Begin by stripping my skin to the bone
Misfortune is baked in layers
Mania in DNA is more than kin
I trust nurture entwined with nature
Tattered veils obscure perspective's light
Shameful gauzes are undressed
Ran madly half-bare to sis's arms
Suicidal wolf cries no longer tempt me
Re-parenting without weed strips me
No more wine ushering the beast
Make abstinence my embalmer
Repatriate this childish soul to the slab
But, bare days are still in need of veils
Nicotine measures hours hemmed
Buried childhood squirms for treason
I have yet to abandon painful threads
Terrors of walking nude will be learned
No parents to steady with hands
This old man-child still wants claps
The past waits for touch inside the tomb
Miles of selfish ribbons unwind clinging
Stand half mummified yet alive
Walk roads of perils on bare feet
My uncloaked condition accepts it's terminal
Life without bandaids is one beginning
My mania unwinds what's hidden
I'll rise from the crypt together
Till ash revealed is cleaved from soul
John 19:41
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
Categories:
embalmer, addiction, angst, childhood, depression,
Form: Free verse
My Uncle Lotcha was an embalmer, you see,
He took care of all the dead in our family
Exactly what he did was always a mystery to me
When he was busy embalming, we let him be.
We knew for his services he charged a huge fee
When he got a body, he was filled with glee
He really enjoyed his work, another mystery,
When I think of it, his job matched him to a tee.
He was very somber and dressed meticulously
I never saw Uncle Lotcha climbing up a tree,
I never recall seeing grass stains on his knee
He was always perfectly proper, yes siree!
Written October 13, 2022
Categories:
embalmer, childhood, jobs, mystery, relationship,
Form: Monorhyme
Yesterday wafts softly down as this days echo fades
All but hushed to whisper by time’s ever binding glue
My dreams this night will richly form and dance between the two
Troubles displayed within my mind without the albatross of time
Seem now to be soliloquy from some angst left behind
So thin this veil which clouds these fears
Far moved from truth as dawn appears
Away cool sleep and move this play from long ago forgotten tears
Now bright as day my thoughts do sway
It seems to me so far away
Looks as if the light has played, embalmer to the night’s foray
As yesterday now locks it’s door
Though with some mild chagrin
They're foolish all who would ignore
Here lies the keeper’s spin
To yesterday there are still ways to tweak you from behind
Stay gently present or you’ll drift with rearward fettered mind
Oh, think not back or you will feel, this specter from the dark
I think it triggers off some long thought vanquished spark
Believe this as you close your eyes
In some subconscious stream
Yesterday waits quick to pounce as night includes your dream
Categories:
embalmer, angst, dream, time,
Form: Acrostic
Two days before the deadline.
Fingers flying frantically,
Condensing a lifetime’s achievement
In 500 words or less.
Eyes are bloodshot from the long night, spent
Staring and scanning every line, every blip
With the careful precision of a surgeon.
Secretly beautifying my faults
Like an embalmer, decorating wounds,
To make even a dead body presentable.
All to impress anonymous judges
Who are endowed with the authority
To confirm my life’s worth.
Judges who grade lives—
Out of a pool of million—
Superficial enough to be condensed
In 500 words or less.
Categories:
embalmer, angst, confusion, depression, education,
Form: Free verse
The mind is not subjected to circumstances
nor geographical location as the body is subjected
to the law of gravity.
It perceives that its domain is out of time,
out of space and consequently transcends natural laws.
The perception of this law of laws awakens in the mind
a sentiment which we call love, which make our highest happiness.
Wonderful is its power to heal, restore, and to command obedience.
It is a medium; it is an embalmer of the world.
By its power the universe made safe, and habitable.
For all things proceeds from love
“For God so love the world that he gave ..."
Through love men have conquered their own fears that seemed insurmountable.
“Perfect love cast out all fears.”
Thus, this same love has challenged the mind to commend the creature like-
minded.
Therefore, I am bold with hands, and heart, and soul to declare:
I have chosen, pursued, and conquered a soul that has wrought its worth in gold.
Categories:
embalmer, happiness, life, love, love,
Form: Prose Poetry