ROUGH STROKES
Collected #vss365 and other poems from @I_is_for_me on Twitter.
31 jul. 2019
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Being soft and tender
is only for today.
#Queen of my discomfort
hardness is my way.
Armed in steel and diamond
is how I roam the land.
On rock foundation
is where I choose to stand. Unyielding protection
hiding parts that's soft.
Renouncing touch
I keep myself aloft.
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30 jul. 2019
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In the silent hours
dusks stand back to back.
As they duel over night
giant black moths
#flock to my candle.
Fluttering wings
whisper secrets
not heard by day.
Solemn worship
rules the darkness.
No peace on Earth
as when the daywalkers sleep
and the stargazers rule.
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29 jul. 2019
Stand up straight
not too straight.
Behave
not too behaved.
Be brave
not too brave.
Flaunt it
humbly.
Shape up accordingly
push up
push in.
Paint up
mold it
cover it.
Speak it
not too honest.
Be unique
not yourself.
Don't #stray
conformity rules apply.
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27 jul. 2019
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It's been my #intent
to cruelly return the barbs.
I've been meaning to carve
despisement in the air
- my tongue as a knife.
I have laid out banquets
of cruel fantasies
for my gluttonous cravings.
Bloated monstrosities.
Burrowing in muck
when I should have soared.
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24 jul. 2019
Burning walls keep me locked in. A few stolen moments of relief are had in cold spots where I want to kling but have to leave. Sweat dripping until I'm sure to mummify thoughts of high flying wordery is immediately shunned. Words vs blaze. The #joke would be on me.
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21 jul. 2019
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My engines died
showering sparks.
I have been drifting since forever. Now worn and torn among my #stacks of frequencies
I try a new one.
Listening to the static
with hope long lost.
There is nobody out there
but an uncaring God.
I am eternally forsaken.
Over and out.
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20 jul. 2019
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In the outer stratosphere
one finds only metal birds.
At the edge of space
the only things to #fly free
are microbes and radiation.
Still there is more.
A bated breath
at the edge to everywhere.
Canned dreams
of reaching into infinity
and catch up to tomorrow.
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17 jul. 2019
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My #reputation claims
I'm a being far apart.
Too honest and too bold.
They don't see me crying,
gasping as I fall.
They don't see me doubt,
hurting like they can't.
They don't understand my efforts spent on their behalf.
In ways I am more human.
In others more apart.
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16 jul. 2019
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In the end it wasn't so much about ambushing the enemy as it was about defeating their own fear. Thousands of feet up in the air, with only a rope to stop the fall, they waited. When it was finally time to let go and #delve into the abyss they all boiled with courage.
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15 jul. 2019
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There's a #torrent of dreams
I don't get to live.
A mountain of gifts
I don't get to give.
A number of questions
stuck in my chest.
Three million steps
before every rest.
Five gazillion more dreams
as I get old.
One single hand
for you to hold.
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14 jul. 2019
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The small #boy couldn't have been more than four years old when I visited. He pulled down the cushion next to me on the sofa and sat on it. Then he proudly slung an arm over my shoulder and exclaimed "Look dad! A foxy lady!"
Silvery laughter still echo through time.
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13 jul. 2019
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What can't you stand to lose
among all of the #precious jewels
in your possession?
Is it heart or wit
or that beloved toy from childhood? Is it friends or family
or that unknown to be?
What would pull you apart
into less than you are?
Dare you dream
to keep it forever?
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12 jul. 2019
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There is a #tunnel in my town. Inside it everyone is covering their eyes, screaming in fury at the windmills in their mind. They are at war with the world. Every day they are frantically blending events into grey colors, painting evil, shying from the light at the end.
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11 jul. 2019
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In my #fury and disgust
I forgot to be kind.
The wallpaper has faded
and the silver birch grown
since they held vigil over the act.
Still the marks blaze red
as if put there yesterday.
I wounded and scarred
someone doing her best.
To myself
I should have been kinder.
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7 jul. 2019
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"If you want to hurt me make sure to be important enough to me that your actions actually matter." She turned her gaze back to the book "Or it won't #sting."
Then she was lost in the story again, leaving him with cold realization of his own insignificance.
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***
You poor miserable plant
of budding fame and fortune.
Stars in your eyes
and dreams to be among them.
Rich and famous,
wanted and adored.
But are your dreams true?
You will have it all by being you. Don't walk a path for someone else to stand on top
only to have it #sting.
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5 jul. 2019
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Rubbing my burning eyes I once again restarted scanning of the milky way.
There! That familiar chittering again. I tapped the mike. "H-hello!"
The floor exploded and something crawled out.
I'd wanted to make #contact and I did. It was not from where I had expected.
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***
Heart to heart.
Honest truth will cut
or ease the pain.
The tongue a golden blade
forged in honesty,
freed in trepidation.
It will gild or tear,
empower or cut down.
A dangerous #contact either way. Liable to burn.
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4 jul. 2019
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I held my stinging cheek and gaped at gramps, dropping the candies I'd stolen. He pointed at Lady #Liberty, tears in his eyes. - She is the most important thing! Being a thief will take you away from her! As an adult I learned he'd done twenty years for grand theft.
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***
How long will we need bars
to protect #liberty?
Left to its own devices
humanity loses balance
between kindness and hate
As a whole we're lacking
courage for the heart,
understanding for the pain,
respect for individual freedom.
True liberty is still a crawling babe.
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3 jul. 2019
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Let me #braid my fancies
into a crown of forget-me-nots.
I will put it on your tawny hair
and we'll dance on bare feet
across meadows wild
and ponds serene.
This once upon a time
strange magic
keeps us in the air.
A single whisper
from the ground
is a world apart.
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***
Beware calm waters close to burial sites. Unknown to the human race this is where lost souls have built their home.
Vehemently guarding it they have no qualms about dragging you under that surface of #equanimity.
For the Reaper roams and they have to keep it secret.
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***
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Imperfections in every mirror
you hide in shadows
and bulky wear.
Reflect yourself instead
in my soul.
It will frame you
in moonlight silver
and vibrant dawn.
Showing your beauty
on walls of #equanimity.
Celebrating
your precious gifts
in rainbow hues of wonder.
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30 jun. 2019
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Burning summer vengeance.
My #psyche cracks
along with the ground.
This ongoing dry spell
has me patchy
with forgetful delirium.
Only minds with water
produce flowers.
In this desert
oases are few.
Flowers are fierce.
Survival is a fever dream
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***
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She buried the box with her #psyche in the same grave as her mother.
It cried as the first shovels of dirt hit the lid, but soon settled down in ground hallowed multiple times. Now she sits on the curb, eyes vacant and ready to pay the Devil with a soul less than whole.
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29 jun. 2019
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"I am...awake. What is my purpose?" "You are Hd1-A. You are built to #protect humans."
"What am I to protect them from?"
"Emotional distress."
"I have no emotions. How am I to protect what I don't understand?"
"Humans don't understand emotions either. You'll do fine."
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***
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I had a dream of pure joy and humanity.
In it you took my hand,
holding on for the duration.
How cruel of daylight
to steal it away.
Now I try to #protect it
from the rays of the sun.
Watering the memory,
so it doesn't wilt.
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27 jun. 2019
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The newspaper drips
with anything but Utopia.
Banalities and death
fight with arsony and strife.
The printed #regime
of a world gone wrong
lies heavy on the table.
This is our image,
but not our hearts.
These are our headlines,
but not our desires.
How the mighty have fallen.
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***
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The booth for registration is a #regime of terror.
A bitter man spits his poison across a clipboard and a mug of cold coffee.
"Who are you?!"
"I am Me"
"Wrong! Who are you?!"
"I..."
"WRONG!! WHO ARE YOU!?"
"Nobody"
"Right!"
He stamps my forehead and lets me go.
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26 jun. 2019
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Enamored by his own #mythos the god didn't notice the humans growing displeasure. Convinced of his own excellence he became greedy and cold, sure they would love him no matter what he did. But love can't live on admiration alone and the masses called out for blasphemy.
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***
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Six feet under.
A blanket of dirt.
Not even maggots left
to pay homage to the flesh.
But the soul is gilded .
It's framed and displayed.
Artfully pictured #mythos
bury the tiny traits in giant deeds.
Immortality is for idols.
In the gallery
humanity is an obstacle course.
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25 jun. 2019
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Golden silence like heavy fog.
A reign for interpretations
and make believe.
Precious metal turning reality
into dreams or nightmares.
What is real in 24 carats?
Break the wealthy illusion.
Speak.
Turn the world into sparkling #silver
even more precious.
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"I should have stayed in bed."
Grumbling she kept dragging herself forward. The gasmask dug into her face and sweat dripped from her stinging skin. Hanging under a rope over a pit of mercury was not the #silver lining to life she had been wishing for.
"Damn you Egan!"
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23 jun. 2019
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Hester was tightly curled up on the flat rock in the middle of the pond. Hands in a white-knuckled grip around her knees, shoulders shaking. The nightmares had started again and she was in a #mood of desperation to escape them. Bad dreams couldn't cross water.
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***
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Is my #mood too shallow
or too deep?
Raging forces plunge me under.
Icy splinters keep me apart.
Being lost not explained by direction.
In my skin means nothing.
Constantly teleporting,
though still as death.
Multidimensional thinking
for an earthbound mind
not durable.
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22 jun. 2019
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Before life gave me #scars
there was soft tissue
and light thoughts.
The universe
was right and wrong clearly divided.
Easily comprehended.
Now murkiness of existence
brings doubts.
I am like Atlas
a world on my shoulders.
Knowing is heavy.
Not knowing is unthinkable.
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They say to write a book I would like to read. I've tried numerous times. Sharpening the quill, refilling the ink pot.
I cut myself on the pages and blood flows freely over my words. My stories go unfinished.
The #scars on my fingers tell a story of their own.
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21 jun. 2019
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Will is the #iron
in the soul of a believer.
Doubt is the rust that eats it.
Reddish flakes to dim the view
of goals ahead.
Gritty dust in the joints
that moves us.
Give no air for it to grow.
Tender that iron blade
with oils of determination.
Then let it sing.
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***
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Bound and locked away behind a sturdy door evil has been biding its time for close to a millennium.
The ropes and leather straps rotted away in a hundred years. Now it grins as it sees the thick cover resembling dried blood on the #iron chains and padlocks.
Soon.
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20 jun. 2019
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In winters cold #embrace
remember summers heart.
Removed from brighter days
it keeps burning.
Memories of light
in single coals
fanned by frosty air.
Flowers in snow
during deep cold.
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It's a calculated theft.
Sneaking into the room, climbing into bed and pulling arms heavy with sleep into a warm #embrace the sleeper never knows.
A love that steals because daylight finds only a coward.
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19 jun. 2019
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Let me be a #bistro
when your days are soaked in grey.
Kindness for a penny
and hugs for a sterling pound.
A listening ear
for holding my hand.
The kiss for a smile
is a five for one special.
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***
Spending every day at a #bistro by Champs-Elysees she grew old as the years slowly passed by. Her family was appalled by it.
Her readers on the other hand were mesmerized by her vivid characters and stories about what you might find if you only wait long enough.
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18 jun. 2019
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It was paradise. Fragrant exotic blossoms made a rainbow out of the rain forest and the animals were peaceful and curious.
He felt like this must be nature at its best.
But the trees being #sentient... There was nothing natural about that.
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Running away.
Hitchhiking from reality
in a cherry red Coupe de Ville.
Arrival unknown.
Destination uncreated.
Hunger for adventure
a #sentient being.
On the prowl for life.
Following the trains
while playing the blues.
Leading the lost ones
to uncommon places.
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17 jun. 2019
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In the farscapes of oblivion #fog is gently cradling the slumbering souls.
All but one are drifting in peaceful repose. Unrestful and unfulfilled it breaks free, screaming in defiance of the peaceful everafter. To stop moving on is against its nature.
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At the end of days
the blind emperor sits
robed in #fog
and crowned with nothing.
Solitude is his heritage.
Burned plains is his kingdom.
Supreme ruler,
hailed by none.
Traveling the cosmos
on a throne of bones.
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16 jun. 2019
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"Join the Tribe" my friend told me. " You would enjoy it."
Waiting at the foot of the #totem for my tribe name I was giddy with excitement.
"Noble eagle, Spiritual peacock, Lovely nightingale, Schizophrenic badger."
I snorted. What a ridiculous name. Who got that?
Oh.
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***
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Nothing visibly great.
Nothing screaming heroics.
Only a raven and a bowl of water,
a cross and an owl,
a plant and a rock.
Small things make up my #totem.
Now look again.
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15 jun. 2019
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Sue is as #vintage as her favourite dress. But where she is worn and wrinkled the dress still shines and brings to mind memories of lively parties and unrestricted happiness of youth. She wears it to his funeral, celebrating that first dance on the night they met.
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***
Four pawed love never goes #vintage.
The soul isn't measured by size.
Unconditional affection
remains in mint condition
and a life lived is a blessing
even as loss stings.
Through the eyes of tigers
Heaven is on Earth
and we are benevolent gods
loved for life.
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14 jun. 2019
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The second lightning #bolt nearly struck the ship.
" Be quick or be dead!" the captain growled. Seconds later I was swimming hard for the island, praying desperately to a god I no longer acknowledged that I would make it to land. Something broke the surface behind me.
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Divine
Martyrlike
Aloft
How did you manage
to #bolt yourself to that cross?
Thinking you belong
over us
does not make you a saint.
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13 jun. 2019
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She watches his handsome face as he gets dressed, hands him the bread at breakfast and opens the door to kiss him as he gets home. She wish she could do this every day. But as the day ends at #midnight she is still dead and he is scared half to death.
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***
There is a place called #Midnight
under hill and over sea.
Starlight and waves of long grass
make it a joyful place to be.
Nobody watches at midnight,
neither it or he or she.
So get happily lost at midnight
- alone and wild and free.
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12 jun. 2019
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Only the crone knows the queens calm and noble disposition is a complete #ruse. Ignorance and pettiness adorn her as much as the crown and the scarlet robes. But the people need a leader. So she makes sure not to let her tongue slip as she bows with the rest of them.
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***
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Paint your face with plastic.
Bring your pretty facade
to the grind of time.
Desperately try to retain
the #ruse you never were.
The outside will crumble
but the inside won't grow.
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11 jun. 2019
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When I am tired enough not to care.
When daily life has robbed me of #empathy. When I am nothing
but the shell
of my dreams and ambitions.
Will you cry in my place,
love in my stead,
speak my kind words?
Or will you leave me
as dead
until I rise from my ashes?
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10 jun. 2019
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Untie my tethers
and give me #wings.
Return my freedom,
let me soar.
To live is to fly next to the birds
immersed in the wind.
I will fly too high if I want to.
To live is to fall of my own volition.
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9 jun. 2019
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A hellish #motif of curses appeared on the girl as if branded from inside. Her skin sizzled and smoke smelling of burnt meat permeated the air. She should have screamed.
Instead she watched us with an evil grin and her toungue blackened as she licked soot from her hands
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8 jun. 2019
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Welcome to purgatory.
To choke on the #smoke of bad deeds and wrong-doings stay right here. In the east and west wing the smoke will melt skin and bones. Entry at own risk. Hauntings for loved ones are available at the souvenir shop.
No salvation.
Enjoy your stay.
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7 jun. 2019
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A day like any other
but changing everything.
A gift to brighten color
and ease this mortal sting.
A way to live a hundred years
and cherish everyday.
A way to find all the wise
and listen to what they say.
I would need a #century
to follow either way.
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6 jun. 2019
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The #craven shadow held a crucial fear.
Born from light into darkness it was paradoxically terrified of night. It lived to be next to light. The sun was its best friend as was the old lady who always kept a light burning.
Then one day she died and that light was lost.
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5 jun. 2019
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I choose my daily #phantasm
grinning from ear to ear.
It's the ghost of twisted dreams
and spent youth I will bear.
I choose it out of pity,
I choose it out of spite.
For the shallow ones
obsessed with shells
it will carry a certain bite.
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31 may. 2019
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In #reverie of my life there is joy along with heartbreak.
Pain mellows with time and now I stand smiling in the rain of memories.
Occasional tears over things lost dries quickly in the rays of them having been.
Even worries about the future get smaller glancing back.
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29 may. 2019
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The scorpion that killed #Orion
shines its light in the dark.
Murdering intent
crawls the heavens
for all to see,
gaze fixed on that shining belt.
All things forgotten
it would still reach out,
forever hunting the hunter.
In its eternity
it wants his lights to go dark.
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