with a shapeless thing I’d sewn.
I found, with each new structured cut,
a safety in this second skin!
I feel I'd bleed out, left without it,
I wouldn’t know where to begin.
The cloak that hides this face
Is a shield upon my back.
I can stand out or blend in,
concealing what I sorely lack.
It’s the brightly colored plume
that draws the eyes across the room.
And unlike Eden’s flowers,
my crimson roses stay in bloom.
It’s an ancient incantation:
to conjure bull from hairless ape.
A gentle blush won’t light a carnal fire
the way it’s stoked by a red cape.
It’s an all-out revelation
fenced in silken barricade:
A mask reveals the heart’s true face
dressed-naked in a masquerade.
The cloak that hides this face
Is a shield upon my back
hiding all my ragged edges
while I patch up the cracks.
It’s the brightly colored plume
that draws the eyes across the room.
A church bell rung to mute
A lifetime played out-of-tune.
I’ve travelled far beyond the garden
armed with but a match-sized lance.
to thus create, in my own image,
a life where I stand a chance.
It’s a psychedelic magic,
this thread that weaves through all my tales!
With each tapestry I hoist,
I catch the wind in my sails.
Sitting at the water’s edge
I’m agonizing.
He’s mesmerizing
effortlessly floating at the top.
Peering deep into those eyes:
they’re hypnotizing.
I’m nearly drowning
trying hard to make these voices stop.
Is this love or is this jealousy?
a boundless joy with melancholy.
I lie to myself, say I’ll stay for a while,
to pass my bleakest hours basking in a stranger’s smile.
Trying hard to get ahead,
the game’s exhausting.
They keep us playing
long enough to learn things can get worse.
Existence is a fatal cut.
There’s no denying:
everyone’s dying.
No prizes go to those who finish first.
Is this love? such crushing agony.
My reflection showing what I'll never be.
I lie to myself, say I’ll stay for a while,
to pass my bleakest hours basking in a stranger’s smile.
I don’t recognize his all-too-familiar face
nor his unfamiliar smile,
but it’s the first time someone’s looked at me
and made me feel worthwhile.
I don’t need to hear he’ll love me,
(words don't carry any power).
But I mirror his smile to hide, how inside,
I've been wilting like a flower.
-------------------
Notes:
in tidy lines and piles they sit.
Constructing roads and high skyscrapers
to engineer the perfect fit.
Forever chasing that horizon
while reaching for a distant star.
So starved to find some foreign landscape
never content with where we are.
Falling forward as propelled
by the trajectory of cupid’s hit.
Collecting coins and random tokens
to gauge each gain and deficit.
Falling forward towards another step,
these exploits fill a barren map.
Yet we’re no closer to the finish:
just cursed to run another lap.
Though could this be the truest fortune?
Death leaves man’s bounty when he’s done.
Not comprehending, as they bribe him
for one more dance around the sun...
Building one thing then another
in tidy lines and piles they sit:
by making roads and high skyscrapers
we've engineered "the perfect fit".
Forever chasing that horizon
while reaching for a distant star,
starved to find some foreign landscape
never content with where we are.
Falling forward, to follow through
the blind trajectory of cupid’s hit.
Collecting coins and random tokens to gauge each gain and deficit. Falling forward towards another step,
these exploits fill a barren map.
Yet we’re no closer to the finish:
just cursed to run another lap.
Half alive or living dead?
I wonder what they could be feeling.
A whole generation in mechanical motion
like a line of red ants on the ceiling.
A stale smile on a frowning face,
a stiffened glance like day-old bread.
When they do decide to look at you
they’re staring just beyond your head.
Shoot them up with flashing lights,
from that pocket slot machine.
No need to drop a single dime
to lock them in their own fluorescent dream.
And say a voice were heard from outer space
claiming it could pound us flat,
they’d shrug and be quite unimpressed,
quite certain “there’s an app for that.”
Living alone, life's often quiet as a mouse
that’s ‘til those two started nibbling on my house!
But you're saying I'm the bad guy here?
That I'm the element the townsmen fear?!
I'd taken pity on your troubled youth,
offered something better for their sweet tooth:
I’d just baked cookies for my coven,
when Gretel pushed me towards the oven!
Life's hard enough for any gal, wouldn't you say?
And I never said I was in distress.
It’s not a crime to look this good
in a long black dress.
I don't need anyone to sweep me off my feet,
I can do that with my own broom.
(I didn't uber to this courtroom)
No the hat is not a costume!
Tell the kids, I don’t wear a disguise:
I’m as plain-complicated as any of you guys.
They can visit whenever, there's no need to think twice.
No need for apologies (although one would be nice).
I hope that they learn we’re not plain bad or good.
We all try to get by as we best think we should.
I don’t ask ye for much, save to be understood:
see the world that I see from this side of my hood.
#Halloween2020
