verbosity -- the perculator

Welcome to the perculator, our very own little literary section here at verbosity. This is where we share some of our readers' poems, stories, art, or whatever else they want to give us. If you want to submit, check out our guidelines.

Prophecy

Louis-Philippe Dextraze

Open your eyes... can't you see?
'twas all written in the prophecy
Wherever you go, you'll never be free.
Whatever you do, it will always be.

Twill surely never be
'Twas not written in the prophecy
All you can do is scream
When it shatters all your dreams

Your life, was long ago, charted
Your back again, where you started
You will die, head in hand
When you get a glimpse of the promised land

Reach for the sky
As much as you try
Twill slip trough your fingers
Like the birds of stormy winters

Reach out with your hand
For the shinny golden sand
But sadly you will see
that you're still not free

...from the Prophecy

Romance

Michelle Epperson

Romance is not
arrogant
It is not self
serving
Doesn't shout or
demand
And cannot hurt or
demean

Romance is so
delicious
It is mostly
unselfish
It whispers and
cajoles
And can nurture and
and carress

Romance thrives on
communication
Encourages eye
contact
Praises soft quiet
times
And moments which bring
love

coltrane

Carlos Reyes

she writes to me of erecting shrines
to purity
(and of her mother)
and the sound of this action --
the whisper of her hand pushing
a cheap ball point pen
across tiny slips of paper amidst the chaos
she's attempting to stifle --
is as clear to me as the sound of coltrane's
seeming ramble on

"out of this world"

the one i've been secretly carrying around

with me for years:

remedy for all those tears

yet to find a home

when she refers to my own recent declarations --

in these same present terms --
of the honesty of all those syllabic grunts
i've purged onto paper from out of the void
what reverberates between our silences is
'trane's own longing tenor wail

the gift of balance

grace

intuition for the safety of our synchronicity beyond time --
now or ever --
(or both)

the words she writes seem almost unneccesary
as i read them
possessed of ancient rhymes as they are
too precise for modern times to decipher --

in words and deeds --

they belong to the animals.

certain truths must never die.

Girlfriend

Michael Wojnowicz

the dark red bloodthirsty feline
pecks at the unsuspecting heart
of the leper....

loving -
fooling -
killing -

she plays

and leaves

If Love

Michelle Epperson

If love comes to you
Take the time
To notice
To feel
Love

If love stays with you
Be so aware
Always care
True love
Endures

If love should leave you
Let your heart
Feel the pain
Try again
Persevere

If love should return
With your soul
Embrace it
Experience the
Intensity

The following selections were all contributed by Ray Heinrich. In his own words, Ray "is an ex-Texas technofreak and hippie-socialist wannabe. He writes poems for thrills and attention, likes dogs, and owns a blue fish." Thanks for all your great work, Ray!

the same dragonfly

so today
the same dragonfly
sits on the azalea
the azalea to the right of the door to my house
and as i leave to go for groceries
the same dragonfly
a bright blue dragonfly
sits on the azalea
to the right of the door to my house

cleaning the attic

well
i should be
but i'm reading an old newspaper instead

it's a special edition of the new york times
with photographs
of hitler's assassination
of shera
standing on the granite steps
her hand
held straight before her as she shoots

waiting for you

i'm sitting in a bus station

it's 1969 and i'm waiting for you

our bus left 2 hours ago

i'm still waiting for you

how far away it was

i'm standing over my father
in the hospital
he's stopped breathing
i'm holding his neck
and shoulder
and i've been rubbing them
because he always liked that
and it's the best i can do
while i'm waiting for him to die

waiting for his next breath

and it comes

and another

and then

i'm waiting for his next breath again

and i count

one thousand and one
one thousand and two
one thousand and three

like he taught me
standing in our garage
watching a thunderstorm
on the gulf coast of texas
sometime
when i was maybe six
he taught me to count
between the lightning flash and the thunder
taught me to figure out
how far away it was

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