Tag: write

hum a few bars (20160915)

crow11 Comments

hearts carry no locks
because no keys exist
to open them
doors have locks
and require keys
and pianos have keys
and produce harmony
and harmony is made
into grits
–wait that’s wrong–
we were talking about hearts
but i got distracted
thinking about breakfast
and i’ve never actually
had grits
if i keep talking maybe
you won’t notice how
my rib cage closes in
on my heart
like prison bars
no locks just
bars

twists and turns (20160914)

crow16 Comments

it twists and turns
this road
and not easy to traverse by
any means
avoiding the infinite
fall into footsteps
of behemoths and other
rough beasts who have
trod this way before
fellow travelers
blindfolded all
led by sense of smell
and is it lilies or
the rot of decay
eye-closed pilgrims
don’t see the road
for what is is, a knife
sliding between the ribs as
it twists and turns

——

for
Jane Doughtery Writes
Poetry challenge #48: Circles and cycles

brick by brick (20160913)

crow8 Comments

i will build a pyramid
i will use bricks made
from the ashes of the dead
and blood from those who
delivered them into the cold
mother’s embrace

the mortar–ah the mortar
every word uttered
from mouths darkened
by the pitch of hate

it will rise above clouds
survivors will be forced
to climb its steep steps
in spite of the thinning
atmosphere

atonement
comes at a price
and the damned and the dead
have an infinite number
of fingers to point
at the living

a memory of shape (20160912)

crow14 Comments

the ghosts don’t have shapes, you said
it’s plain to me because the idea of a
soul is outdated, as outdated as the
idea of the homunculus the little mad
man behind the curtain telling you to
eat cookies and scratch your ass in
public

i point out that i never equated a ghost
with a human soul merely that there
were such things as ghosts and they
most definitely have shapes if not
actual substance

if a ghost is not a soul, then what is it
you ask, pressing me further on the subject

i am about to answer when the light changes
in the room and you fade out where a
beam of sunlight illuminates where you
used to sit on the sofa

skeletons fighting over a bone (20160911)

crow8 Comments

the sound of scraping
a spoon in a bowl
like when the ice cream is gone
or we’ve run out of guacamole
but we still have chips

[i’ll eat it off my fingers
if i run out of chips
but chips are so dry if the guac is gone]

where where where
from where does that scraping
sound emanate
bone on bone in the hip
the elbow
the teeth grinding
jaw popping
knuckles straining
and trailing on concrete
like the ape-man we are

it’s just
why does it have to sound like
an edgeless knife
dragged across a desiccated thigh bone

ancient awakes (20160908)

crow9 Comments

listen

you can hear it if you are quiet
but you have to shut your mouth
at least for a few minutes
at least
until it has time to
awaken
time to stir
to take in a breath
after centuries of sleep
beneath fathoms of ocean
deep enough to crush you
like an empty forty

listen

its voice is like long acrylic nails
skipping down a blackboard
on the first day of school
it’s saying your name
a whisper if that’s possible
you keep talking so that
you don’t have to hear it
but you’ll sleep
and then you’ll

listen