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Author: JRL

Published July 15, 2025

What It Is

What it is will never be what was.
What it will be is never what is.
What it was can never be what is.
What it is can never come to pass.
What it will be won’t become what was.
What it was is not what’s yet to come.
What it is cannot be what it is.
What it will be doesn’t know what was.
What it was is not what used to be.

What it is can only be what is.
What will be can only be what might.
What it was can only be what was.

What it is won’t ever be what might.
What will be won’t ever be what can’t.
What it was won’t ever be what didn’t.

What it is will never be what is.
What it is will never be what will.
What it is will never be what was.

What is now is all of what there is.
What is here is all there ever was.

15 JUL 2025

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Published July 14, 2025

The Time Not Now: villanelle

The time not now will never come to pass.
What is born here today, this day will die.
All this that is was never built to last.

The past does not go slow, nor future fast,
yet both what is and was confuse the eye.
The time not now will never come to pass.

Enjoy this moment’s rich and full repast,
its laughter, tears, brief hours and gentle sighs.
All this that is was never built to last.

The flags for yesterday don’t fly half mast,
nor need us wringing hands with woeful cries.
The time not now will never come to pass.

There is no back and forth, the die is cast.
What you know now is all you’ll realize.
All this that is was never built to last.

There just time to focus on this task,
not what waits in your wheelhouse by-and-by.
All this that is was never built to last.
The time not now will never come to pass.

14 Jul 2025

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Published July 11, 2025

Celebrity Nobody

I don’t need to hang your poster.
You don’t need to worship mine.
I don’t need to have your autograph.
If you ask for mine, I won’t sign.
I don’t need your attaboy,
and you sure don’t ask for mine.
I don’t need my name in lights,
nor plastered on your picket signs.
I don’t need your plastic smiles
or superficial hugs.
I don’t need protection from
your loving, mindless thugs.
I don’t need to think you love me.
You don’t want my affection.
I don’t need you to approve me,
any more than your rejection.
I don’t need your picture in a frame.
We’re both too old to play that game.
I don’t need you telling me
inside we’re both the same.
I don’t need to share my secrets.
You don’t tell me yours.
I don’t need your vital essence
to keep my future visions pure.

I don’t need to tell you this.
You don’t even care.
I don’t need to say a thing.
You’re not really there.

11 JUL 2025

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Published July 11, 2025

What You See: triolet

What you see is what you get.
Be careful since the eyes can lie –
a simple truth we often can forget:
what you see is what you get,
and once you’ve got it, you’re in debt
to those who’ve shown you what to buy.
What you see is what you get.
Be careful, since the eyes can lie.

You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high,
no sacred balance to preserve.
You may not get what you deserve.
The masters change, the source may swerve,
but we all live, and serve, and die.
You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high.

The only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense
to look for or work through, somehow.
The only time you have is now,
and in this moment is allowed
the brief chance to experience
the only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense.

11 JUL 2025

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Published July 10, 2025

Throw Me Something: terzanelle

Just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.
It only took me years to learn and drove my parents nuts,
because it didn’t start so sweet – that happened after long

and tiresome exercise until, somewhere deep in my guts,
I figured out just how to train my blistered fingers right.
It only took me years to learn and drove my parents nuts.

Along the way I learned the way to keep a tempo tight.
Despite being self-centered, I began to listen well,
and figured out just how to train my blistered fingers right.

It was not easy work, in fact, sometimes it was sheer hell,
imagining a world where art and commerce got along.
Despite being self-centered, I began to listen well,

and managed, in my own small way, to sing my simple songs.
I tried to find connections with those people who might hear,
imagining a world where art and commerce got along.

At some point, only recently, the point became more clear:
just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.
I try to find connections with those people who might hear.
Just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.

10 JUL 2025

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Published July 9, 2025

Ignorance <> Bliss: sonnet (terza rima)

If ignorance is bliss, why are so few
of us enraptured by our current state,
imagining so much left us to do

and in a worried struggle with our fate?
That does not seem so blissful or serene.
We try, but often miscommunicate

and fail to share with others what we mean.
This leaves us in the dark, and quite alone,
afraid that our own shadows are obscene.

It does no good to live life like a stone.
The human spirit cries to become more,
to grow and learn beyond mere flesh and bone.

If ignorance is merely our cocoon,
we must try metamorphosis – and soon.

09 Jul 2025


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Published July 9, 2025

The Diamond Sutra: sonnet (Spencerian)

What is an unexcelled and perfect light,
and who would recognize that state as such?
To judge it by comparison’s not right,
and once you’re past that point, there’s just not much

to measure with. No real yardstick or crutch
would be of too much use out there, beyond
the realm of seeing, hearing, and of touch.
How could you catch a ripple in that pond?

Quite honestly, too many saints are fond
of these imaginary turns of phrase.
The truth is out there past such simple bonds,
quite empty of both struggle and malaise.

Enlightenment? What do you hope to see?
Once there is no more seeking, you are free.

09 JUL 2025

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