TABLE OF CONTENTS - POETRY, page 2

Taking Stock - Kay Lindgrin
Plaint - Paul Nachbar
The Boomers' Reunion - Thomas Hadley
Yellow chanterelles - Kay Lindgren
Four Hours Hence - Paul Payton
Ants Haiku - Paul Nachbar
Grey Haiku - Paul Nachbar
They Care About Their Wants and Needs - Paul Nachbar
Don't Don't Me Please - Paul Nachbar
Love Epigram - Paul Nachbar
Look How You Look Then Look Away - Ed Glomski
A Skewed State - Mark Norman
Sepia Photo - Mark Norman
Seven Sins - Mark Norman
Forgive Them Father - Paul Nachbar
My Fawning Student _ Paul Nachbar
Eat and be Eaten - Paul Nachbar
Whatever Doesn't - Pual Nachbar
If Life Were Simple - Paul Nachbar
Work is the Answer - Pual Nachbar
Could I ... - Daniele Pinna
Through Thy Eyes I Can See My Heart - Daniele Pinna
Inspiring Sprinkle from a January Sky - Daniele Pinna
Simple Feelings - Daniele Pinna
Desire's Pain (Sehnsucht) - Daniele Pinna
Achilles and the Tortoise - Maria C. Faverio
The Lassitude of the Infinite - Maria C. Faverio
Suns Paradoxes - Maria C. Faverio
The Scream of Silence - Maria C. Faverio
Schizophrenic Dream - Maria C. Faverio
Snow Haiku - Kay Lindgren
Mushrooms - Kay Lindgren
The Snowflake - Thomas Hadley
Plaint- Paul Nachbar

Taking Stock - Kay Lindgrin


Walden Pond stagnates in cubicles.
Loons shouted down by frantic pager rings,
we wilt in dungeons with dun-colored walls,
lost in the Nasdaq and Dow Jones of things.
On CRTs we seek identity.
By bottom lines our vision is screen-burned.
All our weight, our numbers' gravity,
is fractioned into wages we have earned.
How do we rise up from the resumé,
renouncing rectangles for cubes and spheres?
We think our work forms us, forget the way
we shape our work, so planed are we by fears.
Once we relearn that we are solid, round,
we see that angels walk on corporate ground.



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Plaint - Paul Nachbar

I tell them truths
They feed me cliches and lies
I give them specifics
They said they never heard this
And give me general examples
I give them general examples
Based upon reasoning
They give me general examples
Based upon self-interest
I ask for justice
They give me peer group consensus
Tradition and reputation
I ask for friendship
They give me this for that
I ask for responsibility
They feed me dust
I ask for love
They give me things
Or withold things from me
I ask for honesty
They ask for amnesty
I ask for everything
They give me what they choose to give
I ask for defense in my vulernability
They ask me to lie about their right to assets
I ask for accountability
They give me cliches
I ask for emotional honesty
They tell me how they like to see me smile
I ask for the reasonable
They tell me I am too demanding
Or compare themselves with what others do
I ask for sanity
They propose psychological engineering
I tell them how things are
They poke endless holes in this
And believe any lie about me
Out of self-interest
I ask for compensation for what they did
They claim I am destructive
I ask for reality based on all factors
They prefer reality based upon self-interest
I ask for real authority
They prefer misleading authority or to mislead
I ask for communication
They want documents in their praise
I point out what was actually said or done
They deny all knowledge
I ask the necessary questions myself
They claim I am attacking them
They pin me to the wall with authority
They claim I am paranoid
Yes justice is whatever suits their interest
Yes what happens is whatever suits their fancy
Best to keep things clean here
Best to keep things organized
Best to fake one's feelings here
Because it is more practical
As everything is practical
Best to serve them
Because they are secretly vengeful
And are expert at not getting caught
Best not to be too honest
Because they will call this psychopathology
Best not to mention the past
Because it is against the policies
Which change on a week to week basis
To protect those who have material things
From those who not
Best not to want to be happy
Best not to want to be
Best to join the party with all the benefits
Than to be oneself
Yet they would scold one for not being oneself
And deny having said anything
Best not to remember these things
To protect their comfort zones
Best to mouthe the cliches about behavior
Because it causes less friction with the way they are
Best to believe their rationalizations
Because you must make a deal anyway
Best not to bite the hand that feeds you
Even if the hand that feeds you has bit you a thousand times And yet, alas, I come from them
Knowledge of course is important here
If they do not know everything, as nobody does
They will hire an expert to get you back to "work"
And you ultimately work for them

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The Boomers' Reunion - Thomas Hadley

Amidst am I, in this milling Scene,
slyly watching how
now with bald pates, great paunches
old jocks sniff after high-flouncing haunches
of faded, degraded Homecoming Queens

the Shrimp has become bloated
the Bulldog, toothless, demoted
to a short chain in his own back yard...
the brightest star is good ol' nerdy "Retard"

only the eyes can now tattle-tell
of the spirits trapped in wrinkling shells
the wrack of time wreaks revenge
upon callow youth; I cringe...

Who Be these old people around me?
Wherfore such lack of hope, utter resignation?
I cast my gaze about, catch a bright reflection:
I marvel, "Who is that ol' Coot?"
Mirror says: "'Tis Thee!"

I swear by God and Peter Pan,
I shall never-never, ever Surrender!
I will run, play, guffaw in the Sun
not rot away, a Cul-de-Sac-ender!

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Yellow chanterelles - Kay Lindgren

Yellow chanterelles
in blue cups, gold plate in sky,
Farmor's midnight smile.

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Four Hours Hence - Paul Payton

Four hours hence they stand as pured
Having plebian thoughts endured.
A moral's worth cannot be taught.
You're born to them...or else you're not.

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Ants Haiku - Paul Nachbar

Ants that work and mate
Such deep communications
Just a hill of beans

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Grey Haiku - Paul Nachbar

Grey and fitful day
It cannot quite decide
Darkness or the light

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They Care About Their Wants and Needs - Paul Nachbar

They care about their wants and needs
And what they do and do not like
If you would want things different
Then you can go and take a hike

And what she knows and what she feels
Though seldom is this really true
Of course she knows this in her heart
Yet seems to blame it all on you.

And yes at last she owns the house
And yes at last she makes the rules
The tyranny of a brown mouse
Of course the rest were simply fools

She is protected by her young
And mainly she does make the laws
Because of her more agile tongue
She plays with men between her paws..

It's true that she has been quite hurt
But mostly simply disappointed
The age was not some sweet dessert
Although she seemed to be anointed.

And here she was responsible
And punishes quite at her whim
He did such, true, but yes she knows
Exactly what she did to him.

He was alone, there, in her world
Her friends won the positions now
Or she they simply found a niche
It doesn't matter anyhow.

She has a power which is quite sweet
Though it is bitter to the core
She also wanted to be good
And somehow to be somewhat pure.

She is the best one for the jobs
Which call for detailed verbal skills
Corrects, disdains those simple slobs
Who mope about the windowsills.

And though she may not dominate
She certainly demands her say
Best here that all cooperate
Or else it is their sad dismay.

And progress says she was correct
Those chains before this were a curse
I wonder though how good she is
Or if her power is much, much worse.

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Don't Don't Me Please - Paul Nachbar

Don't think too much, they said
Don't feel too much, they said
Don't imagine too much, they said.
OR ELSE.

You're supposed to tell me
At this point
That OR ELSE
Is really not so bad;
Okay?

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Love Epigram - Paul Nachbar

Love is insanity; insanity is love
That is all ye know and all ye need to know on earth

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Look How You Look Then Look Away - Ed Glomski

When winter cracks the concrete,
And we're so down and browbeat,
And mainstreet seems so heartless.

Life is hard on frozen street,
We've egos bruised and battered,
Nowhere to go, nothing to eat,
With clothing torn and tattered.

Look how you look then look away,
To you we're but an eyesore.
No help to give, nothing to say,
What did Jesus die for?

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A Skewed State - Mark Norman

A skewed state of mind
Past and present intertwined
Dad's young hand grasps mine

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Sepia Photo - Mark Norman

Sepia photo
Dad's patriarchal child's smile
Child to war, I wept

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Seven Sins - Mark Norman

Seven sins we play
Gambling our souls, red two
Spinning wheels of fate

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Forgive Them Father - Paul Nachbar

Forgive them Father
They know just what they're doing
So do I... So do You!!!!

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My Fawning Student - Paul Nachbar

My fawning student
Asked me what keeps me going:
Sheer stupidity.

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Eat and be Eaten - Paul Nachbar

Eat AND be eaten
Really the way of the world
Well, bon appetit!

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Whatever Doesn't - Pual Nachbar

Whatever doesn't
Kill me makes me stronger was
Said in tongue-in-cheek.

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If Life Were Simple - Paul Nachbar

If life were simple
Then who really would say, Keep
It simple, stupid!.

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Work is the Answer - Pual Nachbar

Work is the answer
For those who can't write poems
But try to sell them!

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Could I ... - Daniele Pinna

Could I compare happiness to sorrow,
darkness to light,
forever hate,
and banish you form my sight?

Could I add a star to the sky,
a note to a perfect song,
give this up
and admit I haven't loved you all along?

What if I proclamed my hate for you,
stated that you make me squall.
But the truth is that I don't hate you,
not even a bit,
not even at all.

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Through Thy Eyes I Can See My Heart - Daniele Pinna

My lady,

Through thy eyes I can see my heart,
beating like a drum
before its roll breaks apart.

Then that sound returns to my ears
awaking my spirit,
as sorrow awakes her tears.

The sorrow that,
if I resisted you,
denied your essence
and had noone to live up to,

would roll over me
like a wheel in its rut,
a man afraid of his destiny
as a sword pierces his gut.

To thy splendor I apologize,
for no more reasons I can find,
for keeping thou close to me,
just you and I,
intertwined.

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Inspiring Sprinkle from a January Sky - Daniele Pinna

Let it snow,
may it drop;
quench my soul;
please don't stop!

Fog my eyes
and clear my spirit
display my life
as I have lived it!

Oh, soft pearls from the ruling clouds,
enrich the land;
make us proud!

Oh, dear cloak for the barren land,
caress everything;
provoke man!

Make us ungrant
all that we have;
through generosity,
help us remove
all that is sad.

Awake our unconscious,
perturb the conscience,
make us see
what makes best sense.

See to us;
nurture us;
hurt us;
hate;
make us fight for what is great!

Protect our thoughts;
shield our intent;
strengthen our willing;
make us see where we're living!

Pick the locks in our hearts;
de-slave the mind for our cause.
Force us;
slap us;
break us in;
change our lives from within.

Show your softness
And your hardness;
tear the roots of our evilness.

Gently floating in the winter skies,
don't just make us sing lullabies.

Docile whisperer,
cold-month seasoning,
you are so simple,
yet full of meaning.

Impose your wiseness;
display your beauty;
compel all nature
to adore thee.

Everlasting feathers in our skies,
you are so mystical to our eyes;
you are so magical to our touch;
you can be so powerful in our lives.

So, inspire what is,
and what is not;
let it snow,
may you rape our thoughts.

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Simple Feelings - Daniele Pinna

A simple caress;
a simple touch;
a simple kiss;
no, that's too much.

A simple hug;
a simple smile;
a simple "I love you";
no, that's too wild.

A poisoned dream;
a lovely death;
steal them all,
and take what's left.

A needed passion;
a long-sought desire;
ignore them all;
yes, I'm tired.

What comes next;
what's in store;
you can rip my heart,
but I love you more.

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Desire's Pain (Sehnsucht) - Daniele Pinna

Pale the leaves appear to me
crackling below my shallow feet,
slowly regressing for eyes to see;
folding to the fate that each year repeats.

And I, awakened by thoughts so sweet,
gather to me such bold visions
as to hide my body's weak
humble, tender, sublime mission.

What to me does fate reserve,
under this, freezing cloak?
Will my true self hit the nerve
and again in freedom soak?

How does my, poor pen dare
drip its ink upon thy fabric,
fighting what is known up there
hoping to change what seems tragic.

Crispy, frivolous, eerie air,
you hide something, oh, so meek;
you make me tremble here and there
about the truth I wish to seek.

I will not, be so blind,
bending to your crystal eyes;
for what you now, to me detract,
in my journey, cherished, lies.

You may crumble, and all beat,
you can destroy all that you touch;
but you will certainly, as such,
melt in my future's dreadful heat.

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Achilles and the Tortoise - Maria C. Faverio

Dreams
paralysed,
unable to move,
to step forward
and shout.

Dreams
overcome
by the illusion
deception
black magic
of reality
red reality
blue reality,
the tortoise
outrunning Achilles,
outwitting the charismatic trance
of silence
and the skilled excuses
of existence.

The skirl of expectation
has subdued to a whisper,
a moan cautious
as snap of sunshine,
the glide of a cadence.

Locked in the ludicrous shrine
of faith,
the stalemate gloom
which is alpha and omega,
the world in a grain of sand,
eternity in the instant,
burns on
like a tossed light
amidst drags of darkness.

Achilles pants
under the apocryphal sky
pouring out its endless blue
upon the endless race
defying
the unexplored regions of the mind
shaking like eyes
crossing need,
but his efforts are vain,
inane as the abject spiral
of hope.

The tortoise turns
and laughs.

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The Lassitude of the Infinite - Maria C. Faverio

It stretches itself into the light
like an albatross
or a stillborn baby,
frail, asthenic, beautiful.
Its eyes have seen too much,
its wings have flown too far.
It stares without feeling,
like a trauma.
Splendid Pollux,
I cannot share your immortality,
your slothful self
sick with paranoia.
The tunnel is long, long, long,
the light at the end
a faint fable,
the white eye of a blind.
Your achromatic trance
reflects the pallor of the moon,
its indifference, its grin!
Penelope is still weaving her tapestry,
outwitting life
like a blizzard.

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Sun’s Paradoxes - Maria C. Faverio

The sun rises and sets
to accomplish a fate
unfathomable as hope,
repeating itself like a rondo.

In the splendour of transition,
the nadir shines like a zenith,
collapsing in the charismatic sky
like shocks of sounds
or drunken amnesias.

The consummation of the cycle
doesn’t imply its awareness -
every point of the circle
is the eternity contained
in the instant,
the perfection of the present
outwitting the fraud of time.

The chance cadences
of sunrise and sunset
toppling into silence
like a prayer
shape themselves
into a geometry of absence
whose emptiness is the essence
of life,
pollinating fantasy
with tides of uncertain light.

In the mocking shadows
of twilight,
the collapsing horizon
is the flagellation of hope
and its resurrection
at the same time.

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The Scream of Silence - Maria C. Faverio

This silence
is a begging hand,
grey, fearful, big.
Its unclouded gaze
doesn’t embarrass
eyes feasting on gold,
dazzled by Schein* .
Much has been said
about its fallacy,
alluring cave dwellers
and lotus eaters.
Too much.
This silence is tangible.
This silence is a cull of light,
rank folly.
It could as well be a scream.

• “Appearance” in philosophy (German). It also means “shine”. It is here used in its double meaning.

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Schizophrenic Dream - Maria C. Faverio

Night gloves me in
like a big sleeve
or caul,
soft, cosy, discreet.

I’ve seen a smile
drip away
into epitomes of constellations,
bright as eyes of newborn.
It was not mine.

Stars bank their fires
like big screams,
rattling
under the weight of the sky.

The compass of the heart
has lost its bearings
in the uncharted map of night,
blank as schizophrenic dream.

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Snow Haiku - Kay Lindgren

Out of the ice-blue -
six-pointed white dwarfs, frozen
galaxies falling ...

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Mushrooms - Kay Lindgren

Brown-hooded, austere
as Capuchin monks,

they pray in a circle
in their grass-pillared cloister.

Properly penitent,
they do not lift their eyes,

not even to the fireflies
haloing green-lit pentecost

above their mute
and tongueless heads.

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The Snowflake - Thomas Hadley

the snowflake::architecture of compassion

chambers of humanheart::dimensions of comprehension

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Plaint - Paul Nachbar

I tell them truths
They feed me cliches and lies
I give them specifics
They said they never heard this
And give me general examples
I give them general examples
Based upon reasoning
They give me general examples
Based upon self-interest
I ask for justice
They give me peer group consensus
Tradition and reputation
I ask for friendship
They give me this for that
I ask for responsibility
They feed me dust
I ask for love
They give me things
Or withold things from me
I ask for honesty
They ask for amnesty
I ask for everything
They give me what they choose to give
I ask for defense in my vulernability
They ask me to lie about their right to assets
I ask for accountability
They give me cliches
I ask for emotional honesty
They tell me how they like to see me smile
I ask for the reasonable
They tell me I am too demanding
Or compare themselves with what others do
I ask for sanity
They propose psychological engineering
I tell them how things are
They poke endless holes in this
And believe any lie about me
Out of self-interest
I ask for compensation for what they did
They claim I am destructive
I ask for reality based on all factors
They prefer reality based upon self-interest
I ask for real authority
They prefer misleading authority or to mislead
I ask for communication
They want documents in their praise
I point out what was actually said or done
They deny all knowledge
I ask the necessary questions myself
They claim I am attacking them
They pin me to the wall with authority
They claim I am paranoid
Yes justice is whatever suits their interest
Yes what happens is whatever suits their fancy
Best to keep things clean here
Best to keep things organized
Best to fake one's feelings here
Because it is more practical
As everything is practical
Best to serve them
Because they are secretly vengeful
And are expert at not getting caught
Best not to be too honest
Because they will call this psychopathology
Best not to mention the past
Because it is against the policies
Which change on a week to week basis
To protect those who have material things
From those who not
Best not to want to be happy
Best not to want to be
Best to join the party with all the benefits
Than to be oneself
Yet they would scold one for not being oneself
And deny having said anything
Best not to remember these things
To protect their comfort zones
Best to mouthe the cliches about behavior
Because it causes less friction with the way they are
Best to believe their rationalizations
Because you must make a deal anyway
Best not to bite the hand that feeds you
Even if the hand that feeds you has bit you a thousand times And yet, alas, I come from them
Knowledge of course is important here
If they do not know everything, as nobody does
They will hire an expert to get you back to "work"
And you ultimately work for them

back to top