Poetry is the gateway into once-unexplored realms
Where the soul can rise or fall
When someone follows its call
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
It’s not
that it’s eating its own tail
It’s not
that it’s chewed off its legs
It’s not
that it was ever even trapped
It’s high
Its high
It’s delicious
it’s endorphin rich
its gimmicks
There's this prayer in my heart
Chanting everyday like I can't live without
Consuming my mind, my body and soul
Silently taking control of my whole.
There's this King in heaven who has promised me peace
So I take all my troubles and leave it at his feet
Those silent cries, of course he hears
Those hardened vows, I have to adhere.
But my feet are shaking, my hope is failing
This prayer has lasted so long, my heart is aching
Yes, I believe all that he has promised
But I can no longer control my pulses.
At my lowest and wretched state, I still look into the sky
Waiting for a glimpse of hope not minding the price
He can never forsake his beloved, at least I believe so
But never the less, don't forsake my loyal soul as I wait in one glimpse of silence with great faith untold.
Kaklaruhin ng lalim ng iyong pagmamahal ang mga guni-guning bulong kapag kinukumbulsyon ka na sa sakit.
Para itong tuwalyang binasa sa maligamgam na tubig.
Sisipsipin nito ang hindi imbitadong temperatura ng iyong katawan.
Maging ang mga basang una'y tutuyuin nito.
Hanggang sa ang pagtangis ng puso'y maging katumbas ng niluluray na kalamnan.
Magdudulot ito sa iyo ng pagkalito, sa pagitan ng damdaming alam ang nararapat para sa kanya at sa damdaming kaht mistulang inililibing ng buhay ay kukuha ng isang basong tubig, panulak sa gamot a iinumin sa tama nitong oras.
Titiisin ang pait dahil trangkaso lang naman.
breakfast
greeting their portraits
dinner reservations
toast speeches stirring
late-night confabs
heroic gazes
mythic legends
tuck us in bed
Putting out fires not of my making
it's time-consuming heart-breaking
the grass over there don't seem any greener
and from my perspective the streets are meaner
the so-called social networks are as unsociable as can be
impersonal with dirty laundry on show for everyone to see
despite self-admitted wrong-doing and misdeeds
the herd still follows their every lead
but I won't borrow sorrow
and be overwhelmed by the troubles of others
doing my best making the most
if it's not one thing it's another
and then sometimes it's both
feels like the world has gone to hell
with nary a handbasket to carry us there
and I'm at the bottom of a deep dank well
is the world spiralling out of control
while I'm abandoned here in a drear dark hole
The love of innocent ways
Is giving it going to pay
To be valued how very nice
Indeed, frozen as cold as ice
The sun's warming rays
Gently melting me away
How sweet, how kind, to be the wine
Drink up, get your fill, I'm going to spill
His love incarcerates her heart
Like a prisoner captive in shackles
Inescapable
All consuming,
Overwhelming
Like a magnet to its metal.
I come with the indomitable intent to beguile
Upon your face, I place an ephemeral smile
When I come, I don't stay very long
I have you up early but by the time I leave, I'll have you singing a sad song
Gone! Gone like a thief in the night
Sometimes I make you blackout, but when you return, you notice something's not quite right
Maybe it's the headache, tummy ache, or the fact that you're bent and hungover
So you pray. You pray to the porcelain god about things you don't remember
But I remember. Because I am the deceiver they call 'Al-Kuhl.'
The body-eating spirit that beguiles and pulls
I love to pull you to a low vibrational state
In your drunken stupor, your cares and troubles you no longer contemplate
But when reality awakens you to a sober mind
Real eyes see that the pull of Al-Kuhl is dark and unkind
Clouds in a Walmart mirror.
The galvanized roof is
eclectically painted and rattling
its shifting shadows.
Some mutter,
hurry to the unmanned checkouts,
some seek a deeper shelter in the
sporting goods aisle's
The distant sounds of fire engines
and sirens,
a howling chorus of trepidation.
Outside in the midday gloom
parking-lot geese
are forming escape lines.
Squirrels gawp and chatter,
hit the ground running.
Another shoplifting tornado
has come to town,
pushing empty carts ahead
of its imminent funnel of fear.
A store greeter
grins like death,
as the gatecrashing wind
steals his breath.
The aftermath has yet to be counted,
though bargain priced Chinese calculators
are readily on sale everywhere.
Licking my wounds.
Recovering from the pain.
Is it supposed to
feel this way?
Empty, cold, and dejected.
Ashamed of not enjoying it.
Radiating heat filling me up
from my pelvic floor.
Somehow, I am wanting more.
More of the pain
without it there’s
no freedom for what
lies between my legs.
I am ashamed of
how it leaks, throbs,
& pulsates for more.
Maybe one more time,
it won’t feel this way?
The all consuming fire
that takes me to
hotels with strange men.
Maybe it gets better
Or the best it will ever get?
But the high weighs more
in the moment.
To keep me sailing
away from the fear
and shame.
With the pain,
I do it anyway
Slowly as my heart, soul,
& sanity fade away
While my pelvic floor screams
to breathe
While my body crumbles
from the destruction
a single man brings.
There is love
And then... there is LOVE
That overwhelming, “take over your every thought” love
That longing to “forever be in someone's arms” love
That “I can't function without you” love
Anyone who has truly known this love
Knows exactly what I'm writing of
It's overwhelming down to the core
It engulfs us
Nothing else is of any consequence
It's all consuming, life changing, it gives reason for life
Through the years, I thought I had experienced it
I was wrong
Nothing compares in the slightest
To the love I feel now
For the sweetest lady I have ever had the good fortune to know
I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth
I won't question why
I will just revel in it's warmth, in the sheer and utter ecstasy
Nothing well ever equal this rapturous feeling
This unequaled joy
After meeting and having the love of the sweetest person I have ever known
I have now lived life to the fullest
There is no longer anything greater
There is love
And then... there is LOVE
An overwhelming sensation that can't be described
I am engulfed
Hate is a consuming thing
And it makes the emotions king
Body and soul bound by evil
In a constant state of upheaval
And I fell into a whole lot of hate
At my mind, soul, and spirit it ate
And it burned, burned, burned~~
that evil
And it burned, burned, burned,
and stirred upheaval
Now I've had a taste of love
Sent to me from above
And its power reveals
and its strength does heal
Hate is a consuming thing
And it makes the emotions king
Body and soul bound by evil
In a constant state
Of upheaval
And I fell into a whole lot of hate
At my mind, soul and spirit it ate
And it burned, burned, burned~~
That evil
That evil
Think about Johnny Cash's song, "A Ring Of Fire" ..I did not get rights to associate this with his family so don't use it outside of here.
I should write a poem of loathing
but this love is all consuming.
Writing softly
thoughts all a flame,
Why do you consume me?
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