The End of the Twentieth Century [Day 1]

      I measure words,
probability in a stranger’s eye
a fatal attraction to light
lingering in my pockets,
            like a penny,
            or a thought:

      your eyes, they speak of loss.

Hand in hand, the leap before the fall.
      Autumn leaves in Summer heat
            trip softly, sensuously
      falling over themselves like
paper airplanes and flagging tongues
                        in the wind.

Freedom is a feeling, validation
      a release from feeling:

                  live, if you want-

Always offended, never ashamed,
a fallen empire built upon the ruins of
a fallen empire built upon the reunion of
      ‘I do’ – measuring the words in
            weighted probabilities,
                  light dancing across
            the eyes of a stranger.

      “A penny for your thoughts,”
I think, “what’s the meaning of ‘this’?”

            Your eyes tell me.
When the light hits this just right,
this could be love – your eyes,
      they speak of lost pennies
            and a promise,
            or a thought.

Have you seen these flags raised
atop this rubble, stained with pride,
      empires built upon the ruins of
bootstraps and the working class
            strung out silently like
                  instruments of war
      cascading gingerly, opulently
      tripping over themselves like
      hormones and flapping flags
                        in the wind.

            if you want to live,
                  validate freedom;

            if you want to die,
                  die waiting for love.

      There is no suspect in this case,
it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

            There is a light in your eye,
            we've spoken a time or two.
                  I measured every word
                        twice,

                              'I do,'
                              I do.

A requiem for the blackest of nights
      & all the spiders of the earth;
                   sleep tight.

_{Spoken word and free-verse poetry maven, @d-pend, is spearheading an amazing poetry initiative that he has made real here on Steem, The 100 Day Poetry Challenge, undertaken for Steemit School where @d-pend will be hosting a daily show dedicated to the initiative at 7 PM GMT.}

_{I truly believe this initiative is not only going to grow poetry on the platform, but also inspire writers to pursue their craft and find comfort that they are not the only ones dreaming. I think that if we seize this opportunity to interact with other poet's poems and give each other words of encouragement and praise, we'll grow as a community and our presence and words and art will be felt here on Steem. <3}

_{I am going to post to it from time to time (probably starting out strong just to give my full backing in every way I can to this inspiring initiative), but will mostly focus on doing my utmost to read, comment on and upvote as many poems as I can get to every few days.}

_{For any reading this because of the initiative, I consider myself an Advanced poet, having written for just short of a decade. If you have any questions for me, or want to workshop poems, I am regularly in the @IsleofWrite discord channel, linked here.}

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