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Poetry…

words. i love them.

“That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
 
Busy Little Shop said:
I entered my poem in a online poetry contest but was turned down because
they said it was too adult...

My body bridges the rubble on a collapsible plain...
Raw peaks pressure my long lean frame...
My tenderfoot heart knows love missed...
Intense lidded eyes beg to be kissed...

© 1998 by L A L aka Visual Voice
Click to expand...

i love this. very evocative. seriously - love it.
 
littlebeast said:
words. i love them.

“That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Click to expand...

:thumbup

“He rose and turned toward the lights of town. The tidepools bright as smelterpots among the dark rocks where the phosphorescent seacrabs clambered back.

“Passing through the salt grass he looked back. The horse had not moved. A ship's light winked in the swells.

“The colt stood against the horse with its head down and the horse was watching, out there past men's knowing, where the stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West​

:party
 
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I wrote this a while back and am sharing it here with some trepidation.

"A world as hard as diamond"

How's a man s’posed to matter in this world we’re in
Strive your whole life till The Man says when
Nobody to validate you, left stretched so very thin
Strong until not, then inform the next of kin
In a world hard as diamond I hope I never have a son
‘Cause nobody teaches their children to care about men
Cauterize feelings because tears aren’t for the likes of them
Wipe your cheeks, son, lest you be thought a soft one

The modern world doesn’t resemble the old
The bold out in the cold, told they have the wrong soul
Not strong enough, not hard as steel, money not long enough
Told from the get that they life was gonna be rough
Sold on the idea that what brings real meaning is to care
But nobody else sells care, they only see a weakness there
That makes it unfair, turns the world so brutal
Produces pain to spare, man, it’s not so unusual
Old souls get short shrift in a society that’s turned cold
Left to take kicks and be bruised just for tryin’ to be whole
Armored up on the streets, threads cap and the shades
Name brand kicks on the feets, but at the edges he’s frayed
Tryin’ hold it all together, feels like it’d take a man far more clever
Don’t get it askance, if ever he’ll be whole he’s gotta take the chance
It doesn’t matter the weather, or whats the brand of his pants
But without help from others it goes from we cans to straight can’ts
And so young men suffer, like Archimedes with no lever
Tryin to move the earth, but just wind up in the dirt
Six feet under in a casket, bold soul done with his strivin'
If he had a a little help, man it’s likely he’d be thrivin’

How a man s’posed to matter in this world we’re in
Strive your whole life till The Man says when
Nobody to validate you, left stretched so very thin
Strong until not, then inform the next of kin
In a world hard as diamond I hope I never have a son
‘Cause nobody teaches their children to care about men
Cauterize feelings because tears aren’t for the likes of them
Wipe your cheeks, son, lest you be thought a soft one
 
I only know one poem by heart. I learned it as a child and it’s pretty silly.

The Common Cormorant or Shag
Lays eggs inside a paper bag.
The reason you will see, no doubt
It is to keep the lightning out.
But what these unobservant birds
Have never noticed is that herds
Of wandering bears may come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.
 
Why I chose my BARF handle. A very short poem:

My name is Shaun
They call me Bubba S
I got some shoes
And my Mama's all dressed

All time favorite poem was one we were required to memorize in seventh grade:


I wandered lonely as a cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

-William Wordsworth
 
cheez said:
I wrote this a while back and am sharing it here with some trepidation.

"A world as hard as diamond"

How's a man s’posed to matter in this world we’re in...
Click to expand...

thank you for overcoming your misgivings and deciding to share. it’s bleak and painful, but also poignant and beautiful. took me a bit of time to process due to the bleakness, but it also captivated me for the same reason. one line that especially stuck with me ‘nobody teaches their children to care about men’. i can’t help wondering, in the same context of your words, does anyone teach men to care about themselves?

ultimately, it read as something of a prologue. there’s an important, and deeper story in there that could flow in so many directions.

tangent-wise, i never start at the beginning – usually somewhere in the middle, and then work backward and forward from there. i started similar with the current project i’m working on, and realized quickly that what i actually had was a prologue. first time. this reminds me of that, and gave me some inspiration. i care deeply about men and speak a lot in their voice. i know how presumptuous that sounds, but i try to observe, to listen, to understand – and to represent the various complicated facets and perspectives honestly. this is more food for thought. again, thank you.
 
I, too, think not only with my male mind, but also with my female mind. It’s a joy to experience both minds. Sometimes individually, sometimes simultaneously.
 
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