No More Should’ves

some trees blossom, some trees don’t
some spread roots quite wide
I am one that waited long
to discover what I hide

I have acorns squirrelled away
buried dreams and schemes
I hope to take them out some day
when will I know it’s time?

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selfDeborah Mannas
Secret Smile

She walks out the door
it’s raining again
slanting downpour
doesn’t slow down her spring

she hugs to herself
what she’s known for a while
she’s not on the shelf
she has her own style

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selfDeborah Mannas
Dead wood

Logs of wood burn and burn,
crisply heating air around them;
flicking ferocious ember churn,
combusting oxygen to flame.

once consumed, dead they lie:
logs still framed in loggy cast.
coloured now in gangrene grey;
lift them up, ash drifts and wafts.

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The Picks are Stuck!

Stars are stuck in the night sky
frozen in space, time and mind’s eye
so we know where we are
by following the north star
I wish my poems got stuck like that
when picked for front page by APs robot

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selfDeborah Mannas
Unmarked

Two magnets opposingly charged
high ramparts made night from day
I was house-bound, burning logs
while you hunted birds of prey

love banned but bans called
lines in sand, the blood lines met
through it all, joint lives unfold
you the keeper, I the kept

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From Great to... ?

India has rule of law. in theory.

but when there is a traffic accident
the driver of the larger vehicle
jumps out and flees
fearing that a lynch mob of
vigilantes
will take justice
into their hands,
without following the rule of law:
presumed innocence
and due process.

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Don’t Get Stiffed

brands are available in Shenzhen
costing a fraction of the original
falling off trucks with abandon
so anyone can be fashionable

Rolexes, Taylormade clubs
designer clothes, handbags
Shenzhen is one of China’s hubs
where tourists will be sandbagged

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humourDeborah Mannas