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more poetry by Matthew Herrle

Matt lives in Pittsburgh.

Talk, and the Function of the Measure

Talk about glory

And the passions of reason

Talk about sunlight

And the functions of season

Talk about a story

So we laugh into dawn

Talk about the measure

And our talk will be gone.

Let's talk about function

Our mandated cause

That which designs our purpose

And maintains the laws

Compelled to a calling

Yet repelled to less measure

Lose pleasure, gain leisure,

Only when It's on pause.

And...

That...

Doesn't happen,

Too often

No time

To talk

Until dawn.

Hear the sirens of this great beast

Herding the masses into their roles

Roll-by, Roll-over,

Forever, Roll fools.

A fresh slice of the system

Is dished out at birth

And the crumbs that remain

Feed the measure of our worth.

So what should be talked about?

Glory?

Passion?

Reason?

The weather?

So what should be measured?

The stories?

The tales that have left its contents in history

Dead with a worthy reprise?

Please talk until dawn

And laugh when it's gone

For this function of the measure

Is meaningless to the soul.

What is measure?

Adam Smith would say it is "Reaching the invisible point of equilibrium." (John Locke would agree).

Darwin would say it is "The outcome of the struggle to survive."

Marx would say it is "The ability to arrange existence, through the State."

Hume would say it is "The practical resolutions of the movements of fate."

The Kings, the Popes, and the Kennedy's would say it is "All that is left, divided equally."

Christ would say it is "The voids that are filled, only through Me."

This talk of the measure, its function to life

Is no more than the culmination of stories

Of science, system, and roles

And talks until dawn, that will never be told.

Re-measure, Re-exist

Weigh not the roles of this life

But the goals towards another

When we sit in streets paved with gold

And share the stories that were untold.

College Star

Although you didn't realize it until you were gone
You made an impact
You mattered in that place
You lived your moments
You were a star

Fading, light years away.

Graduation

When you think you are done with that light
Remember, their vision is forever
And God's love is near

So triumph, your time
Make room and shine

You've graduated
And it is someone else's turn
To make her smile

I'll miss each and everyone one of you
My heart has set aside this life.

Goodbye.

The Territory Frozen

Stop.
Now start on the left.
Look around,
With your eyes.
Move your neck
From left to right
Across the scene
It's so fast!
Now look around
Look around.
Glance at them pass
So fast
This mass.
Just scope the scene
Plant your feet
And glean
Insight reveals
Life
So tight-

ly
Wound
Wounded people
Share nothing,
Stare at themselves.
Share blankets,
Blank faces,
And traces of sound.
A territory so poisoned,
So silent, so frozen.
Plant your feet
In the ground!
So loud!

They walk
And we bury.
We lock
And they marry.
The men in the back
And the women below,
The best of them all
Rock the rest to and fro.
A glance around town
Stop.
Now start on the right.
Look around,
Move your neck.
Though we write this scene
Left to right,
Cannot turn it back
Forever frozen.
So freezing.

Delight in the vapor less glades
A shade
Away
From yesterday's phase
And tomorrow's
A blaze
Of
Eyes
And necks
And teeth
And feet
And minds (they think)
Will sharpen the world
Like ice floating in creation
To uncreate distance
And perpetrate reason.

I will not settle
I will not mesh
With a cruelty of chaos, no meaning
And a march, so lifeless.
I pause.
And look around
Around and around
And around
And around
This moment is frozen
Our territory marked
For the fleets of the servants
And the lords of the dark
While the grandest of us all
Is king only of the gulls

Fallen.
We meet primate
And our bark is a feeble smile
Amongst the grin of the nations.

Day

These two-thousand years, I've yearned for your reaction,
Action, passion.

These two-thousand years, I've swam my own tears

You've been without reaction,
Action, passion.

A meaningless drift of the sexual day,
Your romance was forgotten before my journey began.

And I yearn for two thousand years.
And I learn that this is just one day for you.

And so easily was I forgot.
Another two-thousand years,
And for you, a hapless day.

Sinking,
sinking,
your vision is forever.

Stay Over

"I missed you as a friend," she admitted,
As the borrowed sheets took their ruffled form on the busy carpet.
From where did you gain this comfort, this safety?
I've lost two thousand years for this day.

Overtime

At what time did I depart

from this day?

Not today,

I tell you.

Not today.

Cave

Enter.

And choose a path.

Follow.

Plunge Deeper.

And choose a path.

Choose a path.

A bend there.

It wraps and wraps.

Lead.

Rise Steeper.

It wraps and wraps.

Choose a path.

Remember

The light of day

Now wallow

Plunge Deeper.

This path

Grows steeper.

So choose a path

Loose sight of the last

These walls grow steeper

Think I'll weep here

It's caving in.

Breath.

The light turns green.

Only a distance,

And I'll be safer

I don't feel safe here.

This cave keeps crumblin'

Quicker than I can speed.

Indeed.

Now Breath

Breath.

Paths without purpose

Caving in towards

Home

Is what I need.

this caress

Lingers

Bell shaped longing

My piano love

This sensation

Is the life-giver

Suckling the nerve-endings

Caressing fingers,

It lingers

A splash to couple the longing

Waiting for it to pour

Vibration sensation

Smoothing the pores of flesh

This caress,

Is our recess

Forever lingering

in blind man's beauty.

Touch and rid the emptiness

Melt, mold, rest in this caress.

So pale...

so alive

She keeps me inside

I glide instinctively across her features

This creature knows what is within her.

Countdown to Mr. Every-Day Man

I'm going to count to five

Then this will all be over

This waiting in line

So pressing on my time

I'm going to look away

This moment will be over

Just looking in your eyes

So hopelessly not mine

I'm going to walk it off

I'm going to take a stroll

This empty, aging life

So stressing on my soul

I'm going to go away

I'm going to fade away

And that's where I'll remain

Until it is my time.

They account for us all

Down to the last penny earned

Master Controls Feed

Until

Mr. Every-Day Man...

Explodes.

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