Beijing Brush

Brushes the wool smoothly sift,
full is not tightly easy
to fall off wool,
bright, rich, the touch is gentle
may with ease brush the cosmetics
evenly frivolous
naturally has just right.

The color nature easy to stick
to the silt, but sweeps the powder
evenly, lasting durable,
with the flesh close-fitting,
makeup effects on a more refined
and delicate, presents the perfect
tidal current cosmetics.



Blurb on the cardboard wrapping of a retractable makeup brush from China. Submitted by Cathy Bryant.

For your freedom,

many died.
For your words,
many fought.
For your vote,
many tried.
For your love,
many went
through a lot.

In case you forgot.

In case you forgot.


(for Mark Ashton and Annie Lee Cooper)

matthew 11:28-30 by Hamish Petersen

28:



Job.
He wrote, �Why did I not perish at birth?�

�Why
is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter

of
soul?�

and
I ask why He gave me breath and life.

�But
man dies and is laid low�

�At
least there is hope for a tree�



29:



Tell
me about light and life.

The
same light that hides

That
light seen but not touched

and
like punching under water

leaves
a thirst.

A Broken Flower Love Poem by Daniela Cuellar

A Broken Flower

Don't look at it.

It's not what it appears.

It smiles. 

It laughs.

It is not real.

It's hurt.

Touch it, it'll break.

Look at it, it'll drown.

It'll cry until it hurts.

It's haunted.

The thoughts of you tear it apart.

Why can't it let go? 

What has it become?

It was once happy, now, just upset.

It was once laughing, now, cries until death.

Its heart was wide open, now, hard as a rock.

A smile.

It haunts it.

It tears it apart.

Leave.

It doesn't want you.

Why can't it let go?

A shadow.

Behind it.

Hurting.

So sore.

It will hide 'till forever.

Its want will not cease.

You will not find it.

It will not live in peace.

Yes, it will fall.

Fall as it please.

You will not catch it.

It will let go, as much as you call.

It will not answer, as much as you want.

It is done with you. 

Leave.

It will cry out the hurt.

Don't look at it.

Please.

It will let go.

It's not what it appears.

It is not the real "me".

Until someone comes back, like this it will be.

Touch it, it'll break.

Kiss it, it'll bleed.

It doesn't want to hurt you.

Please!

Leave it be!

It starts as a seed.

It blooms as a flower.

It'll grow and it'll grow.

Grow by the hour.

Please let it go.

Just let it hide.

Because after it blooms, it'll shrivel and die.

Wholesome Nation

Too few countries
in the world
have chosen
a vegetable
to be their national symbol

but Wales chose the leek



From something that came from The Sacred Kitchen by Robin Robertson and Jon Robertson (New World Library, 1999). Submitted by Melanie Barbato.

In the Shadow of Selene

There�s a thing about being alone
and
there�s a thing about being lonely
and
they�re two different things.

I was alone
�but�
I was not lonely.
I was very used to being by myself.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Far from feeling lonely
or abandoned
I feel very much a part of what is taking place
(I don�t mean to deny
a feeling of solitude.)

It is there,

reinforced by the fact ... I am alone now
and absolutely isolated
from any (known) life.

If a count were taken,
the score would be:
three billion (plus two)
over on the other side
and
One (plus
God knows what else...)
on this side.

That was the best part of the flight.



From Al Worden: 'The loneliest human being', BBC, 2 April 2013, and Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2009). Submitted by Daniel Galef.

'Imagine a Woman Behind Razor Wire, Glimpsed' by James Owens, with art by Cheryl Dodds

Railroad Diary, Istanbul 2012 -- by Cheryl Dodds


1.

A long time ago, when we lived in the sky�.

2.

But no, we never lived in the sky.We invented that because of pain,because desire tortures even the dirt and stones into division,into definition fracture power solitude wall razor wire.

3.

(But pleasure is also real. Joy is real. One autumn day, my wifeclimbed a fence and stole from a

??????????? ????? ?? '????? ?????' ???? ???

?? ???? ???? ??? ?? ????: "???,
???? ????? ??? ???, ?? ?????????-????? ?? 
??? ??? ??? ??," ?? ???? ??? ??
????? ????, ???? "????? ?? ??????
?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???????, ??? ?
???? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ????
??? ??, ???? ?? ?? ????????? ????? ??
????-???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???"    

 

Like Robert Frost

We have agreed to let the electric company trim some trees.
If they come when you are there

let them
Ensure they leave the wood behind.

Get them to put the small bits
behind the hazel bush

where the rest of the prunings are.
Try and get a card

from the wood cutter,
we have other trees

we�d like him to look at.
Don�t use the pump in the spring

for more than twenty minutes,
and meanwhile remember

to water everything if God
is not doing his fair share.



A note left for new guests by the owners of a holiday cottage in Brittany, 16 September 2014. Submitted by Nigel Lawrence.

January

January. The days
are short but dramatic scenes
await the hardy.



From the Great British Year poster, Open University. Submitted by Uschi Gatward.

That moment when

the evening had not yet gone,
the sky was still not scarlet, the
sun was still to go beneath, the
edges of the Hampstead Heath.

My hands were still in my pockets,
you were still a little far; the heath
then stretched like golden farms,
and you were not yet in my arms.
 

Mysteries of Carrados

�Two left shoes" he remarked encouragingly.
"And an equally devastating sight of two practically blind states in America".

Smiling broadly, they were leaving like a airship. The war is
(P20) always exciting.

In a harmless war he had not had time to dig light that is
confidential on Monday afternoon.

I suppose you knew it was not out at sea, took it for granted.
Our submarine is echoing all which was expedient for a well-
(P40) known lady employer.

"What course for the news?", replied the girl. "Can I see who
had been asked out?" The man will tell you anything and rather
gratuitously it seemed.

Carrados could watch them licking. When the answer here
should be paid no attention until this chair is vacant and the
(P71) room without a word; like a shaken hand.

Murder something with one mistake. He will never notice a
strange message of misgiving had no difficulty in finding her.

A little attempt now to hear there's nothing like a good
testimony in a low voice. No photograph possessing
(P95) identification is unnaturally white.

It was the first time an empty chair splashed like a moments
worry. The most difficult alibi forgotten in case you cared and
nothing else at first.

It was the faintest idea to come prompted on the bare earth
(P114) followed through seriously simple explanation.

He would like to see time from just one window. Drink this
garden and assist melancholy admiration before the seal of
iron.

And the angel looked at me. A dazzling thing. The lady of
simultaneous voices rising in the dead of night without the
(P133) remotest hope to prick up their ears.

Interment, there in the dark. Unique mothers of the coming generation.

More happened if they could be drawn into the now vigorous soil.

That was plainly so much. So the giant in charge within
(P156) straightened spirits on that heart-throbbed dead weight,

His face was not her husband and children didn't know his wife.
You can hear a very intoxicated man a mile away. You must not
ask him sometime about when the paper said you could give
me an idea.

(P174) I wish I'd known. The blind and the first people who were not a
painting gave him the details of the letters.

Burning the place down was his way to be the victim.
To be spread:

(P189) Afraid to trust silent and deserted streets.

We used to have just coffee and water beetles. The very
opposite of money before our faces of pink.

(P198) A plague that furnished nightmares with quick feeling.

Touching, I appreciate onions...

As we are shrank back into fluency. The dirty appetite too near.

Hard-cased sleeping inside the dynamo to transform
(P212) mechanical force into quiet professional clatter.

The cigar that made the alibi unconvincing and the man it might blind.

To outwit five senses of old. His eyes were open, voice ingenious.

I should advise of traffic mentally described. To get some reason in the five minutes that they had atmosphere.

His mind was an inexhaustible hunger. A dish of water to be left at night. No means of stopping the leak it seems.

(P237) And for god's sake, don't stop there.




From Max Carrados Mysteries, Ernest Bramah (Penguin 1964). A hole was drilled through the book and words taken consecutively from every page, next to the hole. Punctuation and capitalisation added, some page numbers displayed. Created and submitted by Winston Plowes.

????*

(12 ?????? 1954 - 2 ????? 1989)

tr. from Anand Patwardhan's "Safdar"

?? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??
?? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??
????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?????-?????? ??
???? ???? ???????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?????
???? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ????
?? ???? ???? ?????? ????????? ???
??????? ?? ????, ?? ????
?? ??? ???????? ?? ??????????? ????? ???? ????

???????? ???, ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????

?? ???? ?? ???????? ??? 

*???????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ???, ???? ?????, ?? ???????, ????????, ???????, ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ???????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ??? ??? 1989 ??? ????? ?? ?? ??? ???

Safdar Hashmi (1954-1989)

Anand Patwardhan

The Eternal One is

Straight, upright.
Right, proper, correct.
Exact, standardized, just so.
Primary, chief, main.
First.
Pure, unmixed.
Pretty.
Honest.
Placed or situated in the middle.
Just now, right now.
Straightens.
Puts right, rectifies.
Regular.
Positive.
5.
10⁴⁰.




Translingual definitions of the character ? . Submitted by Daniel Galef.