Lose 10 pounds, join a
book club, eat healthier, watch
“Game of Thrones,” try meth.

• • •

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The start looks like fun,
and the end looks perfect but
far off. Keep going.

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The fault lies not in
our stars but in ourselves, that
we are underlings.

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No court, no law can
stop the force of love as it
spreads from heart to heart.

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He felt a dog-sized
hole in his life with an ache
for a wagging tail.

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Each shelf held the key
to worlds unexplored and dreams
and nightmares and frogs.

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Junior and Little
Miss stare at the streaming flick
while Mom stays alert.

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Taylor Swift fixed my
iPhone at the Genius Bar
while singing “Bad Blood.”

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That half of the year
went by so quickly that this
half will surely drag.

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Push it and start all
over. Push it and wipe those
cares away. Push it.

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Wrong-way Willie went
barreling up the one-way
lane dodging shoppers.

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He would speak into
the remote for hours. The
dog was not impressed.

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1. weeds among the weary vehicles
   The roving robot
   wrangled wandering carts from
   lot purgatory.
2. a period of unconsciousness
   The hyphen lay still
   between parentheses, just
   out of his comma.
3. worlds apart
   Let’s live in our own
   universes, unchecked by
   facts or sanity.
4. shirk ethic
   Let the other guy
   do it. Coffee breaks won’t take
   themselves, now, will they?
5. a professional grump
   It’s not for the pay.
   The consummate grump does it
   for the love of pain.
6. new new beginnings
   This is the Monday
   I start my diet, early
   rising, workouts, prayers.
7. dine and dish
   The kitchen crew spent
   an afternoon lunch break with
   laughter and rantings.
8. reset the chairs
   Each seat would drift down
   the sea of carpet, floated
   back by tides of hands.
9. they who would do good but not good enough
   The discussion on
   hunger ended with guests’ half-
   full plates in the trash.
10. emerging tendrils
    The ground cannot hold
    back the seeds reaching for the
    unlimited sky.
11. half-caf, no-foam race relations
    She handed out both
    lattes and observations
    from pale to dark brown.
12. give our regards to the chef
    The first try was meh.
    The second, somewhat better.
    The third, edible.
13. even pups make believe
    Two wolves battle for
    territory and fat sheep
    atop the canyon.
14. the wiggly tooth
    The incisor found
    no rest along the bottom
    gum, so he cut out.
15. protecting the garden
    Squirrels, rabbits and cats
    circled protectively round
    the blooming bounty.
16. the death of signal
    The report is due
    any minute. The wifi
    commits suicide.
17. my heart, i give it to you
    I spill my guts for
    you to digest, not for real
    but in many words.
18. steady the quiver
    Bow before the bow.
    Let the vile target tremble
    till the point is made.
19. something but net
    The accountant fed
    each receipt, each napkin, each
    stub into the gross.
20. app happy
    When to breathe, where to
    go, what to eat, how to move
    and when to upgrade.
21. a masterpiece in three cuts
    A snip here, a cut
    there, soon it will be worthy
    of an audience.
22. kale the wonder drug
    Mash some up with your
    pills. Rub some on your skin. Snort
    it as a powder.
23. burnt roof-of-mouth syndrome
    Eat the pizza while
    it’s hot or suffer through the
    bitter cold slices.
24. seat 48c
    The tiny door slams
    shut 10 times an hour, then
    the sound of pissing.
25. fear of missing any
    Goodbye to each lost
    second, wasted minute and
    ill-chosen hour.
26. and a bunny shan’t lead them
    No lowly rabbit
    or other creature would serve
    as risen prophet.
27. not even to order flowers
    She resisted the
    necessity of calling
    anyone at all.
28. to bare it all in an mp3
    A jumble of words
    into lyrics, a splash of
    chords into a tune.
29. dare to be somewhat above average
    The salaryman
    dreamt of a slightly nicer
    car and taller kids.
30. peas, love and understanding
    From a little pot
    grew a stem and some leaves and
    pods in the offing.
31. the organizers
    One wanted matching
    T-shirts, the other wanted
    spontaneous trust.
32. running lines
    The tenor jogged up
    and down the stairs before back
    onstage to sing swing.
33. harvest of shamelessness
    The country folk came
    to gawk at the city folk
    and sell peach preserves.
34. the queue for the 3d printer
    Crosses, models, globes,
    weapons, abstract sculptures, pens
    and 3D toner.
35. no accounting
    Piles of receipts plus
    stacks of pay stubs minus debts
    equals large headache.
36. road warrior 2015
    Uber takes the wheel,
    Siri takes dictation, and
    hipsters take the bus.
37. shut the front door
    The introvert stayed
    at home and lived happily
    forever after.
38. click play to save money
    Do-it-yourself heart
    surgery seemed easy thanks
    to YouTube lessons.
39. the body, the antenna
    Radio waves flow
    through vessels and nerves, tuning
    in the crooner’s soul.
40. seek pleasure or seek safety
    Keep your head down or
    go after your wildest dream,
    the choice of each day.
41. what price oil?
    Punch the ocean and
    drown the men to keep our tanks
    full of gas and blood.
42. down in the data mines
    They chipped away at
    boulders looking for nuggets
    of consumer trends.
43. distracted guardians
    The angel on his
    shoulder was texting, while the
    devil was sexting.
44. coswar
    Nerds in Spandex line
    up for popcorn and trade tales
    of comic legends.
45. two days’ grace
    Lie in meadows and
    breathe in fragrant winds and bask
    in joyous freedom.
46. the clinking of glasses
    A happy noise rings
    out over and over with
    bubbly drinks and smiles.
47. a new routine
    He considered a
    change to his morning habits
    while he overslept.
48. a tragedy, as told in bruises
    Her arms marked where he
    shook her; her neck, where he choked
    her; her ribs, his jabs.
49. green scene
    The fertilizer
    nourished all. Even the weeds
    grew thicker, lusher.
50. the post-drizzle unveiling
    The crew swept away
    the giant handkerchief to
    reveal a dry field.
51. stenographers in progress
    The room was quiet,
    save for the clickety-clack
    of keys lightly tapped.
52. invasion of the countertop ants
    Ten ants crushed, and then
    another 10 take their place
    to steal tiny bites.
53. living history in short, violent booms
    The North and the South
    clash on modern battlefields
    thanks to old blue laws.
54. blessed are the mighty
    What good is holy
    comfort at the expense of
    the least among us?
55. sip and slur
    The flask appeared quite
    suddenly to offer a
    brief but needed jolt.
56. fight night
    All it took was one
    demolishing blow to the
    skull to finish him.
57. the good kind of tired
    Chores done, projects checked,
    birdhouses built, contracts signed
    and love songs written.
58. when the car goes bump in the night
    By the side of the
    freeway, they swore at the hole
    in the flat tire.
59. parade of homies
    Paco didn’t mind
    the jeers of rivals. To him,
    they sounded so sweet.
60. hot head
    Ultraviolet beams
    cooked the bare sections of his
    smooth ivory scalp.
61. a mother’s love
    Tender, but also
    fierce. Protective, but also
    nurturing. Boundless.
62. infected with ideas
    She wanted to change
    her life, her job, her house, her
    outlook and her hair.
63. of quiet desperation
    The decades ticked past
    with little to show heading
    to oblivion.
64. the radio with a thousand presets
    The driver couldn’t
    find the station for reggae
    or sports talk or folk.
65. everyone’s an expert
    Let others decide
    how much makeup, how to rear
    kids and best yogurts.
66. conversation with a distracted black dog in the park
    Who’s a good boy? bark
    bark Are you having fun? bark
    bark Come back! bark bark
67. low-information managers
    They scurry from cube
    to cube, seeking approval,
    dispensing rumors.
68. in his bones
    The weariness found
    refuge deep inside his bones,
    never to depart.
69. a sip of tea
    The steam lazily
    drifted ceilingward, with dark
    eddies swirling round.
70. the platinum age of heroes
    Comic panels spring
    to life on 50-inch screens
    with little Spandex.
71. thanks, dave
    Late night no longer
    a time to sleep, but a chance
    to laugh and unwind.
72. the black eye of the gulf
    It dwells below the
    depths, a cesspool of mankind’s
    oil addiction.
73. sea breeze
    Not so much currents
    of air as a lullaby
    made of atmosphere.
74. the lonely dunes
    I walked along the
    lonely dunes and found myself
    at one with others.
75. a holiday, not a holy day
    Let us honor the
    fallen without piety
    or such idol worship.
76. extended salute
    Honor our war dead
    by taking proper care of
    their grieving loved ones.
77. numb to criticism
    Enough jabs and tweaks
    at the hide make it callous
    to compliments, too.
78. the countdown to moving out
    Each lazy day brings
    the ripe collegian closer
    to new surroundings.
79. self-flagellation
    Why are you hitting
    yourself? Why are you hitting
    yourself? To improve.
80. harmless rain
    It trickled. It poured.
    It seemed to never stop. The
    ground soaked it all in.
81. minister of offense
    Get in front of the
    story, and keep the players
    eligible first.
82. the suggestive jester
    She would tell a joke.
    Her audience would laugh, then
    giggle thoughtfully.
83. the curiously cute scarecrow
    The curiously
    cute scarecrow failed to ward off
    vermin but scored stares.
84. summer city scavenging
    They posed in front of
    the alleyway mural with
    their mischievous smiles.
85. have a day
    The cashier is too
    cheerful. The phone rep is too
    cheerful. Tone it down.
86. featuring miss snuggles
    The teddy bear had
    a starring role in the tyke’s
    staging of “Snow White.”
87. selfie fixation
    The mirror she used
    had a lens and a thousand
    faces looking back.
88. the neighborhood hoarders
    The house next door has
    more than enough mousetraps and
    boxes full of clocks.
89. rich in nostalgia
    Rich in nostalgia,
    but poor in decency. Earth,
    age 5 billion years.
90. pray for rain
    The dust choked the life
    out of everything. The end
    days were upon us.
91. a furnace on four wheels
    Open the door to
    a blast of compressed hot air,
    then stick to the seats.
92. the miracle of sewage into potable water
    Tubular filters
    purify waste water in
    under an hour.
93. sleep is a fickle mistress
    Many concepts turn
    into fickle mistresses
    because we lack sense.
94. the finest print
    The elders stared in
    wonder at the wee words all
    but unreadable.
95. a mind made of weary
    His overtaxed brain
    revved down to minimal speed
    and seemed to have stalled.
96. the verbal exhibitionist
    Not keen to make friends
    but perfectly at ease while
    gabbing to thousands.
97. the summer of me
    Popsicles and walks
    in twilight and fireflies
    and sandy beaches.
98. zapping the summer doldrums
    Does boredom still come
    round when the sun’s high and kids
    worship Xboxes?
99. no ac, just 94-degree weather
    They sweated themselves
    dry in the burnt surroundings
    of the living room.
100. guns win gun war
     Let us not weep for
     those shot down as long as we
     worship firearms.
101. system of tepid beliefs
     I don’t know if I’m
     strong enough to stand for some-
     thing, for anything.

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Let us not weep for
those shot down as long as we
worship firearms.

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They sweated themselves
dry in the burnt surroundings
of the living room.

• • •

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