Just for Derek…
I feel you there
Grazing against softness
Pushing the tickle
Closer to the edge
I do what I can
To hold you back
Those around me
Won’t know you
Your foul darkness
Pushing for its escape
Will not punish those
So near to danger
That injustice will not stand
And so I sit
And shift precariously
Remaining silent
And shrinking down
To keep you still
Rising to walk
Will be our next battle
But I will prevail
And release you
Only once the coast is clear
She had a heart shaped face
And he said he loved her
So they said I do
She had a heart shaped bruise
But he had a hard day
So she stood back up and made dinner
She had a heart shaped charm
That he gave her and begged her forgiveness
So she decided to give him one more chance
She had a heart shaped journal
And she spoke in it what she couldn’t admit aloud
So she tucked it away to hide
She had a heart shaped stone
And her friends went there to mourn her
Now she won’t have to get up again
The glass sits neat
On the elegant linen coaster
Golden liquid stares
Enticing and unrelenting
Fine crafted glass heavy and thick
Hard to hold in an unsteady hand
First swallow met with grimace
Harsh chemical sedative
Follows up smooth and woody
And makes it hard to resist
Glass doesn’t see the counter
Until it’s clear of liquid gold
Mirror behind the bar reveals
The toll of the tonic
Stagger into the street
Fresh air is welcomed but shunned
Collapse in a crumpled haze
And awake to a ringing skull
For a moment all was forgotten
For a moment the pain was dulled
Find the way back to the place
Where the moments faded
To blissful black
Don’t try to judge illness unless you have been in it…
RIP Mr Williams…..
Cloaked in a tapestry of misery
Where no shade of darkness is enough
To hide you from what seeks you
Just beyond that door
Voices rise and fade
Frustrated with the pity
And the apathy that hangs
Heavy in an airless room
They reach for you swiftly
But pull back in hesitation
Terrified to be pulled down with you
Into this hole of sadness
You feed this hunger
And its grip releases momentarily
Only to snap itself shut suddenly
With bear trap ferocity
You remain unchained but shackled
You remain ungagged but speechless
And your tears are nothing more
Than falling reminders
Of the moments that it steals
Twisted weeds of lust
Entwine and choke the calm
Out of the quiet garden setting
Vapid but potent desire
Overwhelm the simple bud
And overpower what is good
The air is still
Under tangled weeds of sin
The wrongness of it
Only makes desire grow
Unexpected delight in agony
No refuge for those
Not strong enough to say no
No love grows here
No beauty or faith
Only pure misery
And such exquisite delight
Foreign body
Remains still through panicked shaking
Growing and aching
As it makes itself known
To the foreign body
Unaware it’s days are numbered
Like a demon to be exorcised
Removed from deep within
The foreign body
Resting itself against bone and tendon
Feasting on blood and energy
Soon to be exposed
To light and chilled air
A cold metal pan
The temporary home
Of this foreign body
Dissected and disseminated
Reduced to cells under the microscope
Until there is nothing left
Of the foreign body
Drag the knife across
Tender pale flesh
Blood does not run
Too stunned in that instance
To give in to the will of gravity
Open flesh exposes
Bloodied lump of mystery
Unwelcomed where it lays
Cuddled up against tendon and bone
From darkness to light in a moment
Exposed to cold air
And the indignity of a metal pan
Then transferred to a plastic casing
Soon to be sliced and shaved in pieces
Viewed under scopes of micro eyes
Tested and retested
Until nothing remains
Of the freeloading guest
That was the lump
She surprised him with her heaviness
As he dragged her to the garden
Deep in the lush late summer woods
Arms entwined like dancers
He dragged her over log and bump
And laid her by the spot he chose
Her broken skull shifted and caught his gaze
He stroked her blood matted hair away
From the pigment free eyes staring back at him
Haunted and empty much like his soul
He stood over her shovel in gloved hands
That would dig her final place
She would find no rest here
Just dark sticky earth to melt within
Time would cause her flesh to dissolve
And leave only traces in her bones behind
The Traveler would be her only visitor
Unwelcomed in the scream of her silence
He would not be there to mourn for her
Like those small town gossips who told her tale
One of selfish youthful need
That chased her from this one horse town
Never knowing she was steps from home
Just below the darkness of his gaze
His first one was the one he saw
In his mind’s eye
Under darkness of night
Or before the moment
He picked the next item for his garden
The blood ran down her face
Like a river flowing out to sea
Rushing to join the other streams
In puddles of thick red darkness
The axe was stuck hard
In the back of her dainty skull
Holding her brain and veins apart
And straining itself to stay that way
His hands wriggled the handle
Now bloodied, soaked and slipping
Cracking bone as it came free
Splattering the ceiling with her life
For a moment she remained standing
Silently frozen in suspended animation
Then crumpled to the ground
His only regret remained
Not bearing witness to her confusion and terror
Her life escaping when she couldn’t escape him
From then on face to face
Was the only way it would be done
Weakened in all the right places
The floor beneath the Travelers feet
Creaks and strains below his gait
Blood soaked and broken corpses
Wait complacently to be planted
In the damp crawl space below
While white crisp snow freezes ground
Only the sweet hope of Spring
Will allow the earth to yield to his shovel
Digging down just far enough
To cover the secrets and lies
Their eyes sit forever open
That last look of terror staring out
Soon to be forever blinded by black earth
And kept from the light
With only the birds above as witness
The smell of rotting flesh
Makes him long for the road
Makes him yearn for the journey
Makes him giddy for darkness
After this planting season is done
Long after their faces blend into
Macabre muddy portraits in his mind’s eye
He will carry them with him
While he hunts the highways again
bluefalling 