tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28856731195059111482024-03-05T11:10:21.774+00:00Ostensible TruthSurreal rambles from CrazyTown - "like Kerouac, Plath and Dali had a love child and named it 3 grams of coke"Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-87129737947389106612017-01-08T11:44:00.000+00:002017-01-08T20:04:42.858+00:00A Lesson in Melittology (or Tea with Plath)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40JX6urckAL-nhpi7vbQm6VjhxAb8qamsm8aOmqXHQxbR7gwOlob5cj76s2Km-0ntoozU722m50vdn-UO_cmCSBK0FycJsVypPHLhUSVtyJHNDHvsaGnOrogQ20kUWwstuighW4sRCz0/s1600/moon-waterk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40JX6urckAL-nhpi7vbQm6VjhxAb8qamsm8aOmqXHQxbR7gwOlob5cj76s2Km-0ntoozU722m50vdn-UO_cmCSBK0FycJsVypPHLhUSVtyJHNDHvsaGnOrogQ20kUWwstuighW4sRCz0/s1600/moon-waterk.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1">“You always made the best tea”, I confess. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Something in the method: fanning the bag </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In the cathartic lung space ‘tween spoon and china. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“you’re too new” she mocks, </span>“too shiny”,</div>
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<span class="s1">Indisposed in her sketchbook, tracing the tentacled yew tree</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Down to its most primitive honesty: its brutal </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Old-man nakedness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and child-bearing insect chambers</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Then down further still to where its bony roots gift hair to </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The all-seeing Undermoon-</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> “What of the Undermoon?” I start,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“Off topic”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> “and the yew tree?”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“salvation” </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> “and red?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“humanity.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> “Then what of sentience? Of masturbation?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> Of the lions we left to nurse the newborns?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“How round their heads would look in crowning jaw”. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">We bake, as usual,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Outwards -> in like Grandma did, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">though our cookies are never so sweet.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">“I don’t like eyes”, she offers after a pause.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“I have too many windows you see,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Too many stalls. Peepholes.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Too many cracks and crevices they can crawl into </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Like after-9 anti-gentlemen</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Hunting the Blood Egg.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">O eyes, eyes, eyes,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Hooking to me like pollen to the pelt of the fattest, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Most barren honeybee.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> “But what of the faces? The sockets they alight?”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“They would have me a table-top tragedian!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A pocket-sized Rasputin wound up to dance my</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ends again and again, a quavering filament </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">afire </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">afire </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">afire. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">O would you not just unplug it all? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Break from that wheezing old Undermoon?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What has it offered you anyways?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">For I have known the pain of sunrise, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">How it soars like a fist - </span></div>
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<span class="s1">A swift influenza </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Blistering the grassy worms that wriggle like</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Fingers on my summertide lawn. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">O tell me, would you not just unplug it all?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Detach from the great milky umbilical </span></div>
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<span class="s1">That holds us all distinct? </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>They</i> do not see, t</span>hey just do not </div>
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<span class="s1"><i>See</i>!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Poetry is no gift to beauty,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is an amputation. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">It is a funeral.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A grey hair. A gold tooth. A black leaf. A freckle.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is a death </span></div>
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<span class="s1">of part."</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">“You do not see”, she smiles.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“you just do not see.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">You’re too new.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Still just</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Too </span></div>
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shiny”.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-17112003217382260092015-12-23T15:16:00.000+00:002016-01-04T01:59:28.368+00:00On Regimented Nihilism and Stockholm Syndrome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://litstack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dandelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://litstack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dandelion.jpg" height="296" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>i. </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The flowers are not welcome.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">They are tuneless and crass, a greasy regiment</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Of soil-fed priests cutting deals with vagrants</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In their subterranean Duchy of undying Narcissi </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And blood-metal towers. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">They are headaches; </span><br />
<span class="s1">Tiny robots of precision, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Their sharp anvil teeth relentlessly grinding sun as sky-shy</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Invertebrates bathe indecently in the thick oil</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Of their ancestors </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Coagulating clot-like in the straw-drawn rivers</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Snaking around this Demi-kingdom of half-dead cigarette butts. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">(<i>I will not read the suicide notes they leave on the snowy cobbles, </i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>I will not.)</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>ii. </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">They are of the Oldworld, prejudiced by their pedigree </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And disfigured by their resolute nihilism. They care not for sentiment</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Or blithe being, y</span>et they are ubiquitous!</div>
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<span class="s1">A rotating sorority of predatory nurses cloaked in the</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Redundant asymmetry of their own spoon-fed asexuality. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">(<i>They ate all of the pigeons... they won’t come back.)</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">They have split my garden, </span><br />
<span class="s1">Ripped it blindly into a colour-coded </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Regime of repetition, the leafy giants lassoing bees</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Like furry humming balloons as laboured ants are held to order</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Along the cracked checkpoints of inertia. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">They are everywhere: a shoal of anaemic anaesthetists </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Rooted in the waters of my subdued cognition, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">But I will not join them! </span></div>
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<br />
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>iii.</b></span></div>
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I will <u>not</u> be that flower!</div>
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<span class="s1">That sickle-spined orphan of communism, </span></div>
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Shuffling heavy-leafed </div>
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Into a personal apocalypse of howling morality. </div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">I will not be that flower, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">That rip-roaring shadow of light-stem </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And endless eyes, </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">But I’d be the happiest prisoner...</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Swapping spit with Moscow as Father rapes the winterlands</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And the neighbours’ kids clap like geese </span></div>
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<span class="s1">With fat livers.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yes, I’d be the most obliging prisoner, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">A downtrodden god with a dirty face</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Knee-deep in reality and awash with the stains </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Of a pre-war dystopia. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh, I’d be the most forgiving prisoner,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Breaking my wrists at the Altar of Weeds and</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Content to accept the inevitable singularity </span><br />
<span class="s1">Of existence,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But I will not be that flower. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I will not.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>I will not!</i></span></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-80165828927587463372014-05-18T12:29:00.000+01:002015-12-27T02:05:29.060+00:00The Haste of Yellow<br />
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<a href="http://s1.bwallpapers.com/wallpapers/2014/02/11/yellow-wallpapers_093045444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://s1.bwallpapers.com/wallpapers/2014/02/11/yellow-wallpapers_093045444.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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Summer took the first bite.</div>
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<span class="s1">I recline, a bruised mushroom</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Peeling shamelessly in this musty kiln </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Of faceless wasps. I threaten to explode.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">To inflate to the size of a Roman God, all red-eyed</span></div>
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<span class="s1">With the sale of Pompeii; but the bite was non-committal,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So I retreat. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Only half-awake </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As It bloats recklessly along the suburban midriff, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Arms clouding a malarial sun that buzzes with the epileptic frenzy</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Of a light-drunk cicada. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It’s always been like this, </span><br />
Us sitting eye to eye, </div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As ugly as the other and skinless in a souring garden</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Where the day is a butterfly-eater</span><br />
<span class="s1">And August is a h</span>allucinogenic rash<br />
That paws at the inchoate peace we've built<br />
On dust caught out by prying sun-threads. </div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We have a difference of opinion you see;</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I wear my religion like a hand-plucked sheepskin, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">While it prefers to keep its in a loose jar that tolls</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">On the hour. We’ve come to an agreement of sorts... now.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But I dare not sleep, for once a year Winter feeds </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Its securities into the mouth of this obese child of heat</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And it once again dips its toes into the unchartered waters of </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Our contested sovereignty. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">One simply cannot underestimate the haste of Yellow.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">See how it stalks the scrawny tide-turners as they drag</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Their little pieces of sea across the land. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">See how it disorientates the lowly fireflies as they impersonate stars </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Around old whisky bottles. And see how it scratches</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">At my nuclear skyline of half-eaten curtains </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And vacant window-lickers. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This will not do, this flailing treaty of disarmament.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I will raise an army - exonerate the dissidents, and mobilise </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The curious little bone colonies that live like overfed lichen,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Gnawing on the shallow warmth of </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A noxious rockery. Have you heard them? </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">That despondent rustle of </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">rock<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span>upon <span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span>rock </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In earthy mimicry. They know too well the </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Realities of a world where you learn to cry</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Before you talk.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Then we will rally, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A chain-smoking march of the Empties, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Arm in arm and sewn together as we scale the shoulder-blades</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Of a foreign mountain and take Summer while it sleeps. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And then I will turn on them</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Where all can see</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And gobble them up </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">one </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">by </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">one.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">For this is a one thing.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We are a one thing. It is I, and I alone </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Who will raise this kingdom of white noise</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And compulsory sedation. Who will reinstate a monopoly of grey</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And paint a night that cloys like toffee.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">For grey sets the scene for a most panoptic introspection, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And I’m afraid our displacement is far more guaranteed than I’d hoped.</span><br />
<br /></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-82098170910416516682012-12-31T17:05:00.000+00:002012-12-31T17:05:21.918+00:00The Melodrama of Solidity<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5IdxSMKDQuxkVI-Rxsm8ZPdx_2jPgnSpajvyf3fhkxZK1igNjqBGVcev5Q-Uqz0B6wxSBsOZ75H6VkGZbafkjITHFZ9fq1YU4ClUyWbYt6IL6v5NFmpfkgyq4DzypPoX3v0QEb7qa1U/s1600/the+element+of+sea+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5IdxSMKDQuxkVI-Rxsm8ZPdx_2jPgnSpajvyf3fhkxZK1igNjqBGVcev5Q-Uqz0B6wxSBsOZ75H6VkGZbafkjITHFZ9fq1YU4ClUyWbYt6IL6v5NFmpfkgyq4DzypPoX3v0QEb7qa1U/s400/the+element+of+sea+.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The sky doesn’t laugh anymore,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But folds autumnal and crisp in our palms,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Papery and fish-bone thin;</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Its brittle horizon safer in copper resign,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As we ice things, sober on chalk, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All holes, friction and discontent,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hedge our clouds in a tumorous fashion - </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A windless artillery against this stale skyline </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of hopelessness and self-consumption. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We haven’t always sold our steam in rusted boats, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Landlocked in algal waters as brined mist corrodes our cobbled past. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We once feasted on charcoal, rain, and the maimed chime </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of Big Ben dressed in his best oily philosophy,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Breaking atoms along the ley lines with dirty feet</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And a wooden conscience. But now we drift, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Surrendering to the wars in shadows</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That breathe heavily on our starving eyes</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And slurp at the metal we sold our names for.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Earth has forgotten us. It lives on its knees,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Feral and drugged, suspicious of our hands,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the birds are nestless, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They fly like rocks, overloaded in submission and</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Judging in their applause. Though I will not feed them.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Not now, as we stand on the brink of Land’s End, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ensconced in the melodrama of solidity, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our discoloured empire draped in the sighs </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of a collapsing moon that has long since regretted us, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Violent and incoherent as we cut its hair at night.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“You have to smile”, they said, it makes it easier; </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though you can’t love in bone, and the hollow beaks</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Growing between our footprints threaten to unsettle </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our instability. We must embrace the tragedy of silence,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Grab it by its tail, and pin it to the naked masts, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wash our rags in the bones of blue,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And swallow the coal-bred depression </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Foaming in the dreams of the altar-less monks</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who fought so long for the nothingness we call our own.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No, no. The sky doesn’t laugh anymore, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And for that I am glad. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I fear a laugh would shatter our delicate state of </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Piecemeal rebellion and earthy resentment;</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I fear a laugh would undermine our alloyed sanctity,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And know too well how the stars became diseased </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All lonely in the closed mouth of day;</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And I fear a laugh would break the cold solidity we cling to,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mollusc-like and babe-handed.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though to break,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Could be a fine thing this undying night. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-----------------------------------------------------------</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It's been nearly a year since my last, so thought I'd finish this piece which I started quite some time ago and left. The brilliant picture is called "element of the sea" by Vadim Trunov, who has many great pictures here: <a href="http://www.outdoor-photos.com/photographer/273965/">http://www.outdoor-photos.com/photographer/273965/</a>. (copyright subsists in him). </span></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-8053292982747247662011-12-31T17:15:00.000+00:002015-12-27T14:46:45.085+00:00On Becoming Foam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The children always expect too much of the sand,</span><br />
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And I, too much of the sea.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But the surface is unbecoming and so we sit </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With shallow lungs and anchored ribs - </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Demoted from the waters - </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our strings in disarray; eyes tangled in an undone moon</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That dribbles wax soldiers on noose-ready trees and</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Blooms uncharacteristically on the beach,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Expanding like open-mouthed algae</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To suffocate a sky of driftwood bones and airborne souls, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Split by human alchemy and abandoned </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By milk lipped waves that fight us off with drunken tongues.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The water-people care not for our existence,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And know not of death. They end quite definitely,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Renouncing their bodies on the sharpest rocks, to become more than nothing</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But less than something, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A dusty residue lining the throat of a cold world</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That hums itself to sleep whilst feeding on metal letters </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And pivoting on a broken foot.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The water-people disregard our colours</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And steal to the surface at dusk with graveyards for skin,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stone eyes weary of the lost people - the children of mud,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who rise from the fog and line up along the cliff</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">To break the waves and escape their burden of ever after.</span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The sea-doers won’t help though... </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hands preoccupied -</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stitching carapaces and seaweed skeletons to the hinges of their limbs,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mouths sipping at the self-consuming lullabies lost in the ridges of shells</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Buried deep beneath the footprints of drifters.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They dress in death and smuggle their trinkets beneath the arms of water,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To plant in the loam of nothingness where they rest their being </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And tend to their dissolution in song.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I admire them from afar, fluctuating on the tallest outcrop,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sidling neurotically on a rock shaped like a horse and</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mumbling to the other rocks that tip-toe across my mind </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As we wait for the horizon to open its eye and swallow us whole.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I bow to the Princess of Japan, dressed in kimono dust, </span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Crawling on hands and knees towards the waves</span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After shooting down origami swans and ex-lovers</span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In an imperial pond of broken conscious.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I nod to the cliff-jumpers, dressed in skin, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Charging the blue and melting into the splashes of night.</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And then I regard myself: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">an expert in dust,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A fossil coiled around the white teeth of Dover </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That bite down on the bitter sand and call me home</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In a paper boat where I’ll crumble recklessly</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And candle-like,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dissolving</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To become merely the sea foam</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You’ll brush aside when going to drown...</span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">very loosely based on the Little Mermaid tale by Hans Christian Andersen (the darker non-disney-fied version) or more so this particular quote which I set as a prompt many months ago - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6fa8dc;">"We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love. We have not immortal souls and we shall never live again; but, like the green sea-weed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more.." - Hans Christian Andersen, the Little Mermaid</span></i></span></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-56697079830008457802011-09-03T18:08:00.005+01:002012-07-07T10:53:47.029+01:00Monday In My Eye<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I’ve a Monday in my eye,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bloated and cancerous,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sipping from my vision and obscuring</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The limpid cell I built myself,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With skinless walls and curtained bars. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I’m disappointed with my depression,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It promised to deal with the ghost I abandoned on the tube</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And melt the cystic snow that sticks to my face...</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But it hasn’t... and the evening </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Has misaligned itself across the ceiling,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Swollen and wheezing, its clouds unmoving -</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unbleachable and violent on the white-washed surface</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That bubbles beneath my nails.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">City dreaming is better than country dreaming, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was told by an old drunk pressed into a doorway crack.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The walls were better listeners he reasoned,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As we surveyed the neon night:</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The moths trying to find salvation in the burn of a bulb, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The crow smuggling stones beneath its wings</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After a one night stand with death...</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the candles...</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Crying wax tears whilst slowly eating themselves into </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Nonexistence.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anubis sighed when he found me, </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Drifting around alleyways trying to get lost,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My pockets filled with sand, hands dripping ink -</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Prints graffitied onto the brickwork canvas of a sharp city.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My travels were futile... and so I headed home,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Discarding the wrung out towel I’d used to mop the brow</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of a London in labour,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Birthing discontent and skeletal stars</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As the Thames devoured the corpse of summer</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And dribbled the sun along its chest.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I’m back to my window.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though it’s starving and bored of its view,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Refusing to take the crumbs I feed it</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When surfing the sill to see if the ground has gotten any closer.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I sit here... a tree with no roots,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clutching to an empty coffee mug that consumes</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The table-skyline hovering beneath my wooden fingers- </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A great civilization of shadows and light-specks</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Weaving around the pencil-buildings.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My leaves were displaced by the wind and my skull unlocked-</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brain replaced with a hive of bees</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who hide the alphabet behind their swords and whispers,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And tell me I must keep guard,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For you can’t trust the ants or people-flies...</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They’ll eat the sky and swallow the sea if left unattended.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbQ69Wtl3sINCM2Zr2SS59ki-27Nx3kPjEayDQ9Pq0aAFIipqOEYKiTqHIKw53mpH3e4e3iVpcIkmpCQBLam2MEDZVUO7VRPvF1YNRdZfxbHH7zK8xF1ZJm5RCgEopAjOuKJxj4Envx4/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-03+at+17.47.00.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbQ69Wtl3sINCM2Zr2SS59ki-27Nx3kPjEayDQ9Pq0aAFIipqOEYKiTqHIKw53mpH3e4e3iVpcIkmpCQBLam2MEDZVUO7VRPvF1YNRdZfxbHH7zK8xF1ZJm5RCgEopAjOuKJxj4Envx4/s400/Screen+shot+2011-09-03+at+17.47.00.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div>Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-48843105960485581162011-08-07T16:18:00.006+01:002012-07-07T10:53:47.028+01:00Boulevard Blackbird (Breakfast for One)<div style="color: #333233; font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The angels smashed all of my windows</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In an attempt to out-do the sky,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Then sat obtuse as gargoyles on the side of the city</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And poked around the sleeping stone</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">That rattled with dream-dealers</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And rubble addicts, inhaling pieces of fallen sky</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And injecting politics at Café de Paris socials,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Where society girls sold characters in the powder room</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And patched up vogue wounds with dollar tattoos.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The city welcomes all they say;</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">It doesn’t care who it swallows and breaks,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Its mouth-waves consuming country dowries </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And spitting out broken lego-men and plastic dolls</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">On rain-shattered gravel.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Some get a bone to hang on their wall</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">When they crawl back to their shells with a beat face,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But others find solace in the shade of a tenement slum fire-escape;</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Singing moon river to a crisp-packet puppet</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And melting into the cataleptic landscape</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">That plays tin-can melismas on cobbled floors.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Not Her though.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She was bored of picking up the sky,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And was on the road to disprove the ground,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A boulevard blackbird</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Rocking around to a city jingle of coins and keys,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Her eyes filled with ocean and left-over sun.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She preferred to live as a ghost on windows,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">With a back to front reflection that let her drift</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Around the city on glass without getting trapped,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Her feet kept firmly off of the pavement slabs</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">That snarled with cracked, soil-laced lips.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She drank her coffee in a haze of diamond smoke,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Before sipping at champagne shadows </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Under hollywood billboards and</span></span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Strumming guitar strings on a self-made window-ledge.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">To toast the aftershock of a double-dip recession,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She traced galaxies on her carpet and</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Painted the walls red with fingerprints and lips.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But her eyes were always fixed.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">With one on the highest tree,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And the other on the rain bird, plucking its own feathers</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In an ashtray as its soul was lost in city lights</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And it'd forgotten how to fly.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I only met her once, when the city was embalmed in dust,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And the angels'd decided it was open-window season again,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Throwing bricks through the panes so we’d all know </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">How it felt to live in the sky.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She'd packed her bags and was skipping down the stairs </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">When she stopped and whispered:</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">‘Some know themselves too well...</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And some learn too late to leave a crumb trail to find</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Everything they’ve thrown away.’</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">She sighed then, exhaling a little heart,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Before having breakfast with herself one last time in the big window,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">And flying away to get lost in the sky</span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">With all the other things people would never be able to love.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #333233; font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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</span></span></div>Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2885673119505911148.post-80918882544081351412011-07-24T16:04:00.000+01:002014-05-20T21:52:48.022+01:00Antiquity's Rose<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“There was a world...or was it all a dream?” (Helen)</span></span></b></i></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And there Homer traced the curves</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of Calliope along the walls of Troy, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Beneath a god-made diorama of a matchstick war, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where all were lit, and all would fall</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And yet I dream a most preposterous dream.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A dream where Troy is unbroken,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The lapis seas consuming themselves along virgin shores,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Helen sitting in the shell of her golden egg,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A flaming swan, fondling the sun</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That rests between her burning lips;</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Beauty entombed,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With sand-bled ringlets and moon-slaughtered robes,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But eyes of a chimera, of fire and ice, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fixed on the crinkled waves and paper boats, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That glisten on the horizon like stars </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On a fallen sky.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She sings Paris to sleep with cowardly tunes,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And decorates his dreamscape with tales</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of tin-foil lions, and men broken on rocks;</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Her gilded fingers </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(cursed with a malformed midas touch)</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Scraping the impenetrable walls</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As she retreats to her chambers, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A blood stained siren.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The gods descend to ready their thrones</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On the bones of man-made altars,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the ghost ships arrive,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The windup soldiers standing two by two,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thrown from the arc and</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Moulded from Olympian clay, their fate</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Carved into their breastplates by prophets of age.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“There is nothing alive more agonized than man </span></span></i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">of all that breathe and crawl across the earth</span></span></i></b></span></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">” (Zeus)</span></span></i></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">And there they crawl, from sea to wall,</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Soldiers born with rocks between their teeth</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And metal stitched to skin,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Volcanic glory bottled behind mournful eyes,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Which steam as blood pumps through lava-tube veins</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And Destiny drags their hollow limbs across the sand.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Many fall to Beauty’s mess</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">As she waltzes with Ruin atop the broken ramparts,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Lust smeared on naked walls,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">As Hector and Achilles battle</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">In shallow waters of the styx,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">An arrow through heel and sword through throat,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Bronzed death,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">As Apollo bleeds from Spartan mouths,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">And Aphrodite rips the hearts out of fallen men</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">To hang as windchimes over crimson seas.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The moon refuses to shine on fallen Ilium</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">And Helen sits dressed in shadows and pyre-smoke,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Her tears caught in an apple-core chalice,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">As a wooden horse made from the bones</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Of a thousand ships</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Rubs its back against a decade of death</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">And explodes beneath Homer’s brocade - </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Shattering the walls of blood</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">With sibylline precision,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Cassandra broken in prayer at the foot of a temple,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Her words hanging behind glass eyes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. The wind scatters the old leaves across the earth and the living timber bursts with new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.”</span></span></i></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">And there Helen sits</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">On the ruins of an empire,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">A blood flower blooming </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">Between the souls of Heroes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">And bones of Myth;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">Antiquity’s rose</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">Cutting the buds off of newborns</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">And scattering the ashes across the land</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">Lest she find another Troy to burn.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">Yet, when the dust finally settles</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span></span><br />
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">On a war-born vase,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">All that is learnt is how to fall</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">With melted wings and blinded eyes,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">For no man can catch the sun,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">But all would die trying...</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">---------------------------------------------</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br /></div>
Ostensible Truthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775793995809226782noreply@blogger.com24