Writing Outside The Lines

TIME FOR MORE

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I saw her at the window, and I wondered if she was looking at me. The pensive look on her face was inscrutable at a distance, but I didn’t know her well, so would I dare to get closer? I decided…I’m not getting any younger. If I don’t overcome my shyness now I’ll be forever cursed by it. How long is long enough, anyway?
 
For so many years I’d hung back…but how many times can you do so when a kind young woman looks your way and smiles? Someone has to make the first move. But as I moved closer, Mandy’s face beamed. My like response was involuntary. She swung the window open and shouted. “I wondered if you’d ever notice me.” She was teasing, but I knew it wasn’t meant unkindly. And she was right.
 
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you’d welcome my attention. I guess my fears were unwarranted.”
 
“Ya think?” I detected a slightly mocking tone, but she was smiling more all the time. So was I. I’d heard of long relationships coming from far less than this. Was it too much to hope for? Was it too soon to have such thoughts? It probably was, but the ball’s rolling now, and I’m not one to stand in the way of seeing where it goes.
 
Whatever happens from here on out, it’s better late than never…better something than nothing. It occurred to me that I was quickly going all-in. I’m not really a gambling man…but a chance at love wasn’t something my head could talk me out of. Losing would only come by not trying. So, yeah…all-in.
 
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WE’RE NOT ALL ALIKE

Posted on by artifiswords

In my lifetime
We’ve had the expression
“The Organization Man”,
The idea of conformity as a
Positive attribute…
The problem for me is
Though not a square peg,
I don’t fit in a round hole…
I’ve always preferred freeform
 
I’ll acknowledge good reasons
Exist for conformity…
We drive on the right
For obvious reasons
But tell that to a Brit…
We aren’t clones of a
Single person…and even
Twins have differences
 
Label me if you must
But you should know
That in a heartbeat
I can do the opposite
Of what you expect…
You’re not me…I’m not you
We’ll do what we learned to do
Or…better yet…what we decided
You should know…there IS
A difference between the two
 
© 2017 Robert Mihaly
 
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AFTER SUNSET

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Wondering what it means
That I’ve always preferred the dark
 
After sunset, when it’s mostly quiet
There’s a peace that reaches
Deep into my soul…
 
In a visual world, there’s
Less that I can see…
But I rarely miss those things
When the world is sleeping
And I am still wide awake
 
Other senses heightened…
I hear the softest sounds amplified
Louder sounds are totally
Out of place…undesired
 
In the dark…the best sound…
The soft sound of her
Breathing beside me…sleeping
The only break in the silence
That I’ll forever desire
 
© 2017 Robert Mihaly
 
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WHEN FUCKS FLY

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Sad, depressed…and angry
All at the same time…
A full house of pain…and
I’m watching as the cards
Are dealt off the
Bottom of the deck…
They say the house always wins
But what if I burned it down?
Pushed too long and too hard…
The “fuck you’s” pile up…
Maybe it’s time to
Just let them fly
 
© 2017 Robert Mihaly
 
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I FINALLY FOUND MY VOICE

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Writing was always something I did…
On occasion…only when the need arose
I heard my sister repeat many times
What someone had told her…
Everyone has at least one novel inside them
Maybe yes…maybe no…we’ll see…
But time rolls on…and time is not a friend
I’ve lived long enough to learn
Not everything you want will come to be
Too often you get none of the above
But when I sat down to write a poem
After many years avoiding them
The dam of suppressed feeling broke
Is that enough for a sustained stint
Of pounding on the keyboard?
Don’t hold your breath…
But less likely things have happened
 
© 2017 Robert Mihaly
 
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ACROSS THE SKY

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Closeness doesn’t come
Only through proximity
Sometimes there’s none at all
Or it never feels real…
Lesson learned the hard way
But what now…
If you can’t count
On knowing the one
Beside you…
What can you know
Of one across the sky,
Of one across the sea,
Of one across the world?
All you can have is faith
That they’re true to their word
Without that…there’s nothing
I don’t want…nothing
I’ve already got the hat
And it doesn’t fit
I want the real thing
 
© 2017 Robert Mihaly
 
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NO TELLER OF TALL TALES

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You can call me Bartleby. That’s not my real name, but it’s close enough. I think someone once said…I write, therefore I am…or something like that. No matter. I write. And I am. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll tell you why I’m here. For years I kept quiet, even as I became more dissatisfied, more disconcerted, with what I saw all around me. Personal disappointments and frustration with a deteriorating world finally brought me to the breaking point. So I began to write. Do you dare to think you can now shut me up?

Pushed into decisions that weren’t what I wanted, justified by fabrications, didn’t help me or anyone. Have you ever heard the stories of someone not feeling the need to tell the whole truth, minus embellishments? If I was there too, would I back them up? Would you? The truth matters, and the truth is that I won’t buy the big lie, nor will I let it slide. That isn’t nitpicking. It’s basic decency. For awhile, to keep the peace, you may learn to close your ears…pretend you heard nothing unusual. But after awhile, you’ll feel complicit…and compromised. Like I did, you’ll reach a crossroads…either you reach the breaking point or surrender your integrity.
 
“I am not a crook!”
 
“Welfare Cadillacs”
 
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
 
“Weapons of mass destruction”
 
“Better and cheaper healthcare”
 
Just to name a few examples everyone has heard doesn’t cover the breadth of the problem. Anyway, the beat goes on. In a world where there’s so little regard for truth, does it make lies, or even tall tales acceptable? It doesn’t just happen in the political world. Much of what offends my ears is very personal. Politics, though, should provide examples everyone has heard…if only people cared enough to seek out the truth as vigorously as they seek out the latest Christmas toy phenomenon or see the latest “must see TV”. You may call me cynical…or a curmudgeon. Have at it if you don’t want to look into the mirror at yourself. I’m speaking truth, and you know it. Or are you willing to lie to yourself? I won’t be complicit.
 
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NEVER TOO LATE

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I had no
Hold on love…
As if it had forever
Passed me by…
And yet I remained
A hopeful romantic,
Knowing that
Anything is possible
 
So often we find…
Their self love keeps them
From recognizing that
What they call love
Feels like nothing of the kind
To the recipient…
Like a foreign language,
It doesn’t translate
 
I knew I could never give up
And I never will…up till the end
 
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THE STENCH OF HISTORY

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Catching a whiff on the air…
He didn’t want to go back there
Memories were bad enough
But what was happening now
Was beyond the pale…
Like out of a dystopian novel
He heard them all but pronounce
Truths are lies…and the corollary
Their minions seem to believe both
And he wonders…is it 1984 again?

© 2017 Robert Mihaly

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