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A BURSTING of BOUNDS

The snow and ice melted long ago, already the grass returns to fields of gold. So why am I bleeding and shivering with fear? 
Seas and rivers change course and flow awry. So why have I turned to stone? 
Faeries and elves stir up their sisters into dance. So why cannot I move? 

Immortality seizes man’s imagination. So how can I live another day? 
And why do I carry all the hours of all the ...

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Also by John E Marks:

The river witch | REDEMPTION SONG | EPITAPH | funeral plan | D.O.G. | Homage to Shane MacGowan | THAT GHOST WHO SELLS MEMORIES | UNHINGED | MELT DOWN | The girl with the glorious soul | UNDER WHITESPREAD WINGS | The bridge of sighs | SMALL HOLDER | L'après-midi d'vn favne - after Stéphane Mallarmé | Tongue-tied at the sea-side | WHISPERS |

3 words

this could be 

more than imagined 

wish come true 


you and me 

can you see 

what i mean

 

fairy tale story?

another ghost story?

oh, so glory

 

many written chapters 

all with gratitude

as we guide 

a life of 

beginning, middle, recreate

trust the process 

find your purpose

all is well

believe in yourself

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Also by Sophie H:

Dear Nickel, |

Dunning Kruger vs Myers Briggs

Dunning Kruger vs Myers Briggs 

 

you don’t know you’re 

into it until you’re there 

then you don’t even look 

for a way out

 

you’re just enjoying yourself 

too much

in that civilization built 

for two; no one moves 

 

we just kick the tires 

and scratch the paint 

and are surprised 

or disappointed 

 

to find we can only live 

one life at a t...

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Also by Robert C Gaulke:

Lovely Problems | Be-Monked | I feel seen | How to be Kind | The Women | Slayer | Typing Pool | Good Mourning | General Obvious | Throbs |

The crashing

Crashing into nothingness,

As the memories fade away,

Grainy images of the past,

And voices now gone astray.

 

Crashing into disaster,

Like a wild rollercoaster ride,

Once so curious and full of wonder,

Now with strangers, I collide.

 

Crashing into chaos,

With all the messed up things,

A web of lies and deceits,

And experimental strings.

 

Crashing int...

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The Reckless Homosexual

For the unreciprocated,

the obsessive,

the infatuated,

and the envious,

a late night lament for the reckless homosexual.

 

Only in the calm of the night

and the quiet of an alone bed

at midnight, can I write this

only now, twenty years on.

 

Only under flickering screen

in the cold light of night, with memories for company,

now I see it, plain as day.

...

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Also by Lee Campbell:

DON'T LOCK YOURSELF | REJECTED | Little Seeds, Big Dreams | Sun In My Eyes (with live reading recording) | EINS, ZWEI, GERMAN GUY (A PLAY ON THE GERMAN NURSERY RHYME ‘EINS, ZWEI, POLIZEI’) | How To Draw Rufus | THE POWER OF ETERNITY | Winston Churchill’s Prostate | Cancelled | Sun in my eyes (with poetry film) | Sun in My Eyes | The Tree Man (with live readiing recording) | The Tree Man (with video poem) | Mending (with poetry film) | Used to be |

Simple joys of life

In the gilded embrace of a balmy March morning, Isabella sat gracefully under the portico, her senses awakened by the gentle breeze that carried the heady scent of freshly bloomed flowers. The winter's icy grip had finally relinquished, allowing warmth and vibrancy to suffuse the land. The sun's golden rays danced playfully upon the dew-laden grass, painting a breathtaking spectacle that stole Isa...

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Also by Sunshine:

Labyrinth of thoughts | Rollercoaster of emotions | Misleading assumptions | Towards a brighter future | Comedy of errors | An apology | Starting anew |

Opposite boy

Once there was a little boy 

Who could not say it straight

Whenever he was asked a question

His response was bait.

 

“What colour is the sky” his teacher asked him for a test

“It’s red of course” the boy replied 

“Cuz that colour’s the best”

 

He knew of course,  his answers were completely in the wrong

He just liked to confuse people

Their gasps were like a song

...

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Also by Katie Rotchin:

The time flies | The hollow people |

What's Of The Heart

What’s of the eyes if not to see -

a darkness on the land,

perpetuated by a world

that will not understand.

 

What’s of the ears if not to hear -

a silence through the night.

A deafness born of leaders with

no care of what is right.

 

What’s of the lips if not to speak -

a fading muffled voice,

drowned out by those in power who

refuse the people’s choice.

...

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Also by Jeff Bresee:

White Rose | Returns | Destined | The Smallest Of Triggers | Hell Bent | Frozen Pride | Quiet Example | Greatness | What's Left Of Love | Time | Coming To Grips | Smiling Mirages | Singularity | Memories Etched | Midnight | World History | This Time Around | Pivot Point | End Of The Line | Silent Flight | Quiet Now | Silhouettes | Captain My Captain | Not There Before | No Arrival | Sunset Memory | Empty Seats | Prayer Of The Modern Day Pharisee | Next In Line | All That Will Remain | B'Jangled Tourette's | One Cell | Moments | The Grind | Shallow Breath | He Could Have | Daughter Of God | Confliction | What I've Learned | The Gatherer | Show Me The way | Online Best Of Who? | Secrets | Sides Of The Coin | Same Old Song | Blind | Naive | When The Darkness Falls | The Eye Of The Storm | Reflection | In Trance | One Change | Savor | Pure Water | How Heaven | By The Well | Blue Sunshine | The Clock | How She Sees | What Comes Of Dreams | Not A Single Thing | Lifelong Friend | Circles | One Missing | Reckoning | No Matter | Freedom | Almost There For You | The Day After | Self Inflicted | Chicken Every Meal | A Step Half Made | Don't Get Me Started | Walk Away | Piece That Is Missing | Alone | Relapse | A Final Note | End Of The Dream | 70 Times 7 | Midnight City |

warhatedecay of freedomworld history

A Family Easter

Dog let unintentionally loose on Sunday

Was first to find the eggs

And ate five, shells and all!

Will need checking on for some days.

Dad was betrayed by a buddy

Who nonchalantly asked in Mum's presence

Why his car had been in front of The Good Angel

Two a.m.Thursday night?

Older brother was soundly berated and told

he'd had the last supper with friends

After he zigza...

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Also by Jennifer Malden:

Pied Espied |

Sitting Around a Table with a Black Cat and Red Roosters

One is in her 80's,

the other is in her 90's,

two old sisters who live together

in a little ranch house

where horses graze 

and the wind blows the gentle green.

The son of the older sister lives there too,

keeping an eye on mom and aunt,

happy that mom and aunt let his boyfriend join the household

and treat him like family.

Mom walks with a cane,

aunt uses a walker...

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Also by Hélène:

Love's Melody | Sunlight Filters Through | Everything, Together | Looking for the Rainbow |

Egon.

what kind is black
starving heart
dark
smart
be partially responsible
start
changing the fame status
blame
mental barriers
refrain
from dissecting paintings
flat back
lacking color palette
error
more over
pull up to that dented corner.
 
 

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Also by RudyardK:

hostage. | tearing us apart. | song of pure desperation. | When david met bowie. | fantasy is overrated. | does love need more words? | time and space. | Right is wrong. | War on the world. | Dreamstate. | Something is missing. | War museum. | Fast car. | Nonsense. | What can you say. | Fallen angels. | Time divided. | Empty. | Road to nowhere. | Sounds. |

All Smiles Around Here

A carnival of

Shattered hearts

And shunned characters

Isn’t where you were

Destined to be,

Wasn’t where you

Intended to be,

So why be?

 

There’s a paradise

Of shared smiles

And shimmering lights,

Seen only to the ones

Who want to be seen,

To be healed.

 

Together we share

Our anxieties, perplexities,

Comebacks, hold-backs,

Failures and fea...

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Also by Manish:

Peninsula | The Postman | Duet | Sacred Saussurea | Purple Sky | From Afar | Waiting for the Sun | Fulfillment | Desire | Another Shadow | Love | Some Things That Matter | Can't Sing Along | Table for Two |

group therapy

Life's spirals

Spirals of life is a lesson 

rejection is protection 

jealousy is reflection' 

Addiction is suppression.

Depression is submission 

Society is an illusion 

To keep you in confusion 

Be ware of the ones who treat you as possession 

Forgive them for what they do 

For they lack own recognition 

Subconscious takes over from the past lack of attention 

Words have been we...

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Motivation and music

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Also by Luke:

Garden of reason | Lonely Thoughts | Fate |

The Washing on the Line

The washing on the line is mine, is mine;

The washing on the line, it dries, it dries.

My best friend down the road, he dies, he dies;

Our enemy of old, he lies, he lies.

The washing on the line, it sighs, it sighs.

 

The washing on the line is mine, is mine;

The washing on the line, it blows, it blows.

Desire for revenge, it grows, it grows;

The guilty man nearby, he cr...

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Also by Stephen Gospage:

A Different Kind of View | Devil | Odesa: 21 dead | November | The Braithwaite Boy | Alternative Facts | The Gap | Deal |

Warallegory

World Food Programme (WFP)

 

Add five parts blood to five parts blood

shake well till indistinguishable

 

Add five parts lies to five parts lies

remove the scales that fall from eyes

 

Add five parts belief to five parts belief

filter well, truth lies beneath

 

Add five parts hate to five parts hate

let stand and watch coagulate

 

Add five parts word to five parts word

knead well un...

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Also by David RL Moore:

Wild Dogs | Scrap yard philosophy, too late | Early Walk | Seventeen Moments of Spring | War Poet | Turtle Survival Classes | Zephyr to Tornado | In His Garden | Distance over time | Covenant | Old Model Army | Rising Sun | Joy Riders | Cloistered | Oh Jerusalem, Why hast thou forsaken them? | Beyond The Blinding Light |

Not Broken, Just Outspoken

Why can’t I just be outspoken?

Why does my confidence in being who I am, make people think I’m broken?

It is true that my life has not always been kind,

But having a bad life doesn’t have to result in having a bad mind.

 

I take pride in what got me where I am today,

While others stare silently and listen in dismay.

Admittedly, the road I took was not always by choice,

But ...

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Also by dark at heart:

My Love Is For Me, Not For You | In Case I Lose This Fight |

strengthconfidenceoutspokenraw poetryvulnerability

Reflection of a Year

Tumbleweeds jutted with sandspurs

navigate the dry grooves of my mind

probing for dead thoughts and fossilized behaviors.

They prick the dormant ambition, dried and petrified 

by sands of time stretching through dunes of eternity.


This wasteland of regret breaks my spirit, 

and I am no longer whole. I'm half a man 

under the weight of ideologies caked between

my eyes and ...

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The Price

What is it with those weathermen that now

they want to give a name to every storm?

Do they believe that this will humanise

the winds and floods left trailing in their wake?

And will a cutesy designation serve

to moderate the mindless potency

that rips the very rooftop from our home?

Shall we just smile when rivers burst their banks

to fill the house with all that endless oo...

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Twinkling Stars

I told you that I count the stars

And you said I'd always be counting

Because the stars are infinite

I think that maybe I could be infinite too

I could be bright and shining and warm

I could be the light someone else follows

And I go to tell you but

You are dim now

And it is dark

And I pray to God that it won't always be like this

I pray that the night won't swallow m...

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Sitting To Write

There are times when I sit to write

There’s no thinking, it just feels right

But other times when I attempt a piece

All my thoughts just seem to cease

I think my hardest about what to say

But I think it will be just a wasted day

So many images spinning in my mind

But not one single word there do I find

That single thought now way off track

I’m having series doubts I’ll g...

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Also by Tim Higbee:

A Lonely Place | The Uninvited Stranger | Peace | Depression | You Can’t See Love | Finley's Favorite Ball |

positive bias

overvalued worth
pinned to open lapel
packaged up to sell
in afternoon workshops
for hopeful converts and 
middle-management loiterers
 
 
 
furtive peeking 
from gawdy brochures
 
corporate spying 
 
leaking words
 
receptionist lobbyists tongues
on ghost whisperers' lips...
 
 
the most interesting tips
in statements remain
...

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Also by Landi Cruz:

collective subjectivity | stock analyst's lament | tomb of Captain Eudemos | replay, bell & howell 8mm | field of play | objective oversight | sixty-seven rejections | amnesiac 2 |

The Evil Empire

The Evil Empire

 

The United States of America is a frustrated power,

it arrived late on the imperial scene.

Instead of conquest or exploration,

it uses its wealth to buy its needs.

This Empire has no morality in its arsenal,

Guantanamo, Bagram and rendition are its methods.

Along with its lackeys it has spawned nations,

supported dictatorships and fermented unrest.

O...

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Also by keith jeffries:

Civilised? | Dinner or Destruction |

Optimistic mindset

In the tapestry of life, each thread a lesson
Never brood over your past, it whispers
Days of learning, shaping the soul's progression
Preparing you for future happenings, it's glistening

Don't linger in the shadows of what's gone by
Only to attain wisdom from mistakes made
Or to relive moments of kindness, let them fly
Life flows on, each day a new cascade

Not a single day since birth...

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Also by Ghazala lari:

Believe it or not | Shimmer and shine | Curse of words | With a pinch of salt | Harmony and peace | Feelings |

Alter Ego

My hands are not my own
When I stare down at them it is not my flesh that bleeds.
It is the skin of someone different entirely.
I've become an alter ego of sorts, wrestling with my anger until provoked by a whisper. This identity I carry is far beyond my control.

If I were to rid myself of it then I'd find myself all alone. 

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Also by Jordyn Elizabeth:

Ceramic. | Deep. |

More or less

“I hope I die before you”, she worries.

“I don't want to be alone.”

 

“But you'll have the two dogs and some family.

Besides, I'll need you to host my Celebration of Life,

and read a poem for me. Maybe this one.

And play the music I liked for everyone;

maybe tell a joke or two, so things don’t get too somber.”

 

“But you won't be there.”

 

“Yeah, more or less, that...

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Also by Mike McPeek:

Just What We have | Fairytale Waltz | A Long Way | Give and Take | Her Way of Flying | Muse | Consequences | Amor Facil | Cliff House | Satellite | Puppy Trouble |

FareShare

‘Bellies not bins’… that’s how it should be.

A waste of good unsold food, I hate to see.

From hunger pain, no stomach should ache.

A big difference together, we can all make.

 

Every food donation helps to show you care.

If you can, please help to support FairShare.

We’re out to tackle hunger, help if you can.

Let’s fill up with food every FairShare van!

 

Top Superma...

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Also by Mike Bartram:

The Homeless People of Liverpool | International Day of Happiness (20/3/24) | Cherophobia |

Dr Google

A problem shared is a problem halved

and of knowledge I am starved

so here I am Dr Google

Seeking support, not a Doctors' retort 

 

You are there for me 24/7

Delight in a worriers heaven

A different diagnoses every night

hoping this search might be right

 

Speaking face to face is overrated

Full of judgement, bile and hatred

while my toy gives the answers

loo...

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Also by Wordseffectbrew:

Must be cool | Musac | Piñata Earth | Breathless | Lady Lolly’s late |

NHSdoctorHealth

The Liquid Songs!

The liquid songs of a bird
Create much vibration in my heart,
My body is a stone, black and old-
If she turns down me to hold,
An artificial is my heart and soul
If she ceases her songs as a whole.
I wish her singing all the day,
As a cost my life I must pay,
She is mine I knew since my birth-
& I'll be the same, even beyond the earth. 

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Also by Ujjal Mandal:

  A Blossom of Colours |

love

The colour of crucifixion

 

Crushed cream limestone, trodden underfoot,

Natural brown, the oaken hue

Of the Cross, for crucifixion borne.

He would die for you, and those true blue.

Sunrise, golden-edged the blackened clouds.

Whose threatening veil hangs above.

Calvary, its slopes lush, verdant green.

Yellow sallowed his sorrowed love.

Green and yellow-blue, the sparks that flew

as grey iron-he...

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Also by JD Russell:

Elegance, on the 10:54 | George O 1903–1950 | School bully |

Breathe

Breathe

We walked side by side our hands grazing 

Everytime giving me a rush so new

Wanting to lock your hand in mine for always and keep that feeling alive

You fill me up,you quench my thirst, you are my breath of purple air

 

To wish upon a star is a saying old and true

Today I wish upon my star to kiss my new beginnings

My star is you my heart my soul 

my new beginnin...

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Also by Gundu Malli:

Loves touch |

Gone Girl

I collect up the pieces of my former life

Photos, articles, trinkets and pictures,

that reverberate with a life once lived,

far away from where  I am now.

I was once a borderline, edging death.

A cathartic catchpole where I caught nothing but pain. 

Grazing on the  remnants of the past, I realise 

that I was set up to fail.

No one there to see the beating heart of kindness.

...

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divorceseparationlifelovelightdarknesspastnew start

The Best Poet's Name

William Wordsworth and Walt Whitman have alliterative names

For Norman Nicholson  and Stevie Smith  you may say the same

Sassoon with his Siegfried and Porter with his Peter

Were destined to have mastery of rhythm, form and meter

 

Marvell at the metaphysical, let Pope raise you higher

But the best poet’s name is Benjamin Zephaniah 

 

Some poets’ names onomatopoeically enth...

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Also by R A Porter:

Brian Bilston - A Review | The Primrose | Floating out on Windermere |

Benjamin Zephaniahtribute

STAIRLIFT TO HEAVEN

(A re-post from when I wrote this about old people.  These days it could be me)

 

There’s a lady out there

And she can’t climb the stairs

At her bedtime which is

Half past seven;

She was lured was Aunt Hannah

By the junkmail from Stanner

Into buying their Stairlift

To Heaven.

 

But she found it so slow

When she needed to go -

Half an hour on the Stairlift

...

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Also by John Coopey:

TRANSUBSTANTIATION | ENLARGED PROSTATE BLUES | INTERNATIONAL BUGGER ALL DAY | THE WORD AND THE DEED | MY LUVE IS LYKE A RED RED POPPIE | THE RED WHEELBARROW | BEAKER FOLK | "DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?" | FROM EAST-NORTH-EAST TO WEST-NORTH-WEST | EXTRA-TIME BLUES |

Vergebung

In einem Wirbel aus Emotionen und Schmerz,

Die Ex-Frau kämpft mit listigem Herz.

Die Kinder entrissen, dem Vater fern,

Ein Drama, das sich tief ins Leben gern.

 

Fehler in der Vergangenheit, schwer zu tragen,

Die Last der Fehler, die Hoffnung zerschlagen.

Doch in der Dunkelheit, ein Funken Glut,

Die Hoffnung auf Besserung, die alles umhüllt.

 

In der Zukunft liegt die...

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Also by TG:

Nerds | Heimat | Realität | Kinder | Mein neues Leben | 2024 | Die Zuversicht | Punk der Neuzeit |

Happy Ramadan!

Today I celebrate The Life with you,

our shared humanity, Shared Human Experience.

 

Higher & Greater

Unfathomable, Unattainable

 

and when you feed the famished souls, I see how beautiful we all are. All beautiful humans on this planet. 

 

We are one through our SOLIDARITY

 

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Also by Auracle:

Something Beautiful For You |

Happy Ramadan!

This is Fascism

Generating conflicts.

Power of mind.

Election corruption and rigging.

Critising Liberalism of work.

Mounting turmoil.

Starvation and mounting strikes.

Collapsing governmental systems.

Creeping sinister undertones.

Uneven national consciousness.

Power of mind.

Potential violent flashbacks.

Improvised countryside.

Lines and lines of starving people.

Mounting te...

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Also by Gray Nicholls:

Death 'From the 7th Seal' comes acalling (Version 1) | Yesterday's Journeys | Not a love poem | No need for words |

Mauthausen 186

Stone by stone
we made a step
Step by step
we went to heaven.

https://www.holocaust-lestweforget.com/jan-theuninck.html

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Also by Jan Theuninck:

Shoa | Shut up ! |

MauthausenTheuninck186stepsconcentration camp

In memoriam...

With an eye to eternity

and an 'in memoriam' murmur

from the caverns of posterity,

it's all sotto voce prophecies

in some sub rosa haze,

too late to be wrangled 

out of conjecture

right at the juncture

of hope and fear, 

where sophistry comes cheap

and distant requiems plead:

why did you care

for every wrong thing?

Read and leave comments (6)

Also by Holden Moncrieff:

Silhouette. | Farce. |

The Walking Wounded

This very heart that is mine will forever remain undefinable to me

To express such a thing resembles water slipping through my fingers,

Forever you will remain a stranger to my true soul;

Were you to trace the entire relief of my heart with your finger, you still, would not know me anymore

I am a stranger to myself and to the world

You embody the essential passion of a man’s desire ...

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nostalgiaabsurdityexistentialism

Kate,you are not alone

Your illness for us all  has been a cruel blow,

You are not alone,down the path of recovery, with you we will go.

"I am well and getting stronger every day."

We your nation will support you all the way.

 

In the face of adversity you have displayed admirable strength.

Displaying for the protection of your children you will go to any length.

Your video message sat on a bench wa...

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Also by hugh:

World happiness day | Men must treat women with the respect they truly deserve | Happy world sleep day,sleep is essential for good health | One charged and the other let off | Older people are among the biggest losers of Jeremy Hunt's Budget |

Dead Catherines

                        Its a beautiful day

                                 all the dead Catherines say -

                          The work is hard

                                            but not today.

 

                          The blood rages through the trees

                                 here on the cusp of spring.

 

                              Which came f...

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Also by William B McGee:

Dead Catherines | Was My Father A Tree |

Gosh these kids are testing

It started an amazing day , i smashed my goal at work 

but can't wait to go and see the kids , then realise I'm berserk 

the scream the fights  and tantrums , my words fall on deaf ears 

what started as an epic day has all turned in to tears

i do love being a mummy , love them with all my heart 

but gosh these kids are testing ,  when the rows begin to start! 

 

 

 

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Also by sarah rich:

How I beat depression | Mum, can I have a party | Hello, I am a poem |

Shakespeare's Sonnets Re-visited

In this a series of weekly essays on "Shakespeare's Prosody" I have attempted to correct, revise and make articulate to the modern mind the content and structure of the Sonnets, as well as some of the poetry attributed to W.S. I confess when reading these the inherent meaning is either absent or lost due to the antiquated syntax, use of extant words and the overall poetic mode or mood associated w...

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Also by leonidas kazantheos:

Tongue Twister | A Natural Genius In Poetry? | Shakespeare's Prosody | New Perspectives on Poetry | New Definitions in Poetry | New Bearings in Poetry |

Sea wavesShakespeare's Sonnets16th century syntax

juxtaposition

you look at me like i'm insane

i can't tell if i am

if I turned out to be psychotic

would I even be this self-aware?

 

i put on obnoxious amounts of chapstick

cotton candy or strawberry-flavored

it severely drys out my lips

but I know you'll think of me when you see it at the store

 

I always attempt to blow up my life

just because you left me again

you run ever...

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Also by Violer:

i miss being your daughter | unachievable dreams | chronic pain | supporting the economy | the moon and the sun |

relationshipsadself doubtjuxtapositionschoolsmart

Like Benjamin Zephaniah

Well, I’m not black, and I haven’t dreadlocks,

but I grew up in Birmingham

and I am a poet of sorts, a vegan,

and of course, I support Aston Villa.

 

And if someone told me I’d but weeks

to live. my only regret would be the same

as his, that I wouldn’t see Villa

win the Premier League.

 

But here is where I differ from him -

Benjamin couldn’t produce any k...

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LOCAL NERO

Trainer barista soul sister

with logo burgundy T shirt

plays the chromium steam

as a long queue forms. 

 

Old lady small dog wait patiently

soul sister with dreadlocks(I had thought a man) turns

ignores the deadlock of time 

not part of the plan this delay

busy time of day.

 

Turns again for cake under cover

some turn away and leave

time simmers while card re...

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Also by ray pool:

HOUSE MOVE | TALES OF OLD HOLLYWOOD | THE NET CLOSES |

Unguarded

Vulnerability displayed,

Emotions conveyed,

Your gaze, a maze of perplexity,

Every twinkle, an epiphany, a history,

How terrifying it is, to see so clear,

Your story,your dreams,your tears...

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Also by Keletso:

THE little THINGS | Exhale |

WORLD POETRY DAY

I hear that today is World Poetry Day

So the good, bad and indifferent can have their say,

In whatever form they care to choose,

How nice if anything memorable ensues!

But it can seem like an excuse for the outstretched hand

From the poetry elite and their support seeking band

Playing the hard-up tune for their cause

Keeping it going...milking hands-up applause,

While the u...

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A Beautiful, Dreamy Poetry Day MASSACRE!

 

An old reminder of what happens to good poets on #worldpoetryday  So, I'm OK. You however...

A beautiful, dreamy poetry day, MASSACRE!

 

Through your window, the powder-puff clouds

And sun drizzled fields are beckoning poetic verse to be written. 

Behind you, a gentle scratching sound distracts

But you don't turn. 

It's probably that sneaky, little

dormouse that someti...

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Also by Stephen W Atkinson:

Seshat. |

Worldpoetryday

The love you never received

To feel the love you never received;

To feel the affection that was given through grating words that come behind a “Im doing this because i care”,

To feel the sorry’s that were ‘paid’ to me, the gifts I had received to understand how ‘sorry’ you were after harming me, physically or verbally and if not, mentally.

 

‘I love you’; an affirmation of affection or deep caring, especially to ...

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🌷(4)

lovemumsad poemssad

Behind the curtain

I am not seen 

And I am not heard 

But I am not a ghost

You see 

And I suppose 

This is a little 

Complicated

I am seen 

And I am heard

Quite a lot

And though 

It is my voice 

and my face

It is not me

And therein 

Lies

The problem 

For who is it

They see

And hear

And where Indeed

Am I 

Other than somewhere 

Inside my

Head

N...

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Also by Twilbury Wist:

To my dad | The Magic Mirror |

In the Blood

My reach is far

My weight is heavy

The blood of the Earth

Fuels my drive

I hold the wheel

Of industrial age of influence

And power

A foot

Heavy with Lead

With every impulse

My adrenaline atones

To the Devil's striking force

Metal to metal

The breath of attack

Drives the torque of desire

As the disc grabs the flywheel

At 52 hundred RPM

Rubber rips ...

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🌷(6)

A review by Rowena Sommerville

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solving-Puzzle-Peter-J-Donnelly/dp/B0C9SK19RV

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🌷(1)

The Place where I belong.

The dawn chorus.

Wrens,robins,doves,

Pigeons,crows magpies,

Sparrows and more.

All congregating in

My garden.The sight 

Fills me with joy.  The

Fresh morning air clears

My mind.Spring is on

Its' way The daffodils 

Are blooming.The 

Pansies are showing.

The bluebells are swaying.

Happiness, contentment.

In my warm kitchen

Making myself a black

Coffee....

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The Sequel 

T2 will be an egocentric Déjà vu

T2 will bring back the hullabaloo

T2 will be the worst ever S.N.A.F.U.

T2 will guarantee vindictive chaos ensues

T2 will be no ‘nice to be back, how-do-you-do’ 

T2 will bring back the world's horribilis hairdo

 

Don’t be a Muslim, Hindu, or Jew

Don’t say you’re a boy once named Sue

Don’t say you’re a migrant from Xanadu

Don’t say you’r...

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Also by John Gilbert Ellis:

Under Heard Announcements (Nonets) | Haiku: Bacon Sarnies | Time Was II | Palace of Tears | Shop Now Open (Sonnet) |

trumpMAGAUS elections

Nonet poem challenge

Beautiful leaf prints designed like hands   

 

Natural art, earth given plant

 

 Starts with a seed Nourished ,loved

 

Consistently cared for

 

The plant is you ,us 

 

Leaf print, hand print 

 

So unique 

 

We are

 

One

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Also by Sarah Louise mcnee:

Dry relapse with no high(through the eyes of another) |

Nonetpoetry9

Election

As poor as I am

I can still see the lies

Dripping down from posters

Larger than life

Each party vying for my eye line

Sides of the same dice

 

Hope, Fear

Progress,  Strength

Hate, Together

 

Each rolling towards me

Saying anything I like …

 

A tannoy blurts out

Some nonsensical nonsense

flags are waving in the air

and the dumb have becom...

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🌷(6)

electionTurkish electionsU.S. ElectionUK electiongeneral election

Red Hat Young Boy

I.T.V - B.B.C Match of the day cameras focused on a youngster wearing a distinctive red bob hat who showed all the emotions that the sell out crowd felt inside the Theatre of Dreams watching this F.A Cup thriller.

Football frenzy

Anticipation stirs

Expectations uncertain

Jubilation explodes

Winner scored

Magical moment

Remembered forever

Red Hat

Young Boy.

 

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🌷(6)

Also by Nigel Astell:

Seekers of Death Sacrifice Their Own |

United Four Liverpool Three

Flock

 

god has gone

but man lives on

to sing to him

in hymnal song

like fallen tree

in vacant wood

no roots where once

foundations stood

don't build upon

the shifting sand

in hope that god

might still his hand

the church hall scowls

with empty chairs

for like the wood

there's no one there

so in obeyance

man see's the light

and follows on

as...

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🌷(3)

Also by Acamas:

Mackerel |

“Sad Case Sad Taste”

Your mom warned you, your dad warned you, Sad case sad taste, Nice sex..1st place, Smoke breaks got me buffering, Heart breaks got us suffering, Flowers erase my errors, Salty tears running over charlottes mascara, you didn't believe who I was, Some faults just don't change, I can turn something simple and make it complex, Look at my unmonitored selfish motives, Thinking about me only, I left you ...

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March 2024 Collage Poem: Footnotes in History

Intense embarrassment, gutted love

 

The fatal attraction of King George’s ruby letters

proved all too much

 

The accordion follows the footsteps

of the footnotes of history

up the stairs to the heavy door

 

Evidence washed ashore, dissonance not delight

and whisperings of the dead

estuary water floods over the road – wet feet walk

 

I Beech tree is a pedant...

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🌷(5)

March 2024Collage PoemStockport WoLFootnotes in History

A portrait of Inma

To paint a portrait of you I would have to
Borrow, as steal is a word not suiting you,
From the greatest artists pick inspiration,
And create an extraordinary combination.

From Klimt shining and hollow beauty,
Liars screaming about diamonds and superficiality,
When pairing the brilliance of your mind,
Sacred body asses the most desirable kind.

From Kadinski organised randomness contour...

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love poemsartportraitlove

bee keepers waltz (03/15/2024)

you make me feel

like a bee in a dandelion field  

 

nourished and sunny

and

scattered to the warmth of the wind

that carried the ocean to the plains 

to above the lakes

to the cracks I'm the sidewalks

 where we met

where we keep meeting 

where you held my hand 

and keep holding 

through the rain

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🌷(5)

Also by Zach Dafoe:

hospital print (02/04/2024) |

youmakemefeel

frog

You killed me in myriad ways,
I hoped it'd come from any other's blaze,
But you, with my heart held in your hands,
Left me a shell, ready to crack in barren lands.

Inviting the world to a once-sacred space,
I never thought I'd fall for your embrace,
Like a frog in dreams, transformed by a kiss,
Only to learn life's not a dream, but a twist.

In blood, you opened my eyes wide,
A frog re...

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🌷(3)

Also by racha:

(untitled) | (untitled) | (untitled) |

For You, Wherever You Are

It was on my first of many elevator rides 

up from the basement floor

I met a woman with short, red hair and a leather jacket, 

who I only ever saw 

just this once. 

 

I don’t know whether I ever responded

when she spoke to me

or to God

or to the elevator door 

 

saying:

three years ago, now,

they had given her six months to live. 

 

saying:

three ye...

Read and leave comments (1)

🌷(5)

cancersurvivorhopepoem

Poetry Non-Stop

I'm on the Poetry Podcast 'Poetry Non-Stop' today, thanks to Patrick for featuring me which I of course do sneak in a reference to my novel 'Birth'

https://soundcloud.com/user-821268013/andy-n-poetry-in-all-places

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🌷(1)

Thorned Verses

My home is upon the wind

My life has been exscind

I fall at the sands of impermanence 

Suffering the reality of permanence 

 

I write lines of fire

The ones laced with desire

Words that dissolve slowly

Showing my sins and folly 

 

The skyline goes red

I look for punishment blood red

Under the scorching blazing sun

My lowly body simmers and burns 

 

The ...

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🌷(6)

Time

What is a day but a measure in time 

don’t you hear your own clock chime 

You might think it's not so simple 

So refuse to act on this impulse 

just to think of what others may say 

But now is the time to seize the Day 

 

Your future is earths worm food

For our life can’t be renewed 

Our ashes will be left behind 

That's how it's all designed 

So live the life you ...

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🌷(5)

Also by Robert Shersby:

My Brain | The Leaf | The Liar | The Ridings | Road Rage | Goole | The Greatest Trick The Devil Ever Pulled is convincing the world he doesn’t exist | The Greatest Ever…. Cup and Ball Trick | Wonka Land |

timedeathconfidenceself-determination

Let Soul free

Pen in hand, gracefully crafting,
Soulful ink on paper, gently bleeding.

Heart whispers, aching and screaming,
Words entwine, a tapestry weaving.

Poetry pours from within, emotions flooding,
Unlocking the depth, feelings overflowing.


Each verse unlocks the heart, secrets unfolding,
In each line composed, emotions consoling.

Calming, serene, a spirit undying,
Heart alight, soarin...

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🌷(6)

take the wheel

And venturing out
as an artisan model aircrafts
... enthusiast
is a larger than life recreation
to somebody
who
fell in love
with
Amelia Earhart's
figure 8

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Also by Shawn Garcia:

makeup sex |

naturelovevalentinesvalentinesdayspiritualspiritualitypoempoetrypoet

All The Exes

A message for all the exes out there

Your religion, background or gender, don’t care

Some good memories to treasure away

Though I have moved on without any delay

Some beautiful lessons have been taught

Regardless of the times we may have fought

Some kissing, touching, foreplay and sex

Living life without making things complex

Wishing you all the best in what you do

The h...

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🌷(8)

Life of a child

Daddy said he couldn't get sober, couldn't get sober,

even if he tries.

mama said the marriage ain't over, marriage ain't over,

till the day she dies.

I said I just want normalcy, just want normalcy,

it will suffice.

 

daddy said he couldn't get sober, couldn't get sober,

god knows he's tried.

mama said the marriage ain't over, marriage ain't over,

for all the tears s...

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🌷(4)

alcoholalcohol abusealcoholismdomestic abusebroken family

Family

Family.  Oh how wonderful!

Well sometimes, not always

Raising the kids,

teething and school days

Seeing them flee the nest

Oh what bliss, time for a rest?

 

But hang on, five years later

All over again you’re Mater and Pater

as yes, the Grand kids arrive

Nappies, bottles, as they grow and thrive

Arguments about how to bring them up

Nursery, the school run, oh ha...

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Also by Rick Varden:

Hold On | Life Cycle | Urban Poet Rap |

A foreign wood

The empire called for more men, and they came.

Shipped from sub-continent

to western front,

Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, East Africa, 

largest volunteer army in the world.

 

They weren’t ready for the cold;

couldn’t understand new officers

when theirs were slain. 

Some wounded, shipped to England,

died and were buried

in a corner of a foreign wood

with Muslim honours...

Read and leave comments (8)

Also by Greg Freeman:

The 'rules' of modern poetry |

meese

theres a strange space between me and the world. 

i feel like i could hold it if i wanted to. 

maybe i need glasses. 

my dad says i care too much about myself,

and he's right, i do. 

but its hard not to when you are so scared of dying.

theres a girl in my work who reminds me of me,

though she's timid and slight, and im harsh and stocky,

she has an odd air about her. 

lik...

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🌷(6)

new Mac book

New book of poems by the great David mac.

Get it here.

Books | Yellow King Press (yellow-king-press.com)

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🌷(2)

I’m Not Good With Titles

Vet med is funny

One minute your checking a puppy out after vaccines

The next minute you’re holding it all together 

Trying to be strong for the 18 year old cat

The one that was left by their owners

Left to say goodbye to this cruel world

Alone and scared

From a healthy, brand new kitten

To running a hit by car patient to the back

Trying your best to keep your composure

...

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🌷(6)

It's been a while

 

It’s been a while since we’ve spoken

I don’t know what’s going on In your life

 

But I hope you’re alright 

I still catch myself smiling

And looking to the side 

When something along the lines

Of our inside jokes comes into a conversation

With strangers or friends 

I quickly wipe away my grin 

For they simply wouldn’t understand 

There’s no point in delving in...

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🌷(4)

missinghealingsecretletterstoyou

The last Animal on Earth

I’m only an animal

What do I know  ?

I sit and gaze at receding snow

I wonder why,  10 years past

I stood at this spot in icy blast

Mysteriously it’s disappeared 

So it’s father North I’ll go I fear

I’m lost now in a barren land 

Devoid of life the grounds just sand

My coat is still a snowy white

I stick out like a shining light

I look back south

With dimming ey...

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🌷(7)

a secret government

violent is violence of a secret
violent is violence of a secret identity
a secret identity is a secret violence
dust is dust of identity
identity is a dust of identity
dust to mass,mass to dust
dust to mass,mass to violence

dust to mass,mass to identity
violence is a mass of violence
violence is a mass of identity
a secret disgust is a secret identity
the government is a violent disgu...

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🌷(1)

governmentsecretidentity

Juden für Palästina! (Jews for Palestine!)

https://youtu.be/iTV6F3lTU7o

The accompanying video is of Emma Kirkby (an old family favourite of ours) singing “Dido’s Lament”  by Henry Purcell. It’s one of the saddest pieces of English music I’ve ever heard, and so, is most appropriate.

I’ve modelled my poem around Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”, on the premise that the night we currently face is not, in any sense ...

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poetsPalestineeviltruthhumanitycompassion

I'm still here.

Sitting in an uber to the office is usually a very defective time for me...I often watch the vehicles passby and today like many other days it takes me back to where I have been and how far I've come to be right here ,right in this moment. What really moves me is the unbelievable reality ...I Am still here. Not just here..but here and good . With Allah's grace I have survived situations that at it...

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gratefulalivethankfullness

DEEP NORTH

DEEP NORTH

__________

 

Headed for the "promised land" in droves

Attracted to bright urban lights

Like a swarm of sepia-toned moths,

They arrive

In search of work,

Safer homes,

Altars to pray to,

In search of the peace that

Living in the so-called

"Bible Belt" did not give them.

 

What kind of god

Would allow his own children to

Endure the jail cel...

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The Black MigrationU.S.A.early 20th CenturyBlack familyNative American familyescapeJim Crow segregationhate crimeslynchingthe Southnew life

Humility in Mortality

Those who do not accept death

are its only real victims 

 

For one does not feel the current 

until he begins to swim against it

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🌷(8)

philosophyexistentialismdeathmortality

Pardon me!

I thought you cared.

I thought I mattered.

Pardon me, but I was mistaken.

You don't and I didn't.

Comprende!

Ciao!

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🌷(4)

Common Place

In the undercurrent of a moment

She moves through,

Toward and away from me

Out to sea.

From where she came to be

Oh so much closer, now I see

So much closer to me.

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(7)

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