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Open Poetry #41
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Tombstone
| Open Poetry #41 |
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Tombstone |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows 
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I sat in the dust outside the Birdcage, a saloon that didn't see a locking door for ten years, or any law; who needed law for a sanctuary in Hell. It was a spirit hostel for men, and women who could stand with them, survivors from a time made raw by war poverty and famine, fugitives from the planet, driven to a hostile world where Celestials worked in cribs hung above the barroom heads, worked nonstop until they bled out and died, where cowboys and miners and sporting men found an uneasy truce in whisky, gambling, opium and sex, where differences were settled with the bullet and the blade, and I closed my eyes at dusk, that time of freedom freedom of the heart the willing soul and mind, 45 minutes at most, when the sage really does challenge shadows to step outside to settle who owns purple. This is not the haunting time when spirits challenge living minds to settle who owns sanity, that comes later, deep into the night when the wind moans over old boot hill, when the mountains and arroyos remember all the soul's abandoned, cut down with malice or at random and set free in the streets. A tourist town now yet the dust saw it all, the dust fertilized with gunpowder, watered with blood, never left town, with all of the life poured out on that ground with all of the silver that raced through that town, I could have thought there'd be more green around. ©2007 by icebox . |
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| © Copyright 2007 icebox - All Rights Reserved | |||
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
So erie and sparks of truth. Enter this one into the writing contest in Tombstone. "late" |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
icebox Perhaps dust, like sand, holds the key. I really liked this poem....and especially this: 45 minutes at most, when the sage really does challenge shadows to step outside to settle who owns purple. And I thought old ladies like me owned purple.  |
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secondhanddreampoet Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394a 'Universalist' ! |
excellent 'write' (as usual) from this fine author! [effectively transports one to the old west ...not likely 'life' made any more sense then than now though?!] serious, sustained applause!! |
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Artic Wind Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 8080Realm of Supernatural |
i really enjoyed ARCTIC WIND |
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Tears-of-Sanity Member
since 2007-09-05
Posts 121Kingdom Hearts |
That was really awesome. I have never read anything like it before. I enjoyed every word, and every line... Tears of Sanity~ |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
Metaphor magick, Mr. C.! Still hoping for more green. *hugs*....jo |
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Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
Ice, We just did a roadtrip into Tombstone with friends on our motorcycles last weekend. Still dusty, still not enough green and still people searching for what was never there. But a delightful place that reminds us to appreciate what we have. The brightest light was Texas Kate who performs with rescued horses and dogs. For me a timely write, thanks. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
"when the sage really does challenge shadows to step outside to settle who owns purple" This line holds special meaning for me, and so I thank you, dearest ice...for conjuring up a dusty cast-away memory. |
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rosey_red Junior Member
since 2007-10-31
Posts 14 |
bumping up Halloween spirit  r&r |
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