Lifelike Poems

The Survivor

Who is that woman in the mirror?
The big blank eyes.
The mouth that never smiles.
The hands, always shaking.
I don't know her.

What can I do?
I am afraid of everything and everybody.
I only want to be home.
But I don't want to be alone.
I don't feel safe.

Why am I always crying?
Anxiety attacks that take my breath away.
Flashbacks of violence, so lifelike.
My body still hurts from his fists.
I don't know why I can't heal.

When will I be me again?
He stole who I was.
He broke me into a million pieces.
Then he gave the pieces back.
I don't know where the last piece is.

Where will I end up?
If I don't have that last piece,
Am I still a survivor?
I'm a blank image.
Alone. Unsafe.
Crying, anxiety, flashbacks and hurting.
Unhealed.

Please tell me,
Is that really "surviving"?

Taxidermy

       Taxidermy

He found my need and fed it.
I'm an empty vessel in a shroud.
A thousand pricks kept me calm.
I died for you to keep you proud.

I'm just another trophy to make
me lifelike with glass blue eyes
convincing color of the skin and I
promise I'll keep safe all the lies.

Painter Of Realistic Faces

Your lifestyle is vibrant and restless
and from tiny towns to big cities:
your search for human images
to paint perfect, lifelike faces!

And while you don't have the unique touch
of a Davinci or of a Caravaggio: you do excel,
many strangers from far places ring your bell:
they spend hours posing for a silver brooch!

Earning money is only for essentials,
no passion is more satisfying
to glance at your finished paintings
and wish they'd be talking!

Painter of realistic faces,
immortalize them with your magical brush;
their perfect masculine and feminine images
don't need any correction or a final touch:
your artistic talent amazes!

her lips lie metaphorical realism

she could not handle the truth
easier to live a lie
just the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
does it still exist
 
when none believe reality its still truth
if all believe lies they are still falsehoods
authenticity captures facts that exist
cold hard facts metaphorically speaking
 
how do I substantiate its actual
is there a magic formular to follow
do I trust my instinct can it be misled
if its verisimilitude can I trust
 
being lifelike cannot be the whole answer
fakes can seem more actual than authentic
verifying requires a masters degree
some anomalies are true world or true life
 
says true fruit would they put fake fruit in the can
corporeality surely must exist
a physical body a truthful being
must be believed actual

Almost Xanadu

Winged mannequins dot the forest trail,
forest fairies in the dale -
so lifelike in their chalkware skin,
unexpected in the vale.

Stumbling under their glossy gaze,
lost inside a leafy maze -
I back up slowly, turn and run,
clawing through the morning haze.

"Join us", they plead now - reaching, falling,
all of them so sweetly calling
"You need some flowers in your hair",
as I am gasping, crawling. 

"You could be one of us", they sigh,
"abandoned here we know not why,
creating almost Xanadu -
we never have to live or die."

At wood's green edge I glimpse the street
and glance back, oddly incomplete:
I see just pallid mannequins 
posed stiffly in the summer heat.

Gossamer

A spider very elegantly weaves,
Betwixt walls or roofs or clandestine eaves;
Net-like, silky-spin-like, royal-yarn-like,
When torn, weaves from the start again, lifelike...! 

Who taught this tiny creature such wonder?
Umbrella-like, lace-shrine-like, hearts plunder;
Who on earth do any humans entwine?
Though having entire energy spent in...?

Flowery forms! Curvedly curly shapes!
Blossomy glow-some; nicely nestled capes;
The creator has made things creative,
Incomprehensibly innovative...!!!

21 February 2023

Painting of Grapes

Whoever painted these lifelike grapes could also paint blueberries
I lean into the canvas to see if grapes have a smell
They look real enough to pluck out
An old master’s touch

Butterflies Will Surround Me

When I die I will become a princess she told us.
My satin dress will be full of vivid flower prints.
They will be so lifelike, butterflies will surround me.
I will look fabulous, and my hair will be curly.

Will you be young again? Asked a child.
I am not certain of this, she replied.
Youth was never my strong suit, so probably not.
When she died she got exactly what she expected.

She wore a gorgeous satin dress, butterflies engulfed her.
She was thrilled to discover that life did not stop at the veil.
It continued on, exactly as she had planned in her mind’s eye.
Now she wished she had dreamed of something better for herself.

Before

All those movie characters
Crying in the shower
Definitely staged
But guess not
Short fits of panic
Fizzing in the steam
My lifelike dreams
Scare me
Waking up
Between dreams
To realize
You were never there to begin with
Never there for me,
When I needed you most
Yet the warmth, the smell
Felt so
Seemed so real
It’s a shame
Your words were somewhat of comfort
And there were bejeweled moments
That I treasured
But they’re all gone now
Can’t go back to what it was before
Those who break my heart
Thrice,
Fivefold,
They are done for
The fantasical school life
The fall festivals
All of my own concoction of
My subconscious
My past
Haunts me
This Halloween
My thoughts
Petrify me
Nostalgia mixed with
Bubbles of
What coulda, shoulda, woulda happened
I pause in my own thoughts
Falling
Are the role models
I’ve looked up to
Where are they now
There are no heroes
Everyone is human
And somehow that is
The most frightening
Somehow hope is lost
My anxiety
Creeping on me
And I am losing it
I am probably losing it
And I just wish to god
Things would
Get better

The House Awakes

The morning stroll from room to room
Photos and paintings adorn the walls
Smile and stop, family groups, happy and sad
The camera captures good and bad

My laughter rings out, memories surface
Weddings and celebrations captured on film
Moments in time, thoughts drift elsewhere
Faces so lifelike include those no longer here

Say a greeting then move on
Study paintings, such amazing detailed scenery
The early morning stillness of an empty house
Climb the stairs, upstairs awaits its turn

Photos of older members of the family
All acknowledged with utmost respect
Sounds of breathing, realised it is your own
The stairs are a challenge, you should have known

The end of a pathway reached for today
Retraced steps, ready for daily frays
Stand at the front door as I have many times before
Listening to the house waking from its slumber

Creaks and groans, a breeze from who knows where
My laughter erupts, memories of loved ones
Stop, listen, enjoy sounds we usually do not hear
Life’s hustle and bustle awaits, onward and upward

Self Evidence

SELF EVIDENCE
a mania
recognised
 open&esablished
provocations
erupt
  in its wake
a harmony of
   the melodic
jangling

this anguish
  rekindled
with an intimate
reverance

so immediate
  a transformed insight
summoned
  &visible
so lifelike

THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE without grammatical symbols the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and respond thus making the form a two way interplay and often a unique interpretation by the enigma so derived

John Madden Rip

*Image of John Madden by Oakland News Now.

John Madden RIP

As an offensive linesman forms profession,
Complimenting Raiders pro football coach,
Relating coaching and playing no question,
At every game, there's a diverse approach,
After his heyday years on the field, to cam,
A front-page kinda guy, sporting the news,
His behind the cam persona clearly amuse,
Hectic tit-for-tat lifelike catchphrases bam,
Commercials, sportscasting purged midlife,
I personally knew him in his career highlife,
He knows the playbook, immortalized rock,
'Twas a subject of intrigue, animated stock,
Ere Constitution, the Word in his interviews,
It's nineteen seventy-seven Raiders streak,
Twelve consecutive victories Super Bowler,
Oakland Airport Hilton, the Raiders quarter,
As Hospitality Aficionado I smile and greet,
But now, twelve-year his calling as a coach,
Making Raiders fans proud, as all encroach,
We pay homage to the man giant than men,
A football player, coach, TV persona, friend.

2022 January 23

Synergy of Senses

a rustle of wind
   persists&
 voices die down

a candle flame
 rises
    the stained glass
illuminates
  in a symphony
    of purple

decorative
 traces
   foreshadow
 the positive
 designed
 to constrain
&yet
   appreciate
 in the lifelike &
raucous
  conceptual
innuendo

   so
    expressive
with an
alternative
tension
so  mundane
this predilection
    is somewhat ironic
with a
spellbound
  novel advantage

within

THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE without grammatical symbols the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and respond thus making the form a two way interplay and often a unique interpretation by the enigma so derived

The Game

Gift
of form
that we feel;
soul aliveness 
in third density
as of innate longing,
separation and union,
within a lucid, lifelike dream,
wherein the one appears as many,
at play here by our self-luminescence.

With veil of maya, concealing the truth,
we enter the dream, as an actor,
playing out the role as chosen,
feeling both sorrow and joy,
becoming love suffused,
enhancing wisdom,
till soul awakes,
here and now,
in the
flesh.

02-October-2021

Aka Robert Petrie

aka Robert Petrie

The Music Man, starring Dick Van Dyke,
on a Vegas stage being so lifelike,
at the end of the show, he came down to greet fans,
smiles, as he signed my napkin after, shakes my hands.

2020 December 18

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