You do not need a riverbed to drown.
The drought is carried deep within the chest.
There is no water in this quiet room,
Yet sudden silence floods the empty lungs.
The drought is carried deep within the chest,
A cracked and ochre basin of the mind.
Yet sudden silence floods the empty lungs,
And absence brings a current of its own.
A cracked and ochre basin of the mind,
Where reaching for a memory builds a sea.
And absence brings a current of its own,
The sheer starvation rising like a tide.
Where reaching for a memory builds a sea,
You gasp for breath in perfectly dry air.
The sheer starvation rising like a tide,
The devastating weight of being alone.
You gasp for breath in perfectly dry air,
There is no water in this quiet room.
The devastating weight of being alone—
You do not need a riverbed to drown.
When melancholy drowns my interests,
all seem lost; when black bile's ooze then molests,
I travel through the valley of this death,
lacking life, hope—even desire for breath!
So, myself from blackness I amputate,
spurn whether to self-murder (and brave this fate?);
and lay aside despair and misery,
to fall in love once more with Poetry.
For two loves I have, God and the Muses:
one gives, the other neither refuses.
Before long, the Parnassus heals me in time;
and I grow strong before the end of this rhyme!
For mightier than despair is the Lord,
and the poet whose pen conquers the sword.
By blue degrees she drowns slowly
Like rain, fear lightly fills my palm
Amid rash seas she troubles me
Not by her fury, but her calm
Not by her fury, but her calm
Amid rash seas she troubles me
Like rain, fear lightly fills my palm
By blue degrees she drowns slowly.
08/09/20
For "Mirror Mirror" contest
Sponsor: John Lawless
She sadly drowns in tears
Because of how you treated her
You were nothing but a manipulator
Time after time and, year after year
She put her trust in you
And you disappointed her
Your heart was never there
Nor were you ever sincere
DREAM DROWNS IN STREAM
Flowing
Flooding
Fleeting
Broken
Life meets sea on flowing flooding stream
In deep tears drown fleeting broken dream
January, 20, 2918.
I walked home alone in the dampening mist
as the pastel colored sky blanketed the sun
His rays sank into the sea for their daily tryst
Resting among the waves, his work was done
And now the moon will rise in splendid glory
bringing lovers together in her lustrous light
while the mist hides the tears of my sad story
My heart is broken and my spirit is contrite
My cottage hearth will hold no warming fire
It's to darkness that I'll open my creaking door
No smiling face or welcome words will transpire
Twilight's become the time of day I most abhor
She would run and greet me when I neared home
But no longer do her laughing eyes meet mine
Her eyes now shine where she chose to roam
Bitter on my tongue is the taste of finest wine
Pity is not an emotion in which I choose to wallow
One day when the sun no longer drowns in the sea
perhaps then my wine will be pleasant to swallow
and memories of lost love will no longer torture me
Sorrow drowns on dry land
Standing at a distance,
staring at staggered lines
on a rock face outcropping
buried deep beneath
an ancient rose garden
Corroded iron bars
chained and bolted,
left for dead as brittle petals
find a funnel cloud forming
and dance in a whirlwind mosaic
Disguised bold lettering
of forgotten fonts curl and peel
as bark from a crying birch tree
waits for spring
so it can start anew
Sunlight smears blue sky dreams
in finger paint colors
designing the moment
in portraits of a heart – this heart
basking in your glow
And as your smile approaches
the earth rejoices, pine tree party hats,
hibiscus streamers wave
as a happy ending reigns
at the conclusion of this poem –
with the deceptive title
Drifting between love and hate
chained spread-eagled in a tug-of-war
of extreme emotions pulling relentlessly;
her body aches ... her mind bubbling,
a boiling cauldron pleading for release.
In her parched throat a stifled scream
soundlessly quivers, then retreats
into the dark chasm deep within
cowering in the chilly dungeon
where her heart lies slowly bleeding.
Torn to shreds her dreams hang
in front of her misty eyes, blurred...
she struggles between the choice
of fire and water, courage and defeat.
A key turns...the door slams...footsteps.
His loud voice calls; her body trembles
as yet again she reluctantly succumbs
to overpowering waves of helplessness...
Silently she drowns in fearful anticipation.
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[Many women suffer in silence while struggling with abusive relationships.
This B&W picture reflects the dark mood of this poem.]
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26th April, 2016
Being Invisible Contest#2 by Skat A
Nude
Under the moon
Coldness takes our breath
Legs intertwine
Our bodies touch
Time stops
Our eyes meet
Locked together
I see your soul
Bare unto me
All that you are
Look past my body
And into my heart
There’s no going back now
For our innocence drowns
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