Author: poetryfest

There was a time long ago
Before the truth was set free.
When love had an even flow,
And fairness was not a plea.
Soon after the games and fun,
Would I have a chance to see
You were always holding a gun,
Just never pointed at me.
Others knew the arms you bore
And would run away in disgust.
Belief in your drive to fight the war
Allowed me to give you my trust.
In your times of needing backup,
I expected to receive your call.
Sadly you couldn’t pass up
The enemy between us after all.
Sometimes it was your foe.
Other days it was your love.
I always reached high and low
To fight and keep you above.
Finally the enemy suffered defeat,
And we reached the other side.
But left was a thing I couldn’t beat,
Something you were unable to hide.
The view of me without the enemy
Was the strangest sight to you.
There was in fact no remedy
To show what you always knew.
In a blink of an eye,
You began to throw many a stone.
I had thought I was your ally.
Your true self had ultimately shown.
I am no longer your crutch,
Or your shoulder to cry.
I will never do things as such
Since you couldn’t even try.
Now you beg for my grace
As if I hadn’t shown it before.
I can see it in your face,
The enemy has what you adore.
Did you forget I was your peer
When others decided to run
Holding nothing but the fear
Of the damage that could be done?
I was the one who was tough.
I didn’t want you to waste.
But now I see I wasn’t enough.
Your true love is that awful taste.
It’s time I say goodbye
For you I cannot fix.
I have slowly bled myself dry
Falling for all your tricks.
In the end I am set free
From the loyalty that was false.
The gun you drew upon me
Was the last of your faults.
I am left to repair what you broke,
Essentially mending my heart.
I won’t be left behind to choke,
Even if you fall apart.

In my first act as a contortionist, i’d be a pretzel in your black box;
square pegs in round holes and the audience would erupt
in laughter that bursts like fireworks.
Bent over backwards straight into a handstand,
ushering my fingers forward past the eggshells
and my eyes would summon the sea.

In my second act, i’d be on the tightrope,
walking that fine line
between my dreams and yours for me.
I’d hold my breath until blue
if it meant finishing the act and applause from you.

For my third act, you’d need a season pass.
I’d sport shoes I can’t fill, a new nose plus a red wig.
My hands a frantic blur, yet none would slip:
a baby, a briefcase, a dinner plate and a whip.
I’d make it look effortless
and everyone would suppose
that they too could do clown shit,
all they’d need is a red nose.

I’ve dreamt of joining the circus,
because, there, you’d be amazed.
I’d be the enchanting virtuosa,
and you’d beckon me to ‘do it again!’

But a whisper caught in the morning dew
said ‘XX’, so, I guess, dreams come true.

she plants a salamander kiss
on my dry and filthy lips
and I have never in my life
know such a pure, clean love as this.

the corners of my mouth are caked in dirt and grime and mess
and still her hands touch on my hips
and still my tongue touch on her dress.

she is a silky spit of snow
on a sickly summer day.
i don’t know how, i don’t know why,
but i’ll take her either way.

she plants a salamander kiss
on my flushed and aching lips
and I have never, in twelve hundred suns,
know love so bright as this.

it is rugged, it is dainty
and good even when i’m not.
it is grounding, it is earthbound,
it’s exactly how love ought.

she plants a salamander kiss
on my cracked and bloody lips
and I have never in my life
been healed so righteously as this.

I sometimes wonder while sitting under
The sputtering shade of a cottonwood;
What would be better, this life as a settler,
Gifted with this mischievous blood,
Or the smooth simplicity of a tree?

It seems to me, apathy is key
To living a life which is without pain,
Without worry and without shame.

Coniferous and I are not so disparate.

A tree grows, In my eyes, just as I do.
They strive to survive, to accomplish tasks,
To reproduce using their tender fruit… Yet,
They are completely unaware of their acts.

But, then I ask, Darling, “are they happy?”.
I know maples are surely sappy,
Producing sweet syrup for us to eat,
And supple shade for this poet’s retreat,
Alas…
They are completely disconnected.
All an all, Gall’s do not love their fruit
They grow their sweet produce unaffected
By whether or not they go unconsumed.

But us?
Not so much, it’s not so plumb.
We’re spiritual and physical creatures
Blessed by fate with sentimental features
Which gifts me the sensitivities for love.
Hmm…
Musing what truly matters to me:

Reflecting honestly on you, Darling,
No Baum’s beauty could ever compare,
To the sensations of petting your hair.
Caring for you, and constructing our dreams,
Seeing Juniper as more than a tree;
These, my love, are my upholdings against strife
My coat in the cold, and comfort in life.

It is true,
A tree is effectively dead inside
The core which supports their many branches,
And braves the weight of great avalanches,
Is cold, alone, and unalive.

While what supports me
Is love and amnesty:
An uncrackable combination
Filled with mischievous circulation
Strong enough to last any tragedy.

So when a cold winter blows
One winter
A tall Oak may splinter
Down its center,
While our love
Will last forever.
___________________________________

What state of mind might I be?
The Self-loathing? The Anger?
How dreadful, it is, to know not me.
Who might I be without her?

The blade in my hand cut me deep,
But she managed even deeper
Each scratch I thought made me complete.
The well draws me ever deeper.

What state of mind might I be?
The Manic? The Frenzied?
How unpredictable my mind can be,
To look at happiness and envy.

Oh to be a rock among the storms,
To know thyself forever and more.

What do you want, from me, from this, for you?
What are you looking for, you hopeless man?
Have you not thought what you might be forced to?
Was it your heart that made this silly plan?

You try to be subtle, attempt to flirt,
Make your comments and pretend that you joke.
I may not know much, but I am alert
Of actions and words that you so evoke.

It is no good that my own actions might
Confuse you that I might feel the same way.
It is not mutual, to put it light.
Apologies if you thought that I may.

And yet when the alarm bells go to sing
The restaurant we left hits with a ding.

I thought about your voice today
It made me think I was okay
but now I think I’m tired.

A whisper of wind curled low like a sigh,
As the girl with the eyes like storm clouds passed by,
She left me a box, small and strange in my grip
That trembled like thunder before it could slip

I looked up to speak, but she’d vanished into air-
No trace on the pavement, no shadows, no stare,
The Cardboard grew warm like a heart in my hand,
While silence around me began to expand.

Inside, a sphere on black velvet did gleam,
Glowing with whispers that echoed a dream
“Help me,” It breathed, from deep within light,
As shadows moved just beyond my sight.

I stepped on the bus, with the box held tight
Into the unknown, swallowed whole by the night.

Their moment had come where the truth was told…
From that point forward nothing was known.
All that remained is the constant flow
that stained their minds that had come to a close.
Their minds bestowed only what is allowed.
Allowed to be harvested at the time of the burial shroud.
The shroud erodes as the moment draws close,
but the lingering effects seemed to beam the most.
They stumbled many times, many times did they trip.
They tripped on the steps that they thought that they missed.
They missed the steps that they thought they had took,
They took the steps that they thought that should.
Too many times did they take the clear path.
The clear path calculated with all of their math.
Their math did not equate to the sum of the goal,
so they sold all they had and all he had was their souls.
They decided at that moment that they would no longer trip…
Trip on the steps that they had already missed.
The goal was in front, and they continued to fight.
Fight for their freedom in each other’s mind.
His mind held him back, for it told him the lies.
The lies that he repeated made him fall by the wayside.
She cracked and crinkled each time that he fell, but will no longer for
she
has escaped from that hell.

Please my love, treat my heart gingerly.
Tell me why must you abolish my light?
As they gnaw their teeth viscously.
They laugh at me out of spite.
As terrible as I am, I must confess.
Never have I seen people so vile.
My, they are so ruthless.
Do they think with their head or does it spiral?
Perhaps they learned to think this way.
They close their eyes, clenching their fists.
What really can they say?
They’re too far gone into the abyss.
They close the door, they try to hide.
Can they really sort their lies out?
No, but their time they’ll bide.
They are found by the truth’s snout.
The ones we see as friends disappear.
Were alone. In the cold darkness.
I still can’t see it, though it’s crystal clear.
Another lie, swept under the carpet.