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Recorded Reading (1:41): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s1kvk12u64b56svejyx2f/Request-Codex.wav?rlkey=ioje9avccmsnm0nbr6hueg5uf&dl=0

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Request Codex

Please cue me in to the language we’re using
I thought it was English, but guess it is not
Abysmal, my ignorance please be excusing —
Did I fail to learn it, or have I forgot?

Does “bless your heart” act’ually carry a blessing
The one whom the sentence pronounced is unto
Or is it an alternate way of confessing
“I’d really much rather be saying ‘screw you’?”

I think that I might have been badly mistaken
When I agreed a young woman was “cute” —
Her friend seemed to think the position I’d taken
Deserved me immediately execute!

Have I understood the word “friend” wrongly also —
Does it actually mean a limiter of
All prospect of happiness which don’t involve
That friend, in the middle of burgeoning love?

If she’s seeing him — do I not, then, see you,
Though standing I am right in front of your face?
If there’s a hairdo is there a hair undo?
And how is it humans are all in a race?

In your heart do you really cherish a feeling
About — pudding — qualified to be called hate?
(Neither do I find a pudding appealing,
But rather to that than to poison relate!)

Success doth not seem, with such communications,
In good conversation my future to bode
I’m “shot in the foot” when it comes to relations —
As long as I can’t seem to master the code!

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This poet is physically disabled. Public housing being insufficient to her medical and creative needs, she is presently living, in order to continue working, in her minivan, publishing all of her works using one thumb on the touch screen of her smartphone, surviving at an income of a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. She would treasure any donation you might care to offer ~ http://www.UgiftABLE.com ● #72D-31S.

Please be aware that it takes several days for the poet to be notified of contributions. International patrons please contact the poet via email or post a comment for the necessary numbers.

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