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Cousin Richard


Who said I is inside?

Oh! I wish IT wasn’t!

 

Put IT up in a tree

Or on a clothing line

There in sultry Hampton.

 

Hang IT up to dry with all our tears

In sweltering Hanoi.

 

(The air was thick everywhere IT went. You could almost say suffocating…)

 

If IT can’t make it in light

We’ll remember IT otherwise

 

IT is a name and a belief.

IT is a conception of a thing.

IT was moving, breathing, and

Bearing form

 

It has since broken down

 

IT can be missed. 

IT can shape meaning.

IT can dance in echoes and strange instances.

 

When gunsmoke rose it made breathing room for

Growing breathless

 

The roar of bombs rang out in memory

—Mind, moment, a series of mirrors IT passed by—

And in the blackened earth

What’s there to gain

But the sick ease of sucking down poison?

 

—Permeate. Waxing. Turning blackness.

The empty spaces where your life remains.

Holes in the world here or there, in Virginia or Vũng Tàu—

 

Those mosquitoes hover in the moonlight,

Slowly descending to the source of

An inanimate scream dissolving in the air,

A void made where IT, faces and names

—Fond thoughts beyond all farewells— 

Kissed God

 
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Vincent St. Clare

⁽ᴺᴼᵀᴵᶜᴱ: ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ˡᶦᵏᵉˡʸ ᵗᵒ ⁿᵉᵉᵈ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉᵈ ᵃᶜᶜᵉˢˢ ᵗᵒ/ᵃᵇᶦˡᶦᵗʸ ᵗᵒ ᵛᶦᵉʷ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵘˡˡ ᵐᵉᵃˢᵘʳᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵁⁿᶦᶜᵒᵈᵉ ᶜʰᵃʳᵃᶜᵗᵉʳˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵉᵐᵒʲᶦˢ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉᵉ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸᵗʰᶦⁿᵍ ʷʳᶦᵗᵗᵉⁿ ʰᵉʳᵉ, ᵃˢ ᴵ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᵃ ᵖᵉⁿᶜʰᵃⁿᵗ ᶠᵒʳ ᶦⁿˢᵉʳᵗᶦⁿᵍ ᵘⁿⁿᵉᶜᵉˢˢᵃʳʸ ˢʸᵐᵇᵒˡˢ ᶦⁿᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᵛᵃʳᶦᵒᵘˢ ᵇᶦᵒˢ ᴵ'ᵛᵉ ʷʳᶦᵗᵗᵉⁿ ᵃᵗᵗᵉᵐᵖᵗᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵈᵉᶠᶦⁿᵉ, ᶜᵃᵖᵗᵘʳᵉ, ᵉⁿᶜᵃᵖˢᵘˡᵃᵗᵉ, ᵒʳ ᵉˣᵖˡᵃᶦⁿ ʷʰᵒ ᴵ ᵃᵐ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ ᴵ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᶜᵒⁿᵗᶦⁿᵘᵉ ᵗᵒ ˡᶦᵛᵉ ᵒᵘᵗ. ⁽... ᵀᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒᶦⁿᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗᵉᵃʳˢ...⁾⁾ ⚜️ 【𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙉𝙏 𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂: ⮕ I usually don't pull punches when it comes to my creative expression. Some content I produce may only be age-appropriate for adults. That's potentially the case when it comes to any of my work—past, present, or future. Thus, some material viewable on this particular Power Poetry account page (that is, in this very bio), possibly including some of the poems (or portions of poems) featured here, may ALSO only be age-appropriate for adults, best suited to individuals 18+ or 21+. ◆ Additionally, explicit content may appear on the various social media accounts and other online profiles I have managed or today manage, as well as the web pages and websites I have managed or have contributed to, or am currently administrating, updating, or active (even if only somewhat active) on. Hence, I recommend following any links to any of my online presences, posts, and publications with caution. ◆ When it comes to my verse—and remember: this may also apply, in certain instances, to my other creative works, regardless of medium—explicit content can consist of the poetic use of (or allusions to/references to/mention[s] of) the following: • strong language; • alienation (whether communal—e.g., alienation from (or within the context of) one's country, culture, family, religion, nation, or society—or personal/private—e.g., alienation in an egoic, existential, psychological, or spiritual sense); • conflict (e.g., class, cultural, economic, familial, generally interpersonal, religious, resource); • death; • grief and loss; • pain (whether emotional/psychological or physical); • sexuality; • addiction, including substance use and abuse; • violence; • explicit topics like abuse and neglect, self-harm, and potentially harmful ideologies. <...> ... It's a fair warning, I think.】 🔹️⌞═══════ ⚜️ ═══════⌝ 🔹️ V.—or Vincent—St. Clare. "Empty Sky." (Among other names and such.) A nom de plume. (...Or *guerre*, depending on your perspective...) "V. St. C", "Vinny St. Clare", or "Vincenzo Santa Chiara", even, though really you can call me [by] any name you prefer. (Examples include dipsh*t, burnout, creep, crackpot, misfit, screwball, a fluke [of nature], a flake [all the same], and so forth and so on.) A fledgling writer, amateur[ish] quasi-"philosopher"/thinker[-er], some half-as*ed attempt at a "mystic" or "magic[k]ian" (*id est*, 'Thee Prophet ov Crestfallen Alchemical Clowns Everywhere ❬™❭, a.k.a. [Fra.] CÆLVM INNOMINATVM, lately creating cacophony under the name UNKNOWN CROWN (⁉️👑/⸘♚)), and a dislocated suburban cowboy. I'm couch-locked and hell-bound, an armchair idiot facing an everlasting omnilemma, pis*ing alchemy into the wind and pis*ing life away with an overburdened spiritual bladder. I've got a head on wheels and a heart on fire. I've been wandering in place for the past few countless eternities, simultaneously waiting on death and running after the *summum bonum*, that mirage we like to call "the good life". I'm ideally looking to ride out the latest eschaton, though frankly I'm not too hopeful about my (or anyone's) prospects, so these days I'm mostly just looking for reasons to tell off the universe despite my desire for true peace of mind. (And don't we all want that, in the end?) {... All times and places and spaces are colliding and combining, whether "out there" in some "actual" world or just in my head or yours or in ours together or neither or both or whatever, etc., etc., and so on and so forth, ad infinitum, ad absurdum, yada yada, lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, blah blah blah…}🔹️【linktr.ee/vincent_st.clare || thegrandtangent.com】

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Vincent St. Clare
This poem is one I wrote ca. 2013, shortly after a trip southward, down the U.S. East Coast to the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia. There[abouts], a meeting with "long-lost" extended family included a very brief introduction to a distant cousin who sadly passed before I could ever see him again... ** … 𝘼 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙄 𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬… **

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