Table of Contents
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Five Figures
Five figures invite, five forms, five bodies,
Pose and struggle with gravity,
Curves of skin, curves of hair, curves of nails,
They look at me and I become a line
There is a purple body, a red body,
Bodies glowing orange and golden, a body
Carrying a face full of green and blue,
They look at me and I become pale and brown
Do I advance? Do I go forward into them?
Do I try to find a home, or church,
Or cathedral among these five figures?
They do not smile, they look right through me
I find a divan and lay down, ready
To accept these figures, to touch these bodies,
But also ready to listen and receive
Five pasts, five futures, one present, one me
Ben Nardolilli
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A Proud Look
I will tell you that when you show me
The red stuff, oozing, leaking, or congealing,
I will look at the stains and not flinch,
I may feel helpless, I may check myself
To make sure everything crimson is in place,
But I will not look at away at it.
Yet, if you try to talk to me about it,
And start to give the humor a name,
My hands begin to lose feeling and I go weak,
It is worse when I read the word, blood,
In a sentence, a description, or listed
As a blank category for medical information
I wonder why the word and not the fluid
Threatens me, I could perform able surgery,
As long as no one uses the word
Or words like blood sugar or blood loss,
Keeping a steady, strong hand on a blade
As it cuts and human juices pulse out
Maybe “blood” just signifies too much,
Representing all blood to me, in amounts
Impossible for a single human to lose,
Meanwhile, the sight of blood is nothing to fear
Or get sick over, since I know
How much is lost and who has lost it.
Ben Nardolilli__
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The Whispering Rider
The Whispering Rider
This whispering rider wants
A real education,
No more memorizing the rents and rules,
Not that he wants to get his degree
In being dishonest,
He doesn’t need to do anything to the dice
Nor does he want to master
The art of pulling out the right card
After every round of play
This whispering rider wants to learn
The best way to leave
This game and leap onto another.
Ben Nardolilli__
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