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 Apr 2018
Mary-Eliz
I want to be subtle
adroit
mysterious
instead my thoughts
thrash about
for all the world to see
like worn sheets
blowing
in the wind
clumsy and drab

what I write sounds insipid
no mystique
no complexity

I call to my Muse
she does not come

what would it take to bribe her
I'll sell my soul to her
does she not know this

I'll give her my heart
doesn't she know
it's already hers

others have steadfast muses
who walk with them
who dream for them
then
guiding their hands
recall those dreams

my muse doesn't dream anymore
not at night
not in the day

my mind is dull and bare
a dust-bowl farm
nothing grows
winds removing
layer
          after
                     layer

my heart and soul arid
like parched
white
desert bones
lying lonely
on expanse
of
graveyard

where nothing moves
save tumbleweed
brittle
and empty

where barbed
sentinels
hoard
the moisture
within
tough
impenetrable
skin


will there come
a rainy season

will there?

will springs refill
the well?
Not knowing how deep a "well" goes:
I grew up in the country. We had well water from an ancient deep well. My father always worried it would dry up...give up for good. It never did.
I thought of this after I wrote.
 Apr 2018
a mcvicar
find validation
when putting unknown feeling into
other people's lives
5.4.18
 Apr 2018
Lawrence Hall
For Terry McFall, a Man of Bees and a Bees-y Man!

A beekeeper knows
That beauty is in the eye
of the bee-holder
 Apr 2018
r
My father and I
lie down together.

He is dead.

We look up at the stars,
the steady sound
of the wind turning
the night like a ceiling fan.

This is our home.

I remember the work in him
like bitterness in persimmons
before the first frost,
and I imagine the way he feared
the pain, the ground turning
dark in the rain.

Now he gets up
and I dream he looks down
into my brown eyes
that may as well been his.

He weeps and says goodbye,
my son, I don't want to
go yet, but I can't wait
around to watch you die.
 Apr 2018
Jeff Gaines
Hello everyone,

  I'm so very sorry … I feel horrible doing this, but I have no choice. You see, I have published my first book on Amazon/Kindle! This piece (and many others) had to be taken down because they do not allow published material to be available online for free. (Go figure) I wanted to leave the shell of the posts because I felt compelled to leave all your helpful and loving comments. (Silly sentimental, I know), but I also didn't want to just have the pieces disappear without an explanation. I feel bad enough as it is!

  I owe ALL of you so, SO much for all of your reads, love, and support. It was YOU that gave me the gumption to FINALLY get off my **** and publish! Thank you all for the warm comments, camaraderie, and encouragement! I will still be here, reading, uploading and just being the Rascal that I am. How could I EVER leave you guys?

  The book is called “The Way I See It – FictionPhilosophySoul Food” and it will be FREE for the first few days on Kindle Select, so watch for it, if you are interested. I hope that you go and grab it. If you do, I would also hope that you find it worthy, you would leave me a good review. That will help me get in the public eye! Soon afterward (2-3 days or so), it will be available in paperback.

Find the book(s) here: www.amazon.com/author/jeff.gaines

Or find the book(s), and all about me, here: www.JeffGaines.world

  Soon after, I also hope to have my first novel (a supernatural thriller), called “Wanderer” available as well!

  Wish me luck!

                                Big, Biggest Love,

                                               Jeff Gaines

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