The Poetry Marathon

The words

in

front of me

won’t stay

still,

they race

with

each other

and seem

drunk

on their

own

cleverness

at

telling

a

good

story.

Cheeky buggers!

Words

like

pirate,

vampire

and

time,

all things

that are

pretty

outlandish

march

across

the page

and

all of a

sudden

I see

a ship’s plank,

razor teeth

and

chiming clocks

with my

brain’s

eyes.

Words

like

poverty,

loss

and

love

make my

heart

hiccup

and

something

in me

changes

and I can’t

go back

to who

I

used

to

be.

All of

this

because

of

words.

I try to

jig

to the

swallowtail.

I try

really

hard

but it’s

just too

damn

fast.

I’ll

dance

to the

crow

instead.

Blue

is the

colour

of my

heart.

I tried

to colour

it green

once,

a colour

of renewal,

life and

hope

but the

crayon

was broken,

dull

and

useless.

I’ve gotten

used to

my

blue heart.

You can

get used

to

anything

if you

have

to.

I see

a

spider

but he

doesn’t

see

me.

I prepare

for battle

and

kill

him.

It still

doesn’t

rain

and I

dying

of

thirst.

So much

for old

wive’s

tales.

What

do I

do now?

I guess

I did

for

want

of

water.

The original line inspiring this poem is from Anne Sexton’s ‘The Truth the Dead Know”  — “To be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.”

I am too

old to be

pastor blessed,

teeth at my throat,

bone for an eye,

sinew at knucklebone.

I am

inside

the letters

of this

poem.

That makes

no sense!

And yet

here I am,

staring

at you

staring

at the

letters

I write.

Why

do you

look

so

sad?

Time

ticks.

I can’t

stop

it.

Stop

ticking

time.

Time

fills

my mind

too much

of the

time.

Home

is where

I

grew up

but not

where

I

grew.

I go shopping

to buy stuff

I don’t need,

I don’t need

to go shopping

to buy stuff.

To go shopping

I don’t need

to buy stuff.

To buy stuff

I don’t need

to go shopping.

Waiting

for you

to hit me

feels

like

an

eternity.

I know

it’s going

to happen,

I just

never

know

when.

I long for

the type of

eternity

where my

heartbeat

is replaced

by

stardust.