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poetry is about telling the truth
all the fancy words we use
are just window dressing
AHHHH PEACE AT LAST!

the goat
is in
the kitchen

the chicken
is in
the living room

the dog
is in
the bedroom

the cat
is on
the mat

the cow is
mooing
in the window

the humans are out
visiting
other humans

in the next village
if one
could call it that

the landscape
is asleep
in the sun

the animals
have the house
to themselves

*

First ever Greek holiday....always remember to lock the door. The goat was the ringleader who butted into our private space and of course the others followed...guess they must have read ANIMAL FARM.
I have only time and dreams. I do not know how much more time I have, but I do know that the time I shall have is, pardoxically, timeless, as are dreams. I shall use the time I have left to continue to dream--to dream not about the impossible, but about the inevitable. I shall dream about caring instead of uncaring, of helping instead of hurting, of loving instead of hating. I shall dream of a world of peace, a world on which all the billions of human beings come inexorably to realize their innate worth, their inviolate sacred spirit, a moment in the not too distant future when all will not only join hands, but also join hearts, a spiritual ecology that will complement a climate ecology. Instead of self-aggrandizing, we all will be accruing love--of self, and therefore ineluctably, of all other creations on Earth. At this moment, our world is turned inside out. Our "values" are convoluted, contorted, twisted. The world is presently controlled by inimical forces that bring torture and terror to Earth, that think weapons and wars are their their sole prerogative. But Earth's destiny negates this notion. This is not just my time and dreams, but the time and dreams of all. And sooner than later, the time will be now and the dreams will be manifest.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
A graduate of Andover and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet, a novelist, and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.
“perhaps the sun is a teacup, spilled by a girl in a skyhouse who laughs in polka dots–”

You wrote like someone
who had been listening
long before speaking,
each poem a hush,
each repost a gentle offering.

This space once held you,
your words, your calm curation,
a gentle steadiness
in a shifting field of voices.

take this small goodbye
not as an end,
but as a door left open,
just in case
you return with your light.

Until then,
may strength find you
in soft moments,
and peace arrive
never needing to be earned.
 Jul 25 Ken Pepiton
Charmour
always the child
who never got appreciated
just an unwanted child
trying her hardest
to be the perfect one—
just once.
trying her hardest
to be appreciated,
dying to hear:
“you did a great job,”
“the dish you cooked was very nice,”
“i’m proud of you,”
“you scored 98% in maths,”
“i’m proud of my daughter.”
she just wanted
to be loved.
to be seen.
to be appreciated.
You sit there still and pick apart
the stitches from a fallen heart,
and thinking of times long passed,
wondering why they went so fast.

Its a long long road to travel,
Oh, Its a long long road to travel,
Its one big ride and then you die,
Now its a long long road you travel.

The pieces fall, get blown away,
you see your hair is turning grey,
and musing on times long gone,
memories caught within a song.

Its a long long road to travel,
Oh, Its a long long road to travel,
Its one big ride and then you die,
Now its a long long road you travel.

You lay there still and sleep so well,
your final note clear as a bell,
and bobo silent at the last
is grieving for the times long passed.

Its a long long road to travel,
Oh, Its a long long road to travel,
Its one big ride and then you die,
Now its a long long road you travel.
Thought I'd have a bash at writing a blues song.
Hanging around
This little town.

Jimmy was looking at the bin,
Wondering what was
Hiding
Within?

Here's a fiver, get yourself something
to eat,
Time to get new shoes,
On them feet.

Today I heard the news,
Jimmy doesn't
Need those shoes.

Goodbye Jimmy,
I wasn't aware,
Just how many people cared.
This town isn't going to be the same anymore.
One composes a poem, in a singular fell swooping,
the words, previous, unknown in that particular order,
are felled like trees in a ****** forest, newly saddened,
an emptying and simultaneously fulfilling sensory battle,
a dressing and an ******* and the
poem (again) writes itself

This literary body, literally is birthed with realized labor pains,
actual aches, a pulsing pursuing, and you dare not
stop to fix an errant knight of a typoe or an out of placed
CapitalizatioN, lest the streaming be broke, mind's momentum
be disturbed fiercely feared, lost to the vagabonds that
exist solely for the express purpose of denying your self-expression

One such poem, written yesterday (1), reminded me of another (2) composed, years ago, inspired by a ferry trip returning home, an ode to an old dear friend, a lover of the fulsome of life,
who had recently
passed away

Twelve years passing, yet well remember,
the utter urgency
of its composition, the purging of the sorrow,
and leaves me bereft, very sad,
for after writing thousands of scripts,
like a ****** obsessed,

feeling in the quietude of a sleeping household,
soon to be tumultuous with morning to and fro
runnings around and about, a/k/a errands,
wondering
Where and Whence
will come such a poem,
my next fix(ation)
a desired damnation of emotion,
and fearing its potential
unhappy origins

5:39am
Wed Jul 23
On the island
In the sunroom,
shushing hesitation
with chest pounding,
mouthing my forefinger
in puzzlement, befuddlement
I have reams of unfinished poems scattered throughout my life;
On my phone, in Voice Memos,
On the numerous laptops that I've had,
On serviettes, scrap paper and on my heart.
Will they remain incomplete;
Hidden works of art?!
Or will they spill out one day
As complete works to part?
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