William Michaelian

Poems, Notes, and Drawings

Tag Archive for ‘Poems’

Many Are Called

There remains the possibility, however slight, that even I, who live a very private, quiet life, might be destined to fulfill some kind of public role — public, that is, beyond these poems, notes, and drawings. Throughout history, there have been instances in which individuals have arisen from the common mass, as it were, seemingly coming out of nowhere, often even against their own personal desire or will, with some […]

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Morning Sounds

Ah, sweet pain! To let go of thee, or me? That is the question. . Morning Sounds Creak in the ceiling sound at the door bird on the rooftop crying for more light rain flight pain creak in the ceiling sound at the door man on the rooftop crying for more flight rain light pain Recently Banned Literature, April 10, 2014 . [ 901 ]

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The Fall of the Ten Thousand

Imagine living in a society that values business and entertainment more than it does the health, safety, education, and welfare of all of its members. Imagine living in a society that despoils the environment in favor of comfort and monetary gain, while shunning the sciences, the humanities, and the arts. Imagine a society that glorifies violence and war, and regards people of different backgrounds and customs as evil or unclean. […]

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This Body Is My Face

Fascinating are the little disturbances and imbalances that visit the body, as it reacts to the various impurities in its immediate environment, water-borne, air-borne, food-borne, human-borne — not even impurities, necessarily, but concentrations of different allergens, spores, molds, and the like. And to this list one would hasten to add words, thoughts, and images, all of which can be either toxic or beneficial. As rugged as it is, the body, […]

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Long Gray Train (I Pay the Porter)

I woke up in the middle of the night needing a sip of water. I walked down the hall, and as I passed through the dark sitting room, a sentence sprang to mind, or the beginning of a sentence — a phrase, a breath, a sound, a combination of sounds — a powerful suggestion, insistent, dreamlike, meaningful, profound, but I didn’t have the focus to pick up a pen and […]

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Light as Light as Light

now the speed of light is something else altogether says a voice in one universe to an ear in another as the sound shines on the face in the space in between “Now the Speed of Light” Recently Banned Literature, October 3, 2016 . Light as Light as Light little lights, glowing in the dark, yours in your dark, mine in mine, make our dark, make our light, dark in […]

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Water, Clear and Cold

The celebration of rain is past. The wind has changed. A great part of the moisture has been reclaimed by the sky gods. The air is smoky again. But it is not as smoky as before, at least here at ground level. Instead, there is a high haze thick enough to keep the sunny fall days several degrees cooler than they would be. One can feel the smoke. The robins […]

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Crossroads

With the rain, the mushrooms — bright-white at first, they soon become flared skirts and fans in an elfin dance; cursed, or worse — or blessed — quiet, composed — kissed — for some the world ends like this; others are smashed by tanks and NATO equipment. September 28, 2020 Crossroads#2 Pencil on Index CardJuly 2, 2010 . [ 884 ]

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