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buried under the coffee table



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Mon Mar 27, 2017 6:08 pm
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niteowl says...



"I never had bad breath after my father died."-Fred Meijer

I made it last year for the first time. Will probably have a lot of the same angsty themes as last year, though I do still have my LMS story-poems to write. Also I have a tendency to add the backstories/inspiration here, so you'll really get into my awesome thought process.

The quote above is from the late CEO of the retail store I am currently working for. At orientation they gave us this booklets of his quotes. Most of them have something to do with customer service or management, but then...there's this one.

the (non) master of my own (sham) destiny (2016)
often wandering, still quite lost (2015)
Niteowl's Nest (2014)
Niteowl's Nonsensical Nothingness (2013)
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 03, 2017 6:54 am
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niteowl says...



So this is my LMS poem for this week. This poem needs to be so much better since this is basically the short story I liked enough to extend, but in poem form. You can find more information about the overall project here: The Transformation of Isabella: Niteowl's LMS. And yes, there will be a Part 2 to this, hopefully later this week.

April 28, 538-The Dance

The Princess left us with orders
to clean her quarters, then clean them again
until not a speck of dust remained.

We dove into every crevice a hundred times,
hoping to satisfy her
but knowing she would find something nonetheless.

Elena declared that we were done
and opened the closet door.
She pulled out a gown of gold
and ordered me to tie her up,
seemingly unafraid of getting caught.

As I laced up the dress,
I found myself entranced
by the constellations of moles on her back.

She found a dress of finest violet,
declaring that I was meant to wear it,
though I am but a servant.

We weighed ourselves down with jewels
until we shimmered in the mirror,
our reflections from another world
where we had been born ladies.

Now dance with me, she whispered,
leading me across the room
as if she'd done this a hundred times before.

Her arms fit me as well as the gown,
and when her lips met mine,
I know I should have pulled away,
but I didn't.
I didn't want to.

We only pulled ourselves apart
when the princess walked in.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 03, 2017 7:13 am
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niteowl says...



warning signs

Bridge may be icy

Funny, it didn't seem so slippery
back in September.
I should have noticed
when people stopped asking how I was,
when they stopped inviting me to lunch.

Clearance: 14 ft. 10 in.

I never understood the purpose
of those signs. You see them
far too late to turn the semi around.
Just like I didn't know I couldn't fit in my cubicle
until they handed me a box and a list of reasons.

I fall down under the weight of
I should have known.
I am scarred by the feeling that
I should have turned the truck around,
even though I didn't see the signs
until I crashed into them.

Spoiler! :
This is a mish-mash of real world objects symbolizing life stuff. So I got fired last October, and in the aftermath I realized there were a lot of signs that it wasn't working out that I wasn't aware of until I got my negative performance evaluation. I've also been on the road a lot lately, so I've been thinking about road signs, especially bridge clearance signs. Like how is that supposed to work? If the truck's too tall, would you even see it in time to stop? And even if you did stop, wouldn't that just cause a big accident? Yeah, I don't know. [/ramble]
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:00 am
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niteowl says...



aimless guilt

it is just past noon
and i have barely awoken,
yet i am heavy with a burden
i cannot name.

it is as if i am ten years old again,
confessing my sins into a silent flame.
i know not what i have done wrong,
but i feel the need
to apologize for existing.

Spoiler! :
Yes, this is a bad poem because I feel compelled to explain it. It was inspired by this morning, when I had this strange sensation of guilt for no clear reason. The confession into a candle flame is from my Greek Orthodox background, where I did confession once as a child. You're in a room with a priest and there's a candle between you, and you're supposed to talk to the candle like it's God or something. I know it's a bit obscure but I felt it fit the feeling of the poem, so blah.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:05 am
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niteowl says...



a most pitiful tapestry

if our stories are tapestries,
then mine has become
so knotted and stained
that no one should look upon it.

any image it once showed
has torn apart or faded,
leaving only abstract hints
of a story worth telling.

i want to scrub it all away,
weave myself out of existence,
so no one has to try
to read my tapestry again.

Spoiler! :
Oh look, one I actually sort of like, even though it's depressing. I'm not feeling quite this bad these days but I wrote something a while back about wanting to clean myself out of the carpet. I rather like the line so I ran with it.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:46 am
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niteowl says...



heartbreak by the lockers

i could live a thousand years
and never know heartbreak as pure
as the day i saw tyler
with the perfect blue eyes
kissing his girlfriend in the hallway.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:49 am
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niteowl says...



Sometimes I wonder
if you change the station
when that Coldplay song comes on,
but you don't, do you?

Sometimes I wonder
if you kept the letter
I slipped under your door,
but you threw it away, didn't you?

Sometimes I wonder
if you ever search for traces of me
among the pixels of social media,
but you don't want to remember, do you?
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Thu Apr 06, 2017 5:15 am
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niteowl says...



tell me darling (16+ for mature content)

Spoiler! :

tell me darling,
do you still smell my perfume
on your sheets
from the nights you swore
that you belonged to me?

tell me darling,
do you still see my eyes,
the ones you said were like the sky?

tell me darling,
do you still hear how you whispered
her name into my ear
while you were on top of me
and i knew the truth?

tell me darling,
do you still taste the wine
from the glass you never finished?

tell me darling,
do you feel my stilettos
digging into the grass above your grave
in the place where angels cry and devils dance?


Spoiler! :

This one was inspired by the "tone" pre-NaPo jam run by @Nikayla. I was given the tone of "macabre".

[/spoiler]
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:43 am
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Virgil says...



o: I remember that! I'm glad you got something out of it! I enjoy this poem quite a bit, actually, I think it fits the prompt well.

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Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:39 am
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niteowl says...



From a jam. Image prompt: http://www.asofterworld2.com/index.php?id=11

The Groom

i am alone at the altar
waiting, waiting.
the crowd's whispers are
growing, growing.

she said money didn't
matter, matter,
but the ring i got should have been
bigger, bigger.

there's no one left, but i'm still
standing, standing
under the church bells
watching, watching.

The Bride

i dreamed of rings and champagne
and a pure white dress
on a perfect sunny day, just like
i had always wanted as a little girl.
but the ring seemed too small
and it was raining.

your kisses sent me
into the stratosphere,
but your bank account didn't match,
so i couldn't stay.

now i have a richer man
and he gives me all that i ask for,
but on my coldest nights
i hover over your name in my phone
and wonder what would happen if i called.

you gave me your heart and soul.
i was a fool to want more.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:42 am
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niteowl says...



Image prompt: http://www.asofterworld2.com/index.php?id=18

i have left the shoreline
of my prison. unlike orpheus,
i will not look back. i don't want to remember
what lies behind me. they will pretend to worry,
but they would prefer i drown rather than make it

to the world i have only seen in books and tv shows.
i can only hope that it will be kind
to this little island girl, or at least not as cruel
as her own father.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:43 am
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niteowl says...



Line from @Nikayla's poem: as he steps outside into the smouldering desert, feeling foolish.

he was a fool to believe
in anything but the sun, the sand,
the heat branding his skin.

dreams were not made for men like him,
nor was love. everything he built eroded
so easily on this sandy foundation,
and her kisses were once an oasis
but now they are but a mirage.

his feet are calloused,
his tongue parched,
and as he collapses,
he spits her name into the wind.


ETA for reference, the poem is here: exodus
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 10, 2017 6:55 pm
niteowl says...



Okay, so I've actually written quite a bit in the last few days, but I have to get it into the thread. This was my Week 8 LMS entry, submitted on Saturday.

May 10, 538-a petition that will never be read

Oh perfect Sil, I know
what Your messengers say, that good women
are meant to marry good men,
and anything else is meant
only for the shadows.

But they live in gilded columns--
what do they know of our lives
in the servant's quarters?

It is said that You understand,
that You are the ultimate judge,
so please hear me now, good Lord.

I am alone.
Elena was dismissed for our mischief,
but the good princess let me stay,
only to bring me farther into the shadows.
Perhaps that was her intention
the day she saw me in the market.

Oh great and powerful light,
if you hear this,
please keep Elena safe
until I can find her.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:00 pm
niteowl says...



At nine PM, i was walking the streets alone.
at ten PM, i sauntered into the bar.
at eleven-thirty, you asked how i was,
and by midnight i slipped into your arms.

At seven AM, the alarm stupefied me,
and I watched you leave without saying goodbye.
by eight AM, i swore i wouldn't let you come back,
but i've said that many mornings before, haven't I?

Spoiler! :
So I was half-awake and thinking something along these lines, except it was way better. And it was a song. And Paolo Nutini was singing it, which would definitely make it better :P.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:13 pm
niteowl says...



Prompt: 'Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream'

What awaits us on the other side of death
is a question everyone thinks about,
perhaps too much. Why dream of heaven,
after all, when you have the lucid dream
of today?
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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The idea that a poem was a made thing stayed with me, and I decided then that I wanted to be an artist, not just a diarist. So I put myself through a kind of apprenticeship in writing poetry, and I understood even then that my practice as a poet was deeply related to my reading.
— Edward Hirsch