... *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWsW6c6t8g&ab_channel=MaggieRogersVEVO

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I looked into the stony features of his face -

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Into the igneous lines

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That took form, at the corners of his mouth

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And the granite bridge 

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That cut a scarp of stern indignation

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Along the elongation of his nose. 

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As wanting for ardor, and avidity

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As his expression may've been -

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Remote, distant,

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Deprived, quiet -

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I could sense beneath its stillness -

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The façade of its blankness -

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That there existed there, somewhere behind,

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A bottomless pool of life.

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I felt that removed from his unmoving eyes,

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Was a depth, a guarded ravine 

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Of thought and thoughtfulness:

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A predeterminism that -

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Protected by a shield

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Of emotionlessness, 

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Almost irresponsive silence -

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Was rarely given form 

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Beneath the jarring leverages 

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And exploitations,

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That were to his reserve

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Intrusions, cast by prying eyes.

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I felt that there was a protected wisdom in him,

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A jewel, folded beneath the strata and sediment,

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The gneiss layers that comprised his countenance

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And that distinguished complexities

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Through stone-undulated simplicity 

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Somewhere within the cracks and fissures

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That'd occasionally expose themselves

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While he’d go to lift, scratching his nose,

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Or shift, to adjust the distribution of his weight.

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He was a lock;

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Something about him drew forth an image 

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Of tempered solidity

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And delicate mechanisms -

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Clicking and dials,

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Symbols and syllabics,

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A puzzle,

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A riddle,

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A problem, 

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A lock.

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And I understood then,

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Upon seeing him that way,

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That I was unbelievably attracted to him

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Both

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Because out of innate curiosity

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I wanted to see what was inside,

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And because, though a lock he yet may be,

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Something in me

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Was still hoping, direly,

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That I 

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Might, could or may possibly be 

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His reciprocal, carrying his identical 

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But having taken the shape of a key.

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Author's Note

6-8-8-4-9-9-13

(fix ending - awk)

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

To say this guy projects a presence would be a vast understatement. The speaker perceives something in this stern, stony faced individual that appears to approach the mystical, a taciturn charisma that can touch others by its mere effortless, unintending being. Who is this man? From the reference to lifting and shifting to adjust the distribution of his weight, I'd almost say he's a powerlifter, but I doubt even Louis Cyr could come across this way. Maybe we're talking about the Buddha here.

[Ookpik]

Ah hello John, it's been some time eh?

I didn't have any specific person in mind when writing this - but had the notion that the speaker was likely a woman, or at the very least harboring some form of infatuation.

In my experience, when you've developed feelings for a person they tend to take (sometimes momentarily) a shape that's larger than life. And in this I'd hoped that the hyper-emphasized characteristics of the male subject reflected the gravity of the speaker's infatuation.

The image in my head was a woman staring at a man in public (perhaps on a boardwalk and perhaps at a total stranger, even) and had developed this narrative almost in passing - mythologizing him as if she would a statue (hence the stone language) and affirming her own attraction through an almost self propelled narration.

None of this was necessarily conveyed, but I've been working to get back in stride again w/my penmanship and felt I was finally able to connect the bat with the ball w/this one.

I'm a bit rusty, but it's coming back to me - glad to see you've stopped in again John and appreciate your taking the time to read

-Ook