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i am giving up desire

to break us

out
of
madness

we will run through its halls

like children

watched over
by

ourselves
any comments welcome
dead
    seahorse
eyes
    not
   borne on
       waves
             crest
curling pearl
  shells  
      rose gold sand flecks
                                  the desk
seashore treasures on an old wooden desk
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Z Gulliver
the theme is green
and there are stars in your eyes
as you vindictively plot restlessness

there are eyes in your stars
as you contemplate
the heavenly spread of deceased dust

hey small thing, you’re shedding
and all these dropped DNA samples
will clutter a multiverse
that has already forgotten
what toothpaste you use
where you slept
or that you slept
when you slept
if you slept

the theme is a clock
in your grandmother’s house
ticking like a bomb in the desert

and all the sun from all the days
of chlorine-drenched reminiscences
is wiped away by a single stroke of time

a moment slides home stretched
like the cover over an over-fluffed pillow
and this is unquantifiable reverie
an array of star-soaked ideals
things you will never grow up to be
knowing you will never grow up
even once you grow up
and even after

double-spaced reports on
summer vacation and tax returns
are geologically arranged

the theme is maybe
and it is cumbersome to think
that the stars in your eyes
are made of something much older
than purple
copyright. copy/share with permission.
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Alexis
I've never been at a loss for words
but sometimes I'm quiet
some people talk too much
I just can't afford to buy it
words are just words
if you don't know how to say them
you might be seeing raindrops
but the weatherman just sprays them
to trick us into thinking
that our world is actually blue
and we follow the footsteps
of all these empty shoes
if you're looking for the truth
then you'd follow bare feet
mostly in the woods
sometimes in the street
they don't leave a mark
on everyone they meet
but if you follow the smell
well, the taste is pretty sweet
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Joel M Frye
I was stupid and starved when I started;
my feral fangs snarling and bared,
only fit to be fed from a distance
by a few brave souls showing they cared.

So slowly by slow I grew human,
so slowly by slow I grew strong.
When I tried to repay all their kindness,
"Pay it forward," they said, "move along."

I can give only what I am given,
small wisdom enough for the day;
if you find something worthwhile for taking,
that would mean more than poems can say.
A lifetime of thanks for the few brave souls.

1-25-2011 JMF
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
vircapio gale
let me structure you first:
there, now, ready, fly my owl
granting vision logic,
guiding thoughtform fair.
what softness in the earth gives way
to waterway, what forceful gust of air
to final quench of earthy thirst...
such unseen pyschomancy dusts
the wing-stroke of your flight,
and weathers well my musing trust;
you see with ancient zero eye,
and die to my dull interpret edge;
like a certain volcano jumper's
ox of oats and honey you
coat the stone of time to
symbolize my rhyme. hold,
softer, still, i do not need to cut
or pluck or forge with harshness --
your shrill screeching from the cage
of lines here summons more
than Athene's gavel ever forced.
otherwise than writing, you wait...
cradled darkly, unknown priorlife
of avadhuta colors mixing in,
of whalesong faintly felt
like stegosaurus moans,
like city-ships to overreach and then to rot,
forgotten tattva vidya shastra
forgotten sukha,
Megbe, Tirawa, Awen, Asha, Ichor...
(अवधूत avadhūta) is a Sanskrit term from some Indian religions or Dharmic Traditions referring to a type of mystic or saint who is beyond egoic-consciousness, duality and common worldly concerns and acts without consideration for standard social etiquette. Such personalities "roam free like a child upon the face of the Earth" (wiki).

अव 'ava':

favour; off, away, down.

धूत 'dhUta':

shaken, stirred, agitated; "rinsed"; fanned, kindled; shaken off, removed, destroyed; judged; reproached; [neut.] morality

अव-धूत 'avadhUta':

"shaken off (as evil spirits)"; removed, shaken away; discarded, expelled, excluded; disregarded, neglected, rejected; touched; shaken, agitated (especially as plants or the dust by the wind), fanned; that upon which anything unclean has been shaken out or off; unclean; one who has shaken, off from themselves worldly feeling and obligation, a philosopher; [neut.] rejecting, repudiating

\|/

tattva-vidya-shastra:

"discipline of knowing reality" (one modern sanskrit term for philosophical enquiry -- the language having no straightforward equivalents for 'philosophy' or 'religion')

sukha:

skt. for happiness, comfort, ease, pleasure, bliss, light, space.
    fr. Su(good) & kha (“sky,” “ether,” “space,” orig. “hole,” particularly an axle hole of one of the Aryan’s vehicles, thus “having a good axle hole,” while dukkha meant “having a poor axle hole,” leading to discomfort

Megbe (African):

life force exists in blood and bones

Tirawa (Pawnee):

'force which moves all things'

Awen (Welsh):

"(poetic) inspiration"; also considered a force or
energy forged from an indivisible source that is the power behind the
physical

Asha (Avestan):

'truth', 'existence', 'right working', "the decisive confessional
concept of Zoroastrianism" (in Vedic language ṛta). "The correspondence between 'truth',
reality, and an all-encompassing cosmic principle is not far removed
from Heraclitus' conception of Logos." (wiki)

Ichor (Gk):

ἰχώρ is the ethereal golden fluid that is the blood of the gods
and/or immortals
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Paul Hardwick
Penny had hives that day
I remember them well
Some almost pustule
and that room we where in
with the wall paper
that if you half closed your eyes
seams like flowers
that made faces that all grin
but penny
I must tell you
in your arms I felt warm
maybe due to the lack of heating
But penny that night
i we are one

Then in the morning

THE PENNY DROP'S
54

If I should die,
And you should live—
And time should gurgle on—
And morn should beam—
And noon should burn—
As it has usual done—
If Birds should build as early
And Bees as bustling go—
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
’Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with Daisies lie—
That Commerce will continue—
And Trades as briskly fly—
It makes the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene—
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!
1128

These are the Nights that Beetles love—
From Eminence remote
Drives ponderous perpendicular
His figure intimate
The terror of the Children
The merriment of men
Depositing his Thunder
He hoists abroad again—
A Bomb upon the Ceiling
Is an improving thing—
It keeps the nerves progressive
Conjecture flourishing—
Too dear the Summer evening
Without discreet alarm—
Supplied by Entomology
With its remaining charm—
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