Best Escapism Poems
A flickering spark between you and me–
grating of steel on steel and I shall flee!
When my opinion is not valued, and my way not chosen,
I feel my blood hot—then becoming frozen.
Flee from conflict, flee from differences;
Flee from everything when comes hindrances!
I will live in my box, so shallow and cold,
and avoid every burden and shake off every load;
so here I sit smugly and never grow,
rooted as a weed—never fruit to show!
I combed cool waters of your baby blue
crystalline Jewel as you waded waterfall
waves washing my stellar rainbow rays
arching it melted into the warm womb
of transducing tangoing Earth
Her Violet Flame devoured us both
as nectared dewdrops to fuel the fire
our soma swirling into ecstatic orange
oxytocined crane flowers whispering
wisdoms to a hundred yellow butterflies
fluttering and flirting
They circled a sunken Atlantean apex
atop where you ruled anew with Baconian
brown locks surrounded by sirens serving
savoury silver sardines, oolite oyster shells
sang solos as dolphins dived, oceanic mouthed
In Ancient Egypt you followed my runcinate
rulings or indigo sorrow siglums, sighing
becoming slimmed seeker who served
Thoth well whilst wreathing my wounded
worthiness and fallow fallopian tubes
at pyramidal plumed midnight hour
In our Grecian lifetime you draped alabaster
urns lighting my marble mantelpiece
I watched breath enter your nebulae nostrils
as you crafted provincial proverbs instructing
slaves to whiten your garb with lemons from
our sculpted garden
On lavender Celtic hills we exchanged kilts
not knowing whose waist was whose
barefoot we flaunted sleek sharp sapphire
studded swords dancing necessary wild wars
Who remembered and who forgot
where in ether our nestling niche napped
as games of betrayal, fear or doubt
doubled into involuting circles and spirals
each tried to neck THE VOID as naked
excuse for not excavating heaving Heart
How much escaping, escapades, evolutionary
clocks cloak our cusps or cues or custard
synchronicities
how many summer summit starlings must
seek to sing of sorrow or of wolves, withering
willows, watermelons on this Planet of
coloured curriculums
holding dear our distinctive designs where
lacy lament is but another aperture into Space
I seek not to know !
Taste remorse bleeding from my lips,
Feel the pain of my dreams unleashed.
Shooting stars struggle to eclipse
One last flash of a perfect wish.
Make the way with me,
Help my spirit flee,
Set my soul free,
It is smothered.
Let me find my place
In this tempting haze,
In the night's embrace,
I am bothered.
Hear the sounds, deafened sounds
Of reveries' lullabies,
As I reach spaceless bounds
Of welcoming purple skies.
Yes, I live just this way,
But it's an illusion, fake,
And I curse the damned day
That finds me to wake me.
Trapped by the truth,
I curse its majesty,
Dreams of my youth
Lose sense of gravity.
I'm not sane, not mad,
Not alive, not dead,
Shades of past regret
Haunt me farther.
I am straying blind
With my truth denied
On the other side
From the others.
Hear muffled sounds, deafened sounds
Of reveries' lullabies,
As I reach spaceless bounds
Of welcoming purple skies.
Yes, I live just this way,
But it's an illusion, fake,
And I curse the damned day
That finds me to wake me.
Quelling silent screams,
All alone,
Listing paper dreams
On my own,
I am sick of this
Absurdism,
what's the way it is?
Escapism!
Dreams are all shattered,
What could be worse?
Doom of the life in fetter,
Filled with the same remorse.
Fight or surrender?
Shield or defender?
I'm helpless at anything.
Thoughts of despair
Twirl in the air.
I'm losing my everything.
Hear muffled sounds, deafened sounds
Of reveries' lullabies,
As I reach spaceless bounds
Of welcoming purple skies.
Yes, I live just this way,
But it's an illusion, fake,
And I curse the damned day
That finds me to wake me.
I remove my glasses to blur my view,
of my disgraceful face, that’s painted a strange hue.
Reality peers back at me, from the bottomless
shallow mirror,
My self peers back at me,
with disbelief, regret and horror.
I remove my glasses so that I cannot see,
that which I’m not and that which I’ve wanted to be.
I close my eyes, so I’m now in a trance,
of an alternate universe, a new theme,
a new life, a new romance.
I remove my glasses and put them aside,
and think back to better times, waiting
for my pain to subside.
But as I shuffle through my memories, relief -
I cannot seem to get,
because the past is filled with insurmountable regret.
I remove my glasses and put them in their case
and reminiscence about my beliefs, the dreams I used to chase.
But all this sorting reveals only mistakes,
mistakes, mistakes, mistakes
Oh, so many mistakes…
I remove my glasses because it’s time to sleep,
I wrench today’s goals from the thought bubble,
and discard them into the unachieved heap.
As I sink to the bottom of the bed at the end of the day I've fought,
I plummet into the depths of my innermost thought,
that preaches ‘useless’, ‘ worthless’, ‘hate’
that preaches ‘loser', ‘ugly’, ‘ late’
that dictates my action and my inaction,
that dictates my speech and my silence.
And as I lose myself to the seduction of rest,
I try to revive in me, an anticipation for the morrow -
a dying and hopeless, bedridden zest.
The sun will bring with it, a new day,
the day will begin coffee, sticky notes,
in the same old unaccomplishing way.
I will remove my glasses to blur my view,
I will remove my glasses to disillusion myself,
I will remove my glasses to remove myself
to a new fantasy, a new retreat, a new game.
I will remove my glasses to feed my escapism,
and let the footsteps of my desires lead me into a new daydream,
of wonder, success and fame.
But still,
I can hope.
And still,
I will hope,
that the morrow is not barren of new opportunities.
But still,
I can pray.
And still,
I will pray,
that the morning air instils a new confidence,
in me, as, from my lucid dreams, I wake,
in me, who limps behind the forerunners of the race.
For there is life to be loved, and life to be lived,
and mine is a future in the making,
a future to face.
Once upon a long time back
When the woodlands hosted unicorns pack
If you made a wish with an honest heart
At the farthest corner where rainbows start
You could pick your share of the gold-laid sack
Had access to portals,kept lost time's track
Like Narnian Children there and back
Or Wells Traveller,maneuvering mechanical stack
You could marvel,wonder,travel through time
By aid of magic or mere intellect sublime......
See that creature now staggering down Manhattan aisle....
When he could be rowing on imaginations blue Nile,
Not fueled by "candy flipping"....."space basing" all the while,
Ecstasy is phenomenal....perceived the philosphical style
Its the soul that raises question, its the soul that's labelled guile
Decayed,demented,rotten....why be taken for a garbage pile??
So what the Sun squres Neptune as natal chart compile!?
Exploit challenging aspects,edit the Fate's profile
With Neptune's trident,spirits are heightened,
But why the 'bad-trip'....Why must You be frightened???
Why trade sanity for an evening's bruised vanity...??
When with glorius maple leaves,moods can still be brightened!!
There they sit with splendour,enlightening to the core.....
"Patience","Fortitude" wondering! 'will no one heed the lore?
Really Sir! with the prospect of 'Gotham-city' to explore
To choose to roam aimlessly through the poppies Morpheas bore!!!
Forsake this blue atlantic for unknown dreary shore........
No! its not Alice in the land of wonder...!!!
'Tis a victim put to gore.....
Candy-flipping refers to: LSD and Ecstasy used in combination
Space basing refers to: crack cocaine and PCP used in combination
Patience and Fortitude : the famous stone lions guarding the entrance of
Newyork Public Library nicknamed so by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1930
drinking in the park
trapped between past and future
owl hoots chidingly
i am tired of writing letters for the future,
i wish to write letters to my present.
everything i seem to partake in,
promises escape.
i think it is easily forgotten,
that the me of today only lives for a day.
i wonder what fascinates us
so greatly about this concept
of writing to a future us.
is it the promise of a later,
that entices the human mind?
dear myself,
remember to do this, remember to do that,
forget this thing, and say goodbye to that,
but you wont do any of these things,
you will just pretend you have.
i know you very well,
and yet this version of you no longer exists,
is it strange to mourn myself?
the me that has wrote this has died,
the me that will read this will suffer a similar fate.
life seems to be a plethora of beginnings and endings,
this letter is just another example of that.
goodbye myself, try not to worry,
another you will be over in a hurry.
As I drift off to sleep
I’m about to reach
My one safe place
My haven of dreams
This imperfect escapism is perfect for me
My only sanctuary
My dreams create the real me
Who I am inside
My real identity
Unlike my conscious being
Where my fears and anxieties
Are all at once tormenting me
I wish my dreams could follow me
Into a new awakening
Destroying this self hate I am suffering
And change the dark path I keep following
So for now I will keep within reach
My haven of dreams
As again I drift off to sleep
To my one safe place
My haven of dreams
I told him to create an account
and write me a poem
you won't believe his recount
this will compel you to focus
he said he wasn't allowed to
that it would be one document
when if he would just do
it would be a different occupant
When he was still working
they have a device to snap up temperatures
he would say he had to proceed clerking
and do it himself when that wasn't his expenditures
in other words he didn't check them
and would leave for work pretending
earlier than his shift he would stem
and leave me at home depending
It's not just me he does this to he's sleek
he told a friend he had to be at work two hours early
when that wasn't the case I'm proof as I speak
to refrain from dealing with confrontation surely
which is what he's trying to spout
the expert in escapism
though prisoner he's not no doubt
I hope this stops soon for I'm not into barbarism
The world being what it is
Many resort to escapist fiction
to soften the blows
The television brings us news
of foolish statements by our leaders, tragedies and gruesome crimes
No harm is escaping to Middle Earth, Barsoom or Chelm
The mythic lands still draw
Everyone does not like excapist fiction
But for those of us who do
There are new worlds to discoverd
new vistas - new horizons
New heroes anad heroines
Just around the next corner
Here serene
Field of green
What a world
I have seen
Deep in shadow
Deep in thought
What was lost
Still is sought
From the mountains
To the valleys
To the bottom of the sea
By the powers
Of the flowers
And that shadowed pre-dawn hour
I beckon unto thee…
River run free
Return to me
Meadow moon
Sun at noon
What a day
May or June
Deepest ocean
Deepest well
Seeking wisdom
Finding hell
Sometimes sad
And sometimes mad
And sometimes glad to be
Words that rhyme
Will sing in time
When the weather is sublime
I will sing them unto thee…
River run free
Return to me
Mists dissolved
Mystery solved
See the season
Spring or Fall
Pouring rain
Tears of pain
What was lost
Will be regained
See the symbol
Say the word
Rolling river
Sailing bird
Words that rhyme
Will sing in time
When the weather is sublime
I will sing them unto thee…
River run free
Return to me
In the darkness
In despair
Smoke and memories
Fill the air
Hear the west wind
Feel its breath
Bringing magic
Bringing death
Call the spirits
Call the rain
For what was lost
Will be regained
Words that rhyme
Will sing in time
When the weather is sublime
And I will sing to thee…
River run free
Return to me.
WHEN RELIGION BECOMES
YOUR OPIUM
When religion becomes your
opium you slip into icy pre-dawn
to mosque then lie in fever flu
at dusk as bilal calls again
for you to stumble towards
beckoning forefinger guilt
chalices cringing crying
You chant morning to night
wrapped in dirty linen blights
mantras channelled centuries
ago resin rosary threadbare
kitabs torn, curtains undrawn
biscuits crumbled alongside
salted slippers prayer coats
ghostly watch blustery blinkers
Your heart remains judgement
tight with rusty mental railway
lines unbuckled only to fight
canaries flown from stilted
cages wire worn walls
cracking ceilings catalysing
You speak in unremitting
riddles try not to scream
at dismal doors knitted beard
knotted knives of seamen
gambles enticing lovers of
yesteryear who remain
embedded in elbow joints
as you catch rain in
buckets of shame
You refuse to let in visions
of New Earth as this opium
mix targets rude roaring fire
planets in unrelenting fear
colour remains brown black
tinges of diseased blood
slowly trickle teary
tattered trousers torn
This drug is an only taste
angels fly past in haste
fezzes stuck on mothy mat
knows no soapy skyline sighs
underpinned by judgement
made in desert ritual fears
God knows no such forlorn
framed jibbas or jibe jihads
Opium can open too
tunnels into tortoiseshell
havens of heather or healing
hearths when heart is given
a hexagon hello helix
headwaters can heady rush
or opium can merely remain
the sniffing powder in
your box
©GhairoDanielsPoetry&
Song2016
I really need my Dell computer
can’t live without a cell phone
to my ear
Anything to keep
me from being by myself,
alone
or from anyone growing too dear.
I commute to work at 8 am
I swear at the other cars
I seclude myself behind office walls
and wait all day to hit the bars
I have the latest model SUV
201 channels on my TV
don’t want anybody to talk to me,
I wear headphones at the gym
I got CD’s that line the walls
Voice mail to take my calls
a shopping service to hit the malls
I hug the tree and send others out on a limb.
I don’t want to be alone
Might have to ask myself some questions
I don’t want to answer why
Know if I took the time to ask myself
I know, sure as hell
I’d lie.
I can’t spare a single moment
not even to watch the setting sun,
Can’t smell the budding flowers
or embrace the thundershowers
I instinctively stay on the run
I need a new stereo system
need to blare loud music or
listen to books on disc
I need to crowd my life with merchandise
cause idle time all by myself
poses too much risk
I’ll exchange banter with the best of you
As I swill drink after drink at the bar
I laugh and joke and make suggestive remarks
But they don’t get me very far
Cause I don’t really know myself
And I don’t really want to know you
I just want to surround myself
with too much of nothing to do.
I really need my Dell computer
Can’t live without a cell phone
to my ear
Anything to keep
me from being by myself
alone
and facing what I fear.
Amongst the stars my heart resides
The moon is my humble guide
Falling into infinite darkness
Such is my state of bliss
I am a creature of the night
Where my soul finds its might
Tranquil rivers flow into me
Waves of calmness my mood to be
When all I can see are outlines
Of trees and shrubs of all kinds
Such beautiful darkened silhouettes
The troubles of the world I forget
Of the business of the daytime rush
The rulers on top in a fuss
The infinite running rat race
That keeps our beings set in place
But the human soul longs to be free
Stuck in cities we cannot see
What the natural world has to offer
But we trade it all for dollars
Well no more shall I be a slave!
I shall carve my own grave
I choose to die amongst the stars
And not working for what's already ours
My last wish is that when I die
That I may join the twinkling lights in the sky~
Escapism – For the readers.
(A lone voice whispers)
Hey you,
Reading this
From way beyond the reach
Of the Great Abyss
I, Thomas, have a question or two
Would you blindly follow me if I lit a red candle
In this final odyssey home
To be rescued
And finally bare your soul
Together with mine
And all you can handle
Before the Sacred Salt Pillar of Ado
Of Sodom and Gomorrah
Near the Dead Sea and atone
Would you follow me and that maybe life-changing suggestion
Willingly into this swirling dark
And grasp my coattails within this invocation and rhyme
As we trespass tentatively through all of this life's scary parks
Just you and me
To somewhere only the courageous can ever conceive
As we strip off all the world's detritus
That tries to smother us with all their rock slides
And swim against all societies fast-flowing dividing tides
Will you dare tango and tiptoe past the ever watchful Tall Man and all his worldly Minions
As we circumnavigate the spiritual globe
To truly see the new world grid and reclaim our own freedom
To sit beside our newly created Holy River
To write poetry and sing
To joyously watch through that river's undulating scrying mirror
As the real world slowly disappears
To then walk through a portal which I know will appear
Through all the luscious green grass to finally reach the portcullis gates to the
Eternal City
Of Tartaria
To hear the greatest stories ever told to human ears
In any era
To finally embrace a new realm free from all restrictions
Laws or fears
For although we are but lost souls going eventually to try to conquer She'ol
Would you still just blindly follow me
For you also
Seek Escapism
For you too are a true reader
Past the awakening powers of an immoral old fallen god
A new age world leader
And all its political forces
To walk unashamed together
Hand in hand
To somewhere to renew
Hidden from view
Beyond this world,
Many new pale white horses
(C)
Copyright John Duffy