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The Poetry Of.
John Greiner.........................................................

Ball Held In Long Arm

Time,
........ short,
........ stocky
with a hair shirt
and a rimless
........ black
top hat
........ is worth
the price of contemplation.

The thoughts that it allows,
........ opaque
in shattered
........ Murano
blue glass,
is the stuff
........ of much
maligned
theosophist.

The words
........ of many,
........ in multiples,
are not worth
being spoken,
if they were
........ than the glass
........ would run
over, and its holy
contents would
........ spill
........ onto
the table,
........ wasted.




Fairytale

Having forgotten
all of the fairytales
that had been told
to me in my youth
I decided to find
an antiquarian
who was well
versed in the dusty
tomes that make
up my life.

The finding of such
a person was achieved
far more easily
than I had hoped.
It was my desire
to learn more
than a few things
along the way.
The pursuit being
the perfect
teacher of things passed
I had packed my bags
for the long journey.
Sadly, I am no hero
of Greek proportions,
and this in spite
of the fire
that I had swallowed
on the boardwalk
at Coney Island
as Homer looked on laughing.

When I stepped out off
of my eighth story
balcony I fell upon
a stake that had
just been set-up that
very day. Being
that no substantial
damage was caused
by my impalement,
the owner was delighted
at my arrival.
In fact such an arrival
was what he had often
longed for, and in
setting up shop in such
an unfamiliar neighborhood
he was vindicated
in the one great dream
that had consumed
him for so many years.

From the look of surprise
on my face after such
a clean collapse devoid
of anything more
than a minor loss of blood
he could immediately
discern what I had
dropped in for.

There it was, dusty
and frayed,
just the way that I
had imagined it.
Opening the book
I laughed at the cautionary
tales that I had once
held sacred, but with
age had come
to disregard.

All the dead and dying
faces of the children
who had far less
luck than I with
scissors and matches
lay waiting for the grave.

The tall shopkeeper
could not help
but shout with delight
and amazement while
slicing a thick
piece of salami
on the counter.
He asked if I would like
to join him for lunch.

How could I refuse?

We laughed at all
of the saccharine stories
that are fed to youths
these days on dry
pieces of toast, and of
how when push
comes to shove
these same children
are snipped
from life's long lie
by sharp scissors.
We gave great grins
at the babes
who go up in flames
laughing at the orange
glow and blistering
skin not realizing
that the end is the only
cause for the beginning.

My stomach full
I climbed the fire escape
back up to the eighth story
promising the antiquarian
to return the next day,
but the following morning
when I slammed down
onto the street
he was no longer there
though the spike remained.

We had both
achieved what
we had wanted,
and that being
the case there was no
reason to stick around
and watch for what
would happen next.





Ladies and Gentlemen

Conversation with once
................ diligent men
now merely propped
................ up by women
who revel in lesser qualities.

The assumptions once
................ made now
nothing more than the afterthoughts
................ of memories
lost on solemn ground.

These ladies who stand
................ beside my soul
smear their lips
................ with the cosmetics
of ontological disappointment.

They at least
................ can see
a potential in
................ despair.
Hope will be found

through them,
in them,
in the things
................ lost
that only they now
can taste.

As for these one time
................ gentlemen
in evening jackets
................ torn,
and souls shattered

they see nothing more
................ in what
they once thought
................ than the love
they misappropriated.

In those far gone
................ rhymes of our
childhood now long
................ past the potential
will not return.

Conscious of words evaporated,
conscious of dreams denied,
living in the dark
................ night that the soul
can no longer endure,
they look into the eyes
that offer no salvation,
and commend themselves
to the hands
that drag them forward
................ without grace.





Palate

The restaurant
........ may not be
to your liking
if you have a tendency
to refrain from
........ warmed and rotting
things.

The eyes of baby dolls
made real
........ for instance.

If however you
........ are one
for an adventure
........ in the realm
of burnt brown grass,
and lost horizons
........ your stomach
will be satisfied.






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