represented in all that rubble
the only frontier you have left
in tones alternately pleading and hostile
laws condemn us to boredom
as if the only hope of compensation lay in what was
property-lined and speed-limited and zoned
scorched and smashed remnants of the past
the county letterhead warning them
the happiest excuse might be they were
doing these awful things
documented injuries
to make the world a safe, organized place
it looked like a city gutted by war
help would come soon enough
children played their toyless games
the world of intangibles
Regular font lines are taken from page 188 of Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonseca
Italicized lines are taken from page Choke p 159 by Chuck Palahniuk
I went through several books and pulled out lines from them then laid them out and tried to match them up. This was the second set.
Laura is today’s host for dVerse’ Meet the Bar. Laura says:
sew two poems together with some other rules that are listed in my first one.
Tao Talk 
You went dark with this one Lisa and brought it to the best of endings
“children played their toyless games
the world of intangibles”
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Thank you, Laura. I believe it is the only thing that will save us.
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Another stunner. You rocked the prompt.
Much❤love
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Thanks again, my friend <3
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Well done!
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Paula, thanks! <3
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It works both as one and as a kind of conversation, an inner tossing about of ideas. “toyless games”–what an evocative image that is. (K)
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I appreciate your insights, Kerfe. The book it came from is very powerful.
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Bravo.
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<3
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The destruction war can cause is just terrifying – or earthquakes for that matter! Once again, you’ve created something out of what to me essentially looks like impossibility!
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I love your comment and appreciate your kind words. I see the root of war as being fueled by the “best of intentions” on the surface.
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You really got into this prompt, Lisa, and both poems are so well patchworked. This one is darker and of the moment, and these lines are so poignant:
‘children played their toyless games
the world of intangibles’.
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Yes, I did, Kim, the prompt got me revved up. Thank you very much.
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This is wonderful, Li. The ending touches the heart. :)
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Kitty, thank you very much <3
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Omg! love that ending, Lisa. This was AMAZING!
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Jay, so glad you enjoyed the poem. It was a satisfying process to put them together on both poems. Thank you.
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This is deliciously dark and relevant of our current times, Lisa! ❤️❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa <3
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You poem has an intriguing push and pull to it, and as Sanaa says, feels very relevant. The toyless games and the image of that child really sticks!
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Tricia, thanks much, I’m glad you find it evocative.
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Totally! 💝
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Good poem Lisa…that is where we are headed if we are not careful.
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I know :( We have our priorities all messed up in the USA. As an example, I learned earlier this week that MI has a “surplus” of so much money and they want to give everybody a rebate check. Why not apply that “surplus” to developing sustaining energy sources??? A couple hundred dollars doesn’t do much for people, but finding a way to keep it from costing a fortune to heat my house in the wintertime would really help me and a lot of others.
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I agree… we need a long term solution. I know it won’t happen tomorrow but needs to be thought about and planned…every little bit helps in that.
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p.s. Thank you, Max.
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This made me think of the painstaking stories we have just begun to hear from Ukraine.
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Bjorn, the Fonseca book is all about the Roma/Gypsies in Europe and includes how they were treated in WW2. Their stories are as haunting as what are coming out from Ukraine.
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