A glass of vodka on the table,
A chocolate joint between the fingers,
A Tokarev in the bag,
The brain infused with adrenaline.
Misery, a nightmare,
Being poor, a curse,
Forced to drown in illicit transactions.
Survival: a necessity to exist,
Bound to poverty since the placenta.
Murder scenes as the only spectacle,
From the watchtower, the horizon is mortiferous.
Reality proclaims its sentence with a firm voice,
The cruelty of the street teaches raw lessons to worn-out heels.
Gagged souls count the dirty money that corrodes their future,
A pact of survival sealed between greasy fingers and clenched fists.
The heart hardens to feed a hungry mouth,
Prayer turns into calculation, cash becomes language.
Yellow smiles are sold, worn-out allegiances are bought,
Eyes assess, tongues negotiate the unforgivable.
A shiver of metal recalls the origin of the debts.
No respite, the market demands its tribute without mercy.
A verse carved inside lacerated fists,
Ultimate testament of a centuries-old ordeal.
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16: 18
she stood tall on the jagged edges of the cliff
face worried as she noticed the rough seas
whilst above high dark clouds rumbled
though the sun shone straight at her face
could it enlighten her about what had happened
thoughts came and went, as she remembered
the letter he had sent her and wondered
was she deceived by her soldier and sister
he insulted her refusing to marry him
and she insulted him back vowing
she would never marry him come what may
still thoughts rumbled inside her mind
was he really proud or was she prejudiced
the jagged edges of a knife pierced her soul
could there have been some half-truths in his insults
she still hated him but admired his handsome face
facts churned in her head and confused her even more
could she face those jagged edges of truths
she turned and walked down the rough cliff
her soul lacerated with truths and pride
Placed 1
Thorns for your King,
Scarlet for His robe,
A cross on His back,
He journeyed to a place of suffering, pain, and humiliation.
They sang His praises at His triumphant entry,
But later, they despised and scorned Him.
They no longer needed Him to save them;
A Messiah might be somewhere else.
Helped to carry the cross,
He trudged along,
His body was lacerated by stripes,
Feeble but willing to do the Father’s will.
Nailed to the cross and pierced in His side,
His soul was about to leave its chamber.
In anguish, He called out to His Father,
And then came the final slumber.
He transcended at Golgotha,
He descended into the abyss,
He prevailed in the age-long contention,
Mortality was finally put off at His ascension.
April 14, 2025.
i will grip the last shards of you,
until the edges slice my palms.
through skin and tissue,
muscle and bone,
'till its through the other side.
when it lands on the pavement,
blood-soaked and broken,
i'll clasp my palms together,
stronger than we ever were,
and scoop up the shattered pieces.
i'll cradle them,
with that gentleness you one day forgot,
and never shown me again.
as i step over the stains in the concrete,
my lacerated flesh,
held tight to my chest,
i know.
i know that,
i'll let your memory dissect me forever,
until all that remains—
is a puddle of all i hoped we could be.
I breathe in the pungent flavor of pain,
the bitter taste in nightfall's weeping
as stars hide behind gray- washed posts , rain suffocating a prayer
for comfort, a sorrowful litany
echoing among drained dew...
Lost, alone in melange of grieving
thoughts of fragile child ,
lost and thiefed by dark virus from cell's weakened body--
I clutch babe's pashima until
silence breaks the spell
of another morn,
raw and stained from unrequited dreams, from
a mother's fervor locked in chains
never to be caressed with care...
Into frozen cuddle disarranged by lacerated dreams, oh infant falls
asleep innocent of pale slumber
somewhere...where?
While I, a woman drenched
by restless agony lay among grasses
coiled with a box of lullabies
only to drown and spill my being,
as I breathe in
the bitter scream of farewell.
Finally my blood began to coagulate,
and stopped to seep out of the slashed heart,
lacerated in the tempest of turmoil
by the sharp shards of your refutation.
In the memory meadow I found a crack split open
in the longing ledge of my hypnotized heart,
where the sole sapling of love bloomed in brilliance,
freed from the compelled confinement of isolation.
In your embrace my senses gracefully turned
into rhapsodic rhythm of heart enchanted within,
set the course of the lingering love so long latent
to sail in the sensuous stream of my yearning.
In the tormenting torrent of zooming zephyr,
as you drifted away unconcerned past me,
and blew a devastating storm of apathy,
my fragmented fervent feeling became rapture ruins.
Your flouting indifferent footsteps trampled
my emotive flower as you departed uncaring,
its crumbled petals made a wreath
for the bleeding bits of my broken heart.
In the flow of time I saw the essence of my soul,
its healing measures created the concerto of clotting,
as liquid lines turned into coalesced connection,
the splendorous suture made my heart whole again.
Fragile resolve aspires
to capture the residual rainbow,
weaves the lattice of life
with spectral ribbons,
turns into a self-destructive
psychosis syndrome
that fails to fling
the insane illusion
in the cloud of dreams,
for it has hypnotic leverage
on the mind,
mangled by
s t o r m.
Wedged by the splitting bevel
of slashing time,
the frail fragments of failure
get lacerated from life,
scatter on the path
to the rainbow,
yet untraveled,
meanders marooned
in debris of derelict dreams,
disappear down the deep sinkhole
of dusky oblivion.
In lucent mystique mind,
transmuting thoughts
flash on
ebony emotions.
Absolved of self-qualm
psychic crystal sparkles
in sense stars’ aurora flare,
traces the prime trajectory
from the cosmic soul’s
nebulous abyss,
within.
In the mesmeric meadow
of the inner topography,
seraphic shadows dance mystified
with gorgeous sequined glitter
of the sensuous stardust
in the tune of
buoyant bliss.
The discernment mindscape
makes the montage
of the existential rainbow,
d i s m a n t l e d.
“Fathomless faith gets divine blessings to rise from the entrapping evil marsh” – Quote by Poet
On squalid quicksand you walked obsessed and weary,
gripped by the demons of sin as vicious as they could be,
sank in the destined depth of abhorrent abyss of bane,
wrapped within the despicable layers of livid disdain.
The lancet of immorality lacerated the ethical essence,
you had long tried in vain to protect within sane sense.
The grave for the soul slain by the stab of sordid sin,
you had dug contrite in the ground of anguish within.
As divine awareness ignited the candle of hope in you,
you perceived revived the conscience got kindled anew,
and lighted up the dark alley of introspection inherent,
you reached the self-illumined horizon of discernment.
With your being cleansed of the depraved turpitude slime
by the allusion of self-absorbed sense of sagacity prime,
at the lit fringe of life you see the shadow of the time still
when you were entrapped within the quagmire of evil.
"a dagger of pain, a tear of grief" - Quote by - Constance La France
With the melodic cadence of my fervent heart,
pulsated the charming tinsels of the mesmeric night,
gleamed my love for you with the enticing tinge,
suffused with the sequins of the silver moon.
I felt in a trance the sweet touch so tempting
of your captivating charisma intangible,
but you drifted away from my engrossed perception
like the autumn cloud wafting in the twilight sky.
In the barren valley of flowers my cataract heart,
cascaded as the stream of melted glacial mind
beyond the turquoise course of lingering longing,
on the desolate plateau I wandered going nowhere.
From the ebony edge of the gloomy night
storm clouds surged with blades of shearing pain,
lacerated the lilting facade of the sky I call my heart,
where the shards of dream floated in tears of grief.
______________
May 16, 2023
Contest : Writing Challenge A Quotes
Sponsored by : Constance La France
We four men raise our hands with blood lacerated to be written upon a book named doom. Whose words bring that which was grasped and phased into our minds by ghoulish men with scales in their hearts as they lead to the door. our deaths pass on to our sons. The first to be split into two the second to be faithful to the cosmic king. The third he stands behind the curtain. The fourth man and bat wrapped in flames stand in the middle. These brothers stand in the eye of the storm's tentacled threshold.
I let my wounds breathe;
All wounds inflicted
By life's serrated blade.
Notwithstanding
Degrees of pain;
Whether dull or sharp,
I let my wounds breathe.
I don't smother them
With bandages.
How about you?
They are my crying eyes,
So I set them free to bleed
To be licked dry
By the wind's healing tongue.
You see, just like tears
Stop flowing,
Lacerated wounds
Stop bleeding
To start the healing
After clotting over.
Date written: 03/21/2023
cloudless sky, lacerated by an azure blade, cresting and falling
air depression in ocean
thick cloud sucked by low pressure…
moisture billows up
hurricane is born
eye follows blindly the track …
land lacerated by fall
storm surge flattens things on way
flood drowns the ruins…
devastation batters lives
______________
December 12, 2022
Syllable count : 775, 577, 757 (HMS)
Contest : Triple New Charlieku
Sponsored by : Charles Messina
Completed forces take away mindless memories
forsaken by the lost who cherished them once!
No place to capture thoughts that wander spaciously in
glorified unblemished visions, spreading lighted realities
forward in the misty bleakness that must now turn away
the darkness of uncertainty.
Behold your spirit of knowledge-creating splendorous
sights beyond our expectations, marvelously moving
past familiar sights, atmosphere beyond our insight
of knowing, was never meant to be known till all
skies were purified.
Surrendering, we catch sights much to glories to gather
within the truth that created seeds made from our
magical love so profound to understand!
Lost in sparkling delight, the entrance appears plain in
image, luxurious swirling colors surround the mind
of untouched realities unknown, amazed at the sight
of every dream imaginable in one lifetime.
Succulent desire unfolds miraculously, releasing sweet
remembrance splurging from the depths that were never
meant to shower down love that destroyed evil!
Strength gathers power in time of immersed lacerated
attention.
Gather together what must be gathered fleeing to
the side you desire.
The streets are angry tonight
traffic ignorant of the punishment inflicted
driving upon their asphalt backs
Sidewalks click clack with a unsyncopated rhythm
footsteps tapping out a nervous pulse
the throbbing heartbeat of a city near cardiac arrest
lights grow brighter as night drips darkness
Into a black ocean sky
overgrown foliage hides a concrete park bench
my slumber berth for the night
The cement mattress is harder than I can remember.
Can't find any reason to complain
It's time to pursue an evasive sleep
Knowing the catch isn't worth the chase
Left only to wrestle treacherous dreams
The author of a broken rest
Car horns, gunfire and screams
Singing a lullaby off key
Bleeding through night's chorus of lacerated voices
in between brief moments of silence
Sneaks the moan of a lonely saxophone
Crying notes to a tune I've never heard before
Although it sounds strangely familiar
JSB
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