The Poetry Marathon

There you were across the way
Eyes of silver, skin dark grey
A green/black shirt on a blue/brown skirt
And hair down to your needs
The sharpest violet you’ve ever seen

Whether by chance or by fate
Our eyes met and you smiled
My heart skipped a beat and
I attempted to meet you
Then your friends whisked you away

I saw you much later that very same day
In a pink argyle sweater and shoes out of suede
I was ready this time to introduce myself
Instead, I stubbed my toe on your mom’s bookshelf

When we finally did me you were underwhelmed
I knew I had to change
Become more interesting
Extend my personal range
All I knew was what was true

I wanted you to want me
In fact I still do.

Four
Carefree and friendly
Eager to experience
A fan of rocks and drawing

Six
Friendly and friendless
Getting into trouble
Interested in reading

Eight
Working hard, more awkward
Voracious in two kinds of appetite
Constantly lied to and accused

Ten
Always in trouble
Friendly and free
Reading to escape, not just explore

Twelve
Super Smart, Awkward Friendly
Depressed, Lonely, Accused
Writing to escape, reading to have fun.,

I don’t

have any

seeds

I can’t

Plant my

yards

Wines

are close

sorta

It isn’t in my way
The table is nice and clear
But it wasn’t there yesterday
Really, it shouldn’t be there now
Only I can choose, but mom and dad disprove
Knowing this I swish my tail and shrug
Either way, I think I’ll push it over

 Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot 

Do I dare to eat a peach?
Or nectarine of yellow and sweet?

Do I dare to strike the clouds?
Demand an answer from them aloud?

Am I a fool who cannot eager be
And thus begins so foolishly?
Or do I love that which cannot die
Philosophy of the endless why
I don’t claim to know the bounty of my worth
Or for that matter the value of the Earth
But still, I carefully long for sweets
My cheque does not suffice.

I am banked and bankrupt

Murder City

Aptly named

Never pretty

Never tamed

Kill the guards

Kill the men

Hi risk hi rewards

Just avoid the children

Once a refuge, now it’s not,

Once a safehouse, now you’re shot

Murder City

Aptly Named

Returning Safely

Never the Same

Dear Mr. Man,

I hope this finds you well, up there in your high tower
Untouched by our unrest. Blessings and peace upon-

Oh, who am I kidding, let’s start again.

Dear Mr. Man,

How do you sleep at night?
You never do what’s good or right,
You blame it on the poor, whose life
Is already quite full of strife.
Do you truly expect me to pull myself out of debt
Without committing a crime, even if it’s just perjury
I would still go to jail.
I would still get a fine. That I can’t afford, unlike some that we know.
And what could I do about that? It just goes to show
You want the poor to stay poor, and the rich to get richer
You want everything to happen faster, quicker
Fuck regulation, you say with a grin
Is making this money really a sin?
Well, I’m sorry, dear sir, but you are quite wrong.
I only wish your convictions were just as strong
As the money that holds you up in your chair
5000 feet away from the people down there
You believe what you’re told, never arguing a bit
And quite frankly, dear sir, your opinions are shit.
Money talks you fat bastard, but that’s about it.
You don’t know a thing about life without cash
I’m pretty sure if you did you wouldn’t burn it to ash
Arbitrarily as a child, that’s all you are to me.

Sincerely,
A worker in a poverty-strewn city

The rain hadn’t stopped in days
Constant but light it dug into the psyche
A consistent pitter-patter on every surface
Some people got used to it…
Not us.

Local radio and news stations had gone out
Their signals drowned and downed by the rain
The channels were there but only added to the sound
An eerie buzzt-slick as each channel was flipped through
Some people gave up on it…
Not us.

The days still passed as madness blossomed
Roads were eroding, flooding, washed away
We piled on to the bus with hope and a faint hisst-erk
Each passenger alighting for a very different purpose.
Some people intended to stay…
Not us.

And as we rode in silence, phantoms to the driver
It started to make sense, these sounds
pitter-patter-bzzt-slick-hisst-erk
“We’re going to flood the Earth”
Some people called us madmen.
Not us.

Walking through the city
Silence pervades each corner
Everything is somewhat gritty
Caution as we move south
A glint of silver, a flash of red
Murder in the daylight
Your turn to take her head
Pocketing the valuables
Quickly, the world is watching
Round the corner, down the alley
Stealth and silence are catching
An empty courtyard, bleak and grey
Pretty, petty, artificial,
Almost garish in the light of day.
HALT!
The guards arise
From the pavement and the shadow.
Commanding and present, unavoidable.
Faster now, the roof will work somehow
Up the steps, no hesitation
Snagging gold statue decorations
Aha! At last, the signal boosting,
A rock, arcane, the key it’s plain
A snap, a spark, an empty roof
Returned from whence you came
Safe at last, murder success
And thanks to the statues
Rich as the emperess

To start there was fire,
combustion, and coagulation
Sulfur and oxygen
Moisture so warm you could not breathe
Without drowning and boiling alive
Not that anything was living here.

Then came the rocks
From beyond our great planet
Where they started is for another time
But they brought with them the source of all life
Ice which became
Water which dissolved into
Steam

Atmosphere
Hot, absolute, steamy,
Then cold, kelvin, frozen
Imbalanced and imperfect
That was day one.

To end there was Fire
Combustion and destruction
Hydrogen then nothing
So hot it was like the beginning
So fast shadows remained
Of what used to live here

Then came new rocks
From within our great planet
Small, imperceptible
Bringing the end of all life
Or what remained after the blast
Poison which
Irradiated and became
Cancer

A hole
Sucking out the atmosphere
Hot, absolute, vacuum
Then silence, yawning, void
Day 3.89 Quadrillion