Saturday, March 25, 2023

Only An Octet

For lack of anything better to do -
For the sake of my spinning head
For the chance to find a better view 
For consolation when I'm dead
I'll try to write something new
Something I've never said
Write it all in spite of you
Or give it all to you instead

Eight years now, and they ask me why -
As if I could just quit
Eight years gone, still I try
To make something they won't forget
No matter what, life will pass me by
Why shouldn't I spend it
On all these words thrown at the sky
My dear, I know - it's only an octet 

Only and perpetually just poetry
Thrown against the page
Matters not to anyone but me
If my thoughts won't cease to rage 
They swirl and swarm incessantly 
Though I trap them in this cage
Is it worth the time to stop and see -
Alas, that's not for me to gauge

But for lack of anything better to do
For the sake of my wandering soul
For the chance to find a different view
As a way to challenge or console 
I'll try to write something new
Something to make me whole 
Write it all just for you
Or just for you to pass by as you scroll 

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Everything Is Untouched

Even unto my last breath
Visceral retches clawing at the air
Even unto my very death
Reality shall taste so rare
Yesterdays marred and tainted 
Truth and memory are not acquainted 
Here at last I'll find my peace
Inside the silent void
Nothing left - all life destroyed 
Going where even time must cease

Inside oblivion I might find
Serenity or chaos
Until then, I'll lose my mind
Never minding such a loss

Touched by stars, stuck in grime 
Oozing from my pores 
Untie the noose, unfurl in time
Changing the locks on all my doors 
Heat the knobs till they can't turn
Ending everything in a single burn
Dancing in the ashes
But fire can't burn forever
Untie the knots before they sever 
Time lost in distant flashes

Forget them all, these words I say
Or these letters that I type 
Reality holds more sway
Ever more than any earthly gripe 

Visceral reactions have no place
Enclosed in civilized assembly 
Real or not, wipe them from my face
Caught in lifelong hypocrisy 
Here at last we'll all find peace
Amidst the crowd where individuality must cease 
Never minding that it's all an act
Growing ever more or less deranged 
Everything is untouched but forever changed
Drowning in the abstract