untitled [inspired by mo.lo]
--
spindling minces activate trifling rabbits
carefully crawling with hunched steps
edging the nearing of a darkened hole,
a trap. light glimpses through arching night
hovering between bark and black air.
they nudge through summer brush
with fragmented perches on hind legs,
staggering mildly for better views
of darkened figures and frames
too swift to catch wholly.
breeze barks through muck-thick air
allowing a slight crisp to inhale.
crawling with stiffened necks,
they journey onward.
--
spindling minces activate trifling rabbits
carefully crawling with hunched steps
edging the nearing of a darkened hole,
a trap. light glimpses through arching night
hovering between bark and black air.
they nudge through summer brush
with fragmented perches on hind legs,
staggering mildly for better views
of darkened figures and frames
too swift to catch wholly.
breeze barks through muck-thick air
allowing a slight crisp to inhale.
crawling with stiffened necks,
they journey onward.
untitled (based on arnold bocklin painting, "isle of the dead")
by christine tran --
journey with me to the isle of the dead where the horse-shoe mountains open their opened mouth, open water reflecting the bloodied stained rocks smeared with tales untold, insignificant but leaving behind pigments of clotted crimson seeping from cracks calling from the top for salvation, but muted by the clashing of ocean against rock, against rock, to open waters against rock. come to this landing from boat, slow and fated. there is only one path upon hitting shore. the crisp outlines of fresh bodies flow down the arching of a nearing man-carved rock making new streams which flow carefully to soon hit bathing water. we hit shore. i call from cliffs.
poem at daybreak (based on Paul Klee painting, “Poem at Daybreak”)
by christine tran --
my mind strays in ways i myself cant comprehend, stop myself to understand jotted notes already skewed or forgotten as pen reaches surface. but how the hand sways on the page without knowing, just moving at will from thought to pen down down on page. swiveling and stopping to potentially dot an "i", cross a "t" or stroke a comma. how your brush strokes came from you: from brush to surface blotting and stroking - yet, as you stood refining, i sit contemplating on horizontal paper.
meat is so delicious because i say so.
i shot JFK. i did.
allergy medicine really does work for me.
i'll take you home, maybe.
--
[portrait poem]--
crawl through my back alleyways and
you will see children at play;
youth's genius fills streets and homes
of the domesticated mother and father;
suburban walkways house the small minded,
while my row-housed, backstreets, "china-town",
hold our nations true gifts and realities untold.
my darkened and dirty paths are from
years of undocumented strife
but at the end of the day the
children still smile and learn today's realities
down the sullied streets our parents left.
[anti-cliche spring]--
calm air, moves soft
through fresh blooms.
bare feet walk again
coming from cold season.
i shot JFK. i did.
allergy medicine really does work for me.
i'll take you home, maybe.
--
[portrait poem]--
crawl through my back alleyways and
you will see children at play;
youth's genius fills streets and homes
of the domesticated mother and father;
suburban walkways house the small minded,
while my row-housed, backstreets, "china-town",
hold our nations true gifts and realities untold.
my darkened and dirty paths are from
years of undocumented strife
but at the end of the day the
children still smile and learn today's realities
down the sullied streets our parents left.
[anti-cliche spring]--
calm air, moves soft
through fresh blooms.
bare feet walk again
coming from cold season.
next time you buy something..
--
symbolic branding, soul-sucking, materialism,
clutter fucking, room clogging, suffocation,
claustrophobic calamity, artificial flavoring,
made in china, imported, sweetened, concentrated,
plastic, shit-piling, boxed-up, packaged, sodium preserved,
save-for-later, bottled-up, diluted, bar-coded,
mass-produced, consumer expected, customer satisfaction-ed,
imperialist fashioned, capitalist arranged, youth deranged,
paper or plastic, no thank you, man-made,
mindless society -- oh yea, that's me.
--
symbolic branding, soul-sucking, materialism,
clutter fucking, room clogging, suffocation,
claustrophobic calamity, artificial flavoring,
made in china, imported, sweetened, concentrated,
plastic, shit-piling, boxed-up, packaged, sodium preserved,
save-for-later, bottled-up, diluted, bar-coded,
mass-produced, consumer expected, customer satisfaction-ed,
imperialist fashioned, capitalist arranged, youth deranged,
paper or plastic, no thank you, man-made,
mindless society -- oh yea, that's me.
remember & contemplate
--
my friend lost a friend
two years ago on this very day.
for her, every year is another year to remember,
to cope, to grow. to witness this growth,
to witness humanity's good in each other,
to witness humility, to witness growth in my friend--
gives me hope.
men making noise during sex = an awkward thought.
--
who would have thought that killing bill would be such a task?
black and white wedding scene, this is not a racial commentary;
cinematography strictly. sign of good faith?
drives me crazy you wont tell me something meaningless.
guitar reminiscing as i see a face of my past sitting beside me.
the intensity of the background fades away as i know you recognize me.
what are you doing here? playing my flute and looking at the bride.
are you going to be nice? i'll do my best this week.
sweet flat desolate grounds flow with the winds
as i look down at my naked feet; wiggle your big toe.
what do you do? i work in a record store.
do you like it? yea, i like it a lot smart ass.
i get to listen to music all day. it's pretty cool.
i had the ugliest dream about you--
--
my friend lost a friend
two years ago on this very day.
for her, every year is another year to remember,
to cope, to grow. to witness this growth,
to witness humanity's good in each other,
to witness humility, to witness growth in my friend--
gives me hope.
men making noise during sex = an awkward thought.
--
who would have thought that killing bill would be such a task?
black and white wedding scene, this is not a racial commentary;
cinematography strictly. sign of good faith?
drives me crazy you wont tell me something meaningless.
guitar reminiscing as i see a face of my past sitting beside me.
the intensity of the background fades away as i know you recognize me.
what are you doing here? playing my flute and looking at the bride.
are you going to be nice? i'll do my best this week.
sweet flat desolate grounds flow with the winds
as i look down at my naked feet; wiggle your big toe.
what do you do? i work in a record store.
do you like it? yea, i like it a lot smart ass.
i get to listen to music all day. it's pretty cool.
i had the ugliest dream about you--
untitled
--
vanity of desire is a downfall;
vanity itself is a downfall;
desire of vanity is a downfall.
forget the persuasion and listen one more time
to that voice that said to you:
"you don't have to be this."
make believe in your mind that
what happens, happens with will and faith,
but know your limits. limits of reality
and truth and yourself. limits and boundaries
of the possible and the do-able and the conceivable
and opportunities that you must pick and choose
and choose not to pick and know everything
you want to pick may not be there for you to choose.
replay on the down-play and fall on top as
you overlap your faults and flaws,
but remind yourself you too are human,
humane, and comprehend humility.
question: what is your downfall?
prodigy, was
--
i was supposed to be a prodigy--
my eyes were youthful and yearning,
but my dreams are being forgotten too quickly;
though this fire is still burning.
my eyes were youthful and yearning.
i fell in love. it was lusty and empty;
though this fire is still burning
i want more and i need more to this story.
i fell in love. it was lusty and empty.
my happiness was lonely and fleeting.
i want more and i need more to this story.
what happened to my happy ending?
my happiness was lonely and fleeting,
feeling young again seems to be just a memory.
what happened to my happy ending?
i was supposed to be a prodigy--
--
vanity of desire is a downfall;
vanity itself is a downfall;
desire of vanity is a downfall.
forget the persuasion and listen one more time
to that voice that said to you:
"you don't have to be this."
make believe in your mind that
what happens, happens with will and faith,
but know your limits. limits of reality
and truth and yourself. limits and boundaries
of the possible and the do-able and the conceivable
and opportunities that you must pick and choose
and choose not to pick and know everything
you want to pick may not be there for you to choose.
replay on the down-play and fall on top as
you overlap your faults and flaws,
but remind yourself you too are human,
humane, and comprehend humility.
question: what is your downfall?
prodigy, was
--
i was supposed to be a prodigy--
my eyes were youthful and yearning,
but my dreams are being forgotten too quickly;
though this fire is still burning.
my eyes were youthful and yearning.
i fell in love. it was lusty and empty;
though this fire is still burning
i want more and i need more to this story.
i fell in love. it was lusty and empty.
my happiness was lonely and fleeting.
i want more and i need more to this story.
what happened to my happy ending?
my happiness was lonely and fleeting,
feeling young again seems to be just a memory.
what happened to my happy ending?
i was supposed to be a prodigy--
stranger than usual
--
flip your imagination and re-imagine one last chance,
a time where things were A.O.K. and nothing else mattered,
when you didn't worry about self-flattery or self-doubt,
when your mind was a little stronger than before, you think--
you thought--but in the end it comes down to you, and fate,
and all the things in between. sometimes you have to let go,
let go of the strangle and struggle, and find a little more of yourself
through the unknown and doubt. it all seems too plain and black & white,
but when the complicated gets too complicated you have to weigh your options,
your opinions, your optimism, your doubt. undress the bullshit,
reveal the truth one day at a time. a little more to yourself
and a little more to me. sincerely, me.
--
flip your imagination and re-imagine one last chance,
a time where things were A.O.K. and nothing else mattered,
when you didn't worry about self-flattery or self-doubt,
when your mind was a little stronger than before, you think--
you thought--but in the end it comes down to you, and fate,
and all the things in between. sometimes you have to let go,
let go of the strangle and struggle, and find a little more of yourself
through the unknown and doubt. it all seems too plain and black & white,
but when the complicated gets too complicated you have to weigh your options,
your opinions, your optimism, your doubt. undress the bullshit,
reveal the truth one day at a time. a little more to yourself
and a little more to me. sincerely, me.
prose-ish poetry; more like thoughts--
12. i was driving through the roads of rural virginia and realized that i was driving through the shadows of tree tops. i dont get to do that in new jersey; at least in new brunswick. the sad thing is one tree i drove past probably wont be there 10 years from now, along with the three acres surrounding. one day a million dollar suburban housing development will sit atop that tree and its remains long gone; it makes me sad. sad that these days people want more and more and less it too little.
13. un-equivocal reminisces of un-finished thoughts ramble reluctantly through mumbles of muttered speech as i gather these eclectic shambles of fragmented phrases that peer through the window of fleeting ruminations. contemplations that are less than transient, yet plague the mindset of a foggy-bottomed imaginary reality that we drift through co-dependently and un-knowingly. let the phantom look through the static plastered television terminal waiting for the flighty persona to defend itself from the chaos of the suburban population that manufactures identical ideological cookie sheets filled with what they call personality and individual character. oh don't flatter yourself suburbia because the homogeneous melting-pot you produce creates nothing but self-flattery and immutable self-consciousness - so leave while you can before you turn to stone you poor soul. what you may think is a utopian-like society filled with uncorrupted hope and opportunity is simply a demise of an un-pronounced greed that yearns for your self-loathing mind that inevitably turns you into a lazy work habit promising more vacation time after a timely enslavement. why do i insist to stay here? possibly to find the derridian identity in myself to see what i am not, to see what i do not want to be. failed endeavors of the boy's belief in happiness in 'the giving tree' proves to me what those ideal notions of isolated freedom, nuclear family structures and monetary success are simply dull and futile.
12. i was driving through the roads of rural virginia and realized that i was driving through the shadows of tree tops. i dont get to do that in new jersey; at least in new brunswick. the sad thing is one tree i drove past probably wont be there 10 years from now, along with the three acres surrounding. one day a million dollar suburban housing development will sit atop that tree and its remains long gone; it makes me sad. sad that these days people want more and more and less it too little.
13. un-equivocal reminisces of un-finished thoughts ramble reluctantly through mumbles of muttered speech as i gather these eclectic shambles of fragmented phrases that peer through the window of fleeting ruminations. contemplations that are less than transient, yet plague the mindset of a foggy-bottomed imaginary reality that we drift through co-dependently and un-knowingly. let the phantom look through the static plastered television terminal waiting for the flighty persona to defend itself from the chaos of the suburban population that manufactures identical ideological cookie sheets filled with what they call personality and individual character. oh don't flatter yourself suburbia because the homogeneous melting-pot you produce creates nothing but self-flattery and immutable self-consciousness - so leave while you can before you turn to stone you poor soul. what you may think is a utopian-like society filled with uncorrupted hope and opportunity is simply a demise of an un-pronounced greed that yearns for your self-loathing mind that inevitably turns you into a lazy work habit promising more vacation time after a timely enslavement. why do i insist to stay here? possibly to find the derridian identity in myself to see what i am not, to see what i do not want to be. failed endeavors of the boy's belief in happiness in 'the giving tree' proves to me what those ideal notions of isolated freedom, nuclear family structures and monetary success are simply dull and futile.
10. drip-drop as my blinds unfold
gazing at the muddled air
staring at the colour in your eyes
peering through the breaking morning.
wrap my arms and fold my fingers
as they intertwine for moral support.
cling to the slowness of time
and defining clarity in the surrounding silence.
--
11. fumbling textual messages through the winding desolation of tree top streets
waking the sense with another flustered response, wishing for more, wanting for more--
mind strong and needy, but breathe me. chimes to another time i felt more alive
in my mind, more awake in the heart and spirit. music radiating through memories
of times remember and savored, lost in paper, while attempting to re-define again,
and again, and again.
gazing at the muddled air
staring at the colour in your eyes
peering through the breaking morning.
wrap my arms and fold my fingers
as they intertwine for moral support.
cling to the slowness of time
and defining clarity in the surrounding silence.
--
11. fumbling textual messages through the winding desolation of tree top streets
waking the sense with another flustered response, wishing for more, wanting for more--
mind strong and needy, but breathe me. chimes to another time i felt more alive
in my mind, more awake in the heart and spirit. music radiating through memories
of times remember and savored, lost in paper, while attempting to re-define again,
and again, and again.
chagrin
--
internal divide like "parted lips",
banging with bruised hips,
corner trips another break in the wall,
heavy heaves underneath the cover,
drip-drop down the spine,
rewind for that special time,
memory clogs for that yearning,
flip and turning, waist deep in aroma,
sweet sensual aroma, forbidden fermentation, then--
stagnantation of this erotication.
--
internal divide like "parted lips",
banging with bruised hips,
corner trips another break in the wall,
heavy heaves underneath the cover,
drip-drop down the spine,
rewind for that special time,
memory clogs for that yearning,
flip and turning, waist deep in aroma,
sweet sensual aroma, forbidden fermentation, then--
stagnantation of this erotication.
feeling polluted, convoluted,
alienation to one's place, one's home,
a homeland lost, outside of the fence,
less than human, human-less, eradicated
while barricaded, incarcerated, invaded,
alien to a nation, put aside, made to hide,
hide truth of identity, scream profanity,
lost language, internal damage, forgotten past,
guilt too vast, crowd pleaser, ego feeder,
false familiarity, lost clarity, soul impairity,
complete disparity, lack equality,
lamenting latency, fear publicity--
of truth and reality.
alienation to one's place, one's home,
a homeland lost, outside of the fence,
less than human, human-less, eradicated
while barricaded, incarcerated, invaded,
alien to a nation, put aside, made to hide,
hide truth of identity, scream profanity,
lost language, internal damage, forgotten past,
guilt too vast, crowd pleaser, ego feeder,
false familiarity, lost clarity, soul impairity,
complete disparity, lack equality,
lamenting latency, fear publicity--
of truth and reality.
eyes closed, lines criss-crossing,
overlapping, tree sapping through time,
amber making over time, wind chime,
nature calls, tree falls in desolation,
quiet awakening at tree tops, tree flops,
another take down, lost life, deep roots,
still life, struggle and strife, time lagging,
tree dragging, chain saw noise, man-made,
cutting life, see and saw, playground balance,
see-saw playground, as children sit on fallen tree tops.
--
reiteration of alliteration, chain-gang consonants,
disconnected with blank spaces, stoic faces,
un-emotional words of bore and snore,
fake empathy, attempting sympathy,
failing miserably, speak hypocrisy,
staple permanency, speak with urgency,
blank blue lines, red divide,
hole punching hysteria, lost area,
punctual periods, chaotic commas,
psychedelic semicolons, pathetic pauses,
unrelated clauses, parental possessives,
grammar messes, poetry undresses,
making muses--eccerta, eccerta.
overlapping, tree sapping through time,
amber making over time, wind chime,
nature calls, tree falls in desolation,
quiet awakening at tree tops, tree flops,
another take down, lost life, deep roots,
still life, struggle and strife, time lagging,
tree dragging, chain saw noise, man-made,
cutting life, see and saw, playground balance,
see-saw playground, as children sit on fallen tree tops.
--
reiteration of alliteration, chain-gang consonants,
disconnected with blank spaces, stoic faces,
un-emotional words of bore and snore,
fake empathy, attempting sympathy,
failing miserably, speak hypocrisy,
staple permanency, speak with urgency,
blank blue lines, red divide,
hole punching hysteria, lost area,
punctual periods, chaotic commas,
psychedelic semicolons, pathetic pauses,
unrelated clauses, parental possessives,
grammar messes, poetry undresses,
making muses--eccerta, eccerta.
[AM]
fever dance to another beat dropped
as shots popped from the room next door--
shut your eyes and ears, innocence is bliss.
hope for another chance and one last kiss.
hold that bliss for one last kiss,
as the innocence is shot from the room next door.
[PM]
i refuse to be your muse
for another day to amuse.
lets rewind one more time
to play on yesterday's sympathy.
these issues whispered through the pews
that are ushering heroic values--
i refuse to be amused.
help me count the number of lies you heard today,
and reassure me that humanity is good.
too many people "act" too good,
but too many people "are" too bad.
reassure me that humanity is good,
and lies are not too bad.
fever dance to another beat dropped
as shots popped from the room next door--
shut your eyes and ears, innocence is bliss.
hope for another chance and one last kiss.
hold that bliss for one last kiss,
as the innocence is shot from the room next door.
[PM]
i refuse to be your muse
for another day to amuse.
lets rewind one more time
to play on yesterday's sympathy.
these issues whispered through the pews
that are ushering heroic values--
i refuse to be amused.
help me count the number of lies you heard today,
and reassure me that humanity is good.
too many people "act" too good,
but too many people "are" too bad.
reassure me that humanity is good,
and lies are not too bad.
sunday, 05 april 2009 at 23:58 |
breathe me from inside out,
hold me from inside out.
exchanging of heat
from inside out.
--
don't fluster my insides with your smiles;
it makes me fall. don't fumble with my words;
it's making me fall harder. stop it with those
grins, those sly sly grins--
i want to unravel,
come undone and
force restoration of the being i should be.
pit; bottomless, endless, dark pit i should fall
down, deep, deeper into this feared space
of an unknown place in thy self.
hard, harsh reality of it all
that i should call on another's help
to break this hard harsh fall of reality.
breathe me from inside out,
hold me from inside out.
exchanging of heat
from inside out.
--
don't fluster my insides with your smiles;
it makes me fall. don't fumble with my words;
it's making me fall harder. stop it with those
grins, those sly sly grins--
i want to unravel,
come undone and
force restoration of the being i should be.
pit; bottomless, endless, dark pit i should fall
down, deep, deeper into this feared space
of an unknown place in thy self.
hard, harsh reality of it all
that i should call on another's help
to break this hard harsh fall of reality.
untitled
by christine tran
--
implosion of internal emotions
being bottled up and broken
as they shatter into speckled pieces
on the naked floor below me--
with the water flowing from inside
that once was held by a promising shelter
but without fail it breaks;
it is broken. the last of its kind,
it is broken. its pieces will be found
by another in time.
mended back into one piece in time.
folded and molded to a thing once found
to be new and held anew.
but now, the water will idle
and flow without boundaries.
will you help pick up the broken pieces?
or will you watch the water swell?
by christine tran
--
implosion of internal emotions
being bottled up and broken
as they shatter into speckled pieces
on the naked floor below me--
with the water flowing from inside
that once was held by a promising shelter
but without fail it breaks;
it is broken. the last of its kind,
it is broken. its pieces will be found
by another in time.
mended back into one piece in time.
folded and molded to a thing once found
to be new and held anew.
but now, the water will idle
and flow without boundaries.
will you help pick up the broken pieces?
or will you watch the water swell?
thursday, 02 april 2009 at 16:44 |
untitled
by christine tran
--
please don't break me down anymore
little by little it's getting hard to endure
oh please don't break me down anymore
this struggle is getting harder to endure.
i'm singing in the backdrop, some melodies
of times that remind me of you and me
i'm singing melodies in the backdrop
of times when it was just you and me--
last evening, oh just last evening
i took a walk by my lonesome
oh just last evening, last evening
my lonesome took a walk.
untitled
by christine tran
--
please don't break me down anymore
little by little it's getting hard to endure
oh please don't break me down anymore
this struggle is getting harder to endure.
i'm singing in the backdrop, some melodies
of times that remind me of you and me
i'm singing melodies in the backdrop
of times when it was just you and me--
last evening, oh just last evening
i took a walk by my lonesome
oh just last evening, last evening
my lonesome took a walk.
untitled
by christine tran
--
you misconception of me is too plain to see
stereotype my dark complexion and thin eyes
then you realize i do not speak science and math
but utter words of stanzas and syllable counts.
cluttered memories crumple on my desk
as i rustle through my identity and stress.
fold my eyelids under yet another day
as i try to reminisce of things i wished to say.
wishes and wants haunt this inkling of time
that ticks-and-tocks under the sidewalk flock.
the steps trip over each other as my mind flutters
through another invisible page of thought
that i forgot to put down on paper and ink
but the second hand on the clock is moving too fast
and i cant find my last thought after another blink.
while all this runs through my mind
i hear the tv in the background reinforcing labels
through the cables to the screen, while i want to scream
another truth about the reality of it all.
stop perpetuating all this shit to the youth of our nation
and loosen these screws that hold
these materialistic mentalities.
columbus day
by christine tran
--
question history and all the textbooks you read
im sick of all this exploitation and greed
and this need to perpetuate elitist appeals
from those who can afford to publish ideals.
its ironic we celebrate a "no school" holiday
for one who started the American slave era.
you ask who?
christopher columbus who sailed the ocean blue.
probably didn't know that did you..
its ok, i too was tricked by these textbooks
conditioning readers to accept social hierarchy,
colonialism and racism.
besides, the text is everything, the reader nothing.
"textbook history" always has something to disguise,
so do me a favor and question the other side.
give a voice to those who died on boats for gold
or children who were bought and sold.
next time you read a history textbook
remember the hero always has something to hide.
the tale of christopher columbus should be written as:
"once upon a genocide."
by christine tran
--
you misconception of me is too plain to see
stereotype my dark complexion and thin eyes
then you realize i do not speak science and math
but utter words of stanzas and syllable counts.
cluttered memories crumple on my desk
as i rustle through my identity and stress.
fold my eyelids under yet another day
as i try to reminisce of things i wished to say.
wishes and wants haunt this inkling of time
that ticks-and-tocks under the sidewalk flock.
the steps trip over each other as my mind flutters
through another invisible page of thought
that i forgot to put down on paper and ink
but the second hand on the clock is moving too fast
and i cant find my last thought after another blink.
while all this runs through my mind
i hear the tv in the background reinforcing labels
through the cables to the screen, while i want to scream
another truth about the reality of it all.
stop perpetuating all this shit to the youth of our nation
and loosen these screws that hold
these materialistic mentalities.
columbus day
by christine tran
--
question history and all the textbooks you read
im sick of all this exploitation and greed
and this need to perpetuate elitist appeals
from those who can afford to publish ideals.
its ironic we celebrate a "no school" holiday
for one who started the American slave era.
you ask who?
christopher columbus who sailed the ocean blue.
probably didn't know that did you..
its ok, i too was tricked by these textbooks
conditioning readers to accept social hierarchy,
colonialism and racism.
besides, the text is everything, the reader nothing.
"textbook history" always has something to disguise,
so do me a favor and question the other side.
give a voice to those who died on boats for gold
or children who were bought and sold.
next time you read a history textbook
remember the hero always has something to hide.
the tale of christopher columbus should be written as:
"once upon a genocide."
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