TABLE OF CONTENTS - POETRY, page 3

The Meeting - ©Wallace Rhodes
You - Paul Nachbar
Sugar Kicks - A. J. Nordström
I'm On a Cloud - A. J. Nordström
Business Haiku - Paul Nachbar
Potential volume "A Poet's Guide ", section Geek Haiku - Paul Nachbar
Sometimes - Paul Nachbar
If You are Lucky - Paul Nachbar
Jill - Paul Nachbar
You Know You Are - Paul Nachbar
When in Rome - Paul Nachbar
When in Rome - Paul Nachbar
Often They Don't Say - Paul Nachbar
Life Without Laughter - Kay Lindgren
The Air ,The Air, The Atmosphere - Paul Nachbar
Rosa Azul - Jorge González López
Palabras - Jorge González
Two Cats - Jon Marin
Crimson Persimmon - Kay Lindgren
Bones of Steel - Karen Lindgren
When You Turn the Page - Maria C. Faverio
The Thought of God - Maria C. Faverio
The Inner Song - Maria C. Faverio
Tomorrow's Another Day - Sascha Valdez
Useless Haika - Paul Nachbar

The Meeting - ©Wallace Rhodes

The eternal silences were broken;
Hell became heaven as I passed.
What shall I give you as a token,
A sign that we have met, at last?

I'll break and forge the stars anew,
Shatter the heavens with a song,
Immortal in my love for you,
Because I adore, we belong

Your voice shall mock the old and wise
Your laugh shall fill the world with flame,
I'll write upon the shrinking skies
The scarlet splendor of your name.

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It's not
That you're not
Pleasing
Or reliable;

Now
Help me
Sunshine
My most pleasing
And reliable
Of friends.

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Sugar Kicks - A. J. Nordström

Sugar kicks
Kicks inside of you

Something's kicking
inside of me too
It's kicking in my head
in my stomach
in my singing heart

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I'm On a Cloud - A. J. Nordström

i'm on a cloud
in a cloud
in a cloud of stars
a cloud of clouds of stars
feel so molecular
feel so sub-atomic

feel so great

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Business Haiku - Paul Nachbar

All is just business
If really all just business
Well...another trap.

Just do it, she said
What she really meant here was
Just listen to me.

If all followed rules
And everyone behaved
Nothing would get done.

Life is quite unfair
In more ways than one can count
Oh, kill a hamster!

Always I am poised:
Heroic death, heroic
Life or else my couch.

It is rarely here
How much money that one has
But how you use it.

All work and no play
Excellent strategy here
Keeps morons away.

Never say never
Great and wise man once had said
Of course he's now dead.

Some terms are priceless
Though quite hard to calculate
Genius, Jack or Jerk?

Beneath the lists here
And flows of prices, products
Know that it's all nuts.

All get something or
Some get all.. all get nothing
Oh well, what happened?

It is not whether
One becomes corrupt or not
But the intentions.

Honor blessed nuts
Doing volunteer missions
Occasionally.

Some can't think here, some
Can't feel here, some can't dream here
But all can count here.

It is life's disgrace
There's no Real without the Fake
Don't get too upset.

Water is quite pure
Room quite clean and all well groomed
But what about the heart?

The metaphor is
Not quite what it really is
But how different?

Loving what you do
Sometimes better than money
Sometimes really not.

You don't go broke here
Underestimating folks
You just lose your soul.

Theory and practice
Maybe oil and vinegar
There's few great salads.

When all else fails they
Summon doctors here to fix
A business problem.

Too much too little
Folks will not always tell truth
Or always tell lies.

Not all is business
But little just not business
Clouds can be quite lovely.

Ah, you are insane
Not bad or good, oh well that's
Great for some business.

Where the pain came from
All can readily explain
Does anyone know?

People are people
Sometimes very good to know
And sometimes just not.

The man of leisure
And the man of toil always
Jealous of other.

Bad business advice
Is altogether common
But who can help it?

Some stuff is simple
Other matters not at all
Who knows everything?

Well King Midas thought
Himself great at business
Shortterm solutions..

Knowledge is power
He said with mighty thunder
Should have said, relax.

Remember here that
Anyone can be stupid
Especially yourself.

Some sanity is
Often worth it's weight in gold
Few will pay for it.

Yes, life is easy!
He showed me the great mansions
Yes, but all these cracks?

When all else fails here
Perhaps best to be a swine?
But it will haunt you.

Simple slogans here
Are the last resort of those
Who lost all of it.

Sports injuries will
Earn the love of many here
Were we all just fools?

Learning from mistakes
Rarest of abilities
Costs get infinite.

Man is often weak
Beneath the mighty facades
Good, bad,human.

Ah, the Book of Job
God and Satan versus man
Quite irrelevant?

A word to the wise:
None take wisdom for long
Off to watch some TV..

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Some stuff I wrote this morning for a potential
volume "A Poet's Guide To Handling Stress
and Boredom", section Geek Haiku.

Paul Nachbar

Good with physics or
With women, oh so rarely
WIth the both of them.

Too good with any
Stuff and they will say here,friend
You will pay for this.

Deep down all fields will
Eventually unite-in
Bathroom and bedroom.

No it is not me
The world is very stupid
Oh, conspiracy!

God may or may not
Have had all to do with this:
Someone was sneaky.

I make the theories
He said and she liked it too (or vice versa)
Now make some money.

She's not as stupid
As she thinks he thinks she thinks
He thinks she is.

She might not care here
What he looks like..other things..
Why THIS with the socks?

IQ mostly means
I want to Quit doing here
What they told me to.

Am I smart enough
You ask, already too smart
For your own good, pal.

Among dead end streets
And paths leading bad places
I work at haiku.

I took poetic
Forms here from the Japanese
I could not help it.

A poem a day will
Keep psychiatrist away
Ah, but could this pay?

Self help books mainly
Help the ones who wrote them
A little secret.

Man likes to argue
Argues mostly with himself
Anyone quite care?

Dogs often will bark
So they hear themselves barking
Anyone bark back?

Yes there is hope here
There are always solutions
But who said sane ones?

Insane, she said, in
The M-Brane- well, was she
A phycisist too?

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Sometimes - Paul Nachbar

Sometimes they will catch
The ones who fall between cracks;
Sometimes they're catching.

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If You are Lucky - Paul Nachbar

If you are lucky in
This life they'll let you say
Wait a minute, please.

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Jill - Paul Nachbar

Yes she can cause a
Brain tumor with her wit but
She will cure it too.

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You Know You Are - Paul Nachbar

You know you are a
Character in my play but
Am I one in yours?

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When in Rome - Paul Nachbar

When in Rome they say
Live like Romans..didnt' say
Romans are insane.

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Took Them at Their Word - Paul Nachbar

Took them at their word
Said the quadrapalegic
Yes, go break a leg!

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Often They Don't Say - Paul Nachbar

Often they don't say
Before the parachute jump
There might be some stress

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Life Without Laughter - Kay Lindgren

Life without laughter:
a glass of flat ginger ale,
insipid sipping.

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The Air ,The Air, The Atmosphere - Paul Nachbar

The air is filled with lies, he said
She said, you breathe too deep so just relax
We are alive and they are dead
Perhaps we dont' know all the facts?

The air is filled with lies, he said
Though this perhaps is not all real
They say here I cannot exist
Unless I make some sort of deal.

My friend, she said, you think too much
And one must work to pay the rent
Who says that all is always good
Or that answers will come heavensent?

Yes, words, he said, are always thick
In garret, office or the park
Somehow they always make me sick
And I am dying in the dark.

Its just a game, and nothing more
Perhaps, she said,don't feel too much?
In business, well, who ain't a whore?
I guess I'm somewhat out of touch.

I dug my grave and jumped right in
He cried out loud, what have I done?
To so obsess about great sin
When, like yourself, I needed fun?

It's not so bad, she said at last
You do what you're supposed to do
Why linger in the distant past
As if to find here something new?

He laughed, perhaps here I have lied
And should have stayed in that fine school
The vacuum's greener on the other side
Ah, I shall learn here to be cruel!

It's just my mood, he said, quite odd
And there is nothing one can do
She said, now still, I'm much the same
Imagine..utterly like you.

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Rosa Azul - Jorge González López

La rosa azul
es aire tibio
en labios de mujer bella.

Translation

Blue rose - Jorge González López

The blue rose
is lukewarm, sweet-sounding air
on beautiful women´s lips.

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Palabras - Jorge González

Las palabras abren un libro
por la puerta de tibio hierro
que un fuste hermético
tiñó de invierno.

Luceros cabalgan en muros hídricos,
palancas que mueven la luna
de sus tristes adentros.

Hay goce en pronunciar un verbo,
en atormentar un átomo seco
con gotas de lavanda.

Hay sensación de fenecer
en la augusta presencia
de un lirio.

Pero tu voz nace hielo.

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Two Cats - Jon Marin

He is an altered Maine Coon,
And she's a spayed shorthair, half his size,
Lying on her side
At the edge of the rug.

He lies down on the fringe
And snuggles tightly to her --
His chest pressed against her back,
Her head nestled beneath his chin,
His paw draped over her.

They purr loudly in unison --
A feline fanfare announcing to the walls
That the safe little hearth
That they build and keep warm
Has vanquished isolation
And thawed the existential freeze.

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Crimson persimmon
pierced by knife's pointed insult -
heart bleeds through thin skin.

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Bones of Steel - Karen Lindgren

I am not thin.
I don't weigh just a little.
Today, I win:
My bones will not be brittle.

I told them so!
I've known it all along.
The skinnies, though,
insisted I was wrong.

Built like a queen,
I am no feather weight.
Now I'll be seen
forever standing straight.

My legs won't break.
My back will never swell.
My head won't peak
like a turtle's from its shell.

As every cloud
a silver lining has,
I now walk proud,
bear poundage with pizzazz.

Big is not bad.
Just ask me how I feel.
I am so glad
to have these bones of steel.

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When You Turn the Page - Maria C. Faverio

Faceless river
drowns my memories
in mud of forgetfulness,
fire burns them
to a heap of ashes.

That is where water and fire
reconcile -
time’s wear
tramples every blade,
grass will be yellow
when you turn the page.

Matter and anti-matter
meet like Greek masks,
one laughing,
one crying,
paradoxical play of opposites
joining into frosty smile of indifference.

Following the coiling syntax of the snake,
past and future cross
in the agony of the present,
scornfully spitting
at philosophical attempts
to discover their selves.

When you turn the page
tomorrow will just be
a bunch of yesterdays.

The Sphinx has thrown
her tarot cards
in the fire,
ashes of time.

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The Thought of God - Maria C. Faverio

A thought
drifting away
like an unwritten poem,
pale as an unborn child -
this thought
is the thought of God,
the labyrinth with a square centre,
where souls sit and wait,
and don’t know
what they are waiting for.

Maybe a sign,
the shifting tangibility
of the ultimate truth,
the edge of things
lost in lanes of memories
white as hospital halls,
longer than a sleepless night
full of pills
and blue dragons.

Or the unspoken word
that makes a difference,
spanning shards of self
that betoken unity
where there is none,
pretending harmony
like a horde of chaotic stars.

The thought of God,
the unmoved that moves,
the unconcerned that concerns,
shakes souls
and hope
and what cannot be defined
by fallacy of words.

It is the white sphere,
glass sphere
embracing the whole,
smoothing angles
like hand of artist
tired
tired
tired,
but eager to finish,
complete the masterpiece
that implores to be completed,
like a persona
in search of an author
or the circle
without pi.

The in fieri trembles
when the truth
shines through.

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The Inner Song - Maria C. Faverio

This inner song
is an oratorio,
not a ditty
or a nursery rhyme.
It is solemn as a Pietà,
majestic.

What does it deplore
through its tuned chiaroscuro?
Glitter of chaos?
Extravaganza of stars?

It is a refrain
hectoring simplicity of mind,
tarrying among soothing amnesias,
turning them into fire of memories.

The splendour of this oratorio
is an ignis fatuus,
my own Requiem,
echoing in the necrophilic sky
like the big bang.

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Tomorrow's Another Day - Sascha Valdez

What blue rain falls on my skin
And all the good people that died
Their death took the whole world's hearts within
All because of someone that lied.
On the corner is a girl who sins
With her occupation being only her body
She said she's tired of life..she must be tired of something.
What gives you the right to judge her and be so haugthty?
Maybe we are all just puppets in a mad man's dream.
Maybe we are candy raindrops melting down.
This is reality cold and hard it seems.
And these days it is hard not to keep a frown.
Tomorrow's another day
A chance to start over
Or so they say
But we still can't fix yesterday
Tomorrow is yesterday with just a delay
Tomorrow's another day
Another chance to pray
Or so they say

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Useless Haika - Paul Nachbar

All a comedy
And all of it tragedy
And all simply life.

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