Add-a-Poem

[anirbas]

~*~

If I dratted want to
I could...Why, I could...
Make an effigy of you...

Write your name across
its linen forehead
and stick pins
into various
tender points
on its anatomy...

If, I dratted wanted to,
I could...Why, yes, I could...
It would be an interesting
exercise exploring the power
of the mind over matter...

I could...Yes, I could...

But, I'm out of stickpins...
And I'm to tired and dratted lazy
to drive down to Walmart and buy some...

However, the doll with your name on it...
Its already made up and ready to go...

~*~

[phantasm]

Ready to go?
Ready to shake up the status quo?
Jump in the river of your choosing and go along with the flow.

That's the thing with the world.
People tend to choose what they already know
and grew up with all their lives.
They stick with their dogs,
they stick with their wives
no matter what. The river they live in
is the one they've always lived in.

But--

Sometimes we outgrow our lives,
the expectations bequeathed to us from others.
Then unrest rumbles and grumbles
Until we walk into the unknown, never to return.

You can choose a new flow.
It may feel weird
like waking up one day with a full beard.
New things take some getting used to,
but eventually they feel like old hat.

Choose your life deliberately.

[aims]

Choose your life deliberately,
Then take a step back and look to see
if your deliberations
or their manifestations
match your machinations
or mirror your ruminations
or look remotely like relations
of your original imagination,
nevermind the next generation!

[anirbas]

Nevermind the next generation
for they are already half way out the door...
In so many of them the lights are on,
but, there is no one home
save the husk of what they might have been...
Avoiding the voices of their parental units,
at all costs. Smoking "spice" and "bath salts"...
Eating each others faces and passing std's
at an alarming rate, not to mention the babies...
"Oh, say can you seeeeeee...By the dawn's early light"
another dratted rerun of Teen Mom followed by Jersey Shore...

[aims]

Another dratted rerun of Teen Mom followed by Jersey Shore...
the kind of programming some abhor
while others adore
still others simply ignore. . .
yet i think we all can agree,
that reruns of this kind
will make us flee
or make one go out of their mind!

[phantasm]

make one go out of their mind
tell a man something totally outlandish yet true
watch a mental wall fall

[aims]

Watch a mental wall fall
trying to believe a tale so tall
can't believe I made the call
or that you gave me your number
thinking any minute I'll awaken from a slumber
or better still,
waiting on those little angels wielding bits of cosmic lumber!

[phantasm]

those little angels wielding bits of cosmic lumber
rolling materials around making tons of thunder
cooking up their building materials,
exploding stars into nebulae--

they're always busy with making the universe
making such a cosmic racket, can't you hear it?
we're living in a house continually under construction
stuff constantly falling on our heads, burning up
in the atmosphere, or blasting new craters into the planets
it's a wonder we don't hear about it more often.

little angels mixing matter in their cake mix bowls
cosmic chemistry sets in the making
Raphael says to Michael, "Hey check it out, mine's got life growing in it."
"Oh yeah? I can beat that," Michael says.
The universe could be full of life-mixing contests
among the creative powers.

We're just living in a contraption
it's like a mix between a giant dance floor and industrial kitchen
rolled into one space.

So eat some cake and bust a move on the floor.

[phantasm]

oh, okay, I'll give another one...


on the floor
is a monopoly board--
a symbol of our capitalistic society.
around and around, you pass go
and buy up everything you land on.
You drive out your competitors by any means possible.

The process of playing is fun.

But ultimate victory is boring.

[aims]

Ultimate victory is boring
and those who covet it worth ignoring!!
I'd much rather watch the eagle soaring!
Money is all well and good
but excessive competitiveness and power trippin
are something I've never understood
nor wanted to!!

[phantasm]

something I've never understood:

Why we must all be the same
How stiflingly boring life would be if this were made true
We curse the other to our shame.

[moseley]

We curse the other to our shame
from the fire emerged Daniel, we know so much of him
but what of Abednego, his chances were as slim?
Two wins still one loses as if somehow somewhere
there must be a number one
and being number two it seems
is just not all that much fun...
Then what of Nebuchadnezzar with the writing of a hand
on a wall that ended his history
and left a history of a war torn land,
the never made Isaiah had it out with Ismael,
if even of them won, then somehow the verdict is ran
that somehow the fate of all manking
is in the Torah or the Qu'oran,
and what does that mean to my daily bread
buttered and fallen to the floor
as my neighbor's house is quite a sight to see
but at least I still have a door

[anirbas]

Omg! I have not heard Abednego's name uttered in such a long time, Moseley!!!! Ten points, for using it!!!! lol

[anirbas]

At least I still have a door
that leads into our home
and leads out into the big
wide world, both large and small

Each day, Pavlov's proverbial dog,
out the door I go to work...Each day,
back through the doorway, I walk.
Okay, sometimes, I crawl...

At least, I still have a door that leads
into my comfortable shared with my husband
domain...Our home...I still have a door...

When so many have only a box flap
that leads into their home...

[phantasm]

Home--

What is it?


Is it the address on your door or mailbox?
Suppose one does not have a letterbox.
Perhaps one doesn't want anyone to find him/her.

Suppose a home has neither running water nor electricity.
The inhabitant chooses to live in the 18th century.
Is it a home if it's not connected to the wider world?

Is a home the place where you grew up with your mom and dad?
Suppose someone does not have a mom or dad.
Some of us are orphans, living in orphanages or foster homes, moving from institution to house to house. Is it a home if it's an unfamiliar environment?

Is a home merely the place you crash after work?
What if one works 90 hours a week, weekends included, rarely able to enjoy the place? Is it a home if one is never there?

Is a home a place of safety?
What if one does not feel safe?
Is it a place of nurturing and respect?
What if one is dealt harshly with, every word uttered undermined?

Is a home a place where you can be yourself?
Suppose the people looking after you would've preferred to have someone else in your place, how can you feel comfortable expressing yourself in a place such as this?

Home. The word means so many things, even disparate things.
We think we know one when we see one, driving down the road, flanked by houses and apartment complexes.

The secrets they hide may never see the light of day.

[aims]

The secrets they hide may never see the light of day,
but there is one who sees all
one from whom we have no privacy,
even if we think we do,
we are like children holding our hands over our eyes,
declaring: " You can't see me , because I can't see you!!!"
yet there is a presence,
omniscient,
omnipotent,
omnipresent,
everywhere,
everywhere,
it is everywhere,
privacy from it. . .
children covering their eyes,
children playing pretend!!

[anirbas]

Children playing pretend-
covering their eyes pretending-
they do not know, the omnipotent,
the omnipresent, the omniscient
being everywhere, everywhere...
Everywhere, watching...
Is them...Themselves...
Watching themselves...

Safer to feel like a Higher Power
or Lower Power is watching us,
or responsible for the choices,
we make...To hide...Or open
our eyes...We are responsible...

We always were...

Children play pretend...
And then, they grow up...
Or, not...Or, not...

[anirbas]

Amy...I do not know what I just did...I quoted your post, so I could be inspired to write from it...And somehow or another...When I went to post my comment...YOUR piece disappeared and my appeared in your box...WTF? Please tell me you have your piece copied and pasted somewhere?? Argh! I could die! I am so sorry. I have no idea what just happened.......??

But, the poem in your box is the one I just did...Must be fey faeries in the cupboard around here, this evening...lol

[anirbas]

"Not necessary,
agreement,
peaceful coexistence
that's the thing to cultivate in this world!
A world where all can be true to their hearts, passionately,
and favor the same for our fellow humans,
excepting of course those things that harm or infringe on another!
and agreement is something this world will never achieve."

~Amy Cain's original piece. I managed to jump backwards and retrieve it, Amy!!!!!
Woohoo! So glad I thought of that. I felt horrid. I still don't know what happened...

[anirbas]

*The piece that initially followed Amy's.*

This world will never achieve...

The world will always achieve...

It is we, puny humans dotting
the planet, bounteous herds
of bouncing gazelle
that will never achieve
the greatness
that is our collective birthright
if we do not stop, listen and observe-
each of of us are deserving
of two things from the other-
respect and compassion.

The world will always achieve.
Populate the planet
with another herd
of gazelles
or monkees
swinging
to the ground
from tree vines,
to walk upright.

I we fail to reach out,
love one another to coin
a hippied cliche' it is we,
humans that will fail
ourselves...

But, Mother Nature,
will simply build
a better, wise beast
the next time around...

[aims]

_{not to worry I alwayskeep a copy on my puter, & a flash drive!!}

But, Mother Nature,
will simply build
a better, wise beast
the next time around...

Nature will always rebound,
no matter how the destruction
humans wrought may resound.
nature's bounty will abound!
How do we know how ancient civilizations lived,
we dig,
the long ago are under foot
nature buried,
someday down the road
evidence of us
may share a similar fate.
perhaps another species will land
and mate with our remnants.
just like the aliens did with big foot. . .
and here we are!!
(and the universe watches and rolls eyes, "why did I ever think any of this was a good idea!!! LOL!")

[moseley]

"(and the universe watches and rolls eyes, "why did I ever think any of this was a good idea!!! LOL!")"

it is an algorithm computed by a mathematician
we try to force and give a name
we make in our own image
in a universe we cannot see
unless it is like we are,
for the rest is incongruent...
and incongruency causes truancy
from the gospel we all must now
BECAUSE "IT IS WRITTEN!!!!"
Damnit says the clown to the dog
in the shadow of the evening when the crowd has left
and there is no reason left for makeup
but on his face, it remains
because it paints who he is...
now
all this is the shadow of the the line
on the left descending side of the rune symbols
written in last month's Clog Almanac
and all our vespers are murmured in dipthongs
along the patterns of the Milky Way
probably interpreted by the Aquarius person
who swore it was the dawning of the Age
somewhere in the Fifth Dimension
after we fixed time and space as mere pitance
over form, shadow, depth and shape
Grape Ape!.....bitches
Drunk men can fall into ditches
drunk women can get into hitches
and the final outcome was written on the bottom
of the wine rack the garbage men picked up last Tuesday
and those were the winning lottery numbers
if only you remembered,
so much that we have forgotten
pumpkins are going rotten
and this universe ain't big enough for the two of us
so I will draw a gun
with a blue crayon at three in the morning
in some dark cave and show it to you there
if you will only come along
sing a song....
the reason we give sounds better in unison
and in refrain and chorus, we say it with a drone
and acts like it doesn't bore us
well, the knickers are still in the drawer
I am just wearing some shorts
and wading in the streams of utter indolence
and vivacity in some High Ball coctail of equality
tilling that grave to keep it level
will I be the only bird to fly down the wormhole
when the Mad Hatter comes back
to rapture us all?

[aims]

When the Mad Hatter comes back
to rapture us all,
slouch in your chair
don't stand tall.
Do be careful to hear his call,
or Alice will go alone,
and we'll be right back where we started
wearing the innocent look that screams,
"yes it was I who farted!"
and the Cheshire cat's grin parted
and let slip a guffaw
and that's when the red queen called it a draw
she said all these changes just stuck in her craw
with a bothersome gnaw!
about how to tell
the difference between
what you see and what someone else saw!!!

[anirbas]

Oh, holy moly! Some smoking poeming, to coin your phrase, Moseley, going on up in here! I absolutely LOVED both of these offerings! Amy, John, you should title these and put them in the population, as well!!!!! These should both be exalted in their own right!!! Imho...

However, I got nuthin' at the moment...So, please carry on and ignor that I interuppted the flow and go...

~CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!~

[phantasm]

I just exalted aims, and it affected her alone, not the entire Add-A-Poem thread. Not sure if you remembered that about the 'exalt' function here or not, nir.....

[phantasm]

how to tell the difference between
what you see and what someone else saw:

It's harder than you think.
Consider if you have never seen a kitchen sink.
A friend describes it as you gasp in wonder.
Then you come across one for the first time
and have an experience sublime.

Only, your friend forgot to tell you about the strainer/stopper
you can use to plug up the drain.
Do you notice it, or fail to notice it because your friend didn't
describe that part to you?

The mental pictures people paint in our heads with words
frames the way we see things when we see them for ourselves.
Open your eyes truly, observe and remember, experience reality for yourself. Going by others' experience completely is for the birds.


Throw open your senses and invite reality into your head.

[anirbas]

Jul 24, 2013 15:37:44 GMT -6 phantasm said:

I just exalted aims, and it affected her alone, not the entire Add-A-Poem thread. Not sure if you remembered that about the 'exalt' function here or not, nir.....

Yes...When you exalt the piece it actually exalts the poet. In the mixed milieu of add-a-poems, five words and such, you exalt the poem you like and the "karma" goes to that poet.

We never really used the feature, until recently. These board templates were designed for rpg's, I'm thinking...?

[phantasm]

last line from last poem:

Throw open your senses and invite reality into your head.

[phantasm]

huh, no one knows what to do with that one? Oh all right.


Throw open your senses and invite reality into your head.
Observe and consider the sky, the ground, life all around.
Take in the cars flying down the road and their barking hounds.
Look up at the nakedness of the moon, and the piercing light
of the stars. Notice the textures of concrete, of the jagged edge
of the pothole in the road.

Notice.
Consider.
Ponder.

Ultimately, imagination is informed by the world.
Weather we modify reality or are in rebellion against it
in our art, this is where we start: with what we know.
What you read, watch on T.V. or the movies, the people you
know, the school you attended.

Expand your reality and you will expand your imagination.

Love life, soak it in, then do with it what you will.

[anirbas]

What you will
willy nilly
can make
one act
totally
silly

But,
what
you won't
can make one
a dour sour puss

So, why fuss?
Moderation
is the key
other
than
what
you will

Go forth
harm no one
including yourself