The black mist rolled around me
And the vase shattered into a million pieces
The flower petals it once held
Orange, red and yellow, they were all scattered around
The pieces are now jagged and sharp
Piercing my skin deeply with every try to collect them
Maybe I’ll make a mosaic of them one day
And hopefully that image is as lovely as the vase used to be
(Photo by Fabien TWB on Unsplash)
During winters of discontent
It’s imperative to remember
That I’m not a malcontent
And all I must do is surrender
Surrender to the sky and the sea
And throw my body in the ocean
The water washes over me
The salty air is like a potion
There was a time in my life
When I was in a straight-jacket
And I left the hospital foaming at the mouth
And was met with intolerable colors
I want to burn it all down
I’m not proud of it
But I must admit
I’m drawn to the destruction
Like a moth to a flame
The death-instinct deep inside
Driving down the highway
Passing the car crash
And turning my head
To see if anyone’s dead
It’s deplorable – this overwhelming urge
And I notice how it surges
And it’s like a scourge
The self-sabotage and the purge
That puts us on the verge
Of tearing everything down
I. Alienation
I’ve lost track of time too many times
What am I doing here?
No one was there to answer
The streets were so empty
And there I was again, lost
Lost and not found – the story of our lives
Trying to find purpose amid the ruins
Of late-stage American capitalism
And cycles of market collapses
So, I kept wandering
The sky was charcoal but, despite that,
It was so hot the concrete sizzled
Is this what they predicted?
There’s nowhere left to turn
Everyone else has burned
And here I am, lost again
My skull is packed with worms
They slither and they squirm
But let’s be serious now
Let’s scamper in the streets and prowl
When the machines fell from the sky
I got a burning sensation in my eyes
The satellites crashed through our roof
And the pain of living was quite acute
The preacher told me God was dead
He’d supervised the killing himself
Then he stood up and declared
He was moving to a different realm
Here’s a piece of graphic art I created for a recent poem “Secluded Hell.”
I’ve been playing around on Instagram lately and making these little graphics and, I must admit, it’s fun! It’s the sort of mindless activity that’s very soothing to me – kind of like art therapy. Plus, I’m having fun creating the different designs for poems, quotes, and other short pieces of text.
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Snakes lurk in fog,
slither in early-morning venom,
we’re obscure beasts,
unfit for mortal society;
we’re traitorous,
vapor leaks from depths,
covers fields of blurred symbols
I can swear I heard waves,
gently washing on a shore,
but I could not see an ocean,
for I was locked under the cellar door
The wild man put me here,
after pounding my head on the floor,
he danced in the moonlight,
he never told me what for
Stray dogs rule this town
on other sides of rusted tracks
where train-cars no longer run by,
and broken needles litter roads of
hear dogs howl at nasty nightfalls
under black canvases of iron skies,
smell my rotten soul,
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I don’t know how this war started
but I know its ultimate end –
blood feud over pieces of land,
lustful for riches in the sand,
exploitation of earth,
mass machines churning
in desolate fields –
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