the human heart a polished mineral

by   shaun  lawton 

Foraging in the weeds for acorns

uncovered a sword whose stolen length spanned
a limb for which it was taken;
Costing an arm to the one

to whom it was handed down,
While denying triumph to
the keepers of both hands.


I think I understand your point well sir just don't forget that in the legend the pure of heart are given credit in the moonlight.

 

Better get moving.
See that pretty city scape.
Encroaching from the horizon.
Getting closer every time you look.


Just let it all go.
What do you smell down this alleyway.
Now that its late.
As the stars burn and scream into the atmosphere.

Of darkness let the rays
cast down be reminders
illumination may also
come from the damned.

Neptune
(13 moons: Triton, Nereid, Larissa, 

Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, 

Proteus, Halimede, Sao, Psamathe, 

Laomedeia, Neso)

Centaurs.

You may pass through my woodlot, but be warned. 

This is my domain, and I may exact retribution if you fail to respect it.

He was on a journey to the well of sadness
For there he'd heard an echo of a tale which
whispered on the unfamiliar wind of a clearing
a deadbeat trance on the railroad tracks singing
in that shrill metal scream diminishing

Anise water
if the weather's
nice otherwise
freeze a frown
in a bucket of ice

Alabaster swarms nestled under. 

Head full of sea kelp starring lights.

A bundle of tree roots bled in the dark. 

One bloody femur shaped like a foot.

There's evidence to suggest this singularity keeps repeating 

its programming in a never ending loop of such gradually 

decaying simulation that the differentials spawned grow 

not into yet more shed ghosts of future developments 

but rather constantly shape and mold the singular 

only possible existence here frozen in eternity 

and possessed by the illusion 

of constant movement 

to the point that even 

in our resting state 

of deep sleep 

every night 

occurring with

metronomic 

persistence 

we are unable 

to really wake up 

from our conditioning 

to realize this motion just

conducts us into dreaming.

Who benefits besides corporations.
We must ask ourselves these questions.
Can a building be hijacked.
Can a dark meme of humanity go viral.
Can a species go extinct.
It all depends on what you think.

Words are the new pet rocks. 

 You don't even have to paint eyes on them. 

 And they appear veritably, virtually, visibly on all of our d-Vices. 

 I'm going fishing in the real world now. 

My words and poems are just the shiny bait. 

Just you wait. Set your iWatch on it. 

I'm a hook and reel y'all in. 

 Readers of the world, take note.

Literate Rubble

by  Shaun Lawton 

for Charles Carter 

  Well met on the other side we'll be

our crossed paths serendipity 

 for the last time we fall asleep

all our shared knowledge

  we collected from each other's dreams 

will be accounted for

 some faces forgotten 

sunk in the woven mandala

  the year of perfect vision 

 showed us the way by example.

Castscatterwing

 by   shaun lawton 

Ah, Cast your nets

 toward Saskatchewan. 

 Basking as you wandered

off a once upon a time

ago so so and so could go

on and fawn on about it

every once in awhile 

making you smile while 

found down somewhere

around Saskatchewan.

I get it and I'm never

going to forget it the 

cats caterwauling 

and bats scattering 

on the wing of a cast 

of slung shot characters

adrift on the wind, yes

deep down underground

Just south of what you thought

You found in Saskatchewan. 

Double Dirty Chai

by Shaun Lawton

 

"There was not a party," insisted the barista. 

"There wasn't anything going on, really."

 We turned around and left. 

"That was a beat scene," she said. 

  "We sure could use some coffee," I replied.

"You cannot be poisoned without an ID," she lied.  

We are plugged into the system, I thought. 

 Linked in with a microchip.  So we turned and went back.

We stood in line and got scanned in with extra credit. 

"Don't back down," she whispered to me. 

"Or you're never going to get it." We ordered

a couple of Double dirty chais instead

using nothing but the field in our head. 

I didn't know what to say at all,

just glad I'd set up a Pay Pal.

Ever since I began to date her

I'd wait to check the tab in my inbox later

Ever since transactions went neural interface

It really helped to free us to meet again, face to face

 

timeMaster, timeMaster

by  shaun lawton 

descr.  of  the  comet Rosetta   /67P
timeMaker, timeTaker
     [listening to free salamander exhibit  undestroyed 
on the 45RPM 2LP vinyl released recently]

the Rosetta Comet remains my favorite
case of pareidolia--writ large. Now that I've mapped
just about all of the hyperlit surface in my mind
to its corresponding points, I can dedicate
a more in-depth examination
of the mountainous terrain
of melded plateaux toward
cheekily pointing out
'the bridge of tongues'
for example (extruding out
from under the shadow beneath
the left cheekbone) could possibly be

the landing stone to an eroded stairwell
lashing up through the nose to the final
three steps of the eyelid--beyond which
lies the uppermost ledge of sculptured hair

This titanic Promethean bust tumbles
through our system on its own gravitational course
projected on a pathway that has intersected with our own
while we're ever probing farther from our home planet
with jet fuel propelled space probes we reach out to
draw tight a wire loop about the targets, examine them
and even land remote mini spacecraft like the Philae
whose trajectories course arrive plotted
to land upon the topmost cratered area
comprising the right rearmost spot
on top of the chimerical skull
depicted below: