you lung cancer.
What’s an empty beer can doing under your bed?
Oh, you’re going to college all right.
If you want to drop out and struggle
for the rest of your life, we can’t stop you.
You’re getting what?
We don’t mind pitching in,
but does every table need roses?
Stop crying.
It’s a nice apartment, small, but nice.
I don’t mind babysitting, but your father
keeps picking one of them up,
And he’s been a little shaky since
they put him on that medication.
You’re taking the same medication?
Stop crying.
Divorced? In our time,
people didn’t get divorced.
He’s got cancer.
Could you pick up the cold cuts
at Marino’s?
You feel like crying,
go ahead.
Your father cashed in that life
insurance policy, I’ll join you.
Are you sure you’ve got room?
I couldn’t. I couldn’t.
Actually, if I buy a new bed,
I’d have room for my chair.
I don’t know, I’m just not that hungry
anymore.
What are you going to do with
Grandma’s TV?
You’re allowed a couple of glasses a wine
each week.
Are you walking a little every day?
Take a few deep breaths.
We can control the pain.
Cry as loud as you want.
Cry
Cry
Take one last deep breath.

Makes sense, huh?

NEXT WORD: Memoir

[Ilovepensandpaper]

Opening the book of yesterday,
I left my mudpies, crayons,
and the anticipation of another day.
Education, or was it miseducation:
Two plus two equals four,and
we're in a color-blind nation?
Chapter three is self-hate
versus self-love;
I hate my naps and curls
versus that hot-comb that sits
on the shelf above.
I tumble into loneliness
and illness-
Depression and sadness.
I can still remember what
triggered the madness.
Oh,Lord, have mercy-
The memoir isn't finished;
it's on its way!
I've still got to cover a lot more yesterdays.
Copyright 2006 Dana J.

Next Word: Past

[dahmnait]

Do you remember
The two of us walking
Sun brilliant on virgin sand
As we gazed
Across an endless expanse
Of water, vibrant blue?
Or this, of Uncle Jim
Laughing as we set
His cake afire
70 candles I believe
Was the year.
And yet another
Of us with the kids we never
Had, smiling picture-
Perfect tree bedecked in
Holiday splendor.

(What's this? you ask)

Why, it's a gift.
A gift of past, present and future
Lifetimes never experienced
A treasure box of store bought memories.



Next: fancy

[ricahardo]

The Artizan


He never shaved, nor spoke to us,
his clothes were rough and stained,

he drove a van more rust than paint,

but we were all of us amazed,

when a week or two,

after he was gone,

when the refurbishment was done,

we entered in astonishment,

the lobby of the bank.


Curls and curves and architraves

and whorls were everywhere,

and little angels blowing horns

with flowers in their hair,

and at the front, inside the door,

a wooden Hercules,

who bid us all to enter in,

whilst protecting us from thieves

and vagabonds that might perhaps

present an evil threat.


For many minutes we all stood

and gazed at this - his gilded labor,

and never more did we assume

the shape of a rough man's fancy.


Next word: Vagabonds

[black winged fighter]

We all we are
we vagabonds
we searchers of the sky
We we wend
and rove and love
the night,
forever wonder why.

Next Word: rove

[Cassie88]

It’s 2 am and my mind is in a rove
thoughts like vultures
circling
dipping close
then flying away
Tired mind
eyes ablur
time
to
go
to
bed
where my mind can rest
and let dreams do the roving



Next word: vulture

[black winged fighter]

I'm meant to be
a vulture
I think.
When I look up, there's
just one,
like me.
Everywhere
the doves
and hawks
and swans
are pairing up.
My feathers haven't come in
yet,
but still I feel
they'll be the rust and blood brown
of that death circle weaver,
cutting the sky into
Venn Diagrams.

Next Word: diagram

[dahmnait]

Stepping stones of shapes
And values, interconnected
Drawing breath from one another.
Each task waiting patiently for
Their turn, their moment.
They flow across the page
These things I do,
Broken down to bare
Lines of work I have yet
To complete.




Next: Work

:)

[Ilovepensandpaper]

Work
Siiiiiiiigh
My feet-weights
pulling me in
eight hour monotony.
In my mind:
the golden sun.
My muscles crack under
cubicle chatter;
My eyes roll in my head;
Why work like this,
drowning,
suffocating,
weakening?
I can't see the end.

Copyright 2006 Dana J.
Next word: breakdown

[black winged fighter]

In a dream,
a man's body is
crumbling like mud mortar,
like sea sand castle walls.
As he pushes knees and hands
through liquid clay,
his eyes are on the film of light,
the film of soap-bubble colours,
expanding, swirling
in a fractal of perfection.
As an earth entombed hand reaches for
the miracle mirage,
it bursts into nothing,
and the man can't make his own
salvation
without stamping it with
muddy marks.


Next Word: stamp

[Paint]

Post card cut outs
stamps in a line.
Iden-tical faces
grocery store
magazines
blonde women
on parade.

next word: parade

[Cassie88]

She parades about the party
She's a singing full moon
Boom chica boom boom
Chica Chica boom
Batting her boa
Eyelashes in bloom
She's a loon
Chica boom boom
Chica chica boom
She chomps her olives
She gargles her beer
A laughing machine
She don't show fear
Boom chica boom boom
Chica chica boom
Someone else's birthday
No one remembers whom
She's the last one dancing
On the ceiling of the room
Going boom chica boom boom
Chica Chica boom


Next Word: gargle

[Ilovepensandpaper]

I gargle your insult
So I can spit it out-
wet, phlegmy, nasty-
on you.
Upset?
Did you not dish it to me?
Turn the other cheek, I do not.
I gargle-
I corrupt your vileness-
transform your ugliness-
I spew it back worse.
Remember that I gargle-
your cruelness changes-
Your words - not the same;
Turn the other cheek, I do not.
Copyright 2006 Dana J.

Next Word: Dishing

[black winged fighter]

I dished you out a role,
but the film of preconception burst,
but where I come from,
there are no seconds -
and now the hunger has me,
too.

Next Word: second

[Eveningsdawn]

Second's
not quite good enough,
so they say in the
world of the
horse-
means you didn't have
as good a horse as
that blueribbongirl had,
too small,
they say,
too big, too fat,
not fat enough.
Get a new one.
Then you'll get
that shinyblue first.
But you know that
the blueribbongirl
has never spent hours
gentling a threeyearold
fresh-off-the-track
thoroughbred,
and then brought him
to his first show.
She'll never know the feeling
of seeing him win
his first ribbon -
even if it isn't
blue.

next word: wildness

[Cassie88]

Why do we have to lose
the wildness -
the running, the climbing,
and the
wonder of woods,
and the
possibilities of sand,
and the
fantasy of freedom -
We charge into the years,
without understanding
what we'll be leaving behind -
the wonderful wildness,
buried too deep,
in a secret place -
only a child
could find
and dig up again.


next word: Freedom

[Ilovepensandpaper]

My skin invokes
Blackface memories;
Dumb, ugly,
Criminal, disgusting-
Blackness sentenced death
Via hurricane and
Conceived inferiority.
I shed tears,
Don't understand:
Colors personified
Makes me less than!
Prejudgements,
Preaccusations,
Preassociations-
I inherit heavy bags
Before birth.
I am not the last;
Definitely not the first:
Total, perpetual freedom?
Not yet.

Copyright 2006 Dana J.
next word: discrimination

[black winged fighter]

A wild look in the eyes;
the black and glittering eyes
of cunning,
a spark of cold and cut,
heat swamped
by some emotion-made-flesh -
A flash of ribbon darkness and fire;
stage glitter come to life,
a dancer's pose -
a dancer's poise -
the woos and ways of Puck.

Next word: Midsummer

Edit: oops, something weird happened with the posting/timing. This is a reply to Eveningsdawn's prompt. Use 'discrimination' as the next prompt...

[dahmnait]

Stone eyes hard, unyielding
They sit statuesque bearing
Crosses we will never understand.
And how dare they
Look regal and refined,
How dare they stand up
With whispers and shouts
Cries against injustice
The inequity of it all,
How dare they ask
No, demand equality
To be treated as equals
In our schools, our jobs,
Our daily lives.
Is it not plain to see
By matter of birth alone
They are different?
Don't they know their place,
In society, in times
In life?

How dare they.

How dare they?
Rather you should ask,
How dare we.



Next: Hypocrisy

[Ilovepensandpaper]

Do as I say:
Help your fellow man,
Give him a helping hand;
Judge by one's actions,
Not the skin;
Love everybody,
especially your enemies;
Stand up for justice,
Justice should be our perpetual quest.
Men and women are equal-
They stand side by side...
Not as I do:
I torture your citizens,
Blaspheme your God,
Discriminate against your people,
I've got the money and the go-ahead nod,
And you can't retaliate against me.
I burn crosses at night;
I won't shake a black man's hand;
I founded my town's KKK
I won't stop until the USA's white,
And you can't retaliate against me.
I won't hire no woman,
I beat my wife;
I call women 'honey' and 'girl'
I call bossy women bitches
Women's backsides I don't hesitate to pinch,
And you can't stop my hypocrisy.
Copyright 2006 by Dana J.
Next Word: double talk

[Paint]

Politics at work
I cannot abide.

I may not leave early-
You are never here.
We are so broke!
Lunches with drink.
No bonus, no raise
A new company car you sport
Work harder!
Do more! for less--
but she does not work at all!

I swallow
and cough
invisible
double talk
company standard.

next word: invisible

[ricahardo]

I see you!

I see you!

Why don't you smile?

Am I not here for you?

Am I not worth your while?

You'd like me if you knew me,

I'm friendly to a fault

Or at least I think I would be

If only you would halt

And pass the time of day -

Or even catch my eye.

But it seems that you don't see me -

Why?


Next word: Why

[dahmnait]

Why do our children see death as an option?
Wrapping themselves in shrouds of tears.
How is it their hearts are chilled by anger?
Why are their souls frozen in fear?

How is it that our children are dying,
In a loveless world of beauty and pain?
How do we mourn a life not yet over?
Why do our children all live in vain?

How are we ignorant of what stands before us?
Turning deaf ears to their heartfelt pleas.
How do you explain death to a child?
Why are we blind to this deadly disease?



Next: Question

[Cassie88]

"Your wife needs two years,"
the counselor at Hazelton
tells my father.
Twenty-nine days later,
he drives her home
from the airport.
"I'll bet you wanted
to order a martini,"
my father laughs.
"I ordered two."
My mother
does not laugh.

"I almost hit a tree,"
my father tells the
story year after year,
as my mother sinks
deeper and deeper
into the quicksand.

Why, Mom?
Why couldn't you
answer their questions?
What was so bad
that you couldn't tell
anyone.
God, I miss you.


Next word: Martini

[black winged fighter]

Martini girl,
hit me again;
I want purple blue
sobreity.

Next Word: sober

[Paint]

Milktoast King
too much beverage?

The king had six ports
beautiful waters were they
Rich and powerful
Gateway to protection.

His head was turned
to no warning
did he hear
in his blind arrogance.

Milktoast King
where are your marbles?
given, sold or stolen
The people weep
at your folly
as they run for cover.

next word: blind

[Cassie88]

Everyone is sober these days.
Like children again,
The food, the talk, the games
Are enough.
Everyone sees clearer these days,
Stripped of the glasses
That blinded us -
Needing each other
More than the booze.
Everyone is sober these days -
Well, not everyone.
Life is never that easy.

Next word: liquor

[Eveningsdawn]

I know the jargon
(beer before liquour
never sicker)
and the smell
(ranging from
fermented hops
on through fruits
and into cream)
and the taste
(burning warmly
on the way down).
But I don't touch it,
not more than
those few sips.
I've been drunk
on water, on laughter,
on love -
who needs
to drink?

next word: cream

[Albedo of Zero]

The cows come down from pasture
when the sky is colored cream
with blue indeeego raybeam sun
or pinky yellow stream.

The farmer's daughter lies in hay
and lies to little boys
the widow's peak in her straw hair
portents to careless joy.

The cat eats rats by night or day
and drinks them down with milk
from udders of the grass fed cow
or baby lips of ilk.

The pasture out of season turns
in hue from green to brown
as hungry wolves howl harvest moons
and reapers all bow down.

One woman wastes a pinch of salt
on fruit as sweet as wise
while one man in fig-leaf underwear
bears barest burning thrice.

The world, it spins and hesitates
on any given whim
of knowledge less experience
or purple prosy vim.


next word: whimsy

[ricahardo]

Nonsense
Welcome to the world of wit,
Where whimsy, words and dreams are writ.
Should common sense perchance come in,
The waiting wags will stretch it thin.
No bank of calm will greet those who posit
That lessons learned make safe deposit
Indeed the interest paid on that return
Is likely less than that they yearn
But those who follow old advice
Will find it less when followed twice.
If upon the other hand
They both can learn and understand
That situations old and new
Require some further things to do
Then with some added extra thought
An old idea can be forward brought
And dressed for life in modern times
Though echoing with ancient chimes.

Next word: Chimes

[black winged fighter]

The clouds are dirty with the light,
but there are chimes in your eyes. Although
you are not here, I see
you clearly in the smoky stars
above. Although
I am not sure of your affection, I am
certain of my love.

Next Word: Smoke

[alanna]

Smoke

Clouds of death billow
huge from stacks and small from mouths
tarring lungs of all.

Next word: disgust

[ricahardo]

I went a sailing with my friend,

he haled from Amsterdam,

He hadn't sailed a lot before,

but still he lent a hand.



I explained the basic rules to him

of tacking and about

and said I'd tell him what to do

with a signal or a shout.



All was fine until we stood

a way off shore, from where

the only way we could return -

was a skillful tack or ware.


I couldn't shout above the wind

to where the Dutchman sat

and didn't hear when he replied -

'I can't tell dis gust from dat!'


Next word: tack

[Albedo of Zero]

His worth was while he smiled of course
before he read the pages
like tack on hackneyed gifted horse,
all silver trimmed and jaded.

On cobblestones the horse parades
in pomp and circumstances,
covering crackling black decay
with fancy dancy prances.

Unlike the horse, he fancies dance
within the words of sentence,
tacking silver tongued advance
on his and our defences.


next word: hackney

[Ilovepensandpaper]

Hackney
I bite my tongue;
My eye corners my only sight.
I tap my big toe;
Dread grabs my nerves tight.
It's barely eight;
Too callous to end it early.
This man's life equals dirt;
I dream to race on a hackney.
The veins of my eyes flare;
My fingers tap the table.
This gentleman's an utter bore
To keep my head up - I am barely able.
Copyright 2006 by Dana J.

That was a hard word for me to work with!

Next Word: Stiff

[KTC]

stiff with age
he lifted his crippled limbs
in short requiem
for the life left behind him,
Spread his arms in mock cross-nailed fashion
and prepared for the final leap.

He sighed, righteous,
pity washing over his creased features.
As he stretched forward,
tip-toed, upon the precipice
his aged tongue
pushed a silent prayer
past his winter-chapped lips
an homage
for those who cannot fly.



Next word: easel

[dahmnait]

With bold, solid strokes
She paints herself.
No colors of pastel;
Nor works of nature
Not for her.
Her senses not filled with
Soft, delicate strokes.
Instead, colors
Big, brilliant colors
Drip from brush
And slash through the lines of her life.
Movements, a steady fluidity
Of controlled frenzy
As she reaches completion.
Aspirations fulfilled
She steps back,
Only to find the canvas
Is empty once again.



Next: reinvent

[black winged fighter]

And every night
she reinvented the darkness
in the spaces behind her eyes,
let it out in small chunks through
her lips
cruel grin
wicked tongue,
then ate the moon,
lapped up the powdered stars
but never found her peace.

Next Word: grin

[Paint]

tooth amissin'
sun freckled nose
chocolate drop eyes
grin kissed by heaven
yeah she's my sis.

Sissen through sunny
days and hot nights
we sang in the swing
laid on fat quilts
under tall windows
for a breeze.

smootchin pillows
to practice for boys
makin our own story
told in our own lingo
yeah she's my sis.

next word: swing

[ddgryphon]

With Apologies to Willy the Shake

You can sashay swing to the rhythm fine.
You can Sing, Sing, Sing and take the A train.
You can tap that beat from the jungle line.
Can you cool this fever storming my brain?

Maddening sounds are all about us now
I focus on you and the sugar push;
I focus on you, you become my Tao:
You are sound, fury and a moment’s hush.

Behind your violet eyes flashing red,
Between your breaths where eternity falls,
Words of love are jazz’d and the things you’ve said
Ride syncopations to break down my walls.

Before you my life was empty of dance,
but your sweet swing has given me romance.



*********************************

Next Word: breath

*********************************

[Albedo of Zero]

Excites and disables, this bought breath does
to my heart, my brain , my presence.
Tall with soul, with feathers and fart,
and deaf ears to dumb comments,
I walk, I talk, I smile and sing
in fashionable sultry silence.
With limp and crook and wooden cane,
these steps will take endurance.
But the doors are closed to my smelly smell
and the bane of my existence.


next word: lung

[ProsperitySue]

The Organ Recital

He wakes...but slowly...deep, wet coughs racking his body.
"My God, Bill," she says for the millionth time,
"you sound like you're going to cough a lung out."
She grabs her heart pill as she rises
Hurrying toward the tasks of her day.
And at the table, eating, they talk their common language.
Mystery pain deep inside...
What will the doctor say?
I had to get up to pee three times last night --
Prostate's probably as big as an orange.
My knee clicks when I walk.
I hope to God I don't have to have surgery.
Damn glasses don't work as well as they used to.
Guess I'll have to pick up some new ones at the store.

She and Bill are comforted by the song --
And the music that they share.
The years to find the tune
Come together in a symphony
that sings their lives together.

The next word is music.

[Albedo of Zero]

Heartsong

Waltzing, head-banging, mosh pit tangos,
jointed interpretations
with animal names
-secrets trying to compose
a language, a song, so that we
might understand ourselves -or not.

When the best you can find is silence
some strange clog bricks up in your path
your music distorts
-feng-shui faux pas

The rhythm is gone
The beat goes on



next word: silence

[ddgryphon]

Weary silence
Hangs about us

Old friends we
Speak in brief

Moments
Breathing in
Familiarity

Breathing out
Yesterday


**************************

Next Word: Weary