At the center of each human heart is goodness, layered over with hurt, confusion, and mistaken ideas. Our task is to gently peel off layer after layer until the unfettered heart can shed its love upon the world.
Sue Patton Thoele in The Courage To Be Yourself Journal

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Seeing a Clearer Me
layer by layer
i peel so that
like a glass
you can view me
crystal clear as a virgin river
a polished diamond
decades of
practice for those
seasoned fingers
to strike at her core
to bring out those few
beethoven scores
he tuned up the world for
a great watch maker
filing his cog to tighten time
the precision of mind
to keep a universal lie at bay
verse by verse
layer by layer
i peel to get to
the sheen the almighty
laid hidden in me
layer by layer
i peel off the world
to see a clearer me
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo

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The Layers Of My Existence
peel me, not like an onion where you shall cry for every
layer, no, i do not require tears here, at most, you may need
only to smile, and then be so patient, as you peel me
layer by layer, as i watch, and as you carefully peel me
with your bare hands, i will allow it, all for you and your
curiousity,
you discover the erotic layer
and in there exists the desire
for an adventure, the disregarding
of sin, and then peel me further
move on,
find the layer of my
intellect, you shall find what i have
told you all about, my nerves and
common sense, my strivings to go
deeper towards my self, and then
peel me further, you see the bone
of my contentions, my hardened
principles and uncompromises
then peel me further, find the
marrow that makes all the blood
of my life, my sorrows and pains,
my exhilarations and bliss and
joys and happiness, and you will
say there is nothing more to find.
you are wrong. There is this last
peel that you cannot see. It is like
air, and it floats and it gets in,
it always finds an empty space,
and you cannot find it there anymore,
it is now inside you and you cannot
get that out of your system
you must accept this:
i have become
an essential part of you, and there is
nothing now that you can do.
you see, in peeling me, you find
no exit anymore. Whether you
you will be happy or sad, it is
already beyond my control.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Peeling Life Layer By Layer
like onions
(let me say this again
on an overused cliche)
we peel our lives
layer by layer and we shed
tears
i have done it
and (let me say this once again)
i arrive at the core and
whew! (did you notice it?)
there is nothing worth seeing
there.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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scatter layer
by layer, eight-layered
cherry blossoms!
haiku by Masaoki Shiki

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Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer and then you find there is nothing in it.
quote by James Huneker

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Onion Skin Disguise
Layer after layer to peel off
Issues, that no longer serve
“No not I”….you may scoff
Then get what you deserve
ROTMS
poem by Ray Lucero

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Skin
This is someone elses story
Someone that I never knew
This is someone elses body
Am I getting through to you
If you peel away the armor is something underneath
If you look below for hidden treasure underneath another layer
Are you hiding underneath the skin
Chorus
If you peel away the skin is there anybody there
If you peel away the skin is there anybody there
If you peel away the armor is it too late to begin
Is there anybody hiding if you peel away the skin
Now a spark has passed between us now
A momentary recognition
Something lost and something gained
And something shared that feels strange
Something cold that will not go away
Theres a heart as cold as ice
In a vault thats made of stone
Over years the walls got higher
Over years the walls have grown
Is there anybody in there in this self inflicted tomb
If you peel away the layers is there someone in this room
If you peel away the skin, if you peel away the skin
This is someone elses story
Someone that I never knew
This is someone elses body
Am I getting through to you
song performed by by Oingo Boingo

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Thirteen
At first, this is the face I will show you
Shallow, thin, smooth
Then we feel each other, like some kind of
New found friends, I
Take another layer, and tell you, this is my face,
Some scars, and lines of age, and furrows,
Then we write many emails, and remember
Common things, like a certain familiarity,
Another layer is taken and exposed,
The face of a sick man, with some
Disappointments in his mind,
Some wounds, wrinkles, and so you
Think, are there other layers of faces still
To show,
Deeper, deeper is there another layer to show
Another face of this man?
Yes, there is another layer, more faces
Hidden underneath each layer,
As we go on, learning from ourselves,
And me learning from myself,
I will be digging for more faces,
Because I am never static
I am growing, and for each growth
Like molting
Another face comes out
Soon, I hope, I must come out
With the most beautiful face
The we can be both proud of,
It is just a matter of time
Depending on how well you have loved me
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Faces and layers of faces
At first, this is the face I will show you
Shallow, thin, smooth
Then we feel each other, like some kind of
New found friends, I
Take another layer, and tell you, this is my face,
Some scars, and lines of age, and furrows,
Then we write many emails, and remember
Common things, like a certain familiarity,
Another layer is taken and exposed,
The face of a sick man, with some
Disappointments in his mind,
Some wounds, wrinkles, and so you
Think, are there other layers of faces still
To show,
Deeper, deeper is there another layer to show
Another face of this man?
Yes, there is another layer, more faces
Hidden underneath each layer,
As we go on, learning from ourselves,
And me learning from myself,
I will be digging for more faces,
Because I am never static
I am growing, and for each growth
Like molting
Another face comes out
Soon, I hope, I must come out
With the most beautiful face
The we can be both proud of,
It is just a matter of time
Depending on how well you have loved me.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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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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N4
my theory lives thru
as you have said it: these are all lies
lies and more lies
and you know them all to be lies,
but as you said it,
you begin to understand the truth
beneath these lies
a layer of grass
another layer of flowers
another layer of clouds
beneath is the niche
burying the nuggets of
my own wisdom, how i live my life
and justify it later
before God, shall all lies be
truths
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Anatomy Of A Decision To Be Pure Sometimes
the way we cover flesh with flesh
layer upon layer
imprisoning the divinity of thought
within the core
when they come to seduce you with
colored slices of ligaments and
salmon shades of serum
you shake your head and signal that
you do not more flesh in you for you
have become solid bones
ribs and clavicles, a map of skin
that guides you where the heart resides.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Layer by layer art strips life bare.
quote by Robert Musil

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Life is like an onion. You peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.
The Mountain Of Malady
in the mountain of malady
the sharp fingernails of probity
on the hands of faith
dig the wells of whereto
time as usual is so patient
no stone is left unturned
layer by layer of fossilized moments
upturned and the quizzical look of
mercy continues to please
the stabs of light sometimes
hurt like murderous intent
but the quest has to continue
we all look for what is inside this
centuries of mysteries
time is cold. trees are felled.
it rains all night. the winds are angry.
at the bottom of it all beyond the thick layer
of lust and desire,
pain and betrayal, shame and fall?
what did you really find?
chunks of golden silence. platinum gaze.
diamond existence.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Dolce Far Niente
(sweet idleness)
in the near zero visibility
of a winter gaining its momentum
i felt as if i was the only walker
on this winter road
through the thick fog
that insulated me from
the world known and unknown
your desire for me touched me
lifting the fog
layer by layer...
08nov2009
14.44hrs
poem by Indira Babbellapati

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Dont slight that little bird
the greatest
contribution
of songs
and music
is they help
human evolve
the birds,
the crickets
grasshoppers
toads and frogs
the stars, moon
and mars
the entire comsic
vibrations
sheet by sheet
layer by layer
they build up
the foundations
of the human mind
for cognitive pleasures
the amoeba for
its adventures into
complex creatures
a child would be
dull without
the lullabies
that soothe
and build up
his world
the piano
is not a piano
without its
sonic bars
dont slight
that little bird
in the air
it might just
one day wear
an intellgience
greater than men
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo

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Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.
quote by Carl Sandburg

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Life is like an onion. You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.
quote by Carl Sandberg

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Bradley
Listen to me,
For, i am talking to you;
And like the muse of love in the great deep!
But, who is ready to help the afflicted souls?
Laid,
Layer over layer! !
But, my name is Bradley;
And, i am talking to you!
So, take in the positive acts and eliminate out the negative.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis

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