tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-120054792024-03-13T15:21:05.910-06:00Hawk CircleOut of these living scars, we are born anew, and borne up upon these ancient winds.Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.comBlogger235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-22682320475771104052018-06-20T23:13:00.003-06:002018-06-20T23:13:40.076-06:00Across Inconstant Breath<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">Would that this skin</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">this frail armor</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">atop the husk of</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">slow departure - </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">Would that it held</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">against the teeth </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of night's maw</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">against the sharp</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">ache of claws </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">drawn down across</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">inconstant breath, </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">shivered tissue </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">awash in the sweat</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of fear</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">Doubting the wisdoms</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of the light world</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">augering ever deeper</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">into the droning</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">tones of our </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">voices repeating </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">that our ends will</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">not be the ends of us</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">Our dreams will not</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">explode like champagne</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">flutes against dark marble</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">as we disappear into </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">places beyond this globe</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">Shadows grasp and call</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">telling us the lies within</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">our hopes will soon enough</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">shine, soon enouogh gleam</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">as the sword we have always</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">felt at the nape of our </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">necks falls, and we are </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">made true at last, </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">finally honest in our </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">surrender and dissolution</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">By Patrick M. Tracy</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-5600943306612865762018-06-20T22:47:00.003-06:002018-06-20T22:47:39.322-06:00The Narrow and Brambled Path<b><span style="color: white;">By Patrick M. Tracy</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: white;">I have stood </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">at the edge of the bright plain </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">looking down </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">across the good, cleared land </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">and again </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">I have shown those fields my back </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">the gloom </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of the wood falling upon me </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">the dappled sun and shattered sky </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">the low chorus of trees </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">the stillness </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of the lonely path before me </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">and every step </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">breaks faith with something </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">leaving all promises undone </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">all ties unbound </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">but these </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">are the wages and cost of the journey </span></b><br />
<span style="color: white;"><b>o</b><b>f the beautiful silence </b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: white;">of the broken.</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-26506992591189534382018-06-19T08:56:00.006-06:002018-06-19T08:56:57.178-06:00Mortal Projectile Falls<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">These sweet oblivions</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">turn sour soon enough</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">All forevers going far</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">outside the colored lines</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">All grasping hopes doomed</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to slip across our palms</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The vision through the funhouse</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">mirror almost accurate to the twist</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The slew of all our hopes </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">bending back and darker</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The spiral breaking</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the limits of us sprung</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Hurtling further and stranger</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">our targets moving windward</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Aspirations turning to regrets</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">as our mortal projectile falls</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Predictable as mathematics into</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the bosom of the burying ground</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Less than half completed </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">far more than mostly broken</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">And perhaps proud of some small </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">triumphs we hold like talismans</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Against what bitter eons of night</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we may yet turn and witness</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">By Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-13314188161279474732018-06-17T20:48:00.000-06:002018-06-17T20:49:56.044-06:00Call the Hammers of the Whirlwind<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What tears away</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>like insect wings</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>inside the whirlwind</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and peels like lead </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>between the cylinder</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and the forcing cone</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>as the powder combusts,</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the noise like mundane </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>thunder kills the silence</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and perhaps something</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>more profound than that</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>within these shattered</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>spirits, fractured shards</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>no longer fit to hold </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the heady admixture of our</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>hearts' blood, discarded </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>in the gloom of blown </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>bulbs and burnt fuses.</b></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>To fuse the burnt black</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>embers, bulbs of our </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>spoiled garden blown and</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>sent to gloom, discarded</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>lives to which we once aspired</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>with every dram of blood in</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>our hearts, admixtures</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>turned foul, heads held</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>within hats we can no longer</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>pretend will fit, and shards</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>of pain fracture at the temple,</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>temples raging with spirits shattered,</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>all within us sighing with the hurt</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>of finding all profundity</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>slip from our grasp, something </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>eaten by silence, killed with thunder</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and combustion, leaving spent powder</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and dust where we once had firm </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>handholds upon the shapes and gears, </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the tubes and cylinders of the </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>mechanism of our world, the whirlwind</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>peeling the inside wings of our souls</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and leaving us little more than insects</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>below the hot hammer of the burning sun.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>By Patrick M. Tracy</b></span></div>
<b><br /></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-3422387350656620702017-07-21T18:18:00.002-06:002017-07-21T18:18:27.929-06:00About Science<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The density of objects </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">activations in space</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">voids within them as</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">they spin, a thousand</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">invisible quanta </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">things only made real</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">by thought, by a sort</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of faith that our</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">math can go where </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">our eyes cannot, that</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">our minds can transcend </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">what we can behold</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">But will we, sat at our</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">cluttered desks in ill-lit</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">basement rooms as the noise</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of a water heater ticks and</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">a central heating unit exhales</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">its stale breath upon us--will </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we behold something that can, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">in any real way, transcend all</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">that our minds have always </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">guessed, or will we be unable to</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">go where the flawed calculations</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of our mathematics gives way to</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">faith, to thoughts untethered and</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">unsorted, the quanta of our </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">dreams haunting us, invisible as</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the ghosts of extirpated species, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">just voids within that shared heart</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we pass between us, that communicable</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">desire that arises from the void, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">that unfilled and deactivated space, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">that question - are we no more than objects? </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Do any of our actions or assertions amount</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to more than a tumbling particle within the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">vastness of a cold universe?</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">7/21/17</span></b></span></div>
<br />Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-41305628692023649382017-06-20T19:41:00.002-06:002017-06-20T19:41:17.824-06:00Somewhere Beyond the Wheel<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">A Haibun</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The sound of the hawk’s talons as they click against the cement floor is sharp and crisp. The raptor moves carefully, head ducking, hard eyes scanning the empty and leaf-ridden floor of the abandoned factory floor. She studies the rusting press machine that once stamped steel into shape, her barred feathers shivering then going smooth. So effortless while in flight, she is tentative and shy upon the ground, hopping over the remainder of box end wrench. She hears the rustle of a rodent in the dark corner of the arching metal-sided structure, her whole body galvanized, her beak swinging unerringly toward the sound. </span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Exploding into the dim vault of the superstructure, the pounding of her wings echoes across the silent remnant of the production line. She dips, hearing the last, interrupted squeak of her quarry as her talons pierce it, crushing it to her smooth belly and bearing it aloft. The long, bright aperture of the loading dock door allows her to burst back into nature, into the tentative resurgence of sapling trees and brambles as they tear their slow holes in the broken pavement. The far treeline at the edge of the untraveled road allows her to disappear, to find a high, safe place above the ground. She holds the rodent against a tree limb, her beak partially open, her breath coming across a thin, pink tongue as she prepares to duck her head for the meal. There are no more white, crossing lines in the sky, no more strange drones and humming. The raptor doesn’t think about this, doesn’t reckon it. She simply is, the tip of her beak red now with blood.</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Echoing empty</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Ghosts of manufactured things</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">A song long finished</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">All the timid things</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Called back from far horizons</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">After titans fall</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">All these mighty works</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Just scars upon the darkened</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Immortal beast’s flank</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Where travels the wind?</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">What use, these songs, long ended? </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Words, with none to read?</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fc14c5e7-c84e-cec5-9400-2e27ca51368c"></span></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">6/20/17</span></b></span></div>
Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-43812945714505763842017-06-19T15:06:00.000-06:002017-06-19T15:06:33.850-06:00From the Screaming of the Gears<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The null space behind</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">what we thought was going</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to be our lives, those </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">strange and dusty storage rooms</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">outside of time and distance</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">where we wander for years, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">half lost and wondering what</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">door we went through to get </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to such a place, </span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">And there are no mirrors </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">there to see yourself, what</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">you have become and how it has</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">diverged from your dreams, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">how you have become a stranger </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to yourself, a ragged wanderer</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">with far-off eyes and a nervous</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">twitch, ears ringing in the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">constant tone of seared nerves </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">from the screaming of the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">gears of the machine we </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">have driven down into deep</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">holes in the night</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">And we walk out into the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">dusty last gasp of daylight after</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">eons in darkness, pallid oddities</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">unknown and believed to be extinct, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">living fossils to those we once knew,</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">squinting into the sky</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we'd half forgotten in our </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">time as troglodytes, our time</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">as prisoners in the subterranean</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">corridors between where we </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">aspired to be and where we </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">were, </span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">We, the sinners not yet damned</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">We, broken but not quite ruined</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">We, who have survived somehow and come</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">through the other side of the storm, still</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">almost us, still almost okay.</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">6/6/17</span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7e4972b4-c22c-cc48-fc45-4fcb1ea2758f"></span></span></b><br />
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Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-13262691081708115622017-06-18T14:24:00.002-06:002017-06-18T14:24:13.718-06:00The Bottom Edge of the Clouds<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">This ringing silence</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">this house, once filled</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">a place of voices now</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">gone silent, a place that</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">once echoed with the laughter</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of the fallen, shifted beneath</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the steps of those who </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">no longer walk this world</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The strange and willful</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">business of the day, the</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">loading of the dishwasher</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the clearing away of the</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">trash, the small task we</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">throw ourselves into as </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">if it had some meaning, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">some purpose greater than</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to nullify the strange </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">empty in the wake of </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">all these souls, now </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">gone beyond the veil</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">These long days when we</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">are fueled upon the fires</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we light within ourselves, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">seeking anything, any way </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to expel the thousand</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">screams building forever</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">at the back of our throats</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">to exhaust ourselves so that</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we have no more energy to </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">rip at our own breast in </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the grief we will not let </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">ourselves feel</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The grand and useless angers</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we find within ourselves, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">bonfires of our own souls as </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we rail against the trivialities</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of the moment, hiding behind them</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">so that the oncoming dark cannot</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">catch us for a time.</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">But the night draws ever darker </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">around our faces, and there are</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">no stars, but only the purple </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">light of the city reflected against</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the bottom edge of the clouds, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">and there is no escape for us, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we who live to rail against the </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">silence and know our own frailty</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">against the hands of fate.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">5/22/17</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-05573e39-bcdf-e169-82fb-9644c2f43b4a"></span></span></b><br />
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Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-83994256237910751562017-06-10T18:53:00.001-06:002017-06-10T18:55:07.807-06:00Haikus, 6/10/17<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Note: I taught a poetry class at Fyrecon this afternoon, and we did a few challenge poems during the participation segment of the class. These were the ones I came up with. The first two had no prompt, while the prompt for the third was "Fire".</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The heron’s neck dips</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Glassy water at lakeside</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Crickets complaining</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The sodden warrior</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>His boot caught upon the rocks</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Downstream from battle</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Hiss of burning sap</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>We create short-lived stars here</b></span></div>
<b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">In the canyon’s cleft</span></b><br />
<b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Patrick M. Tracy</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>6/10/17</b></span></span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-83316659516170736122017-06-08T10:21:00.002-06:002017-06-08T10:21:42.159-06:00Haikus, 5/15/17<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">I remove my shirt</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">flinching against the spring sun</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">pallid winter skin</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">The first arrow flies</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">well enough, it knows the way</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the fletchings whistle</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">I had forgotten</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the feel of grass underfoot</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">this warmth in the air</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">This day, filled with joy</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the feel of life awakened</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">of light after a long dark</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">At the bedside, dusk</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">remainders of winter chill</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the shadow of death</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">One who has traveled</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">a thousand dusty miles</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">will walk no longer</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><b><span style="color: white;">By Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c5376e55-8880-4f77-6d13-cf4038ae7f93"></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: white;">5/15/17</span></b></div>
Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-74466320553037116812017-06-07T17:58:00.000-06:002017-06-07T17:58:06.155-06:00Toward the Hollow<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brought to the point of blessed numbness</span></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">and beyond that, to this land of hollow eyes</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">and slackness of the jaw, of having no thoughts</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">remaining, no words to say to the passing stranger</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">upon the street, the impasse of the imbecile whose</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">very glance causes the sensible to flee, to avoid</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">that strange company of the hollow and wind-ravaged</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Ravaged as plains before the constant wind, of our </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">own company, we find we must condemn it as strange and </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">flee, finding more sensible climes and causes, but each glance</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">put the very lie to it, and we damn ourselves as imbeciles, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">this impasse of existing upon the same street every day, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the stranger in the garden, never passing but loitering, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">thinking not of the words that may fall from the jaw of the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">wise, but only seeking the slack time between events, eyes</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">turned toward the hollow of a rotting tire in the ditch, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">numb, blessed points of a rusted fender brought to stillness</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">at last</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">These long and lasting stiffnesses, ramshackle guitars with </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">rusted frets and pointed, hollow tone upon the turn of every </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">phrase, the events ill-attended and the few in the crowd slack </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">and seeking only the cheap beer of a workman's night, never</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">questioning the sad wisdom of the fall, the words without thought, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">uttered by the loitering stranger every day, from the hot and </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">pungent side of the same street we always seem to return to,</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we imbeciles, damned by the lie and the glance in the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">mirror that reveals that all sense has been lost, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the climes condemned, our </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">company bereft of charm as </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the wind's inconstant bellow aches</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">across the ravaged plain.</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">5/18/17</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-52842a6b-84fb-ec6e-058b-965557be88ff"></span></span></b><br />
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<br /></div>
Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-37445358465981559742017-05-22T13:01:00.000-06:002017-06-07T17:54:13.428-06:00Let These Reflections Be Hidden From My Sight<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The recognition of our own cruelty</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>that glance into a darker mirror than</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>we would ever willfully meet, our</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>eyes gone feral within faces we only </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>half recognize, that hint of a snarl </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>upon our lips as the low cunning of</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the lizard brain seethes up into the </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>light, grasping and clawing for what we</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>want, what we think we deserve as</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>night falls and our friends are few</b></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>And with few friends, we fall, victim</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>of the night and all deserved claw-shaped</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>defense wounds, grasping for the light </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>and seething with the blood our brains</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>can hardly process, no longer cunning but </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>merely snarling dogs without the hint of </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>recognition, only faces within the feral</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>departure into the dark mirror or our own </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>cruelty, willfully disguised, transfigured</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>like those glancing into hell</b></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>For it is a hell we make alone, looking outward</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the disguises we wear before our own estimation</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>cracked, the cruelty of our true selves reflected</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>the wild and unrecognizable, the beast with bared</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>canine teeth and more force than cunning, the </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>process of our descent like blood boiling from </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>lesions upon the brain, the light of us ebbing</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>wounds upon our flesh self-given with dull and </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>broken claws, the night our victim as we fall, </b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>finally friendless, even in our own company</b></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Patrick M. Tracy</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>5/17/17</b></span></div>
<br />Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-25938356565092858732017-05-17T18:37:00.002-06:002017-05-17T18:37:44.311-06:00Fallen<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">When the great beast falls, bloody</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">riddled with wounds and crying out with </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the pain of a long death, we shiver</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">upon the hot stone of a summer's day</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">just now fallen, considering how small</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">we are, how easily our own ends will </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">find us, and how ignominious our passing </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">will be in comparison.</span></b></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">A comparison between our passing and the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">ignominious, found structure of our small</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">consideration, death just a day in summer, </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">stone hot, and yet we shiver with the </span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">the long pain of our wounds, the riddle</span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">in our blood falling like a beast into the</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;">great nothing.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><b><span style="color: white;">Patrick M. Tracy</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><b><span style="color: white;">5/15/17</span></b></span></span></div>
<br />Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-6654698001530706572017-05-16T21:17:00.002-06:002017-05-16T21:17:49.205-06:00Those the Bus Did Not Carry<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-063f879b-1467-5984-4e1c-8af8e6a1f985"><br /></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>Beyond the thousand forgetting hours</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>we now come to a halt, downcast</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>without excuses or evasions</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>without the ability to shift</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>blame to ones departed</b></span></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>And the departed are not to blame</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>they, the shifting sands whose </b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>abilities we have long been without</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>whose evasions no longer excuse us</b></span></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>We, with downcast eyes, halted</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>for hours of forgetting, a</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>thousand things we lack aching </b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>in our flesh like shrapnel wounds</b></span></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>And wounds, self-made from the shrapnel</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>of the bombs we've built, our flesh</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>an aching carapace of lack, a </b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>thousand times as fragile as forgetting</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>halted hours and eyes hard upon </b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>false excuses held too long </b></span></span></div>
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>Evasions patently false, sands</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>shifted beneath our feet, blame </b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>stuck upon our shirts like the false names</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>of the departed</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>By Patrick M. Tracy</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><b>5/15/17</b></span></span></div>
<br />Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-58038156701514428812017-05-15T19:41:00.000-06:002017-05-15T19:52:04.486-06:00Broken Unison<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>We have been dreaming in unison</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>but those dreams have fallen into </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>disrepair, eaten away by the </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>persistent rust of the many days here </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>on the salted plain. </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Far beyond where we ever dreamed</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>we would go, further than we ought </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>to have traveled, we have yet to </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>find a suitable place to exist, </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>any palliative for the longing </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>we harbor within the dark and </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>stagnant reaches of our souls</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>And, to what end, these souls, </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>reaching into darkness and </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>further out to sea, beyond all </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>known harbors, rife with longing</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>for the ease of a simpler existence</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>unsuitable yet needy, wishing to be </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>found after long travels, scuffing</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>even further into the dreams </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>of that fabled beyond, </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Beyond the plain of salt and the</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>days of rust, persisting in our</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>exit, alive and half consumed with</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>disrepair, plunging into fallen </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>lands of dreams, inharmonious and</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>out of unison with anything</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>we once were.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Patrick M. Tracy</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>5/15/17</b></span></div>
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<br />Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-12637152989694207192012-09-30T14:27:00.004-06:002012-09-30T14:27:55.229-06:00Drag Strip Run Horizon-ward<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">These fields are remade</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">renewed upon our blood</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">nourished with the </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">strident calls of those</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">hurt and dying in the</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">smoke and roar of battle</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">all those invisible things</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">that yet linger upon the</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">cusp of knowledge, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">just beyond the horizon</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">we've surpassed in </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">haste and with eyes</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">closed, sleeping through</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">the unintended consequences</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">of our skill for rationalization,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">our hope for something greater, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">our sense that we are in some</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">way omnipotent, despite all</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">evidence to the contrary.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">And would we be contrary</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">or so adjudged, when we </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">chose to ignore the evidence</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">of all those who, despite</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">criticism, gainsay our </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">claims of omnipotence, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">somewhere hoping for sense</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">and purpose greater than </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">hope, given blindly into </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">rationalizations of our own</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">bad deeds, a skill for which</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">we have long since chosen</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">to ignore the consequences, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">nor even claimed that they </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">are unintended, but that</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">we are not through sleeping, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">that our eyes shall be </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">closed and our steps taken</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">in haste until we are </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">surpassed on our long</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">drag strip run horizon-ward, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">knowledge the cusp we shall</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">never linger upon, things</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">we find invisible always</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">obvious to all the rest, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">as red and raw as the battle's</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">roar and the dying hurt </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">of strident soldiers, undernourished</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">and giving blood to renew </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">and remake our fields.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">7/18/12</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-69597424389773720762012-09-23T12:38:00.001-06:002012-09-23T12:38:04.309-06:00Haikus, Written 7/6/12<span id="internal-source-marker_0.3641012467676674" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cooking off the haze</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">this lazy summer sunshine</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">the grass still rain-damp</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stick-legged wading birds</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">fill the shallow marshland pools</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">below bearded trees</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Atop the hill, people</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">rendered in miniature</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">faces indistinct</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">The goat herd surrounds</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">strange eyes mocking my footfalls</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">home so far away</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">The calm of morning</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">shattered in the hawk's screaming</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">sky glows, not quite blue</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Patrick M. Tracy<br />
7/6/12Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-75137430088238588432012-09-10T17:57:00.002-06:002012-09-10T17:57:55.402-06:00Soothsayer's Vision<span id="internal-source-marker_0.22677351832583492" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our divinations have shown us</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">a wonderland of lush grasses</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">and trees slowly waving in the</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">freshening breeze</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">All the features of a paradise</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">we have long since renounced</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">are there, out there at the </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">end of forever</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">A vision, this beautiful world</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">somewhere out there beyond</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">today, in the dreaming territory</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">after we're gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">7/16/12</span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-52078998291115624782012-08-27T17:48:00.004-06:002012-08-27T17:48:52.172-06:00Haiku Poems, 7/5/12<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2182287745098861" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Above and below</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">these clouds cover the mountain</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">claws in frothy sea</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">There comes an echo</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">noise of an eagle hunting</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">sun fights against gray</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nothing remembered</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">perhaps only this: pastel</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">brushstrokes in the sky</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the kanji</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">for this feeling, this moment</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">the rock wall--mist slick</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-77943960355873179212012-08-22T18:27:00.003-06:002012-08-22T18:27:44.153-06:00Cold Cathodes<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have seen the digital</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">artifacts at the corners</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">of all the faces in</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">my dreams</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have seen the whole</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">of our experience</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">ride, teeth set,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">into the uncanny</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">valley</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Awake in the night,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have peered at</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">my own blurred</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">reflection,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">afraid to put on</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">my glasses,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">For fear that, in</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">my own face, I would</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">recognize the haze</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">and pixellation of</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">a computer-generated</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">image,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">For fear that, sometime</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">in the night, when</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">the servers are backed</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">up and virtual</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">computers are reallocated</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">to new machines,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have become something</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">else, something</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">synthetic beneath the</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">flicker of my fluorescent</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">lights and cold cathodes.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">That I am no longer</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">anything more than</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">a facsimile of what I</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">was.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">7/3/12</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-89709342391651790342012-08-12T14:37:00.001-06:002012-08-12T14:37:17.002-06:00Once So Mighty<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6716331404168159" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The titan sags</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">slowly dragged</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">down to earth,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bloodied and</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hollow eyed</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">defeated by</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his own</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">coping mechanisms</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all the strengths</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that have served</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">him well for these</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">many years</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">turned against</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">him in the</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">end,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all those times</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when he could have</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">used the small</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">critiques that</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people were</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">afraid to give</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">him</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">looming so large,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">amplifying gravity</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at his feet</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">drawing him</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with brutal</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inertia toward</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his messy demise</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the titan succumbs</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his own weight</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">finally beyond his</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ability to sustain,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the simple drawing</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of breath a labor</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">beyond his grasp,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who was once so</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mighty on the</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">earth, and whose</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">voice shook the</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">air and made others</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tremble with his</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">force</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7/3/12</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-18057520234267799622012-08-05T15:34:00.002-06:002012-08-05T15:34:45.816-06:00Haiku Collection, 7/3/12<b id="internal-source-marker_0.22404510248452425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wind has been given</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unto the long, open land</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">purple clover blooms</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sparrows burst upward</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">out of the tangled hedgerow</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a sudden maelstrom</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the river's edge</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">old man, his face so wrinkled</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his eyes still fearsome</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The muddy hollow</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">catfish rises, swallows air</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sleek shape departing</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A leaf, bright with blood</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hunter follows, arrow nocked</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forest falls quiet</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last of the light</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an empty glass craves upward</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">autumn draws nearer</span></b>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick M. Tracy </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7/3/12</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-52858880349566388102012-07-28T15:54:00.003-06:002012-07-28T15:55:31.059-06:00Noises of Industry<b id="internal-source-marker_0.47529281210154295" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not hear</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the small sounds</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of calluses building</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">upon the palm</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not hear</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the noise of sweat</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as it comes down</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the brow</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not hear</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the hard-churning</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">heartbeats as</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the faceless workers</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">struggle up the</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">muddy hill with</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">heavy stones</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hugged tight</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to their chest,</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">slow rain falling</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from a leaden sky</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not hear</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">joints in the</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seamstress's hands</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as they burn from</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sewing circles</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all day in the</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hot, close, loud</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shop at the end</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of a shabby street</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All these small</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">noises of industry,</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of the business</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of people and their</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">uncounted efforts,</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are simply</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">humming against the</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">electric vitality</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of our promised</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">future</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simply the unspoken</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">predicate to a sentence</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we utter from rote </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">memory as we </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">run hard against</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the setting of the sun</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and trust to what</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we once thought</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">someone may have</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">said, something</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about destiny.</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7/3/12</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-70148728405908530852012-07-24T13:23:00.000-06:002012-07-24T13:23:07.475-06:00Without Lessons<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5708039507735521" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the fields</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of fire and</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">roses</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the two of us</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lie down beside</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the conflagration</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of petals blown</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on the wind</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of cinders</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">riven from bushes</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">both burning</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and burnt</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of histories</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unspoken and</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">without lessons</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of people we</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have not cared</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to know</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the fields</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of diamonds</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and basalt</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just one of us</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stands,</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">uncomfortable</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">against the</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">open vistas</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of sharp, jagged</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stone whistling</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the wind</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of coarse dust</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">riven from</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mountains both</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bald and eroded</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of stories we</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have remembered</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wrongly</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of wisdoms we</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have failed to learn</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7/3/12</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005479.post-53014119008929969592012-06-26T13:49:00.002-06:002012-06-26T13:49:23.261-06:00Dry Wind Prayer<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9004331903997809" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the foot of </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">these temples, </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">these edifices</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">arisen from the </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blasted land where</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">soil has turned to </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ash and rains have</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">failed for years uncounted</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we confront the </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obelisks of days</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">slipped from the</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">grasping hands of</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dead men with</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forgotten names, </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wrestling with the</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thoughts far too </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">large for our narrow </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">conception to frame</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we squint into the hot</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wind that blasts our</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">eyes and turns our</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cheeks to bronze, </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the sickness of the</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">land taking root in </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our own flesh as</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">year turn their slow</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cadence and the</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">memory of a whisper</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of hope </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">becomes</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a talisman kept</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">buried, glimpsed</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">only at the hour</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of midnight and</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">under the stars</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">upon nights when</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the desperation </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">threatens to overwhelm</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our final defenses</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and leave us </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">insane</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and we yearn to be</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sated, to be content</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and without our </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">accustomed pain </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for just one blessed </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">turn of the wheel</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but this life on the dry </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">land, upon this crucible</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">where we are rendered</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and made desolate </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">below the angry </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bronze furnace glare</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of the sun, </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is not </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here for our comfort,</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but for our edification,</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our torment, at turns</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our slow and arduous</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sojourn from innocence</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to experience.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick M. Tracy</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6/26/12</span></b>Patrick M. Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14366666601869757080noreply@blogger.com1