Economy
I never thought
I'd ever be
Fancy free;
Nor did think
I'd ever sink
In losing thee
To such misery
poem by David McLansky
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Animal Spirits (a Riff)
This is hard to say
(I so lack tact,)
But I've met a few
Nymphomaniacs;
And no one's ever
Ever been so kind
To bare without strings
Her behind.
But if you're traveling
My way
And are so inclined
Arch your back
So as to remind
poem by David McLansky
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Pere & Fils
When I see reflected
In my son's eyes
My own soul's wit and mocking irony;
When with a secret glance
I recognize
The shared rejoicing
Of two souls that harmonize;
It takes my breath away
To be so understood;
Loving him all the more
For doubling good
poem by David McLansky
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The Cloak
The Cloak
Give to me
Your web of sorrow
And I will weave it
On the morrow
Into a cloth of shimmering gold
Interlaced with spells of old,
Chants against the days of sadness,
Armor for the days of madness;
Protecting hearts not meant to be
Stunned by life harsh threnody.
poem by David McLansky
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If God Does Not Exist (A Riff)
If there be no God
Then man is scum,
Fungus on a rock
Floating in the drift of space,
A cold then sizzling spot;
The turmoil of the universe,
Its gas explosions far,
The birth and death of light that's cursed,
The entropy of stars;
Then love is all we really have
In the barrenness of space
It functions as a soothing salve
And smoothes a watchful face
poem by David McLansky
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Vines
All vines curl toward the light
Deep within the shaded night;
Twist and reach within the tangle,
Grip and leap from every angle;
And I a seed of dead leaves born,
Crawl aloft as one forlorn,
Knowing that I strive in vain,
Still encased for all my pain;
Enclosed in darkness as I call,
The towering trees umbrella all;
A vine of chance in midst and gloom
Who savored not the silver moon.
poem by David McLansky
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Death Remains My Enemy (A Riff)
Death remains my Enemy
I've known it since a boy,
The shadow in my garden
The monster I avoid.
It slithers in the darkness
Just above my head,
It whispers of the starkness
As I go to bed.
Survival at its source
Is desperate against death
It writhes and bites and coils,
Just for added breaths.
No anodyne of Angels
Nor ghosts trapped on the earth
Nor hopes of resurrection
Nor promise of rebirth
[...] Read more
poem by David McLansky
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Borders
I sought to mark
What was the border,
To provide my life
With some order;
I planted trees
Along the line
To demarcate
What was mine.
To certify
What was within,
These firs became
My outward skin;
But in these plans
I was forsaken
In what was mine
I was mistaken,
I was betrayed
By my own kin
Disloyalty
Lay within;
[...] Read more
poem by David McLansky
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Bangladesh (a riff)
Everywhere I stand, I stand in water
It's wide expanse defines the border;
My country sinking into the sea,
The waters lapping at my knee;
My country now a muddy brown
The roofs submerged below their crown
The water lapping at the poles,
The tidal waves toss wooden bowls.
This was once an idyllic spot,
Woven mats float in the rot;
Graceful stands of bending trees
Sad victims of expanding seas.
Were I a fish with breathing gills,
A floating bird, bobbing, still,
I'd bid my children to follow me,
We would have rescue from the sea.
poem by David McLansky
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Anne Hathaway: On Her Famous Husband's Yearly Visit
You old baboon with pox red sores,
You mount me like your tavern whores,
Am I to swoon and faint with pleasure
That you've returned to ease your leisure;
You hayseed bumpkin, you thread bare fop,
You ride me like a saddled mop,
And squeeze me tightly round the throat
And besiege me with your belly bloat;
You dropp some coins upon the bed,
Am I a whore or a wife wed?
You complain I'm wrinkled, getting fat,
You scrawny toad whose ass doth flap;
With your garters and your silken hose,
I see the rats nibble at your toes;
We all must scamper, our Lord's returned,
May he be staked and public burned
poem by David McLansky
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