Ravine, art thou real?
You certainly look deep.
Thunder, o'er volcano peal!
Through the boneyard creep!
Hope, just take the night off.
O prisoner, take heed:
First you squat and then you cough.
Golden is such greed.
Emptiness, seep into me!
Flicker, fancy-free.
Time immortal, blessed be?
Sink him in the sea.
O Alliance Black Abyss:
Today I must die.
Yawning chasm, blow a kiss.
Shiver as you sigh.
Back in ancient Carthage?
O state religion, new?
Serenity, O my sage?
O agony, accrue.
Gulf within me, fissure wild.
Robot: reconciled?
Mother, father, clasp thy child.
Floor, monolith, tiled.
Dreams of our tomorrows?
I cannot miss the point.
Endless are such sorrows!
O bitter art, anoint!
Giving up? Why, yes, sir.
I do not have a clue.
Reality, whir a-blur!
Doubt and derring-do...
A paraphrase is shadow's child,
slinking in hallway white tiled.
It wears the shape, fills not the skin,
Echoes of fullness are lost within.
It carries a bag of phrases worn,
Tired entrails of the still-born.
A life, once full, is now gone.
With no meaning counted on.
Sear my heart, O rampant rage!
Simmer deep within!
Scour, devour this rusty cage!
What it takes to win...
As below, thus up above?
Not in this fair world.
Raptor hawk, guard well the dove?
Dead man's fingers curled...
Golden sparks to signal?
Attention that will get!
O prospectors, pill or pall?
Does it pay to fret?
No! Indeed not, my wild child!
Red run reconciled?
Crocodile in Nile beguiled?
Doubt and dismay dialed.
Tiled like floors in ancient tower?
Which architect planned?
Nightshade, is thy milk a-sour?
Blighted by the banned.
Is the ocean welling up?
Where the wound began?
Ark of Covenant, thy cup!
Revenant, how you ran!
Mutilation! Mutiny!
Murder in the streets!
Something lurking we can't see?
Have you seen the beats?
Reservations kept for six?
Bring thy crucifix.
Sullen heat out in the sticks?
Candles without wicks.
Fix it up, O soldiers!
We really must make do.
He who survives, first deters!
Ask the wallop hoo...
Knights of the nebula pond?
Kingdom Gone, return.
Witch and wizard, wave thy wand!
Tamarind taciturn...
Knight errant by lightning struck?
O for help to call!
Cult black magic, I've got truck!
Luck, best drop that ball.
Stuck with indecision?
O plight of prisoner.
Seeress, here is worst vision!
Reality, blur!
Chained atop the atoll wild?
Mother, stillborn child.
Young lovers unreconciled.
Slaughterhouses tiled.
Mild, art thou, O fickle Fate?
Helpful is such hate!
Intellect, be not ingrate!
Gold, go to the gate...
Wait a second, Fortune.
In what hole ought I fill?
Tomb of pharaoh? Trick or tune?
Boon, how to pay bill?
Where then to dig? Why split my wig?
Swine, bequeath to pig!
O dark matter, space is big?
I don't give a fig!
Garden lost from ancient times?
Wind, rattle those chimes.
O for boxes about mimes.
Drop upon, my dimes...
Mariners immemorial?
Land ho? Not just yet.
Ergo, editorial?
Poisonous thy pet.
Forget? O river Lethe, thy sheath!
Belladonna, bequeath?
Mistletoe, art best in wreath?
Hollyhock, thy heath...
Portraits of hedgehogs on his grimy tiled walls
Pete did for good taste what heat does for snow balls
Though a weird kind of charm lay on his carpeted floor
Not hedgehogs, but bedbugs as Pete flopped kissed him like whores
No alarms, lying deep.
Catching the last morning's dream.
Water, caliente, opening the pores.
Hot Earl Grey, coffee that bends a spoon.
Citric hollandaise, spinach, asparagus.
A sunshine of egg drooling over toast.
A book, a bed, eyelids flickering.
The inconceivable call of lunch.
Sushi, nigiri, inari, izakaya.
Pickled ginger, palette cleanser.
Sticky, chewy, chocolate ice cream.
A slow walk.
Tiled arcades, bouncing sound.
Old clothes, new clothes, books.
Sunlight and shade sitting quietly.
Another meal beckons.
The oven glows expectant.
Giving caramelised memories.
A plate savoury and soft.
And wine, wine, more wine.
A slow recline in the comfy chair.
A book, a breath, a day.
When Mr negativity comes and you open the door,
you find his friends along with him occupying your mind.
Mr. Negative, Mr.Despair, Mr Despondency all are thieves
They steal happiness and peace and make you a pauper,
You feel like dying
Always make lady Hope your best friend
she will bring her friends Positivity and Peace along with her
Create an armour in your mind which Mr negative cannot penetrate
You will lead a blissful life.
Lady hope is around us always, easy to spot
Morning Sun brings rays of hope throughout the day
Moon and stars scatters silver streams of hope at night
Ever flowing breeze conveys God's presence and love, caressess us with hope
Rains pour clean water, drenches earth with hope
Ever flowing rivers of hope nourish surrounds
Umpteen seeds within each fruits, pollens in each flower scatter hope everywhere
Forest flourish on their own, breathing out hope every second
Plants emerge from tiled, concrete grounds, their smile says be hopeful
When you look around and you will spot lady Hope everywhere
She conveys the message - Be hopeful! God is there and takes cares.
A cold wind.
Whatever was here has fled inside
or has curled up in a corner somewhere
out of sight and gone to sleep.
Footpaths are tiled in the wet,
skeletal remains of leaves
and tree trunks have begun to wear
their gray winter coat of lichen.
There is an honesty in the landscape,
the scaffolding that holds form
together is no longer concealed
by a camouflage of color, the eye
is confronted by what lies beneath.
Cover withers away to bare ground,
the earth takes breath, bathes
in the chilly glow of a winter sun.
I also come to this place,
to this stark season of truth
and see myself stripped back
to the bones and sinews of me.
The wind blows through the same
vacant spaces, unpicks the pretense
to let a cold light shine through.
I don't like what I see.
Whilst pensive and serene
and seated on the loo
contentedly having
my morning number two
my serenity was shaken
torn asunder
by a massive mistake
a terrible blunder
someone had installed a new toilet-roll
hopelessly bungling this very simple op
the paper, oh horror of horrors
was not being fed from over the top
as quick as a flash
not missing a beat
I swopped it around to feed as it should
restoring my serenity with this simple feat
business now concluded
with a nod of approval I watched it unroll
but, this glaring absurdity
had taken its toll
with hands properly washed
and soap in its receptacle, right side up
I saw something else that had my nerves all ajangle
another absurdity whose jig was now up
the towel on its rail
was not folded in two
but haphazardly bunched
and hanging askew
drying my hands
I folded it neatly as it will be on show
then hung it back up
ends equidistant from the tiled floor below
leaving the bathroom a tad overwrought
I immediately felt my sanity slipping
with a nice cup of tea and some toast on my mind
my senses were assailed by the kitchen tap dripping.
I walk through the hell ridden hallways
The silence so loud it almost engulfed me, dragging me underneath the freshly polished tiled floor
Each room is a new hellish spectacle
Each person looked like a withering rose, desperately begging for a drop of water to survive.
I walk past them as if I’m better, but I’m not
I feel myself slowly withering away as well
I sit in the waiting room, barely aware of my surroundings
The low, inaudible hum of the tv giving me a sense of comfort
I liked this place, it made me feel safe
It was blank and bare, a comforting contrast to my thoughts
Everyone cared, it gave me a sense of peace
Maybe I would be ok?
I wanted to stay here forever and ever until I wither away
Could it be love when shadows overlap
Their beings blending, doubling to dark
Embracing tiled or terra cotta floor
Sliding silently as silhouettes of shame
Clinging to the still forbidden touch
Relishing the fevered heat of light
Cast upon this desperate aching need
To meld - a two so lonely - into one
It’s wanting from a few years of neglect,
relentless weeds crowding out the flowers.
But like they say, her bones are pretty good,
with some hard work and time we’ll make it ours.
Replace a few boards to repair the fence,
maybe put a bird feeder in this tree.
Pull out these shrubs on this side of the house,
that will create a better view, you’ll see.
The master bath looks newly remodeled,
I wonder why they tiled the bedroom floor.
We will need to replace these two windows,
and why the hell is this such a small door.
But I guess we have no right to complain,
the price is right and the location great.
In no time we will be lounging poolside,
saying life in the Ozarks is first-rate.
and then the accused fell foul
of yet another condemnation
without trial
the sentence spoken in anger
shards of bloody mosaic
stick to his bare feet
from where she threw
the glass on the tiled floor
punctuating
compartmentalizing
puncturing an unspoken truth
superficial wounds already closing
he wraps a bandage around his heart
squeezes tightly to feel alive
accepts the verdict
though no crime was committed
a scar remains from
what should have been
a beautiful night
and the rope tears into his hands
07th June 2023
Thunder clouds at sunset.
A tiled mosaic.
NB: Inspired by Suzanne Delaney’s contest and subsequent blog (3-29-2023). This form arose from the oral tradition of “call and response.” In the rhythm of their work and perhaps in the spirit of a game or to relieve boredom, people would call out to each other. The first speaker called out a line that contained an image. A second speaker replied using a second image. This second image was meant to function as an elaboration or metaphor of the first. No titles, no particular rhyme or syllabic scheme.
I fell silently to the tiled floor,
As the warm crimson stain spread.
The past, present, and future collided,
With an explosion of vibrant colors.
Hovering above the remnants of flesh,
I was drawn towards a blinding radiance.
It enfolded me in a quilt of comfort,
Awakened to a pristine moment of clarity.
Flooded with the knowledge of pending queries,
That was previously beyond my comprehension.
Time and space succumbed to disembodied wings,
As I became a traveler of multiple dimensions.
Bearing witness to uncountable past lives,
Seeking a vessel of anonymous beginnings.
The universal prism of light broadened,
And I emerged into that next infancy.
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