The Liturgy of the Bull in the China Shop

Be it decreed this bone-headed smithy is the unflinching idiot of idioms
Lexical regurgiltical flim flams emanate from this, the mentality flawed
Whoa Nellie sayeth he, whatever does that shite mean?
It isn’t, no truly and honestly it isn’t.
It is the understanding of the beautifully incapacitated mind
Understood by beautifully creative minds to see capacity sensationed above then under-mind
This is to mean one means this and the other means that and neither is meant to be mean
If you get the meaning.
This vocality (noun: that place where the utterance comes from before the thought is fully articulated)
Is taken at the word whatever
What is experienced is the utterance of the miscommunicated
The cause of the excommunication
Oh what a jumbled word is weaving back and forth till meaning is lost
And in exasperation exaggeration the peddle puddle of explanation excoriation
And is stripped raw
Splat flat falls Jack again for another time passed to try
Forgiven forgotten Jack does not shirk but could mope
Upon my word!... meaning this thing we misunderstand
Verbally it is said unto you subscribe to this
For no harm save harmless is intended
For to do so would render one no heart, the heartless of…
Oh!
 
(Dear Lord, why ever do I get so sensitively confused (just saying), Amen)

Filament

These strands join us all

A single unity

A web with life

With joy and hope

And we can be lonesome

And frightened

This is to be celebrated

For we know we need

And we can weave these filaments

To texture existence

A cloth of the whole

A thread pushed

Will only bend and fold

Let me pull you to me

And you pull me to you

And together

We will knit a fabric of one
A blanket warm to wrap and protect

Danielle

Life!

I was sitting here wondering

This new borne scent

What is it…

Life!

I missed it sweetheart

From so far away

And yet I felt it

Touching you

Across digital miles

A breaking heart

Craving a touch

Feeling your life

Knowing the joy

Seeing familial pride

A memory place

And one I have never grown tired of

My love lives there

Life

I’ve missed the scent

Yet knowing you are here

In this world

A short connection away

My life is that much better.

Blessed.

Learning to Read by Franz Wright

It's not often I feature other's poetry here but Franz Wright's poem touched me.  I've made a point of placing the entire page from the Knopf (e)mailing.  I am hoping I am not breaking any copyright rules here.  Every April Knopf publish a Poem-A-Day, in celebration of Poetry Month.

A window onto the childhood of Franz Wright, who turned sixty last year and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for Walking to Martha's Vineyard. This poem appears in F, his newest collection. To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link >>  Learning to Read If I had to look up every fifth or sixth word so what. I looked them up. I had nowhere important to be. My father was unavailable, and my mother looked like she was about to break, and not into blossom, each time I spoke. My favorite was The Iliad. True, I had trouble pronouncing the names; but when was I going to pronounce them, and to whom? My stepfather maybe? Number one, he could barely speak English - two, he had sufficient cause to smirk or attack without prompting from me. Loneliness boredom and fear my motivation fiercely fueled. I get down on my knees and thank God for them. Du Fu, the Psalms, Whitman, Rilke. Life has taught me to understand books. More on this poem and author: Click here to learn more about Franz Wright's F. Browse other titles by Franz Wright. Visit our Tumblr to share this poem and peruse other poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in our Knopf Poem-a-Day series. This year we're hosting a contest called "Portray Your Love of Poetry." Submit your entry!  Buy the Book Excerpt from F. Copyright (c) 2013 by Franz Wright. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, LLC., New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Connect with Knopf        Knopf | Doubleday | Pantheon | Schocken | Vintage | Anchor | Nan A. Talese |Everyman's Library You have received this message because you are subscribed to the Knopf Poetry newsletter. To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please click here. Copyright © 1995-2013 Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Random House, Inc., 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019 View our privacy policy.

Shoulder

We assume nothing, or at least we shouldn’t

These are strong and will bear much

The links are strong

Strained tenuous for pain

And they are their there

For any and all with need

To push hard in to the solace solid

We will remove obstacles as one

To wrap close and hold

These do care

Yours for you

They are connected to this strong heart

Because you need them

As we do

 

Sailors Warning

The day is starting gravely

With majesty

The full night moon diurnal

Falling behind

The first day of autumn

A pillared tension cumulates

It is coming

Streaks of light

A sun prism blood red

It is coming

The day is attitude dark

The warning

A flash, another, discordance

Ignitions of passion

The match has begun

Torn asunder

And tears hard and cold

Then soft, then warm relief

And stopped.

This too has passed

As it always does

This sailors warning

Turned welcomed

The now warm autumn sun returns

And soon the moon too shall now chase it

Balanced swings the pendulum.

Godfrey

From the back of this sales soiled edifice he floats in

A vision in white

One can hear the cloistered choirs sing his praises

The light backdrops his silhouette, angelic

As swirls of pet hair, and dust, and dander

Frame his approaching dumpling shape

His eyes come clear first

Flitting orbs magnified in bottle bottom

Spectacles of self-confidence

Here is this gift to the cleanly toilers all

His single golden lock flopped askew

He takes it between his fingers

And combs it over

“Now madam, what shall I do for you?”

I need a vacuum…

“YOU MADAM DON’T NEED JUST A VACUUM

YOU NEED A VOLTA CLEANSING SYSTEM CANISTER VACUUM MACHINE

1300 WATTS OF SUCTION SO POWERFUL

YOU WILL BE THE ENVY OF ALL

AND THIS WEEK ONLY $185 BUT

THAT’S NOT ALL, NO NOT AT ALL

WE WILL GIVE YOU A SECOND VOLTA

IDENTICAL TO THE FIRST, THAT’S TWO MADAM

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE”

Why would I need two, I need only one…

“AND WHAT EXACTLY WILL THE LITTLE MAN USE

MADAM

IMAGINE YOUR DAYS TOGETHER BLISSFULLY SUCKING THE DIRT FROM YOUR RELATIONSHIP

MADAM

BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE, I SHOULDN'T REALLY DO THIS BUT,

WE WILL ALSO GIVE YOU THIS HANDY HAND VACUUM

FOR THOSE SPILLS AND THRILLS

AND WAIT, EVEN MORE, THIS STEAMER FOR THOSE HARD AND NASTY STAINS

ALL THIS FOR JUST A MERE $185 MADAM

YOU CANNOT GO WRONG"

Tiny pudgy hands on short arms punch to the sky...

"...WHAT-A-DEAL!”

“BUY NOW”

Bye now.