once we held a single
quiet pulse—until the break
struck like shattered glass,
edges cutting through the silence;
pieces fell in crooked angles,
no longer fitting into place~
the heart
split
in
sharp
shards
The Colosseum sits~
a fractured crown,
its arches a circlet of light
where jeweled sun gathers,
I walk its perimeter,
my fingers grazing limestone
warm as living skin.
Dust rises~
a faint ghost of applause, of fear,
of spectacle braided with longing.
History here is not distant;
it presses close,
grainy and intimate.
The broken tiers curve
like a half-remembered sentence,
one the empire began,
but time insisted on finishing.
Grass grows where violence once bloomed;
the sky claims the open roof
as if to remind the ruin
that even power must answer to light.
I feel a strange tenderness:
noting how even magnificence erodes,
how power becomes dust,
how what remains is not violence
but vulnerability~
the open sky pouring through
what once was sealed.
The Colosseum reminds me
that time builds and erases in the same breath,
and that beauty endures most fiercely
in the places where the world
has already learned how to break.
I see my face in a fractured mirror,
It reflects shattered images quite deep,
Secrets that the fragments can hardly hide,
A warped and slanted view of what I was,
Reflecting a pale painful pining face.
I try to glue the pieces together,
But that is a battle lost before-hand,
The fracture dealt, too wide and pulled aside,
The sharp sardonic sides still stay stalemate,
Reflecting myself as a ghastly ghost.
Where ere befell a guiding light
Shining eyes beheld a glory
Holp toward a muted purpose—
A distant feigning glimmer,
Beyond the pale of words.
An aching need to be remade,
A sculptor's hand; a brutal vision
A child; a blank canvas,
A naivety, a submissive nature,
An eagerness to please.
Lead them to a dimming light,
There amidst our dying shadows;
There betwixt the Sun and Night,
Where line the winding gallows.
Where shame forsakes the birth-right
That a darker voice be heard.
And offer up their souls of light
Like the flourishing of birds.
The blinding faith sees not the wraith
Whose night has coiled a cold embrace.
The sun shall nevermore break
Where the twilight, some sayeth,
Precedes its visage upon the lake.
Darkness shall have usurp'd the day
And those who needed believe
Shall have naught to say,
Atop the boroughs as they grieve,
Bearing the known regrets
And we—
The freedom used to deceive,
To let embolden depravity,
To watch the flames spread despair and misery.
The freedom to preach hate and heresy,
To wrongfully endure—
For which we all shall sorely pay.
Echoes from the Abyss: The Day I Forever Fractured Your Mind
My words spilled out, a roaring gale,
A book reversed to drown your soul
To turn your fragile breathing pale.
I fired them straight into your head,
Like silver bullets forged of lead.
And there they strike, and there they stay,
To tear your shattered mind away.
An earthquake brewing in the dark,
Upon your soul, a permanent mark.
They stir and crawl from side to side,
With nowhere left for you to hide.
You beg to know the final cost
To win back everything you lost.
But hear me whisper, hear me mock:
I’ve smashed the key and turned the lock.
Deep in your brain, the rot will stay,
And eat your memories away.
You’ll writhe in pain, you’ll curse my name,
Forever trapped inside my game.
For time may pass, but you will yet
Remember me and never forget.
While make the circle complete.
A teen aesthete
wanders to the soul bartering crossroads
down from where the bus let off.
Gathering weeds and stray flowers
of windblown cemetery seeds.
To make a shrine, self inspired,
at the wayside of God.
To lend by ritual, and evocation
the passage of their development
lonely and gifted.
Shrugging off the ubiquitous pack
and taking from within; magical finds
discovered during cherished playtimes.
Collected in a self-adorned shoe box.
Things gleaned from treasure hunts
and fantastic pursuits.
A cache of light:
cat's eye marbles, chandelier crystals,
blue, clear, and green, sea glass
rolled and shaped by cousin sands.
Dull till spit wetted, salt licked.
By wave defying bravery
a pluck of pebble or sunny glimmer.
Run to Mom for her glamor, and approval.
Brought home in playful pockets
from beaches and picnics.
Now artfully laid in tearful grief.
Creating a mosaic of introspection.
The last to set in place
a paint chipped, wooden, geometric
puzzle piece.
An icon of fractured lullabies.
A dream ending; bare feet,
wet pajamas, and a long car ride.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Turn the kaleidoscope’s brass cylinder~
watch the glass teeth chew daylight
into stained-glass sermons.
A priest of shattered color
preaches through the prism’s throat:
every fracture is a door.
You tilt it again~
suddenly the universe
is a hallway of falling
jewels, a riot of saints
with no faces, only
their bright, dissolving robes.
Teenager’s first epiphany:
Learning that beauty
is just rearrangement~
that the eyes themselves
are hungry
kaleidoscopes.
this poem was written for an online poetry class assignment in response to the above image
We got off to a rocky start.
With words uncalled for, blunt and tart,
each often pierced the other’s heart
and forged a deep scar.
Though time brought more compliant ways
and nicer words, some said, “Their days
are numbered. Peace is just a phase!”
And yet here we are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the night exhales~
a slow, silver breath
etching itself onto glass.
morning presses close,
a blurred thumbprint
of gold.
between them,
the world suspends~
half ice, half fire,
whispering: Wait.
‘Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.’
— Molly Ivins
I helped rescue your kid, a help just owed,
As cries that pierced the air near end of road.
His bone fractured, his mouth without some teeth,
My arm was bruised, the fall with pain beneath.
You sued me, lied the fractured bones my fault,
Your wicked lawsuit rubbed my bruise with salt.
A fly on the wall, your presence depicts,
Your aim, from Facebook friends a million clicks.
Penetrating cold.
Decry warmth, compassion -
world is lost, twisted.
Innocence forgave,
Indoctrinated hate, strikes -
Inescapable!
Overwhelming fear,
Far right reaches to arm -
Flashes, pain, darkness.
Propaganda rise.
Educated disbelief,
words failing to heal.
Fascism, no regard;
Resounding hatred echoed -
Elites unburdened.
Rich unencumbered,
Preying on the downtrodden -
Reverse Robin Hood.
Tech-bro oligarchy;
Puppeteers the White House,
Bent knee to Pontiff.
2025:
Rage consumed populous;
kindness - a lost art.
FRACTURED
~~~~~~~~~~~
fractured wood whispers
tales told of time and toil
scars reveal beauty
In the mirror's gaze, a stranger's face
Eyes that once shone bright, now dim with time
The weight of shadows, a heaviness that clings
A heart that beats with doubt, a soul that sings
A whispered lie, a voice that won't subside
"You're not enough, you'll never be alright"
The echoes of memories, a bittersweet refrain
A longing for solace, a search for peace in vain
In the city's din, a lonely crowd
Faces that blur, a sense of disconnection proud
The noise of expectations, a drumbeat in my head
A desire to escape, to flee from the dread
But still I search, for a glimmer of light
A chance to heal, to mend the fractured night
A whispered truth, a voice that speaks my name
A reminder that I'm not alone, that I'm still the same
Fade into the void,
pale and unseen,
a whisper of silence,
dim murmured echo.
Unheard and unremarked,
an absent fragment,
of drifting haze,
that lingers unseen.
Fragile, easily shattered,
weightless and distant,
an obscure hollow,
of faint gray dust.
Blurred empty thought,
foggy and fractured,
like an unfelt sigh,
flickering invisible in the murk.
O veiled shadow
of former self,
ashen phantom
of better days,
am I but a fleeting shade,
doomed by fate
to wilt and wane,
and fray at the edges,
to shiver and wilt,
until vanishing,
simply disappear?
Not even a glimmer
of self remains.
Broken pieces mend,
Slowly, gently finding place,
New wholeness takes hold.
©bfa051725
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