Most Notably

I once saw you

in the dim dawn.

Our minutes were few

and then you were gone

to the wrong coast,

you feckless ghost.

And I

in my shell

believed the lie,

believed it well.

The hours passed,

but I never asked.

You held my strings.

You've seen my hand.

You know everything

I don't understand.

But you're a memory,

a suicidal accessory.

And so I sing

and so I walk

and so I cling

and wring and balk.

And so I write verses

that turn into curses.

Because you are such

bad poetry

Yet, I still clutch,

most notably,

to your sleeve

as you leave.

 

**********************************************

I'm sorry that I rhyme "versus" with "curses" in two of my last three poems, but I really like that pairing. 

"You look at me like I'm some kind of carnival attraction. You say love's this abstraction, just some ghost that you chase." Counting Crows Earthquake Driver

"There's a hole in the ceiling down through which I fell. There's a girl in the basement coming out of her shell. And there are people who will say they knew me so well - I may not go to heaven, but I hope that you go to hell!" Counting Crows St. Robinson and his Cadillac Dream

"And all my friends told me, 'You don’t need laws to tell that if it feels like fallin’, boy, you probably already fell. The whole table saw your hand. So, you might as well just play it - and you ain’t fooling anyone - so you might as well just say it...'  So, I guess I’m in love. I guess I’m in love." - Counting Crows (but really Kasey Anderson and the Honkies) Like Teenage Gravity

"She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far...a slipped disc in the spine of community, a bloody curse word made pedestrian verse." Frightened Rabbit State Hospital

"I spoke bad poetry." Sunny Day Real Estate 5/4

Mind the Mud

I can still see you in the glow. 

Sometimes. 

You know that I know

all of your crimes.

You hide behind shadows, 

but your corona exudes,

peering through windows, 

trying not to be rude.

But I feel your darkness

in my blood.

Reassess.

Mind the mud.

I'd pull you out

if given the chance.

I have no doubt.

Love at first glance.

You take the blame,

but I know your line.

Your heart's the same,

the same as mine.

*************************************************

"When I say, 'No one talks to me like you.' She says, 'They don't know you like I do.'" - Kevin Devine She Can See Me

"I've crippled your heart a hundred times and still can't work out why. See, I've got this disease, I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life." - Frightened Rabbit The Modern Leper

Verses

Young and clever
with ties to sever,
memories to relinquish,
and ghosts to vanquish,

you dive into a notebook,
with a pencil, in a quiet nook.
You hop a train,
find the refrain.

It climbs out your lung
and off your tongue.
It pricks your finger tips.
It reddens your lips.

It wakes you from sleep
and makes you weep.
It wraps you up warm
and saves you from all harm.

That song in your head
so you know you're not dead
keeps your blood pumping
and your heart thumping.

and those old poems and verses
with no rhymes, only curses
keep your spine strong,
can never steer you wrong.

*****************************************************



I'm done playin' stone-paper-scissors. Gonna grab that stone and bring 'em all down with it, steal those scissors and cut some throats, put pen to the paper and I'll write you a note." Frightened Rabbit Candlelit

That sucker punch, that brittle touch - and the cut keeps dripping, but the blood won't thicken. There's poison in the tap water. There's poison in the tap water." - Owl John Don't Take Off the Gloves

"You've got no backbone, so you're breaking mine." - The Miracle of '86 Sleep All Damn Day

Growing Old

Your songs
still sing
in my ear.
They sting
like alcohol
on a burn.
You left,
without a turn,
but I was right
as soon you'll learn.

Take another shot,
but the taste will stay.
Pretend it had to be
this way.
Nights get cold
under lonely sheets
and the air grows thick
over darkened streets.
Let your heart be fooled,
let it skip those beats.

Close your eyes
to sleep.
Hold your secrets
to keep:
truths never
to unfold,
trapped behind teeth,
growing old,
all those loves
you never told.

**************************

Seven for a secret, never to be told.








"Fooled by the night and drinking the poison, enough to get right. Then to freeze frame vision." - Minus the Bear Fooled by the Night

"I see the housing glow, the skyline of cheap gold and crooked teeth I will call home for the day or so." - Frightened Rabbit Housing (In)

Gallop On

Hollow and cold
when once I was bold,
I live to forget;
every memory's a threat.
All the words written,
how once I was so smitten,
but I hear the soothing lie.
Now just try to deny.
Hum that tune.
I'm the loon,
but you've got it all wrong
and I will not sing along.
It isn't in my voice -
no rejoice, rejoice, rejoice -
for the game I let transpire.
No, I'll set the earth on fire.
Feel the ground as it shakes
and your flesh as it bakes
and let the horses gallop on.
Let the horses gallop on.

**************************************

18-Aug-2014.





"Wouldn't it be so wonderful if everything were meaningless, but everything is so meaningful and most everything turns to shit. Rejoice." - Pedro the Lion Rejoice