The House of Usher is up for sale

with a casket of secrets

and a built in tale.

Family histories tainted, unclean

bursting to be told

by those unseen.

The House of Usher increased in price

when it turned its back on Paradise,

with skeletons in cupboards

and other artefacts,

like unspeakable things in sacks.

The trees in the garden, weighed down in sorrow

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One of my favourite ways of passing the time

Is chasing imagery and hunting down rhyme,

But as this takes place inside my head

It’s not enough, or so my doctor’s said.

Poetry feeds my brain and soothes my soul

But it doesn’t help much towards my fitness goals.

If only flexing words could take inches off my thighs!

If only shaping verses was more than mental exercise!

T...

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Production’s stopped at JLR
the workforce isn’t making cars
the order book is looking thin
for Landrovers and Jaguars
but we’ve got stale bread and circuses
hip hip replacement hip hoorah
you can buy a rusted Ford Cortina now and point it at the exit
we’re gonna get a special 50p for Brexit!

Calm down dear, don’t make a fuss
that simply wouldn’t do
those whopping great lies on a bus
w...

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Me: (sigh) I feel less inspired than ever.

She: (gently) Love, the masses are not just sitting, waiting for you to blow their minds.

Me: (tasting truth) Right. So I should probably just sit, wait until I feel inspired?

She: (chuckles, grabs my pen, kisses me)

©️ Candice Reineke 2018

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at Oíche Shamhna, time of the aes sídhe

A ragged tonsure,

Or botched surgery,

Where the sooty soul exits.

Absences for features:

Swallowing the dark through

A pulpy hell-mouth.

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An Excursion

Some wish to spend a day on the London Eye

sufferers from vertigo a day at the seaside

Hot air ballooning has become increasingly popular

whilst pot-holing has fallen into decline

I suffer from a severe psychological addiction

and obsessive disorder from which there is no remedy

My excursions are quite exclusive in content

their destinations many but all t...

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Now that you have made a fool of yourself

and embarrassed us in the process

now that you went against

what we told you specifically Not to do

now that you've acted stupidly

and caused us grief and sorrow

now that your plan backfired on you

and you hurt others and yourself

now that you generally

made a mess of things

which you will never outgrow

and which will ...

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No one should go where a soldier must go

And know what a soldier must know.

No one should see what a soldier must see

And live with the memory.

And so with the arrival of November,

It should be that we too must remember.

............................................................................

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In the beginning I felt nothing;

she was just an itch

barely deserving a scratch.

Then I started to notice;

she was there each day,

and she grew on me.

I enjoyed the attention,

encouraged her,

spoke to her,

basking in her devotion.

She began to take over my life,

and at first it was a joy,

an easy relationship

where we both prospered.

L...

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A frost chilled dim moonlight night

Putrid air, no stars in sight

Just sheer black sky’s we have

and eerie sounds that shout out “MAD”

It’s moonlight Halloween

It started out as a Christian festival

Priests and Rector’s in their vestibules

The congregation on All Hallows’ Eve

Candles lit for the graves of the dead

No meat eaten, soul cakes instead

Then came ...

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THE DOGS OF ATHENS

More than a city

a cluster of cities stretch

onwards through space,

one sprawling into the next,

so many areas

I've never set foot in

and west of the electric line's

a foreign country;

you see the names of neighbourhoods

on yellow buses passing

this evening square

where, instead of Nokia,

the street dogs are connected

by a different...

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If you’re a poet prowling in penumbral light,

Staggering through shadows alone and lost,

Praying for a spiritual Sherpa to

Take you to atmospheric heights,

Or at least pull you from chasmic depths

And save you from the crushing pressure

Of self-loathing and free floating anxiety,

You should get to know me.

If your addictions are afflictions

You can no longer bear an...

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slow-motion collision

glimpse of you in the distance

signs warning of traffic conditions

swerving to avoid pedestrians

glasses hooked on the tail fin  

bodies with velocity taken

pulling at it seams like we’re children

without a seat inspection

we’re meat for vultures circling

arms reach out to trace

for something to embrace

mouths start to shake

...

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something for Halloween and Autumn
 

That Which Autumn Leaves

The clowns were funny in the ring,

as they joked and tumbled and fell -

but in the camp, after the show,

they made our young lives hell.

Still in their masks of garish paint

and drunk on Vodka shots,

they cut and bruised and beat us,

hatching cruel, twisted plots.

I never saw the demons

lurkin...

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Amelia the young witch from Sabden was walking down the street alone,

Two dodgy looking lads had their eyes on her expensive mobile phone.

"Hand that over to us young lass !"

They were not to know what was about to pass.

Amelia twitched her nose two chickens did appear,

The lads were no longer there, nothing now to fear.

Two eggs were laid Amelia took them home,

And safel...

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the thought of losing you 

makes my heart hurt

although you were not

around as much as i wish

you had been,

i have a part of you

and you have a part of me

the pain i once felt because of your constant absence when i needed you most

the cracked heart i carried inside me for too long 

all because i missed out on getting to know you—the way they know you 

and a...

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Relationship Decay

Preamble

My inner demons caused a trainwreck.  Recovery is underway.

I feel I'm sort of different

Different from the rest

I have these inner demons

Simmering in my chest

My problem is not demons

As you might rightly say

It's controlling them, preventing

Relationship decay

One feels safe exposing

To ones chosen friends

Wh...

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The heart is cursed
to live reversed
I start at the end
and finish beginning
it's just me
I'm not forgiving
though the wrong I done
I see none
I make believe
to carry on
pay it forward
to see it through
the day is long
my soul feels
wrong.

©JM.Cole

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will the beautiful colors of autumn
protect against the oncoming frost
the moon in the sky
is yours and mine
wherever we are
anchored by the stars
hung high over time

will the depth of winters chill
thaw in time to greet the crocus
deep black skies before the dawn
keep us hidden
as the nature resets
patience guides us
towards tomorrow

will the hopeful aroma of spring
dance endle...

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Build your kingdom walls high and thick
Tell yourself what you're doing is Justified
Your words were bullets piercing through the skin
You left like his mother and lied to him
He made promises just to keep them forever 
Promises are actions you can't break

He's going nowhere honestly
He's broke and drinking himself to death
So take him away from this broken mindset
He's not a nice guy b...

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It should be easy

This thing they call living

It should be a way

Out of the pond

And when the mist lifts

All these misfits

Should have learned 

How to swim their way home

As they stumble

Towards the sunlight

They are met 

By arrows of pain 

It's never easy

This thing they call dying

There's no way

To climb out of this pond

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Don't say this struggle's all in vain,
the target's always out of range,
your work is effort down the drain,
and situations never change:

Perhaps it's true your hopes were wrong,
but who's to say your fears are right?
Your friends were fighting all along;
they're winning battles out of sight.

The waves of hope may seem to stay
far down the beach you stand beside;
Across the sea, from...

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What church-bells or calls to prayer by the muezzin

For these young men who kill themselves?

      — Only the monstrous hypocrisy of the media

Can call attention to this national blood-loss of young lives

No mockeries now for them from politicians who do not care; 

      Only the voice of the mothers whose sons are no longer there —

Only black and white boys' photograph...

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My mistakes

and all the painful memories,

they've changed the way I think,

changed what I believe.

And when I doubt,

when I think I'm all I need

when I hope the world can't see me,

there's safety in your voice

and a smile in your eyes.

How'd I wind up here?

With you by my side.

And when I can't explain,

when I lose my grip,

when I make excuses

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Hallow Halloween it’s nice of you to call once again

It’s been a whole long year since you have been around

Things have been frightfully quiet for far too long

I am looking forward to being scared silly by an eerie sound

Put a wicked spell on me well I’ll be doomed and damned

Bewitch me and lure me to your cursed coven

Chop me up alive and kicking into bite sized pieces

Cook m...

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Unconditional, my soul is only chained by past bounty’s, my inner joy is only to manifest such passion and my destiny,free forms non existence only deteriorates what’s left of my heart ♥️,  elegance assembles as the one that brightens my soul captures what seems to be an Abyss of pure pain and lack of pleasure, reminiscing back to my younger more naïve mind has a blissful feeling of happiness that...

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Poetry has many inspections

each line remains re-touched;

we frown at fingered collections

of nouns and other stuff.

There are troublesome inflections,

and bleeding, wrung-out verbs-

the wandering expositions

of rhymes the metre serves.

There are stand alone conjunctions

in hope that it amazes

where

in solitude it functions

in contrived schema...

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The news comes down from ancient Athens-
a follower of Dionysus, dressed to kill,
is unaccounted for. So,
what efficacy in the search;
some insight shone might stop her?
Rich generations or poor 
civilisation or civil war
can't put her in a cage 
or through a mincer.
The aged and crippled wish
just to live a day longer.

Growing noise makes music 
impossible but not obsolete.
The noi...

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We are flying through the universe

hand in hand

we don’t need ground control

or oxygen or rocket motors

we’re quite high enough

hand in hand

It might be love

It might be dope or the little white pill I took

It doesn’t really matter much

You’re a crazy wild eyed woman

And I love it when you loop the loop

Flying through the universe

With your hair a mess

A...

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 The Last Apple on the Tree.                                

I hang alone,

passed by and forgotten.

The wind mocks me as it whispers softly by.

My friends lay scattered before me amongst the autumn leaves;

The sun, once so kind, exposes my long ago unblemished skin,

now mottled and brown.

Rain pummels me; and yet still I hang.

The days pass slowly; darkly.

I have ne...

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Insanity is when you love someone so much, you help them destroy you by trying to save them. -Unknown

Eye am insane for my Mother’s love

My Mother’s love

Is the love eye accepted into my heart

As my Mommy carried me, she fed me

Soothed me, protected me

And brought me

Into the physical plane healthy and safe

Thank you Mommy,

You are the first God eye know

My heart...

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THE CLOCK                                                                                                  

Staying with friends in the North-West, the Lakes,

a morning garden date with peckish feathered guests

drawn by delicacies half hidden by spring’s fresh leaves

which sway a little in the breeze and so appeal as

easy meals to songbirds darting here and there

which I watch, e...

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(A blues in the slide guitar style of the incomparable Robert Johnson.  Played in open G on a guitar I bought at a car boot sale for £7 for parts.  It's much better value than my singing)

I took up with a woman; she was another man’s

I had it all before me – the world was in my hands

If you want to get them laughing just tell the Gods your plans.

She told me that she loved me...

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It’s funny how everything is yellow.

At least when I’m next to you…

But on the drive home,

everything is tinted blue.

And it’s not because I’m leaving you.

I’m looking in my mirrors,

and my imperfections at loving seem a little closer too.

You wanted so badly for the flowers to be alive.

Forgetting all the thank-yous’ and i’m sorry’s,

jumping to I need you and…

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In this flea market

fake emotions sometime turn us blind.

sometimes body is sold,

Sometimes mind.

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Watch out, over there!  No over there!

It's time to be alert, it's time to beware.

Time for Ghosts and Goblins and fear!

Look for witches who take to the air.

Time for monsters, spooks and storytelling.

Time to see who'll scare first, who'll be yelling.

It's Halloween time the best time of the year,

For ghost stories around a fire which crackles and sears.

Be leery of the p...

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Can a Fox cry, one did today?
Five lives tragically taken away.
A crying Fox is something new.
I shed a tear alongside him too.

As a red I cheered your fairy tale.
Brilliant to see the top dogs fail!
The Fox, he ruled, so justly proud.
But today he only sees a cloud.

A golden Fox with tear in eye.
But ‘Foxes never Quit’ that’s no lie.
So given strength Fox, you’ll be ok.
You can’t k...

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I wish for us, both of us,
to be a circle with no end...
There won't be corners of secrets.

Let's be a circle
and live a circulating life
with no corners of secrets.

Let's take off our clothes
Be clear to one another
as we expose each other's scars
and be a closet with no skeletons.

In the darkest hour
let's not play hide and seek
let's be there for each other
we won't get lost
...

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Our hearts are weary . Our soles are heavy weight . What is next . Who to blame . Blame one another and don’t play the Game .They are blaming Racism . Because they can . They blame other people because they can . Blame yourself you have only yourself to blame . If you want someone to blame . Stand up and be counted . Be Honest Be Brave . Look who is worthy and who is not . Look who are cruel and m...

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I hate pretending

a way of fending 

off others mending

from themselves

another good thing

lost like a shoe string

problems I do bring

lack purpose 

show yourself to me 

paint it heavenly 

it ends tragically

I’m confused

because you were here

I filled you with fear

now you’ve disappeared

it’s my fault

I live with a space

like a buffer place

beca...

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Moon, 
Oh moon.
I see you flutter by, Moon. 
Your wax'ned wanings fill the sky, Moon.
I, you and I, moon. You and I.
I, not you will fall behind, Moon.
With no trumpet cry, no orisons, Moon.
No. No words can make Moon cry. You and I 
Will dip into solitude,
We'll find the words our mothers used 
For love and die. Oh, Moon.
The bringing smiles of love, Moon.
And the ‘wait awhiles' of lo...

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Frozen Dal Lake, stiffened doors of Hotel, window panes full of vapour, without electricity is my hotel facing well known Boulevard Road of Srinagar. The elongated footpath between the Lake and Boulevard road is full of footprints impressed by people staggering on snow. With soporific eyes I watch this whole from the window of Shah Abbas Hotel as I woke up just couple of minutes before at 7:40 am.
...

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Our weather is still acting all confused, but, by now, a lot of us should be expecting harmattan already. Some places already have the sign of harmattan fog appearing in the early hours of the day. Harmattan is that time of the year that gets very cold in the morning, and then hot as hell by noon. You get thirsty easily and everywhere is dusty. This is probably our biggest problem with the seas...

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Let a sleeping giant sleep. Let a defiant man weep. Leave problems to themselves to weep and evaporate away with the disappearing light.

Let light fade away to night and questions fade to peace. Let a sleeping man sleep. Let your mind float away with the evening, let your mouth taste the dusk.

Let your spirit caress the rust. Rum and rise. Open your sleepy eyes and we'll retie our ties.

T...

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Money  lust pills sex all the things to have a good time. I feel no pain the  numbing  feels so right i can't  escape but i don't know how to stop i crave something to keep me  moving . I alter my  mind to hide the emotional horror i refuse to let you see me cry because initially you felt i was weak all along. what you fail to realize is that sex made me feel alive and i felt wanted,  the pills nu...

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Trying hard to be better.

The new hair, new eye shadow.

The dating app.

Searching for a level up in false things,

Or false thoughts that do not correlate to the inner me.

We grow through correlation with others

Interconnecting and intertwining

Creeping higher and higher towards Utopia.

I'll meet you there sometime, some place.

When we've thrown away our falsitities and n...

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I'm just that guy from the open mic

It's not important - you know my name

I'm just that guy from the open mic

Naked and quick like firework flame

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Standing on a real balance 

Level to a care extreme

Losing heart to a proper pave

polished hardship

Rambling on Yesterdays lean taste

Viled to a clime at its seem

left unwritten down for generation Ve

arrange of perfect spices

shadows of a timeless disaster 

Taped to a perfect grain 

Folded piece and bring back body,

Emerse your tears out of joy 

Neatly in thinn...

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It wasn’t easy getting here,

Yet many do succeed,

When I am at my favourite place, 

There is only one thing I need,

I need a camera to take a photo, 

Because I truly believe,

The most valuable assets I own,

Are my memories,

Iv been here in every season,

In sun, wind, rain and snow,

Iv been here so many times,

And yet it never seems to get old,

We all have our ow...

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Always On The Losing Side

You’ve lost to emperors and knights,

been cheated by beggars and thieves.

Shame and agony fill your nights

The scar of defeat never leaves…

You always were that one lame horse

that even you wouldn’t bet on!

Charm isn’t an overcoat you can force

on an ugly duckling-of-a-swan.

Some days you lose to the witty,

and other times you lose

to...

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