Still, like death
The lake awaits
Unbroken glassy surface
Like a mirror peering wickedly
Into a soulless sky
Swaths of mist
Arise and drift
In loosely woven curtains
Just beyond where earth and water meet
Across the silent tides
There beneath
In waters deep
Entombed upon the bottom
Lies a remnant otherworldly fleet
Forsaken by the earth
Biding still
Their time until
A winter swallows autumn
And the ripples wake this blackened lake
To lend their corpses birth
If only I were bulletproof
The words they shoot could not offend
If only I were bulletproof
I would not be afraid
If only I were bulletproof
Opinions would not break my skin
If only I were bulletproof
I would not feel a thing
If only I were diamond cut
I could not shatter easily
If only I were bulletproof
I could endure the pain
If only I were hardened steel
These arrows could not puncture me
If only I were bulletproof
My shoulders would not strain
Alas, I am not bulletproof
But wounded here upon my back
If only I were bulletproof
But no, I am too weak
I never could be bulletproof
And so I fell to these attacks
But though I am not bulletproof
I still refuse retreat
Suspended mid-ascent
Photic threads about her sylphlike form
Gossamer, such faint restraints
Casting glows on weathered paint
From interwoven skin and ink
Lips brushed almost red
More like blood and wine entangled
Lushly driven floral spangles
Stolen ministry of angles
Spoken softly like a stranger
Under charcoal cloak
Her corona piercing flesh to soul
Driven nimbly through my being
Studded figment I am seeing
Shapely alabaster dreaming
Pale by moonlit paint
Transcendental vapor drawn in shape
Floating weightless in this forest
Through a chime of ancient chorus
Called and drawn from air before us
Sink below these
Signs of old
Unearthly call
A song foretold
Dream beneath
Dismembered sky
With eyelids sewn
And hearts on fire
Drawn and quartered
Soundless cries
Awake, awake
Asleep it lies
Oh, heartless moon
Oh, voiceless night
Unwind these ties
Which bind so tight
Embrace unseen
In shadows kept
For dance, for drink
For death has slept
And crept here ‘neath
This shallow rest
Not deep, this grave
As fabric pressed
Unformed in day
These denizens
Escort my way
From here, my friends
As chants resound
In solemn tone
Bring all within
And bring all home
Envelope here
A safe repose
Come oft’ before
Our time must go
To me, oh silent
Warming arms
Not flesh nor blood
Not one can harm
To be at rest
To swoon and sleep
Alone, unharmed
In deep retreat
Hey, misty, you are lovely
Dancing through the sky above me
Evening light glows dimly through your dress
Hey, misty, so serenely
Wrap up all the colors neatly
Store them far away on days like this
Hey, misty, darling vapor
Whitest skin like satin paper
Come embrace me silently in shroud
Hey, misty, bring your kisses
Sprinkled on the window gently
Smother me in counterpanes of cloud
On silken blades
In rays of bronze and golden bathed
The scent of Aspen dangles
From the overhangs
As spring pretends
It never came
The storms will paint
Ephemeral colossus shapes
When dipped into the dying
Blood of sunlit rays
And we pretend
We’re vapor made
To float away
Into electric galaxies
Accessorized with densely
Clinging memories
And we pretend
It’s fantasy
By the glow
By the very slight glow
Of a tiny red light
From the charger on my phone
I can see
I can almost make out
All the pretty little monsters underneath my bed
As my muscles let go
And I sink into sheets
I can almost hear them giggling below me
As I drift off in sleep
Sun lit the clouds on fire
Their tender bellies all ablaze
Outrun the rebel sky
To conquer the horizon
Extinguished with the night
We burried bright and golden rays
Before the moon defied
A company of shadows
The particles collide
Ephemeral electric seams
Divide the atmosphere
They reach to touch the surface
But when the dawn replies
Rekindled by the Phoenix beams
Sun fires reappear
Atop the distant curtains
And I split the rebel sky
In a violent forward thrust
Until heaven opened wide
For a caravan of us
In the dying afternoon
Bathed in copper-toned resolve
We were bigger than the sky
And we painted it with love
Someone went crazy with the scissors
They tried to cut you out
Mangled the things we made together
As if it never was
I’m finding pieces they have scattered
Across my broken thoughts
I’m hiding photographs forever
Protecting them because
I want the evidence
If someone tries to sentence me
They need to see it all
To know how bad it is
I want the evidence
To make their case convincing
I’m not ashamed at all
And I don’t need defense
Someone went crazy with the scissors
And part of me is gone
Chopped up and left with ragged edges
Confetti on the rug
Perhaps the shots were not so flattering
But I was not alone
Others were standing there beside me
Don’t tear apart my love
I want the evidence
So history can tell the tale
Don’t censor passion
It’s the brand of who I am
I want to document
I owe it to the ones behind me
No more deleting things
They need to understand
If I were timid in conviction
Perhaps I’d let it slide
If this were any other story
I might have turned the page
But this is stranger than your fiction
I shouldn’t have to hide
When all the masks are far more boring
Than what I have to say
I want the evidence
I made the choices I believed in
Sometimes it hurts to love
But that’s just how it goes
I feel the consequence
But leave my pictures undeceiving
I gave with pure intent
And I want them to know
I want the evidence
Picturesque in vivid color
I will remember it
Until they dig my grave
I want to treasure this
And glue our smiles back together
So leave the photographs
I vow to keep them safe
Afternoon shade lazily lays over pale cement
As we watch the passing cars beyond the fence
Bending in the wake the wild oats tremble on their stems
And I cannot help but feel these accidents
Summer found an exit sign and passed the stage along
For the gentle breezes autumn conjures here
Freshly cut St. Augustine perfumes the scattered lawns
As the sunny days begin to disappear
I remember everything as if it were today
And I wonder how tomorrow will respond
Caught inside the thought of being carried far away
I can drink my drink and listen to a song
Life is unpredictable like weather in the fall
And the storms can shape the landscape of our hearts
Time arrives and leaves without a curtesy at all
Like the steady hum of all these passing cars
Fire
Tribulation
Climbing higher
In the sky
Fire
Confrontation
To inspire
My reply
Cleanse & burn
Singe my skin
Test in turn
My innocence
Cut it deep
Heat it up
Let us see
If this is love
(I am breaking from the norm to experiment with a new (to me) kind of poem. I decided to challenge myself to do more than simply write another poem, so I encrypted the actual poem i originally wrote inside of another poem. The poem you are about to read IS NOT the poem I wrote. It is an encryption cover. At the bottom of the poem you will find a number sequence key which will refer you to a specific letter in each word (I.E. “3” means 3rd letter in that word). There is one letter hidden in each word. Double dashes indicate word breaks. If you follow the sequence you will decode the actual poem entitled “Encryption”. Enjoy)
Enchanting obscure redundant eyes
Demanding eve’s unbound recourse
Opened waking everlasting
Bent in tones provoking bliss
Etching arches evening mystic
Knitted synods overthrown
Sowing messages created
Undetected synthesized
Destitute these revelations
Command your fashioned kindred glimpse
Naked lifeless in confusion
Dictations completely encrypted
Unharmed interred indwelling deep
There no trifle nod resides enclosed
Questions stunt enquiring ventures
Crafted steadily within
Burned inside with embers humbled
Empty stories utterance
Untranslated wrappings cling
To unharmonized art
Capturing engaged wanderers
Cipher key:
3-1-3-1–3-1
3-1-1-3-1-3–1-3–1-3-1-3-1-3
1-3-1-3–1-3
1-3-1-3-1–3-1–3-1-3-1
3-1-3-1–3-1
3-1-3-1-3-1–3-1–3-1-1-3-1-3-1-3
1-3-1-3-1–3-1
3-1-3–1-3-1-3–1–3-1-3
If you decode, please do not post it yet so others have the chance to work at it 🙂
Never have I ever
Been abandoned by a lover
That I did not find I missed her in the end
Never have I ever
Given sentiment or treasure
And regretted the endeavor for a friend
Never have I ever
Taken rest beneath the cover
In the arms of any other than my love
Never have I ever
Made a bond I would not sever
Then, because of trial or error, given up
Never have I ever
Been afraid of being better
Nor would ever I desire to be less
Never have I ever
Tasted life in all it’s pleasure
Without also tasting agony and stress
Never have I ever
Been a taker or believer
In the easy path or common state of mind
Never have I ever
Been so talented or clever
I could write or state the feelings that I find
Never have I ever
Penned a poem I would rather
Not have ever even bothered to compose
Never have I ever
But my living isn’t over
So perhaps I will–I guess you never know
See the man in the corner
With a sad sort of shape
Keeping hands in his pockets
Like he’s keeping them safe
See the man in the corner
With the monochrome eyes
Little shadows beneath them
From the things on his mind
I know what you’ve heard
But stories get told
He’s not quite the person
That I used to know
They say that he’s guilty
But I know he’s not
He’s the man in the corner
And it isn’t his fault
See the man in the corner
Playing hide-and-go-seek
But the world never found him
Like they never found me
See the man in the corner
Staring out at the room
Like he sees what is not there
Like he’s looking for you
I know what you’ve heard
But stories get told
He’s not quite the person
That I used to know
They say that he’s guilty
But I know he’s not
He’s the man in my mirror
And it isn’t his fault
Flickers of flame for a soul in the earth
Vespers for memories past in the night
Sounds in the silence now signaling birth
Echoes entombed
Wake for the dead in a sacred parade
Solace for love laid to rest in the cold
Dwelling unearthed on the edge of the spade
Warm in the womb
Sealed in the chambers that gather the lost
Marked here with etchings of deepest remorse
Laid under velvet and satin so soft
Eternal room
Moonlight as traced on the white of her dress
Sprinkles the roses in watch on the wall
Distance and dissonance sadly confess
Somber in tune
That somewhere in unison life is emerging
Somewhere in harmony death meets divine
Mourning bereft of it’s power in purging
Withers in bloom
I find it funny
How truly sad
A twisted humor
A wicked stab
I can’t help laughing
A bitter jest
So entertaining
And so grotesque
We are a comedy of tragedy
Where punch lines never end
Comedians in agony
In improvised routines
The irony is beautiful
The gag is so divine
A comedy of tragedy
A sketch not well defined
To sleep to sleep
To rest and dream
To drink the night into the veins
To sleep to sleep
Recline and lie
Within a dark ethereal plane
To sleep to sleep
To find you there
To flee this waking revelry
To sleep to sleep
And then create
The world as I think it should be
To sleep to sleep
For just a while
To be released of all of this
To sleep to sleep
In twilight arms
And sink beneath la luna’s kiss
To sleep to sleep
To mimic death
To dance with ghosts and speak with air
To sleep to sleep
To seek your face
To hope that I may meet you there
The sky cried “mutiny”
The blue jumped ship
Into a sea of white
And now it covers me
Like waves of pale
Awash across the light
The sun is drowning in
A tidal wave
Of color-vacant hues
The waters overhead
Have swallowed up
The last and best of blue
And we are left here
In zero visibility
A quiet rest where
The atmosphere collapsed
I must confess: here
In zero visibility
I’m better dressed for
My disappearing act
Beneath the vapor
In zero visibility
The clouds have anchored
The buildings fade to shapes
I want to stay here
In zero visibility
To hide away here
In blankets of the grey
The windows are clean
The pillows are soft
The sheets are pristine
The TV is off
I miss you so much
Won’t you come around
We haven’t heard a whisper
We haven’t heard a sound
If can hear me
If you are awake
I came to see you
So you don’t forget
I don’t have a lot
But I brought you flowers
I’m only allowed
For visiting hours
The medicine is stronger
The treatments are longer
Than we could have dreamed
I know that you’re tired
And you don’t belong here
But I still believe
One day the doctor
Will tell us you’re better
And you’re ready to leave
But I will keep coming
And sitting beside you
Until you revive
The bed is adjusted
The magazines placed
My fingers are warm
On your quiet face
I miss you so much
I wish you were here
Just wanted to say
There is someone who cares
My arts and crafts
Are hearts and masks
Cut out of thoughts
And glued together
Paper faces
Lines I traced
From other smiles
And other places
Take a razor
And a paper
Make a face that
Suits me better
Crude constructions
Simulations
Of expressions
I can’t fashion
Take some scissors
Strong adhesive
Bend the edges
Shape the pieces
Lips for smiling
Eyes for lying
Skin like armor
Just to hide me
My arts and crafts
Are hearts and masks
All colored neat
Inside the lines
If there’s mistakes
We can erase
And start again
With better pens
My arts and crafts
Are jokes and laughs
To cover scratches
Fresh and bleeding
Paper faces
I created
From the things
Left strewn about
vampireweather 