We Should Be Stingier
We should be stingier
breathing out and breathing in-
then, perhaps, the epic
will lie down in neat quatrains.
We have to be more generous,
louder, like the outcry 'Follow me! '
stronger, coarser-
with the earth's coarse globe.
I envy the relics of space,
compressed by the word in layers,
but brevity is the sister of ineptitude
when it springs from emptiness.
Not all conciseness is priceless.
Rhymed oil cakes are stiff and brittle,
and someone's square hay,
I wouldn't eat if I were a horse.
I like hay by the armful,
with the dew still not dried out,
with red whortleberries, with mushroom caps,
clipped by a scythe.
All sentimentality with form is sloppy,
hurl the epoch into rhythm,
tear it up the way an invalid in despair
tears up his striped sailor's shirt!
Should we place in a woman's cap and dress
along with other old-fashioned rags,
the divine tatters
that we call life?
Handicraft taste is not art.
A great reader will grasp
both the charm of the absence of style
and the splendor of longeurs.
1986
Translated by Albert C. Todd
poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
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Related quotes
Im Still Breathing
Did you think my life would end that day
That you walked out when you broke my heart
Did you think I couldnt make it through
Ooh without you
Did you think youd stop my world with goodbye oh no
Did you think Id crumble inside
Not me Im still breathing
And this heart of mine is still beating
I Im not feeling any pain
No baby not me Im still breathing
This old heart of mine is still beating
The tears I cried have dried
You are gone and I survived
Im still breathing
There were times when it took all my strength
To just get through yeah through another day
There were so many nights I thought that I was gonna die
Without you
But the tears I cried somehow made me strong so strong
Did you think I couldnt go on
Not me Im still breathing
And this heart of mine is still beating
I Im not feeling any pain
No baby not me Im still breathing
You are gone and I survived
Im still breathing
You tried to cut me down
But look whos still around
Without you
Did you think youd stop my world with good bye no baby
Did you think Id crumble just crumble inside
Not me Im still breathing
And this heart of mine is still beating
I Im not feeling any pain
No baby not me Im still breathing
This old heart of mine is still beating
The tears I cried have dried
You are gone and I survived
Im still breathing
The tears I cried have dried
You are gone and I survived
Im still breathing
song performed by by Toni Braxton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Breathing
Outside
Gets inside
Through her skin.
Ive been out before
But this time its much safer in.
Last night in the sky,
Such a bright light.
My radar send me danger
But my instincts tell me to keep
Breathing,
(out, in, out, in, out, in...)
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in.
Weve lost our chance.
Were the first and the last, ooh,
After the blast.
Chips of plutonium
Are twinkling in every lung.
I love my
Beloved, ooh,
All and everywhere,
Only the fools blew it.
You and me
Knew life itself is
Breathing,
(out, in, out, in, out...)
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out...
(out!)
In point of fact it is possible to tell the
(out!)
Difference between a small nuclear explosion and
A large one by a very simple method. the calling
Card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that
Is far more dazzling than any light on earth--brighter
Even than the sun itself--and it is by the duration
Of this flash that we are able to determine the size
(what are we going to do without? )
Of the weapon. after the flash a fireball can be
Seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust
And living things around the area of the explosion,
And as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable
As the familiar mushroom cloud. as a demonstration
Of the flash duration test lets try and count the
Number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very
Small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized
Bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful,
High-yield bombs
What are we going to do without?
Ooh please!
What are we going to do without?
Let me breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Ooh, quick!
We are all going to die without!
Breathe in deep!
What are we going to die without?
Leave me something to breathe!
We are all going to die without!
Oh, leave me something to breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Oh, god, please leave us something to breathe!
We are all going to die without
Oh, life is--breathing.
song performed by by Kate Bush
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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(Confused Poem) Barely Breathing
Just Barely Breathing.
Where Am I?
How Did I Get Here?
Gone Astray.
Becoming One Of Lords Dismayed.
No More Faith.
Just A Bitter Taste Left With The Lust Of Revenge.
I Don't Think I Can Be Fixed.
I've Been Broken
And My Soul Will Never Be Re-awoken.
No Sense Of Remorse.
That Twist In Your Stomach Just No Longer Affect Me.
Sorrow Is A Waste Of My Time.
Call It Collateral Damage If You Will.
But I'm Still Empty.
Voided Out As Part Of The Past.
But I'm Still Here.
Just Barely Breathing.
Where Am I?
How Did I Get Here?
Like A Zombie Is My Body The Only Part Of Me Still Beating.
Morbidly Angry,
Hate With The Sweetest Embrace.
This Is The Place I Call Home.
Walking A Shadow Of A Past Life All Alone.
Screams Ring Out But No One Is Ever Listening.
Everybody Is Just So Distant.
A Wolf Must Lead The Pack.
But What Happens When The Hes Abandon For The Better
The Stronger
The Faster.
It's In Humanity That We Shelter The Weak.
Just Barely Breathing.
Where Am I?
How Did I Get Here?
Do These Questions Bring Out The Fear.
Does It Scare You When I'm Near.
I'm No Different Then You.
Just Flesh Blood.
My Pain Has Just Disappeared.
Oh How I Miss It.
Like Being Stabbed In Heart I Wish For It.
Every Single Day
And Still I Stand In Silence In The Shadows.
Where I Wont Be Noticed Or Missed.
I'm Waiting For Deaths Deadly Kiss.
Just Barely Breathing.
Where Am I?
How Did I Get Here?
Just Barely Breathing.
Oh Where
Oh Where Am I?
How In The Hell Did I Get Here?
Like I Will Ever Really Know.
This Life Just Goes
Goes On
And On.
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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A Buddhist Christmas
sitting on the bed
with my old blind dog...
breathing in, breathing out...
breathing in suffering,
all the suffering of the hungry,
the homeless, those in prison....
those ravaged by war....
of the lonely, those filled with despair,
the angry, the fearful, the lost....
breathing in deeply,
wrapping it all in snowlike stillness...
and then breathing out....
breathing out compassion,
total, unconditional, free compassion...
the oneness that feels every feeling,
hurts with every hurt,
prays with every need....
not judging, not holding back,
asking for nothing in return...
just breathing out....
and listening with gratitude
to the heartbeat of my faithful dog...
to the heartbeats of all that live...
lost inside life itself!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The Woman I Call Sister
The woman I call sister
Is someone who is there
The woman I call sister
Is someone who always cares.
The woman I call sister
Can make me smile when times are blue
The woman I call sister
Is someone very true.
The woman I call sister
By choice, is my best of friend
The woman I call sister
Will be there till the end
The woman I call sister
Is the blessing from God above
The woman I call sister
Is the sister that I'll always love.
poem by Marissa Gertmenian
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The Women
This world is, because of the woman
this universe is, because of the woman
nothing exists without the woman
our existence is, because of the woman.
Why being a woman then
should be humiliation?
Why a woman then
should face indignation?
always the woman becomes the prey...?
always the woman has no say.....?
The woman is a mother, also a mother–in-law
the woman is a sister, also a sister-in-law
the woman has many roles to play
a daughter-in-law perfects that night & day.
Why then a woman does
torture another woman?
Why does a ma-in-law
torches a daughter in-law?
Why does a woman destroy another’s world?
Why does jealousy overcomes a sister-in-law?
In the woman, power is manifest,
yet she is unaware and that is a jest.
she becomes Durga when in rage
telling everyone, she is no sage
the woman is where, awakening is there
her absence creates crematoriums everywhere.
Why do then a woman abhor the birth of a female?
Wants a child, whose gender is male?
the male is indebted to her for the courage and life
yet no rewards for the woman, her entire life.
This is the story of the woman, full of anguish
Plight of a woman is because of another’s wish
Exploitation of the woman could not have taken place
Had a woman given the other a little more space.
poem by Tribhawan Kaul
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Tuck Your Shirt In
My name is Holly
And I like
I'm so glad that you asked me out tonight
Our conversation over dinner was really nice
But don't forget you still owe me dessert
It's 12 we missed the late show
So let's head over to this joint that I know
Everytime I take someone it's always such a ride
But there's a dress code
You've got to follow
There's no exceptions
And once you're in
If you want TMA
You better need to be
Oh baby
But before you enter
Tuck your shirt in
No way you'll get rid of
Other clothes
If you don't follow this
One moment
Tuck your shirt in
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
We're probably gonna need to call a cab
Ten minute walk over there and back
But I think it's best we
Save our energy
Tonight I'm really on the grind
Otherwise I'd normally wait a while
Before I'd ask
Somebody to my party
But there's a dress code
You've got to follow
There's no exceptions
And once you're in
If you want TMA
You better need to be
Oh baby
But before you enter
Tuck your shirt in
No way you'll get rid of
Other clothes
If you don't follow this
One moment
Tuck your shirt in
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
But there's a dress code
You've got to follow
There's no exceptions
And once you're in
If you want TMA
You better need to be
Oh baby
But before you enter
Tuck your shirt in
No way you'll get rid of
Other clothes
If you don't follow this
One moment
Tuck your shirt in
TMA
You better need to be
Oh baby
But before you enter
Tuck your shirt in
No way you'll get rid of
Other clothes
If you don't follow this
One moment
Tuck your shirt in
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
song performed by by Holly Valance from Footprints
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Morning Meditation
breathing in,
i take in the pains of hunger,
the ache of loss,
the despair of homelessness.
breathing out,
i exhale oneness, sameness,
and peace.
breathing in,
i take in prejudice, hatred,
fear, and anger,
and the blackness of greed.
breathing out,
i exhale forgiveness,
understanding, and compassion.
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The Woman I call Sister (Martha)
The woman I call sister
will always be there
The woman I call sister
is a person that will always care
The woman I call sister
is a person I will always love
The woman I call sister
is a blessing from God above
The woman I call sister
will stay true till the end
The woman I call sister
will be my best friend
So the woman I call sister
will be the blood related one
And the woman I call sister
will be the ONLY one :)
poem by Isabel Robles
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Layers
You must consider that everything is layered
The earth has layers of air, water, soil, rock, fire to its
Core
Molten fire
A fruit has layers of an external cover
Something hard, then soft and a
Sometimes a hollow core
A cake has layers too of sugar coating
Moist cake
And chocolate
End layer
My body has layers of skin
Tissue, flesh, bone
And nerves and
Marrow
The core can be hollow
And the mind
The soul has layers of understanding
Layers and layers of consciousness
To sub consciousness
Ego superego
To a layer
Beyond our grasp
Tips of the tongues
Slippages
Déjà vu
Memory gaps
Did we meet somewhere?
Do I remember you?
These sorts of some things
That happen which we know we can explain yet we can’t
Something somewhere
Could be
What if
Was I there somewhere sometime?
She somehow touches me and I feel it
I don’t really remember when
That smile that you wear was the same smile I saw somewhere
Foggy places, opaque faces, vague bodies hugging us in dreams
Murky rivers bathing us hazy rains lazily sizing Zen in showers
Some windows in some house
Remaining close
My heart is light and it is flying like a little light bird on its first wing
There is always a sense of awe and wonder to everything that I do here
An onion peeling, layer by layer, tear by tear
Here. I am. Here I am becoming unfolding to another beginning
No entries and no exits
Off limits, nothing yet allowed.
Meanwhile I am breathing, smelling something somewhere.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Breath Life Into Me
Your breathing life to me.
Don't you see its exactly who I wanted to be.
A world so small and I'm on top of it all.
To the fullest here it comes.
Your breathing life into me.
Don't you see its exactly who I want to be.
Angel of my nightmares.
Destroying all the despair.
Happiness is in the air.
Weather the storm.
Riding in my rust bucket of a ship.
When it sinks, can I swim?
I was on the brink but now.
Your breathing life into me.
Don't you see its exactly who I want be.
The truth has traveled so far.
Page tattered and torn.
With wisdom so worn.
Breath life into please oh oh oh please.
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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Psalm 90 part 3
v.13ff
C. M.
Breathing after heaven.
Return, O God of love, return;
Earth is a tiresome place:
How long shall we, thy children, mourn
Our absence from thy face?
Let heav'n succeed our painful years,
Let sin and sorrow cease,
And in proportion to our tears
So make our joys increase.
Thy wonders to thy servants show,
Make thy own work complete;
Then shall our souls thy glory know,
And own thy love was great.
Then shall we shine before thy throne
In all thy beauty, Lord;
And the poor service we have done
Meet a Divine reward.
poem by Isaac Watts
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The Birth Place of Pleasure
At the creation of the Earth
Pleasure, that divinest birth,
From the soil of Heaven did rise,
Wrapped in sweet wild melodies--
Like an exhalation wreathing
To the sound of air low-breathing
Through Aeolian pines, which make
A shade and shelter to the lake
Whence it rises soft and slow;
Her life-breathing [limbs] did flow
In the harmony divine
Of an ever-lengthening line
Which enwrapped her perfect form
With a beauty clear and warm.
poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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What Do They Know?
They tell me my poetry lacks classicism.
This is for that eternally ambiguous "they."
Tonight in the heat
A green haiku is sprung new
What a kitsch art style
Tercets are difficult in any but Latin
So like Poe I'll turn Eden into Aiden and quatrain into quattrin
You thought only Dante could write in words of pure satin?
Speaking of, quatrains and types of verse-
Let us take a minute to converse
About types in this style, epic or pentameter
And therein know art so that we might greet her.
Yes, that just happened, forgive the meme.
But quatrains end in couplets about love and redemption extreme.
Forget the couplet I can keep going in an effort to glean
And remember this, truth form the dishonestly obscene.
Aye, that eternally ambiguous body of readers wants classicism
Look backwards; enjoy the art and more than that-
Enjoy the view of the dead.
Whitman set the stage,
It's not my fault if there is no place on it for you.
poem by Daniel Northcutt
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To Be Alive
It is to hear rhythmic melodies
in the breathing of your own lungs.
It is to marvel at the vast space
between earth and sky
It is finding yourself as simple dot
in the vastness of space
and yet with great importance
as the fingers of stars and moon
wink at your sleepy eyes,
as the generous sun
bathes your whole body
with pleasure and warmth.
It is watching the flowers
opening their petals of smiles.
It is listening to the laughing trees
beside you, purifying the toxic air
which enters into your lungs.
poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen
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Death
I have been gazing on the resting place
Of the cold sleepers of the earth—who trod
This busy planet for a little space,
Then laid them down, and took the verdant sod
To curtain the low cot wherein they slept,
Forgotten save by some few hearts that o'er them wept.
'T is strange—so lately they were living forms,
Breathing and moving; now the vernal sun
Looks down upon their silent graves, nor warms
One pulse to action—life with them is done;
And the turf blooms as quietly, as though
No forms of human mould were slumbering below.
And this shall be my lot!—a little while,
And I shall, too, lie down and be at rest,
In silence and in darkness; earth will smile
In spring's rich garniture, and o'er my breast
The wild-flower shed its sweets—but there will be
No gladness in bright hues or fragrant breath for me.
Oh, Death! they call thee terrible—but life
Hath pain, and blighted hopes and bitter tears,
The pang of keen remorse, the daily strife
'Twixt jarring passions, the false smile that sears
The heart to kindly feelings, and the dread,
That e'en what bliss is ours, within our grasp will fade.
Nor is it very dreadful to lie down
In momentary darkness, and awake
In a bright world of happiness, unknown,
And unimagined! But 't is sad to take
The last farewell of earthly things, and know
That we have left fond hearts to lingering years of woe.
And herein lies the bitterness—but when
The parting pang is over, need we fear
To tread thy narrow pathway—and cling then
To life's poor relics?—It is true, that here
We have bright moments, scenes and hours of joy;
Yet seldom is our bliss unmix'd with some alloy.
It should be so—there is enough of bliss,
To make the hours of life glide swiftly on,
Yet sadness dims the brightest cup—and this
Recalls the heart from trusting what must soon
Forever vanish from our grasp, when we
Are call'd from things of time to dread eternity.
poem by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler from Poetical Works (1836)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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I Only Need
To trace your fingers down my spine,
shall I call it spine-tingling?
To intertwine your limbs with mine,
shall I call that intermingling?
I do not think I shall give it names.
There is no need to do so.
I only need to think on it,
for the pleasure it gives me
is nameless, but priceless.
It cannot exact a fee.
To place the tip of your tongue on me,
shall I call that tongue-ing?
To inhale your breath that's close to me,
shall I call that breathing?
I do not think I shall label it.
And so I shall not try.
I only need to think on it
for the thoughts tell me why.
It's lableless, but joyous.
It will never, ever die.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Undertow
I know what I wanted
I know what I wanted
I hnow how I wanted this to be
You go down to the water
Drink down of the water
Walk up off the water, leave it be
This is not my time, brother
It is cold in heaven
And Im not sprouting wings.
Im drowning
Me
Im drowning
Me, yeah
Brother can you see those birds?
They dont look to heaven
They dont need religion, they can see
They go down to the water
Drink down on the water
Fly up off the water, leave it be
This is not my time, sister
It is cold in heaven
And no ones coming after me
Im drowning
Breathing ourselves
Me
Breathing ourselves
Im drowning
Breathing ourselves
Me, yeah
You know I am tired
Cold and bony tired
Nothings gonna save me, I can see
I cant say Im fearful
I cant say Im not afraid
But I am not resisting, I can see
I dont need a heaven
I dont need religion
I am in the place where I should be
I am breathing water
I am breathing water
You know a bodys got to breathe
Im drowning
Breathing ourselves
Me
Breathing ourselves
Im drowning
Breathing ourselves
Me, yeah
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One’s drive
I should marry such a woman
As others would envy me my wife.
I should attain such a position
As others would envy me my place.
I should construct such a building
As others would envy me my house.
In absence of others, I have no drive.
Envy, not love, influences one’s drive.
03.11.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Absent Elements
Everyone plays along
Get them giving or steal the life theyre breathing
Theyll grow sickened
Take their secret codes and signals
Discover all they know
Keep up the pace now until it all dries up
Youll never find out now
That all these absent elements
Build your comfortable defense stronger still
Like an emptiness
Way too early to consider losing
Vacant staring may discover some reflection
Or may discover none
Just think what youve done
And watch it all add up
Like an emptiness youll never fill
Find out now
If all these absent elements
Build your comfortable defense
Stronger still
Like an emptiness you'll never fill.
song performed by by Finger Eleven
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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