the sea swallowed the sun, and eructed ~ ripples lap the shore
19th February 2023
For JCB Brul's "A ripple to me 2" contest
Categories:
eructed, metaphor, sea, sun,
Form: Monoku
“I need you
and dream of you
while I try to
drink you away”
I almost wrote a poem
that began like this
(many years ago)
to express my
unrequited infatuation
for a certain
beguiling & baffling
woman.
I almost wrote a poem
that rambled on
unpoetically about
all the tormented
feelings & dark ideas
that poisoned
my already warped mind.
But instead—
I drowned my sorrows
and dragged my
sorrowful sardonic self
through lowly jobs & lofty ideas
like a Kafkaesque Sisyphus
--and eructed corrosive prose
parodying frenemies
as friends became enemies
and I found myself
submerged in a private
cold war with the world
(during the Cold War)
in the torrid, torpid
River City where
the alienated artisans
ate their own.
Maybe someday
in the distant future (2020s?)
if I’m still around
if the world is still around…
I’ll actually write
this forgettable poem
and wish I hadn’t.
Categories:
eructed, addiction, humor, loneliness, love
Form: Prose Poetry
“I fear these furtive brumous depths,” the aged sailor growled,
“‘Cause nestled ‘neath these noisome reefs creep creatures cursed and cowled.
They flounder thus and, seeped in brine, patrol the waxen sea,
And when it drains in years to come, will slue ‘cross land for me.”
My eyes fixed fast on this cowed man, an enervated soul,
And felt his dread leap to my chest as I commenced his role.
So tempest-filled my world became as hunters strode the sea,
Yet all my thoughts returned to shore, held by this phantom, he.
The poisoned tales he wove like waves, eructed into air,
Trailed terror down in floods of fright to moor me in its snare.
And so I left these merchant minds to profit from the deep,
And knowing that their die was cast, abandoned death for sleep.
Categories:
eructed, allegory, fear, horror, mystery,
Form: Verse