Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write.
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@Su_G You may be right
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@brianbilston It's been a while since I wrote any poetry, and this probably demonstrates why that might be a good idea.
@rvedotrc Thank you, Rachel, for finding a home for that line
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@brianbilston
I am a bowl, chipped at the rim
A hairline crack running down to the base
Can I still contain all you ask of me?
Popcorn: yes, tomato soup? I don't know
Shame on me, if I were to leak and ooze
Staining your fingers tomato-orange
Would your face twist in disgust?
Would you throw me out with the trash?
I have beauty still, and my shape yet holds
Place me on your table, a centrepiece
I am not too broken
To be there
To hold
Your love@Tattie You’ve taken that in a beautiful direction
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I see you forgot the fabric softener again
I'm not angry, just disapointed
I will just look without speaking
at the trousers, standing in the corner(this of course is an echo to "Lederhosensaga" by Börries Freiherr von Münchhausen, https://krautjunker.com/2023/03/20/lederhosen-saga/, as a child I already had memorized the refrain "Geschlechter kommen, Geschlechter vergehen, hirschlederne Reithosen bleiben bestehen")
@slowtiger Wonderful!
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@emmadavidson Ha ha! Good for you. Did many of them get spotted?
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Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
@brianbilston I might set these to music, using only these first lines and no other text, with the page numbers as number of bars. Will make a nice challenge (especially the 78 one).
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That my dear, is a diphthong
to keep your fingers clean
just grab the chipth with the thongs
and dip it in the thaltha.(Title "The lithping Mexican")
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Oi! Oi!
Oi!
Oi?
Oi! Oi!!
OI! OI?!
OI?!! OI!!?
Oi! oi...
oi oi..
oi... oi?!
OI!!!
oi? oi???
oi!!!
oi... oi?!?
Oi?
Oi??
OI?
OI!!
OI!!! OI!!!
oI... Oi...
oI...
OI...Silently they wept.
@AnnaSaultron That’s a work of beauty, Anna
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@brianbilston Today we shall make strudel
from the last of the flour,
then journey forth into
an uncaring world
together.
Solidarity.@superflippy Stirring words
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@brianbilston
Please don’t do that it’s disgusting
Was what they used to say
When I did that thing I used to do
to make you go away
But years have passed and
We are cast
in different roles today
So now you do it with me
And I like it more that way@markmason Beautiful, mysterious and moving
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Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
her eyes were a question mark, her mouth a semi-colon
her ears parentheses to her bold face
the caret of her nose pointed to something lacking
no character in her empty header space -
@Bumblefish ha ha!
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@slowtiger Wonderful!
@brianbilston
Thank you! -
Where have you been?
This is unbearable—please don’t go yet. Please don’t leave.I keep replaying it; I keep seeing it; I keep hearing it.
I remember Newport; I remember Pagnell; I remember the bowl with the chipped rim—
and I hate that I remember it so clearly.We said we would make things right this winter, and you listened, and I listened.
But today the questions won’t stop: why now, why like this, why again?
The sky keeps darkening—again and again—and I can’t tell if it’s the weather or me.I saw Carter. He called. I didn’t answer at first.
I tried to steady myself, but the bleeding wouldn’t slow, and I was afraid to ask for help.
I kept thinking, stay, just stay, and then the thought broke in half.I loved you—still do—and I hate how quickly love turns into something sharp.
I forgot the simplest things; I forgot what I meant to say; I forgot what I promised.
And then I remembered, all at once, and it felt worse.Please don’t turn this into another unfinished goodbye.
If you can, come back. If you can’t, at least tell me the truth.
Do you remember?
Or am I the only one holding the chipped pieces and calling them a whole?@Netraven Ha ha! You found a home for so many of them.
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her eyes were a question mark, her mouth a semi-colon
her ears parentheses to her bold face
the caret of her nose pointed to something lacking
no character in her empty header space@roque Excellent
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@AnnaSaultron That’s a work of beauty, Anna
@brianbilston thank you for the allowance to use your scraped ideas as inspiration.
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Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
@brianbilston
Carter called again today,
Enquiring of his ladder
But I rushed past him through the door
And blamed it on my bladder -
Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
I am a bowl, chipped at the rim
you snag on me
scratched, sore
but still you sip
the heat
the salt
you spin me to a smoother spot
and try again -
Having a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
@brianbilston Tag yourself: I am a bowl, chipped at the rim.
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@Netraven Ha ha! You found a home for so many of them.
@brianbilston words are structure is life. When I stop breathing, they breathe on in my place.
