--*--
POETRY MAN
POETRY MAN
I KNOW THAT YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND
HOW LOVE AND HAPPINESS INTERTWINED
CAN SOMETIMES SOUR ON THE VINE
HOW CAN I
CAN LOVE A YOU
HOW WINDS OF BITTER YESTERDAYS
CAN BLOW INTO SWEET TOMMORROWS TOO
--*--
I need to be free...
I need to be shut up in a small, dark, and warm room.
I need to go crazy...
I need serious conversation.
I need chaos, but at the same time I require order in my life.
I want to be alone...
I wish to be around every friend I have.
I wish to destroy humanity...
I want to give my life to save a stranger.
My life, just as any other Man's, is a Paradox.
--*--
The Sands
My heart sings a tale,
A story of dreams,
That is whispered across the ocean,
And told among the fairies in the sand.
--*--
On going gentle
I'm going gentle making my bed
under the face of night
and sinking down
drifting
I lift my hands
fingers stroking
ebony strands
swimming a velvet void
I'll scoop armfuls of stars to my breast
and kiss
that quartermoon smile.
--*--
I am a rocky river
ever churning
rarely trickling
glistening
through the seasons
of her changing banks.
--*--
May the spirit
of forgotten love
touch you gently
on the face.
The truth
of inspired utterance
quietly erase
the pain and shame
and disappointment,
the disenchantment
you must have felt.
Let it go,
evaporate,
be gone
without a trace
--*--
Anger
takes to ink
and smears itself
across my paper
in a desperate attempt
to name the beast
who's art is concealment,
craft is confusion.
Will, in the naming,
light be forced
down the throat of denial,
to shine
through the bowles
of truth?
Will peace and sanity reign
in hate and lunacy?
--*--
My branches all
have fallen off
around me they lay.
Unencumbered
in my desolation,
fluid
like blood
courses
through my phanton veins.
--*--
Rhymes
can not ease
this struggle.
This one
will not be pacified
with partial insight.
This one wants more.
Is there some
magic
which can transform
her existance
into an expression?
Will she ever know passion?
Passion lies
locked in a box
on a shelf
in a closet, with no key.
--*--
Confusion
creeping 'round my backdoor
broke in,
knocked me on the head
and made off with my heart.
Waking
to no song of joy
you were colorless
to my blind eyes,
alone.
--*--
Sitting in solitude
among thoughts of the day
I find myself wondering
if I can stay.
Don't you know I'm trying
striving to be
a person you can lean on
as the world
inevitably
goes its way?
Most people need someone
I don't wish
to walk alone
but alone
is better than wrong
as we all stumble along.
Hold me
your arms comfort
the off-beats of darkness.
--*--
Doctor I'm gone
and I can't return.
Can you hear me
cry, then sigh
to carry on?
I was outside
awhile ago, listening
to the sometimes silent
sound of crickets.
A full moon
reflecting an overcast mood
showed one star
I forgot to wish upon.
Wishing my life away
unable to produce productive dreams,
dreaming of what I don't know,
won't know because
I can't get him off my mind. He could be
anyone, getting me down by not being around,
I cannot make a sound tonight.
--*--
THE SEED
flowing like water
dripping like sand
as the two of us walk
through this wasteland
the map we can no longer read
lost, but this looks like a good enough place
to plant the seed
not of rose
not of weed
but of life we'll plant the seed
--*--
DANCE
Crazy heads
turn and nod.
I flare my hips,
jerk my arms
madly in the air,
As my thoughts turn
in a place
beyond the beat of music.
--*--
PAYBACK
I dedicate this effort to the few who favor me-
those folks who beam approval of my sense and subtlety -
who see beyond my bluster to my ease with compromise -
who know my passion's countered by the softness in my eyes .
--*--
What should I do?
What should I say?
I didn't do anything I set out to do
That day
Well I've been walkin' so far down this urban street
Got this silver pavement at my feet
And I take a look around as I walk the wilderness
That's surroundin' me as far as I see
But it's just the same
And I know that it'll never be
The same
But I know that I'll never be
And I know what I'll never be
--*--
Lie With Me
Why must I be below you?
On the floor
At your feet
On your shag carpet
I get rug burn
I know you don't care
Come down off your chair
Come read this magazine
Come pet your dog
Come pet me
Feed me, water me, love me
Sorry if I'm too much trouble
Trade me in for a newer model.
--*--
My Secret Place
In this restless world
where taps of shoes
are everywhere.
I want a place
where no one comes
for a little while.
In this busy world
where chairs in offices
are constantly full.
I need a place
where no one socializes
or makes any deals.
A secluded place.
My secret place.
Where I can go
whenever I want to go.
Where I can laugh, cry, think,
enjoy the sun and feel the rain.
--*--
Shifting desert sands,
a flute plays
across the
dunes.
--*--
BIRDS LAND ON THE ROOF OF THIS ROOM
& I am sad. They are so small &
I can hear the sound of their wings
folding as though there are
no windows between myself and them.
One roof over they squawk & shit
they hop about with something great in mind
a terrific plan to which I have not
yet been introduced, as they discuss
the weather, what to eat, where to get laid,
I sip my coffee & I am sad.
Being human thinks too much
& squawks too little.
Updated November 1, 1996
--*--
EYES OF RED
Here I think, I am dead
The look of death, eyes of red
Chanting clouds, fall aground
The eternal flame, we have found
Do not lie, Do not see
The evil lurks, within me
I burn the night, I devour day
The flaming hell, in which I stay
I grasp the world, as lightning learns
I hear the death, evil burns
Suffer life, do I dare
Will I die, do I care
I eat the pain, the food I'm fed
I cannot escape, the eyes of red
--*--
Please Stop!
How can you look in the eyes of a child
And continue to cause so much pain?
How can you hurt them again and again
When their teardrops are falling like rain?
You must stop the hitting and mental abuse
You must learn how to handle your rage,
For they are your future, and you hold the key
To humanity "coming of age".
William Johnson (the UniPoet)
--*--
Being
Blinded by a color cataract of Fall's forest wandering,
Deafened by the sounds of silent timber's thundering,
Burned by touches of vanished forever remembering,
Poisoned by a taste for ancient questions echoed answering,
Fouled by sense of timeless frittered feelings, I am.
--*--
Please forgive me
Supplicating hands and pleading eyes
A room full of blank faces
staring but no response.
Am I not chastised enough?
Do I not look sincere?
Then realisation...
Mirrors are what surround me,
I have only myself to forgive.
So I smile and a thousand faces respond.
--*--
DIEING HEART
My heart stands alone
leaving a torn wound in my chest .
My heart breaths the wreched air and dehydrates.
It's veins open their pore like mouths yearning for the taste of love,
to revive it's dieing self.
With no taste of love the heart cramps up,
convolses, ruptures,
then dies a slow painful death.
My soul takes over
laughing at my heartless self
I crying in fear
fear of my own self,
uncapable of love,
incapable of life.
--*--
The King
A quiet, empty room
Shadows long across the floor
Guards without
solitude broken only by loneliness
Decisions at hand
Impatient, yet fearful defendents
The threat of punishment
looming and inevitable
A banquet hall full of unwanted guests
Rich food with poor company
Long hours
ending with peaceful slumber
--*--
stone
wanting to chip it
--*--
LOSING FRIENDS
Sitting in the darkness
Shuddering with tears
Thinking about what happened
Brings back many fears
Why did she have to leave
Why couldn't she stay
Is it my fault that she had to leave this way
Dancing with my shadow
Talking to the wall
Next time I will be there to catch you when you fall
Katy Hanlon
--*--
Rituals for Habit
In this city
I am hardened by right angles
concrete and wired sky.
Neon signs insinuate
that here
I will be reduced to sell
my treasures for pocket change
and my rituals for habit.
Shelley Cowan copyright 1996
--*--