The landlady of a boarding-house is a parallelogram - that is, an oblong angular figure, which cannot be described, but which is equal to anything.
quote by Stephen Leacock

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Summer’s Dream
To the sagging wharf
few ships could come.
The population numbered
two giants, an idiot, a dwarf,
a gentle storekeeper
asleep behind his counter,
and our kind landlady—
the dwarf was her dressmaker.
The idiot could be beguiled
by picking blackberries,
but then threw them away.
The shrunken seamstress smiled.
By the sea, lying
blue as a mackerel,
our boarding house was streaked
as though it had been crying.
Extraordinary geraniums
crowded the front windows,
the floors glittered with
assorted linoleums.
Every night we listened
for a horned owl.
In the horned lamp flame,
the wallpaper glistened.
The giant with the stammer
was the landlady’s son,
grumbling on the stairs
over an old grammar.
He was morose,
but she was cheerful.
The bedroom was cold,
the feather bed close.
We were awakened in the dark by
the somnambulist brook
nearing the sea,
still dreaming audibly.
poem by Elizabeth Bishop

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When I first came to London, shortly after the end of the war, I found myself after a few days in a boarding-house, called a private hotel, in Kensington High Street area. The boarding-house was owned by Mr. Shylock. He didn't live there, but the attic was reserved for him; and Lieni, the Maltese housekeeper, told me he occasionally spent a night there with a young girl. 'These English girls!' Lieni said.
V.S. Naipaul in The Mimic Men (1967)

Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Equal?
How many men are created equal?
That's to hard to figure out.
How many men are created equal?
Preacher says 'ALL of us'
Hear him shout.
I guess he's forgotten what equal means.
He must be thinkin' about countin' beans.
One for you, two for me.
Count 'em up and you'll see
just what equal's all about?
Equal's really all about
who's doin' the countin'.
poem by Edwina Reizer

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If 1 And 2 Were Equal
If 1 and 2 were equal
we'd have as many hearts as fists
If 1 and 2 were equal
we'd have confused shopping lists
If 1 and 2 were equal
there'd be less phone numbers to dial
If 1 and 2 were equal
noon would surely last a while
If 1 and 2 were equal
there'd be a nose under each eye
If 1 and 2 were equal
you couldn't say no to 'you and I? '
If 1 and 2 were equal
I think I'd be much more happy
'cause if 1 and 2 were equal
I would not be so lonely
poem by John W. McEwers

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Of Course
of course, of course I will come
to your house, like the old days
good morning, afternoon or evening
until you yourself are no stranger
with my arrival
like the other family members
go to church together
when Easter and Christmas
whether from home
or from a boarding house
I must admit there is peace
inside this heart
poem by Prasetya Utama

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Equal
equal,
..equal,
...equal,
....equal,
.....equal,
......equal,
.......equal!
dont it sound good?
wouldnt it feel good?
think about it,
and then do something about it!
equal!
poem by Eric Cockrell

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Equal Rights,2011
equal rights to live,
equal rights to love.
equal rights to believe,
to speak out, to stand up
and be counted.
equal rights to work,
equal rights to study.
equal rights to build.
equal rights to profess faith,
equal rights to pray.
equal rights to give...
equal rights to live,
equal rights to love!
poem by Eric Cockrell

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The Math
You're always trying to figure out
What I am all about
If you don't know what the answer is
Then just shut up and kiss
It shouldn't take forever
To put it all together
[CHORUS:]
If you can't do the math
Then get out of the equation
I am calling you back
This is * 69
Is it a minus or a plus
Does enough equal enough
If you can't do the math
Then nothing adds up
Tell me why I'm here
Sure I want someone to understand
But I don't need the stress
I'm not about being analyzed
Like it's some kind of test
Don't have to be a genius
To figure what's between us
[CHORUS]
You can spend your whole life analyzing
Justifying, quantifying, and dividing
'Till there's nothing anymore
Why don't you just close your eyes
And kiss my lips and let it go
Just let it flow
It's what I'm waiting for
Don't have to be a genius
To figure what's between us
[CHORUS 2X]
song performed by by Hilary Duff

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What you have is two men seeking the White House; they're both products of prominent New England families. They both went to private boarding schools. They both went to a prestigious university.
quote by Mark Shields

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Family disappearing
Rent a house to live in.
Neibours turning hostile,
You can shift your staying.
Buying house ties you there.
Have a woman to live with.
She turning hostile,
You can shift your partner.
Marriage will bind you both.
This trend is emerging,
Thanks to equal power
And to equal income.
Family is disappearing.
12.06.2010
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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Twist 3
there are facts as vivid as the writings in a book
nothing changes in black and white
they come every morning and stay at nighttime
the familiarity of old places and to and fro pendulums
one takes a look at them again
they never rearrange themselves like furniture of a woman
who is still searching for her place in the house
one is surprised sometimes as they are seen in another light
one that you have never seen before and you think it must be
the only one that is real as real as a cemented wall as tough
as pillars of the house
tomorrow another angle alights from their shapes
and you change another belief again
until such time that you realize
and these they realized a long time ago
truth is relative
facts are angular
nothing is permanent
every thing is an atom in constant
flux in never ending vibrations
and as always
invincible.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Daguerrotype
In the dark room of severe crises
It's is an early kind of photograph for the Exhibition.
And it takes a certain time,
But be confident and give your full support to get the finish off.
Probably this could be one of the best sepia photographs
That would hang in the White(boarding) House.
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga

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I Cant Figure You Out
(jesse valenzuela)
Whos to say whats right or wrong
If I stand out in the rain too long
Filling up my drinking cup
When I know Ive had much more than enough
Write in the pages of my notebook
But they never sound the way they look
Kicking at this old tin can
And I wonder where the hell I am
I cant figure you out
I cant figure you out
When it seems so fine
When its held to the light
I cant figure you out
I cant figure you out
They push and pull till it breaks in half
I never trust a guy with a nervous laugh
Worried bout the smallest things
While the world is coming crashing in
I cant figure you out...
song performed by by Gin Blossoms

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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White Sunshine
The sun's my fire.
Golden, from a magnificence of blue,
Should be its hue.
But woolly clouds,
Like boarding-house old ladies, come and sit
In front of it.
White sunshine, then,
That has the frosty glimmer of white hair,
Freezes the air.
They must forget,
So self-absorbed are they, so very old,
That I'll be cold.
poem by Lesbia Harford

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"No Shildren In Der House."
Vagation dime vas coom again,
Vhen dhere vas no more shgool; I goes to boardt, der coundtry oudt,
Vhere id vas nice und cool. I dakes Katrina und Loweeze,
Und leedle Yawcob Strauss; Budt at der boarding-house dhey dakes
" No shildren in der house.
I dells you vot! Some grass don'd grow
Under old Yawcob's feet Undil ve gets a gouple-a-miles
Or so vay down der shtreet.
I foundt oudt all I vanted—
For de resd I don'd vould care —
Dot boarding-blace vas nix for me Yhen dhere been no shildren dhere.
Vot vas der hammocks, und der shvings,
Grokay, und dings like dhese, Und der hoogleperry bicnics,
Mitoudt Yawcob und Loweeze? It vas von shdrange conondhrum,
Dot vas too mooch tor Strauss, How all dhose beople shtandt id
Mit no shildren in der house.
"Oh, vot vas all dot eardthly bliss, Und vot vas man's soocksess;
Und vot vas various kindt off dings, Und vot vas habbincss?"
Dot's vot Hans Breitmann ask, von dime-
Dhey all vas embty soundt! Dot eardthly bliss vas nodings
Vhen dhere vas no shildren roundt.
Vhen "man's soockscss," down here pelow,
Und "eardthly bliss" vas past, Und in dot beddher blace abofe
Ve seek a home at last; Oh, may dhose "Gates off Paradise"
Shving open far und vide, Und ve see dhose "Heafenly mansions"
Mit der shildren all inside.
poem by Charles Follen Adams from Yawcob Strauss and Other Poems

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Fight Or Flight
We're ready to go
Ticking like a bomb that's about to blow
It's taking control
Pulling at your feet like an undertow
You don't really know
If you're all that capable
But you've been told
Figure it out
Don't pretend you're stupid
Sort it out
Go make yourself useful
You're better than dead
You really made a mess with the words you said
So easily fed
The flames of the fire rise above your head
They want to be led
You've joined the ranks instead
There's a voice in your head
I can't figure it out
Any more than the generation before me
I can't figure it out
How we got where we are today
I can't figure it out
Any more than the generation before me
I can't figure it out
We've got to fight not to fade away
song performed by by Face To Face

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On such a night, or such a night
146
On such a night, or such a night,
Would anybody care
If such a little figure
Slipped quiet from its chair—
So quiet—Oh how quiet,
That nobody might know
But that the little figure
Rocked softer—to and fro—
On such a dawn, or such a dawn—
Would anybody sigh
That such a little figure
Too sound asleep did lie
For Chanticleer to wake it—
Or stirring house below—
Or giddy bird in orchard—
Or early task to do?
There was a little figure plump
For every little knoll—
Busy needles, and spools of thread—
And trudging feet from school—
Playmates, and holidays, and nuts—
And visions vast and small—
Strange that the feet so precious charged
Should reach so small a goal!
poem by Emily Dickinson

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Two opposite things
Man cannot conceive like woman.
Is he equal to woman?
Woman will not rape as man does.
Is she equal to man?
Man is plus and woman, minus.
They aren’t equal.
Man is a positive and woman, a negative.
They aren’t equal.
Equality is not the need of the hour.
fitting to each other.
Union is not of two equal things
But two opposite things.
Man is a tree and woman, a vine.
Clinging is assured
17.10.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Equal
All are equal
Equal equal equal
The rich the poor
The high the low
And it is law
Go by this law
Go by this law
There would not be
Any flaw any flaw.
poem by Gajanan Mishra

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The Houses
1898 -- A Song of the Dominions
'Twixt my house and thy house the pathway is broad,
In thy house or my house is half the world's hoard;
By my house and thy house hangs all the world's fate,
On thy house and my house lies half the world's hate.
For my house and thy house no help shall we find
Save thy house and my house -- kin cleaving to kind;
If my house be taken, thine tumbleth anon.
If thy house be forfeit, mine followeth soon.
'Twixt my house and thy house what talk can there be
Of headship or lordship, or service or fee?
Since my house to thy house no greater can send
Than thy house to my house -- friend comforting friend;
And thy house to my house no meaner can bring
Than my house to thy house -- King counselling King.
poem by Rudyard Kipling

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