I need you to be 

This for me

I know it’s not 

Who you are

But it’s a start 

And I’ll be

That 

For you

And sometimes

We’ll trade places 

Without 

Telling each other

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it started out promising

it was somewhat difficult

the humor the quest

the predictable romance

It was smooth going just until

the second part of the middle

then I started to flag

overwhelmed by the spectacle

and the ending was shit

how they all succumbed

to the various diseases

and other health issues

I guess there’ll be a next

g...

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everyone hurts
you’re here
to save them
seeing several people at time

night comes fear you’ll
run out of patients
coming from that
snaking endless line

professional
your stoicism
allows for a rationing
of looks desires smiles

back on your back
you can enjoy it
beauty to this chaos
blood shit sublime

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I loved a woman 

with four bodies

she didn’t have children 

so instead divided her time 

between helping strangers

and looking for happiness

took me a while to figure her out 

have to say that I never did

I blew my chance

all four times

but we can laugh about it now 

in our long chats

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she insisted on keeping her distance 

told me she knew how to use it 

helped bring things into focus 

putting them in a wider context 

didn’t mind feeling uncomfortable 

though I never fully got used to it

never met in the same place

don’t think she really had one

see her everywhere although 

It’d be a stretch to say 

she ever looked “comforta...

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I’ve betrayed you so many times
With so many looks so many lines

And a small part of me, the outside
Thinks you’re stupid to love me

I’ve imagined sex with all your friends
And magazine covers on lonely weekends

And we could never share
The mountains of pornography

Yet here you come like a puppy
With something just for me

And all my thoughts of infidelity
Dissolve in the laund...

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All I ever wanted to feel 

was safe

So I attached myself to things 

Greater than myself 

And I failed as dreams 

Kept me awake

I started living my life twice

Once for me and then for my fears

I thought I was being generous

With myself and my time 

And that feeling of feeling safe

Slipped away

Leaving me  to face

My dreams al...

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"Sadness has been busy
Innovating in its laboratory

Don’t be fooled by
Brand awareness 

We have to keep up
We’ve become complacent

Thinking that sadness
Stands still–it doesn’t 

Not even for a minute

We’re not polling well
With the under ninety-sevens

We need 
Some sort of lift"

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The American appears to cough
While mouthing an obvious lie

Relying on a charm 
He’s stolen from another guy 

Laying out a vision
Suspiciously familiar

As the other actors at the table
Poke at a cold dinner

While the Canadian seems to choke
On her hemp salad

The Chinese envoy excuses himself
To send another message

The American proposes a toast 
To friendship and progress 

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go with that approach
to a certain point 
til it gets too messy
but oh what a ride

don’t go backwards
can’t even fly
stuck behind it
most of your life

it’s problematic
how it resolves
whichever way sliced 
there are missing parts

problematic 
how we go out
contemplating the mystery
until its done

take another metaphor
slosh it around
drown it until
its color runs out

...

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I want to live to see the day 

when we can’t believe 

how mindless we were

how we could let so much 

go to waste 

and think somehow 

it was modern 

sophisticated

or western

we’d put our minds 

in tangles 

to make sense

how our compassion 

by necessity had to be 

studied and selective

wanna live to see that day

wanna live to s...

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Don’t throw it out
Change yourself 
Or doubt

Your own acquired taste
Lost on many 
Gone to waste

On the dozens 
Who can’t swim
Or live on a limb

There’s something 
Else
Waiting for them

And when you do connect
And it feels deeper than sex
That sense of relief 

Felt with someone
With whom 
You really get

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I need to know that you’re in love
That it’s still working for some

Even though I’m an atheist with it
It’s nice to think that it might exist

It’s strange to see you acting out
How you breathe life into 

The worst cliches as if
They had a value beyond ironic

And now that the season comes
And everything for the young and dumb

Assaults our intelligence
Glad to see you can still ...

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she was like a sister to me
weekdays after three

I stole my mannerisms from him
Decades later I learned what they meant

She told me I was just like
Some actor she had crushed on

Until I didn’t act like 
Happy ending expectations

And I keep looking around
For someone to shout “cut”

Listening for laughter overdubbed
After these scenes play themselves out

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We kill people
Eat animals
Destroy planets
Yet remain comfortable 
Somehow
Far away 
We’re just like 
Star Wars 
Or something 

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All my desires
Ambitions
All the anger
Those decisions

I try to keep in mind
Not going blind
Remembering
We’re water

Your beautiful shape
My giant lips
Your garden my snake
Drowned to our tits

There’s nothing to hold
On top of these bones
Just a couple of drinks
Under fancy wrapping paper

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You enjoy highlighting
Your reproductive qualities

As if there was a shortage
Of people in the world

You project an image of 
Cool confidence in plastic

Your mantra is “No drama” 
As if the world wasn’t spinning

A thousand miles per hour 
On its axis

And I want it
Although it’s bad for me

Rotating at 67000 
miles per hour around a star 

And I think I’m in love
But I do...

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the best thing about 

being rich would be 

you get to have 

nervous breakdowns

where you do 

nothing 

but eat prepared foods 

and have nurses 

for several months 

whom you later marry 

and your bills are paid 

and you don’t get fired

don’t have to sell guitars for fifty 

and favorite books for twenty 

and people seem 

...

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one makes you feel safe

one tears you apart 

one wants to submit 

one makes you bark

you play scenarios 

over in a loop 

with one life to live

to give up the goods 

you go for a split 

you can multitask

where’s your head at 

you hope no one will ask 

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my rationale

I’ve lost my rationale

but I haven’t told anyone

I go around mouthing my lines

with just a hint of enthusiasm

I stand back where I used to bite

I take more pleasure in viewing

where these children get it right

how they respond to the discipline

at night I look around

methodical without permissions

searching for interesting sounds

to t...

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The pressure pushes down
On the children

They respond by 
Creating a future 

We’ll never understand

And whether we help them
Or hurt them it’ll make no difference

As it won’t be a world 
We’ll be welcome in

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I’m disappointed to discover

I’m not your only friend in the world

I took the responsibility seriously 

And gave you my undivided attention 

during our speakerphone 

cleaning sessions

I’m trying to decide 

what would give me

satisfaction 

at this point 

I’m leaning towards 

painful silences 

interweaved with barbed comments

and m...

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I never learned how to share
and now it’s too late to care

people will look at certain
aspects of me and think,

“she’s missing something
crucial there.”

But I won’t hear them
What’s more I wouldn’t listen

You see it’s a pretty
good system

if you’re just
so happy with yourself

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I made a mess over there

I feel better over here

don’t want to go near it

don’t want to think about it

the mind demands 

something else to compare 

to suggest 

we’re getting somewhere

if we had to go back 

and confront it

there might be 

some kind of damage

we move to a third place 

for context

now given 

the proper distance

we ca...

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the art of flim 

we were in love for 

nine seconds 

enough time to caress 

the outlines 

of a poorly-lit 

photograph

in love for minutes 

of zooms

captures 

and lenses 

I saw our future 

and past 

come together

in a slow-motion scene 

of incomprehensible

loneliness  

captured for

eternity 

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Everything stays busy
As you bring the world into me
All its collapsing grinding acted out 
On the bed of the world

Everything passed from you to me
Extracted transformed 
Disposed of
Unceremoniously 

Without taking a second
To ponder 
What it all
Could mean

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In another body
I lose myself
I pretend I’m someone else
Up to the point
Of a little death

In another body
We flip the planes
Adding dimensions
Yet we can’t cross over
It doesn’t stop us from crying

As we grow smaller
Then disappear 
Into a day 
The size
Of a molecule

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He swallowed the matter
Now the matter’s screaming

Bent over double
Completely revealing

His insides cry
Like any other

Louder at times
With the stench of sulfur

To get the full picture
We go to private places

What goes in what comes out
Says more about our existence

Than what we believe
What we preach

What we do how does it
Connect to what we think

Doubled over fac...

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New Poetry Collection

https://www.amazon.com/Ickyness-Catalog-Pocket-Blues-Gaulke/dp/1086683501/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ickyness+catalog&qid=1571071298&s=books&sr=1-1

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can’t stand it anymore 

this desk the way you talk

can’t hold on you know 

need to run my fingers 

along the wall 

clicking against the grout 

give me the pass

need it fast 

the only escape 

I can make

the bathroom pass 

hallway stairs 

where my friend’s 

waiting 

he’s on the stairs 

where we prepare 

the ...

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why do you write
there’s nothing to do
the tv is broken
books I own are too small to read
goats already scratch the ground

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for some reason
I keep going back to this typewriter

hoping it will be inspired
enough to write something about me

I check it daily sometimes hourly
I try to sneak up on it

waiting for some sort of
big surprise

it’s happened before
I can’t remember when

but it did happen
so I keep checking on it

like checking for new beatles

in england

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I enjoy contemplating 

how wrong you were

I endlessly go over 

your every move 

right up to the point 

when I confronted you

and it all came down 

shattering like crystals 

I’ve relived the scene

a thousand times 

bought the dvd 

watched the concert live 

but I’d give it all up 

for a second of your time

just to tell you 

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what passes for 

personality 

are just 

preferences 

your morality 

guesses 

night comes 

and you embrace the opposite 

survival of the fittest 

someone wins the other submits 

you try these poses on 

like underwear twisted 

at the foot 

of the bed

and you think about

all you’ve consumed

and what you’ve 

cre...

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When something is new
They’re the first to grab it
And use it to smack you
In the face

Now it could be a tool
But you only know it 
As a weapon due to their 
Tremendous reach

And just as they’re 
Bending double
To gather the next 
Shiny mystery

Some of us might 
Find a moment
To figure out what 
The last one’s purpose truly is

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After their trust 
Is gained
During a certain 
Pause
While their friends
Are in conversation 
The boy will ask you
If you think
there’ll be a future
And you owe him
The truth

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Just a reminder
For everyone’s benefit
This is a humor-free workplace

We can’t risk anyone feeling 
Offended due to differences
In caste, race, or class

However you are reminded
That responding appropriately 
To a light-hearted remark made

On the part of your administration
In your direction

Is to be considered an appropriate 
Response to their display
Of human warmth

Pleas...

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Over the next few decades

I’ll be investing heavily 

In pain

I didn’t know if you’d 

Like to jump in with me

In it now

I’ve had a recent run 

In outbreaks 

And rented a lodge

In Sciatica

There were rivers of it 

With fresh waterfalls 

And the news 

There’ll be plenty of news

To set the mood low 

You can feel it in the air 

Le...

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I was just thinking about
How simple my happiness is

I need friends
I need to make money

And feel in some tiny way
I’m not making the world worse

Pretty illusive
All in all

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In your absence I’ve assumed your positions 
Taken up your points of view
I guess I was always jealous
You’d gotten there first

I practice my apologies
And head tilts
Imagining Marcelo Mastroianni 
As I rehearse

By chance I call your number
It’s always a surprise
How you sound 
And I discover you’ve taken up mine
-Still no common ground
 

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you got a shiny new bike

all I ever got was love

doing headstands on a mountainside

all I ever got was love

in a world of shiny things 

you’ve gone insane 

maybe I can help you with this 

in my own way 

you want everything 

all I ever got was love 

past the point of embarrassing 

when jungles are burning up

and you’re spinning in yo...

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every time he paves a park 

burns down a lot

calls the cops on  

children's songs 

we get sent this bill

payable on delivery 

his wife insists 

he talk to someone  

he only agreed 

after certain conditions 

were met– 

he didn’t have to pay for it

he says he did it for her

in the helicopter 

she suggested maybe 

another museum 

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...serves as a warning.

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When were we?

I see you again
I forget when we are
Have we just met
Are we exes
Did we survive a war

Your voice plays over
Speeding cars
While nothing moves
Inside me struck
An innocent bystander

And these memories
Mix in dreams 
Recomposing themselves
Army dolls
In home-made dioramas

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when the clock shatters to pieces 

and the mirror starts to bend 

and you can’t remember the names 

of those you called your friends

you can’t go back home 

everyone’s gone 

strangers without baggage

gotta keep moving on 

finding love, your purpose here

a beauty in others, an end to your fears

you keep it moving on a train in a car

you keep it m...

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Everything’s a metaphor

enslaving us 
in its nothingness

while our jobs 
are to sell-

something we can 
never possess

it keeps us happily 
depressed

and skipping on our way 
to our ends

without ever even noticing 
the passing years

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I cry easily and often 

at sights of injustice

to a well-written song 

in a happy mood 

at the thought 

of my parents 

and the state

of the natural world

and I think

what good does it do

and then I realize 

that’s not really the question

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Someone’s gonna die tonight

Someone’s paying the whole price

For something we don’t understand 

To them it’s perfectly clear

Someone’s fighting an invisible fight

Making the ultimate sacrifice 

For a higher ideal 

That gives them reason to live

We’ll read about it later

Watch a tv special

Maybe there’ll be a statue

Or a day off school

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they’re over there on the couch

while I’m lost in thoughts 

you see something in me you need

that I don’t get at all 

when you come to my house 

everything starts to bounce 

you remind me of why I feel 

the need to work at all 

come touch 

my enormous doubts 

they get bigger 

all the time 

come touch 

my enormous doubts 

near where 

...

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When I showed you all those things
Shared my secrets 
There was an understanding 
That you wouldn’t use them on me

When we took it all apart 
A thousand pieces
Behind the couch I thought 
We agreed they’re ours to keep

Now you’re in my newsfeed
On my tv loved by millions
Selling it cheap and my heart
Is back on the floor behind the couch

In pieces that scream
You’re the reason 
...

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