The Poetry Marathon

Footsteps echo off the pavement

Tapping rapport in the dark

Shadows all in triplicate

Criss-crossing over arc

All the dogs have set to howling

Sombre timbre to their bark

In the air anticipation

Of the stranger in the dark

Black as ink the bats are dropping

From the trees and taking flight

Your timid footsteps catch and pitch

Every time you start with fright

Clouds obscure the moon above you

Deepened shadows kill the light

On the wind a whispered warning

Beware the stranger in the night.

White face, curly hair,

Wide eyed vacant stare,

Leering smile painted red

Crazy clown will kill you dead.

Baggy costume, spots and stripes,

Cymbals, drums and kazoo pipes,

Circus lyrics left unsaid

Crazy clown will kill you dead.

Juggle dagger, juggle ball

Squirting flower soaks us all

What has the ringmaster said?

Crazy clown will kill you dead.

Circus over, home you scurry

Under blankets shift and worry

Someone’s underneath the bed

Crazy clown will kill you dead.

All the words I’ve left unsaid

are swirling ’round inside my head

if I’m to put these words to bed

i have to write them out.

My wild imaginings exist

where lovers hands and lips are kissed

and mighty hero’s, sorely missed

if I don’t write them out.

Characters sown, in words are grown

enduring as though carved in stone

and I will never be alone

if I just write them out.

I write to give my voice a home,

I build it up; tome by tome

in saga, song or simple poem

I love to write it out.

Flat nose

Phallic hose

Cat hair caught like pubes ‘tween bristled teeth

Unsightly hulk

Unwieldy bulk

Keening like a ghost on Halloween

Dust busted

Dirt encrusted

Asthmatic wheeze and whistle coughing

Built tough

Handled rough

Inhale the dust to dust filled coffin

Flood survivor

Wretched skiver

Called to arms a scavenger awry

Pull the plug

Fart and chug

Your battle cry is eat shit and die.

Little brightly colored blocks

Eagerly I play with you

Great creations put away

Only when my fun is through

lowering clouds

bulbous heavy

roll along grey

wind borne menace

birds dip clip above

the grass below

spiking black dot bugs

air thicken dense

oppressed

hair sticks to neck

horse tail flick fly’s

shy’s and bolts

kicks up the sky

moving swift, hanging low

bright show- flash-

jagged white hot light

light pause light light

fat drops fall

slap face fast pace

torrent water wall

wall of water fall

soaked to skin

best go in

You feel it

The buzzing in the air about your head

Electrified

You are being watched, senses heightened,

You look around frightened

For an unseen assailant

The light washes out the colour

Transforming the landscape into blocks

Of brown and blue and khaki green

Your rapid turning head is blurring

The scene

You hear a distant scraping

On the wire a blade is sharpened

The pounding in your head

Your blood

Racing like your heart

A whoosh, a crack right by your ear

Like thunder

A flash of feathered lightening

Striking again

And again

It’s so light outside, so bright outside

the sky is blue, who knew.

the sunlight gives the grass a glow

i’d never know, I’ve been cooped up

all day, but in a way i’m glad i was

not least because the air is fresh

and fragrant on the breeze

full of wistful scents-

and none of them is stale coffee

At last! The final box unpacked

And all my books are neatly stacked

Upon the shelf, and over there

By the window sits my chair

From which my weary gaze to cast?

When whiskey soused I rest, at last.

Cold hands shake and ice cubes chink

Foggy fingers reach and slink

Across the water, close and low

Obscuring all that lies below

And nodding, only half awake

A whisper and my Cold hands shake.

A sudden chill passes through me

Reaching blindly fear subdues me

Light a candle, shadows darken

Taut and tense, all senses hearken

Did I hear a wailing shrill?

Rise and fall, a sudden chill

The air turns cold, I sit alert

I hear the swishing of a skirt

On the dusty floor, what’s this?

The echo of a lovers kiss?

A phonograph from days of old

With scratching tune, the air turns cold

“What say you, wraith? From whence you speak?”

Ghostly tendrils brush my cheek

And icy breath, into my ear

Whispers “you’re not welcome here”

I start and shake. This can’t be true.

Her voice an echo, “what say you?”

Voice quivering, I reply

“I’ll belong here, by and by.”

I sense on frozen lips, a smile

And think of all the time I’ll wile

In haunted house, then shivering,

Whimpering, voice a quivering

I fall down, dead weight, sink

Into my chair, my eyelids blink

From my hand my glass falls, shatters

I drift away from all that matters

I see my heavy nodding head

A last breath out, I fall down dead.

At last, the final box unpacked

Her kitchen shelves are neatly stacked

Weariness etched on her face

The girl who soon will take my place

Evening is falling fast

And I will wander free at last.

enter from the right

enter in the spring

enter blue, for winters cold

the warmth inside will wring

enter summers flow

sap rise in the bud

timid cheeks are flushed with life

and coursing with your blood

autumn sends you travelling

your livelihood to gain

the beat, the beat, the beating heart

will bring you home again.