streetlights
deb when i was young, there was a
streetlight just across the street
my brothers and the neighbor boys
threw rocks at the power box
and shined flashlights on it
just to make it turn off

it still doesnt shine the same
991216
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dead pilot The streetlights on south main street turn OFF as you walk under them
Humble electronic nuance
Rising/Falling Man crashes to the ground
991217
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chicken pie squared The man lay down, or stood up, or perhaps did either and both repeatedly. Sometimes he would lay down, sit up, and lay back down again, and sometimes he would stand up only to lay back down in a little while. He was looking up. Above him was a miriad of lights - the stars, the planets, the moon. But bigger then all, and brighter, was the streetlight he was under. He knew, of course that the planets were stars; that they were bright, and brighter yet then anything on this planet, and they were light itself almost, and that the moon reflected the sun's light and was big and bright and fuelled with that original light. That is why he layed down and sat back up and then layed down, and it was to reject that, for they were merely points and disks in the sky. And when he stood back up it was to reposition himself neatly under the streetlight, to be directly under it with his face, for so he wanted to be --facing the light.

And he told the streetlight that he has lived a good life. And he told the streetlight about his deeds and his children and their deeds, and he asked the light if he has done enough. The light shone on, for it was night and it was to be bright in the night. And when morning came, he was dead, and his smile was Buddha.
000402
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ellen cherry charles we raced down the cobblestone streets,
past streetlights glowing a faint, warm yellow
the air was damp London air, you were just slightly faster than me

we barely reached the theater in time to take our balcony seats
leaning eagerly over, not so much to watch as to surreptitiously press the side of my leg against yours (i felt so close to you)

we ate expensive strawberry ice cream out of tiny cups with those little wooden paddle spoons

i felt very special, and grown_up
020131
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werewolf streetlights go off when the sun comes up and go on when it comes down. It's not natural for something to be so efficient...it's not natural for something to be so in tune, or have no accidental rhythms of its own. Streetlights don't blink like stars can. Streetlights scare me. They shine a secret light on thermodynamics and they shine a melting cone on drifters and they don't care for either but they are the poetry of both. 020521
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silentbob Me and the other kids from the neighborhood, we played out on the street all summer long. Rule was, we had to go home at night when the street lights came on. We were oblivious to the rest of the world and we'd hold up the cars in the street and we'd always play boys against girls, and both sides would cheat. Strange men would stop their cars at the curb and say, Hey, Sweetheart, come here. I'd go up to the window and they'd have their dick out in their hand and a sick little sneer. I'd say, Here we go again. Yeah, OK, this time you win. And I'd feel dirty, I'd feel ashamed, but I wouldn't let it stop my game. We would play hide and go seek and territory would be the whole block. Sometimes the older boys, when they'd find you they wouldn't want to tag you, they'd just wanna talk. They'd say, What would you do for a quarter? Come on, we don't have much time. Then I'd think for a minute and say, OK, give me the quarter first...fine. This time you win, here we go again. And I would feel dirty and I'd feel ashamed, But I wouldn't let it stop my game. I remember my first trip alone on the Greyhound bus. A man put his hands on me as soon as night fell. I remember when I was leaving, how excited I was. I remember when I arrived, I didn't feel so well. I remember a teacher in school that got me so sick, so scared that I went into the bathroom and threw up in my hair. And I could go on and on, it just gets worse, and I should probably stop. Girl, next time he wants to know what your problem is. Girl, next time he wants to know where the anger comes from. Just tell him this time the problem's his. Tell him the anger just comes, it just comes.

Ani Difranco
Hide + Seek
020521
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shivers alone in the dark 040518
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grendel they used to give off white light, but for the last few yers they've been replaced by ones that give off an orange glow that saps a lot of the color out of the night, and as the city spreads out like an amoeba across this patch of desert, the stars become harder to see 040518
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^.^ should have black lights... 040518
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sixstop i'm having a Journey flashback...

Street light people...
040518
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nighean_siofra the lights are out
at the edge of the city
you see the stars tonight;
strangers to so many
040922
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pete i always get an uneasy feeling when i'm biking down a busy street at night and the street lights go out 040923
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perri what is this about 060926
what's it to you?
who go
blather
from