The jail is closed day and night and always full; temples are always open and still empty.
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Jails are always closed yet full, while temples are always open yet empty.
Heart, Body And Soul
Minds empty,
souls free,
hearts open,
memories.
Free as a bird,
free as can be,
my soul escapes my empty body.
The mind is now gone,
nothing remains except my memories of a dark nights wake.
An open heart,
an open wound,
forever in need of sympathy.
Memories of a time long ago,
memories have yet to go.
My mind is full,
my soul contained,
my heart is closed for eternity
poem by Andrew Hackett

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Adage 3
'A good meal ought to begin with hunger.'
French Proverb
one who is full
shall never be full
because he is
to be full
one must be empty again
to be a wall
one must start being a window
blink
and then open your eyes
and then close
each eye
slowly
this is the ritual of days and nights
shuttered existence
close
open
close
open
cl ose
open
fragile tiny hands of a new born baby
beside
the sleeping mother.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Like that
Was it being empty of everything
or being full of everything,
when the song came during washing-up?
Was it being empty of everything
or being full of everything,
when the tourist outside the school door
glanced as if expecting nothing but the good?
Was it being empty of everything
or being full of everything,
when there was nowhere else but here?
Was it being empty of everything
or being full of everything
when there was no when or where
or why or what or how or who?
Who is to say? It was like that. Like that.
poem by Michael Shepherd

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What Could Have Been Unreal
there is a sorrow that i do not want to speak
it is something that i cannot give away
there is time that keeps on going and if i stay
i will just be left out and buried in this delay
there is a grief that cannot really be spoken
there is this pain that goes on and one
there are empty parks and empty cafes
there are closed doors and locked rooms
there is this self sometimes that does not open
there are fingers that remain closed upon themselves
there is a song that i can only sing inside myself
there is this poem that keeps on evading what is it that could have been said
all these are mine alone and all these keep me moving on
remembering, loving in silence, keeping the tears frozen, creating what could have been unreal.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Sometimes When I Have Nothing To Say
sometimes when i have nothing to say
like the silence of the closed window
or the nights on the grass
or the twinkle of the stars... i feel so full
and when i get so full, i feel like
vomiting my existence,
i am nauseous to this hiding, sometimes
i want to say it all, and then i become so empty
and when empty i float, i feel like i am nothing but air,
and then i surrender again
to the walls.... talking and talking to the walls
and i do not really care about the rumors that they have ears.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Gah, Sleep
On zombie-pilot
Eyes barely open
Or closed
Temples will burst
Chunks of brain
Splat on the walls
Unicorn blood here
Rainbow flesh there
Candy vomit everywhere
poem by Janine Alyssa Navarro

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Full Moon And Empty Arms
Full moon and empty arms
The moon is there for us to share
But where are you?
A night like this could weave a memory
And every kiss could start a dream for two
Full moon and empty arms
Tonight I'll use the magic moon to wish upon
And next full moon if my one wish comes true
My empty arms will be filled with you.
song performed by by Frank Sinatra from Voice

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tarts And Warts
on a sweet conversation like this
when you open
and i ask some more of this openness
in you,
you become my tart
i like the taste
of fruits and milk and some cheese
to last finger licking
goodness
then you take your turn
trying to open me like a canned
fruit juice
i stick to my lock and key
and you find it hard to
open
you like to drink the four seasons
in me
i refuse
i shifted your questions to something else
like the full moon last night
and you do not like
this one way traffic
between us
my road is closed
i only have
mysterious ends
your thirst shall not be quenched
you should know by now
i am not a tart
i am your wart
and so the saying goes like a road
diverging
i'll take the other one
you take that one
i know
the one less travelled by
you are the poet
i am less
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Closed Door
sometimes we want to enter
a door
a closed door that does not open
no matter how hard we
knock
we try being courteous and gentle
and so patient
eating every waiting time
like we are the most foolish of all fools
knocking a closed door
seducing it more often with our
pleadings
begging and even compromising
for a dance
to convince the owner of the door to
open it
but no one hears, no one cares to listen
to our pleadings,
no one likes the dance of compromises
the door is still closed
and then the last crooked thing happens
we take the axe
and break the door which is closed
forcing it open
only to find that all the people there are dead
there is nothing inside
but mystery and
grief
an unsolved crime, no more
no less.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Dead, Jail, Or Rock 'n Roll
When I was a kid all I wanted to be
Was the meanest dude on the meanest machine
Now I'm going to wrong way on a one-way street
I never fit this society
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I ain't looking for trouble but it's looking for me
The law of the jungle is protecting me
Lose sleep man stay out of your bed
You might wind up in jail if you lose your head
In death I might find
True peace of mind
But while I'm alive
Free choice is mine
It's either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
song performed by by Warrant

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dead, Jail, Or Rock 'n Roll
When I was a kid all I wanted to be
Was the meanest dude on the meanest machine
Now I'm going to wrong way on a one-way street
I never fit this society
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I ain't looking for trouble but it's looking for me
The law of the jungle is protecting me
Lose sleep man stay out of your bed
You might wind up in jail if you lose your head
In death I might find
True peace of mind
But while I'm alive
Free choice is mine
It's either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
song performed by by Warrant

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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New Born Baby
If only I could come
and more and more
and night light shed its wings of fire
leaving me in a darken path
and long keep me with empty pocket
and to kiss empty glass
but today is the night
with joy of a new born baby
just not another night
only if I could walk with you
with full of money to drink with you
with night after night to shed
Ripples of song
and a kisses of new born baby
but today is desserted
with empty pocket to enjoy
in search of you
Whenever there is a darkness,
I thank you understand my ways
poem by Thampi KEE

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Welcome Home
I go outside to find the middle of nowhere
Everyone needs their own empty stage
Just like the sky with no beginning or ending
I like reading a book without a last page
Stop and turn around
And say it with your eyes closed
You don't need to welcome me home
Stop, turn around
Try looking with your eyes wide open
As we live our lives through a series of glances
And you smile without smiling for a whole another year
I think we need a little bit more understanding
I think the future is already here
So I won't ask you to
Stop and turn around
And say it with your eyes closed
You don't need to welcome me home
Stop, turn around
Try looking with your eyes wide open
Welcome home
Welcome home
song performed by by Idlewild

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To visit templesTo visit temples
I visit temples and conduct rites
More to please the priest than the deities.
I visit temples and do sacrifices
More to bribe the God than cleanse myself.
I visit temples and do worships
More to fake being pious than be so.
I visit temples and give offerings
To make clean myself of sins for fresh ones.
18.01.2010
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors)
I saw her there from afar
Her hair grey charcoal
Takes a drag from her tar
I kissed her a smile
But her blood red shot eye
Said the son never shines on closed doors
It's been eight long years since I saw
The woman who's labored
Since the day I was born
These wrinkles now face
To that cold dark damp place
Where the son never shines on closed doors
She said the son never shines on closed doors
I open to find only hurricanes blow
Take me away back to the green fields of May
Because the son never shines on closed doors
Death comes like a theif in the night
To steal while you sleep
The soul's flickering licght
Well maybe it's then
She said
song performed by by Flogging Molly from Drunken Lullabies

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Echo
The echo is silence:
in the landscape with tree
in the center of the hill
in the empty plate
in the full pocket
full of emptiness.
poem by Liliana Mainardi from Surco abierto (Open Furrow) (November 2015), translated by Dan Costinaş

Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Back Up Against The Wall
(J.R. Cobb/Buddy Buie)
I was dealin' up and down the highway
Till they caught me with a heavy load
They sentenced me to hard labor
Workin' on the side of the road
Now I don't deny I was guilty
And I know I broke the law
I was hungry and broke and couldn't see no hope
And my back was up against the wall
Now I'm right outside your window
Honey open up and let me in
I broke out of jail this mornin'
And I ain't never goin' back again
I just had to stop by for a minute
And I can't stay long at all
'Cause I gotta run you see I'm under the gun
And my back is up against the wall
I was shackled to a three-time loser
A man named Jefferson
One night we got to talkin'
And I asked him what he'd done
He said a man fell over my razor
In the middle of a barroom brawl
But don't you see it was him or me
And my back was up against the wall
Now I'm right outside your window
Honey open up and let me in
I broke out of jail this mornin'
And I ain't never goin' back again
I just had to stop by for a minute
And I can't stay long at all
'Cause I gotta run you see I'm under the gun
And my back is up against the wall
Now I'm right outside your window
Honey open up and let me in
I broke out of jail this mornin'
And I ain't never goin' back again
I just had to stop by for a minute
And I can't stay long at all
'Cause I gotta run you see I'm under the gun
And my back is up against the wall
I gotta run you see I'm under the gun
And my back is up against the wall
Yeah I gotta run you see I'm under the gun
And my back is up against the wall
song performed by by Travis Tritt

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Behind Closed Doors
Written by new order
There is a secret place
Underneath a tree
Where if you go and haste
You will find a key
The key will open doors
And you will look inside
The things that you will see
Will open up your eyes
At any given time
On every other street
The city comes to life
Though everyones asleep
A man beats up his wife
He doesnt wanna keep
Behind closed doors
Theyre in retreat
I dont know what makes me stay
The city life just aint the same
Theres something wrong with kids today
I blame the parents anyway
Theres no hope
No one to trust
I cant cope
Its obvious
Please dont take my drugs away
Im gonna give them up someday
There is a place somewhere
That I could call a home
Id live without a care
Id never be alone
One day I will get there
I feel it in my bones
I check upon the scores
I listen to the coors
Behind closed doors
Behind closed doors
Behind closed doors
Behind closed doors
They still want more
Behind closed doors
song performed by by New Order

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.
quote by Samuel Johnson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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