at midnight all I see
is a very long string
high above the black-jet sky
it disappears
and I’m losing footing
the ground is sheer
I’m not looking
down or facing the fear
that I’m too heavy
and the floor’s too deep
I could sink right through
beneath
but I’m feeling elated
so long I’ve waited
to hold the string of heaven’s sting
until I plummet
as a meteor from outer space
and the string I held
falls flat against this
icy watery grave
had I lived I would have said –
Christ! never again will I fly
a kite at midnight over the ice
Not only did I lose my kite –
I lost my life

and the body is an animal
for all to enjoy
*** you dusty lizards with your saturated
gizzards
let me pour a glass of champagne
on my perky *******
and you can **** it till their purple
as the dinosaur
while I run honey down my tongue
for you to enjoy the sweetest kisses possible
whip my *** with the cream until
you make me scream so that I’m horse
then ride me ******* like one
until you shoot your load
you’re large as a buffalo
add the chocolate sauce to my ****
and lick it off – clean the plate with it
no leftovers
*** again
when you’re hungry and clumsy
for spectacular loving

He Left a mark
on fervent breast.
Was just a spark
he combed and pressed.

It lit a path
into the wood.
A row of lath
no backing stood.

A rose
with no trellis.
To pose
with no pelisse.

Footprints ebb
In April snow.
A spider’s web
to snare her woe.

I like the ocean
as it mixes with the sand
to form a cast of my foot
where I stand. It molds

in-between my toes, around
my heel and under my arch,
kinda like a paste of water and
cornstarch. As I lift my ankle

I see the impression of a
size seven. And another just like
it, and another and another,
leaving a trail behind me. As I look

out over a cornflower sea
I feel the cool, soft sand massaging
my feet. I feel like the leader of
a band. I don't need a man

to hold my hand. This walk will
be a memory. The footprints will
wash away as the tide rolls in.
Nothing here can stay.

she came
to the brown house
with the gables

For 14 years
she rang

The first time
he told her to come
to the house
with the long driveway
and basket-ball pole

set up like a deacon
that aids in direction
for lost, lonely persons
on their journey

And so, it began
as beginnings do
with everything bright

Red and shiny as
A Radio Flyer
with large wheels
for rolling
A handle for pulling
And a seat made for two
Oh! the joys of youth!

who’ve let me down
Thank you for making me see
that I can do it myself, without
the help of somebody else.

For all the people
who I thought were my friend
Thank you for making me see
that all I need is me. I’m
good company.

For all the people
who talked behind my back
Thank you for making me see
how shallow you are. By far, I’m
a better person than you. I’ve better
things to do!

You changed yourself into something -
I don’t recognize
You hide behind your defenses with lies
They help you gloss over yesterday

But I have changed, despite myself too
Into something I’m not sure of
Because of you

I don’t like what I see
And I grieve the old me
Before you came along

Innocence is gone
And I can never get that back again
But I can develop self-confidence

All things must come to an end

Time to let go of the old -
The old me, the old you
The only way that we knew

forest paths of change

until I wait for you
until the sun swallows the moon
and every person is gone
and the stars come crashing down
in shards of crystal amphetamines
and all the dead rise from their sleep
as walking zombies

and if I grow very old waiting for you
too old to think, too old to move
and this earth is nothing but sod
the way it originally was
before man ruined it
with his hands
and the animals drown in the sand

I wouldn’t consider it long
if I saw you at the end
if I drew my last breath holding you
if the last of what I saw was your face
if the last of what I was met with
were your lips
then this was worth the wait

If love makes me a fool
if it turns cruel
I'll gladly have it
hold it in my hands
if it pierces this flesh
i'll understand
because without it
I've nothing but broken wings

Forgive me love if you think I'm not aware.
Forgive me love if you think I don't care.
It's not your words that I dismiss!
It's just my dear I need your kiss.

Forgive me love if I appear nonchalant.
Forgive me love if I don't recognize what you want.
It's just that I have finally found true bliss!
It's just my dear I need your kiss.

Forgive me love for growing restless.
Forgive me love; with you I'm breathless.
It's not something I could bear to miss!
It's just my dear I need your kiss.

Forgive me love, for the body's getting weak.
Forgive me love if my tongue shan't speak.
It's not that I'm consciously doing this!
It's just my dear I need your kiss.

Forgive me love if this time we spend is in vain.
Forgive me love if you think I've become insane.
It's just since you I've sunk into the great abyss!
It's just my dear I need your kiss.

merciful once
questionable twice
farcical thrice
certifiable beyond

You Could Read This As

one of your law books you’ve been studyin’
pulling an all-nighter instead of patyin’

the morning  newspaper on your coffee break
trying to keep your eyes open enough to stay awake

a suspense novel, that keeps you up at night
until you nod off to sleep, leaving on the light.

This is a love letter written from me to you
that I put together clear out of the blue

Without trepidation/without a hidden clause
Without a legal fee/within the context of the laws

A binding contract, initialed on the X
From a very attractive person of the opposite ***

the sun warms
for others it burns

For some
the rain waters
for others it drowns

For some
the rose perfumes
for others it cuts

For some
the sidewalk smooths
for others it cracks

I’m just a blade
growing out of
its crack

the shades were all down
when I walked up the long driveway
to their house. I could tell she was sleeping
well past the hour for her to get up.

For the first time
when I went inside it was still as
a winter night, after the snow has fallen. Nothing
moved. The door to her room was closed. I sat
there and I look at it. And waited in the silence.

For the first time
I looked at him since the incident. I could see
it in his face that it had been a very long weekend,
and that he was attending to her. I felt their
pain. And I felt drained. I was searching for something
to say to steady the man. But I couldn’t steady
even myself.

When she was young, she got lost
in a fairy tale, of princes and whales. There was
always a happy ending. That’s why she loves
pretending. You can become just about

anyone. You make up the story you’re living. And you
believe it. You believe it at any cost. You believe it
at night when you’re lost alone in the
Fortress of Dreams.

How high are you going to put up that fence?
So, nobody can pry

Keep the world shut out of yourself
hold it all inside

A fortress you are not
The walls come down when you think of me

Alone by yourself
it’s safe to have thoughts

The very thoughts that destroy you
in your fortress of solitude

It’s always been a temptation
of mine when I see a loose thread
to pull at its end. I could cut it
off, so it stops in its tracks. A short, piece

that doesn’t hang won’t get caught
in something. Sometimes I think I pull
to see how long it will go or how much
it will take with it when it does. I know

by doing this I am leaving a hole. I poke
my finger through it several times. And it expands
to take the whole of my hand. A little piece
of thread with just a tiny pull become a gaping

hole. I could have tucked it in. I could have
tied a knot at the end. I could have been careful,
made sure it didn’t catch on anything. It’s as if
I helped in its destruction, maybe enjoyed it, even.

Name it
Own it
Write it
Tell it
Release it

with break-ins
and guns. It comes
with respect! And there’s
none.

Freedom don’t come
by hate. It comes by
people willing to wait
and work hard.

Freedom don’t come
by dictator. It’s greater to
show by example than blow
your own horn and trample
anyone in your way.

Freedom don’t come
when man is divided. It comes
when man has decided he
needs to listen and respect
those different.

queen size bed. Not a foot
or a leg to scrape. Not a blanket
or quilt to drape over a snort
or gurgle.

Freedom is an empty
closet. Not mashed pants
and stained shirts, or trashed coats
worn still clinging to
the hanger When was the last
he rang her?

Freedom is an empty
chair at the table, when man
and woman were able to talk –
or gaze at the lover
and not.

as if I’m stairs caked in ice
someone didn’t shovel
as if I’m a schoolgirl
going for detention for making trouble
as if I’m a herniated disk
bearing pain
or pretty in pink when
you’re laid-off again
and I'd slip out of it
as if I'm an undergarment
you pull on after the pantyhose
but I haven't

these days. People just can’t agree
anymore. They hit the delete button
and move on. No more working things
out. It’s put up or get out. No one likes

individuality. It’s more of a herd mentality –
agree with their politics and their religion.
******* if they’re a vegan. I’m opting out
of this stupidity. I’m burning fires of lividity

by listening to it all. You’re not going to
guilt-trip me into believing anything. I’m
happy being by myself, not answering to
anyone or being judged by what

I eat. YES, I like meat! I also hate
Trump. Religion is free and so is my **** –
that you can kiss! Because I don’t give
a rat’s *** over any of this.

are always on each others minds
distance doesn't separate
it only enforces what we've got
struggles are never too difficult
misunderstandings seldom happen
because we ask/never assume
have compassion
lift each other up
never bring the other down
always love the other as much
as we love ourselves
that's why we take great care
to make sure the other is always
aware
never take for granted a moment together
are very rare
so glad you are my friend

we can see inside Mary’s
bedroom. She hasn’t the curtains
down. She’s getting undressed
god bless! She’s taking off her
lacey nightgown!

From this bough
we can see the robin’s nest
hanging under the eaves. It blows
with the breeze, her home high
in the trees.

From this bough
we can swing because we
tied a string to a plank and sank
our fat ***** down. And now we got
a backyard playground.

From this bough
we can sit and rest. It’s canopy of
leaves providing us shade on a
sunny day. The squirrels will amuse
us chasing each other’s tail, scraping
for nuts.

I’m a little lost
a tad confused
it’s like I’m tossed
in an ocean of blue

from time to time
I shine
it’s like the world is mine
and it shows in every line

from time to time
I question this
and ask what it is
I haven’t figured it out

from time to time
I sit
and take it all in
as is
without question

he said –
screaming this as we’re
walking among the lilac trees
in the arboretum
while an old couple passes
our way. “Quiet”
I say. But he still prattles
on a couple of octaves
louder with his smart-***
going full blast with the cuss
words spilling out faster than
our feet and carrying
the sound further than I can
escape its presence. “I’ll call
the police” I tell him. That got his
attention. He stopped yelling,
for the moment
he must have
muffled the sound
in the therapy room
cause I was scared
and never seen
this side of him
must be
a full-moon –
in the afternoon?

I used to feel like a holocaust victim
gassed by people’s scorn. The world
only accepts cookie-cutter people,
the kind that can easily conform. The rest

of us are considered roaches crawling inside
the cracks from lack of respect. It started
the day I was born. That girl is not right. I was
ostracized and picked-on by others who

thought I didn’t belong, because I looked different,
didn’t act the way they did. I was the square peg
that didn’t fit in their circle. Until I realized I’d
never find happiness trying to always fit in. So, I stopped

hiding inside the cracks and came out into the wide
open. I held nothing back. This time I was proud of the fact
that I was different. I no longer wanted to be like them. It took
a long time to get here. But it’s made a world of difference.

on a three-dog night
as the cracked shades pull down
around my shoulders.
The moon is plucking

older. Morning stealthy hums
like a Trappist nun. And I’ll
trudge out of this bed like I’m pulling
a sled of bricks. Stumble into the kitchen

to fix my morning coffee. The chair
is cold and hard as toffee. But I
plunk into it like a stone. And mull over
this day with feet of clay falling

asleep in their fuzzy slippers,
as I sip on the sludge in my mug. I can’t
budge out of this chair to wash my face,
brush my teeth and do my hair. So, I stare

into space and wonder how I got here. Yesterday
I was spry and could fly out the door. Today everything
hangs like the dust on the ceiling. And the only thing
that grows is the mold on the bathroom floor.

is null and void
the papers read a scumbag
white cop wiped his head up
like a mop

George Floyd
is drawing crowds
on the street protesting
justice for the black –
none covered his back

George Floyd
unarmed
just a 46-year-old black man
lost his job
with a sister
and a brother
and a woman
Courteney Ross
the world
is at loss

George Floyd
pleading for his life
with his head pinned
by the cop’s knee
handcuffed
gasping “I can’t breathe”
“mama”
“don’t **** me”
all eyes saw
him draw his last breath
under the cop’s knee
flat out on the street

Get a Life!

So many people worrying about
what other people are doing. If you had
your own life you wouldn’t be worrying
about mine. If you were happy
you wouldn’t be complaining about me. If you were
comfortable in your own skin you wouldn’t need
to comment. You wouldn’t need to put me
down.  Bringing me down doesn’t
raise you up. It just shows you aren’t worth much.

Don't sit on the sidelines.
Get in the game!
Don't let life pass you by
because you are afraid of it.
Get in there and try; don't stay away from it!
And who knows, you might be an all-star
in the making.
But you'll never know if you don't give it a chance.
Your life is not a practice session.
It's the real thing!
Each time that you're up at bat don't be afraid
to take a swing and hit it hard with all your might.
You only got one chance in this life.

your ******* *****
and do something
before life passes
and you wonder where it’s gone
in a poem
or a song

live high
because before you know it
you’ll be another dead poet
in a world full of them

stand out as a mountain
reverberate as an echo
spin your lines like a tornado
get inside their heads
plant a seed
grow a tree
in someone else’s garden
be the fertilizer

listen to someone wiser –
learn from other’s mistakes
before it’s too ******* late

You always have your hand
on my hair-trigger. There it lingers

until it blows you up in billows
of fluff. Has you staggering like a panhandler

clamoring for a buck when he’s down
on his luck.

or give me nothing! If I can fly
but not perch I’d have no rest within
my search. I’d have no spot carved out
for me. Even the honeybee fluttering

from flower-to-flower flies back
to the hive upon a heavy shower, in a
colony of friends. Then flies off
again. Strong and tall as the red oak

it stands all day in place and doesn’t
move. And if a stroke of lightning hits
it cannot run/only split and land in the same
place as it stands.

words are worse
than anything thrown
it’s not true what they say
words do really hurt
they stay –
lesions on the skin go away
but hurtful words
I’ve carried years after
I married
and are part of me
today

until it hurts. Until you’ve put your
your back into it that you can’t bend any
more. Until you’ve stayed up so late with
it your eyes are blood-shot and you’re

sore. Until you want to **** it because
it’s killing you. Until you hate it so much
that you love it. Or give nothing. Because it
won’t mean a thing if you do.

You and I
are enclosed
in a glass bubble.
It’s bullet-proof.

Nothing can enter it.
It’s impenetrable to harm.
Even when harm attempts
to enter it’s as the wind outside.

We hear it.
We see it blow everything around.
We see it knock down anything
that’s not fixed.

Yet it can never enter -  
This
The only thing that can break it is
our fist

as the gazelle
swift and graceful
Leap
as the rocket frog
blink and take off
Swing
as the spider monkey
nimble and free
Dance
as the waves in the ocean
make a splash
Shine
as the stars
twinkle in the distance
Rise
as the sun
every morning
with persistence!

out there/knock them dead

Go
but leave something inspirational behind

Go
but don’t forget what you’ve left

Go
but come back

Your soul is the wind
it is everywhere
that’s how I know
you are here

And when it is still
you are sleeping
even the spirits need to rest

Go
I’ve given you my blessing
despite that I’ll be missing
the image you had when you were here
Now it hasn’t a ****** form
so, I can’t hold it in my arms

Go
free as the wind now, my dear

old man
to your skyscrapers
and girlfriends. Your
rhetoric is historic! But
I’m done laughing.

Girl. There’s a whole world
out there. Don’t be afraid to be
a part of it. You’re a work of art
from your lines down to your

toes, from your song up to
your nose. From your sass to the cracks
in your ***. From your ***** to your
closet of junk. There’s no stopping

you, from eighties style hair
to the thrift-shop clothes you wear. From
your Arnold Horshack laugh, to your
******* photographs. People will give their

opinion. Live by your own dominion. Let
them say what they want. Be proud of you;
flaunt an asset or two. Who cares if you
***** up. As long as you don’t give up. Don’t

wait around for alien abductions, or ***
robots that don’t function, or Trump to be
re-elected, or this poem to be perfected. Just Go
with what you got. As you are, you’re smoking hot!

You make them
Tell other people
Try to convince - them
Yourself
You know you do
You go back to what you knew
What’s easy
At your disposal
When
You gonna change
No one else to blame
Carry the shame
The past on your back
Heavy as a boulder
You’re older
Isn’t it time to

is so exhausting

one more
stretch
on an endless road

one more
lap
with a heavy load

one more
flap
with
a broken wing

one more
verse
before the end
of this whole **** thing

is it –
something through going
if not –
stop
reverse direction
there’s a light
at the entrance
don’t keep walking through
the same dark tunnel
looking for the light
at the end
that’s what they tell you
but I say –
the light was always there
at the beginning

means ****. You did it half-
assed. Hooray for you. Oh, I’m
sorry I don’t have the award to
pin on you. I’m tired of this

game. Nothing has changed. I won’t
mindlessly go along with something
for the sake of saying we did. I’d
rather give up with gusto than to muster

through another lifeless relationship. If
you keep filling this ship with water
it’ll sink. I’d rather ride off in a one-person
raft with my integrity intact.

You have your golden sunsets
But I’ve my golden showers

You plant vegetables in your garden
I plant vegetables where the sun doesn’t shine

Some think I waste my time
But they are eager to pay
Because I do things that others wouldn’t dare
This woman cuts a rug and her ***** hair

They beg for more
Why would I stop?
It’s fun and it pays the bills –
And I’ve my writing still
And this spills into it

Gives me more material to pen
And afterwards?
I can do unimaginable things with that same pen
that make men think they’re in heaven

Watch the Video - Sandra Palladino (on YOUTUBE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6BZmkzxRJc

Gold can **** You

it turns a woman of need
into a crime of greed
taken in by all the glitter
it outdid her
and turned her crown to brass
she had no class
everything that shines is not of light it seems
it ruins dreams

vile creatures
Eat ****
You don’t define me
I’ve got a mind of my own
with a body so hot
it bothers you –
you snot
*****

Adios Amigos
be gone
I don’t play
to the tune
of your song

Au revoir
all you fragile egos
you hate yourselves
you’re so full of rue
of things you could have done –
if you were brave as I
but atlas, you’d rather point the finger
at the other guy

We reached a sunken end –
Like two ships lost at sea
Thoughts of you are haunting me

Goodbye my friend
You were too young
You hadn’t done all the things you said you would
Now you never will

Goodbye my friend
I’ve caused you pain
I left you crying in deep shame
And I’ll live with deep regret
Because I never will forget

Goodbye my friend
What can I do?
I wrote this just for you
And I’ll share with anyone
Who’s willing to hear
A sad, sad song

Some are sunny and clear.
Others hazy and grey.
Some short as a nap on an airplane.
And some wear on like gears on a train
filling buckets and buckets of icy shard rain.

Some are quiet, so quiet they don’t make a sound.
While others are hurricanes knocking everything down.
Some are ****** upon us without warning.
Others are gentle as the orange sky dawning.

Some a gift and some a curse.
And some are so trite like they’re rehearsed.
Some we’ll not forget.
Others we write off like a rubber check.

But isn’t a tinge of pain in them all?
The hinge is broken and the dreams just loll.