The Poetry Marathon

I hate mirrors
People keep putting mirrors up
I hate mirrors
They want to make the room bigger
I hate mirrors
They want to see themselves
I hate mirrors
They want me to see myself
But I hate mirrors

I saw the shadow of Icarus on the wall
Did he know he was not the first to fall
Hubris… pride… arrogance… hardly new concepts

He stretched his fingers up high
Trying so hard to touch the sky
To touch something far beyond his precepts

He was young and he would live forever
With wings they fashion of wax and feather
No knowing the gods are jealous of their creation

They sit in the sky on iron thrones
Imprisoned by their own gravestones
And wishing that they could also reach for ascension

Wax will melt and men with fall
Forgetting that it comes to us all
And certain that we will be immortal

As he fell down, I saw his shadow
Black on the fields in the valley so low
Unprepared… unwilling… unaware… of the cost

What do I have to say
At the end of this long journey
24 hours come and gone
Now, here, at the last
I am stumped

I try for something in form
Searching for a sentence
Not wanting to rhyme
But maybe just make something
Worthwhile

I am at a loss
Dear reader
I am tired and weary
Three months have taken their toll
Like few have done

The rest of this year promises to take a toll
And next year is already considering its options
Like a chef picking the perfect knife blade
How best to carve this beast
That lies in their kitchen

That’s not for now
Too much thinking will be dangerous
But we are writers and poets
Our minds are already dangerous
And have thought through a hundred scenarios by now

And so, dear reader
At the last I leave you with this
We have bled on paper for the last several hours
Unlocking the things we keep buried deep
I hope it was freeing

Fingers reach out
Longing to touch
Anything that is other than
What they have been feeling
Every day the same surfaces
The same textures
The same skin
Same dark thoughts
Same anxieties
Same pillows
Same sheets
Same same same same
Nothing changing
Never changing
Now any new thing
Is an exploration in sensation

Someone in the chat said
I wish I could cuddle someone
Every person living alone
On the other side of the keyboard
Felt a hard jerk on their heartstrings
Trying to remember the last time they were touched
By affection
I replied, “At this point I’d settle for just a damn hug.”

Sleep rests the brain
Also arrests the brain
Stops reasonable thought
When reasonable thought
Is most needed

Vampires do not exist
That friend is not dead
We are NOT going back to the service industry
No one gave us a million dollars (more’s the pity)
And you are not suffocating

You are not suffocating
You are not suffocating
YOU ARE NOT SUFFOCATING

But you wake up screaming
Anyway
The reasonable thought machine turns on
You were not suffocating
It just felt like dying

Right now I’d give anything
For my friend to walk behind me
Wrap her tiny arm around me
And rest her chin on my shoulder
Looking at the computer screen with me
As we sigh in comfortable companionship

Why do you weep so long my love?
Is it not day?
Have the dark shadows of night
Not been banished by the sun
And thus bright enough to dry your tears?

Why do you weep so long my love?
Is this not what you wanted?
Have not flowers returned
Their garish colors
Enough to brighten your eyes?

Why do you weep so long my love?
Do you not see?
Was it not you who wished for peace
And for everyone to agree
Thus necessitating this solution?

Why do you weep so long my love?
Why do you stay?
Why here in the deep ruin
Of what was once our world
Do you linger and delay?

Why do you weep so long my love?
Have you finally gotten what you wished for?
Only to see that wishes
Have consequences
That you did not anticipate?

Why do you weep so long my love?
I grow weary of this grief
Which has no place
As far as I can tell
On the face of one who got their desires

Weep all you want my love
I will leave you here
This was not the world that I wanted
But it is the one that is still here
It will have to do

Weep all you want my love
One last thing before I go
Next time
Be careful
What you wish for

Stitching a flower
That will never fade
To hang on the wall

Hours spent
Checking charts
And sewing in the patterns

Finally being finished
Finally FINALLY being finished
The rose breathes new life

Standing out how
Proud from the fabric
Energized by newfound interest

Picked up
Put aside
And picked up again

The rose at last
Remembers what it is
And it’s thorns reach out to prick

I don’t know why
I just need this song today
Something in the melody
The bass line and how it moves
Rhythm tapping out in perfect pulse
Words that speak to so many
Is so badly needed today
It has to be heard
Again and again
And again
And again
Again again again again again
Let it drown me
And the memory of any other song
This is the only song that matters in the world now