The Retired Misanthrope

Hour Sixteen Sequestered away in fear like a deer in the headlights, wide-eyed at the atrocities of human nature. I once wore a misanthropic hat lined with burs of Burdock that clung to the scalp ripping out my hair in chunks. My experience with humankind…

Forgiveness

Hour Fifteen 11:11 I once had a friend named Bitterness whose caustic nature ate away at the very core of my being. Memories, a swampland I slogged through with years of mud caked to the tattered soul at my feet while Bitterness urged me toward…

The Kindness of Strangers

Hour Fourteen (The Other Side of the Coin) They pay it forward and press upon the smalls of backs urging one to continue- they hush the noise of conflict and like lampposts, guide the way with experience latched to their backs and wisdom tucked into…

Eggshells

Hour Thirteen (One Side of a Coin) 11:11 Cracking the shell of identity tiptoe down the minefield of popular opinion – to where even the waters of emotion are infiltrated by metallurgic constructs intended to eviscerate the existence of personal desire and choice. Mindful and…

Wait

Hour Twelve Pause and reflect for cause and effect. They ask me to wait as I watch the hands of a clock hold time more than I have been- no rush, just wait biding my time in the midst of rhyme They tell me, “Wait.”…

The Number “A Lot”

Hour Eleven How many grains of sand on a beach? How many minds can one teach? How many atoms make up this land? How often should each soul lend a hand? How many leaves fall in the autumn? How many have been beaten down by…

Will You Say You Love Me

Hour Ten Kyrielle form Will you still say you love me when the fall of age when it begins and when my waist is out of place upon my features will you trace The outline of my eyes that look like jeweled sunflowers pressed in…

Think Twice

Hour Nine Dansa form Think Twice before you burn the bridge or one must learn to swim in a stalemate none can win unless the slights one acknowledge for a new start to begin before you burn the bridge. Think Twice before you burn the…

Trafficking

Hour Eight The devil nestles underneath car door handles flooding lungs and invading the bloodstream of society. The drivers fein placation with promises of Pleasure Island. Nostrils extend in deeply croaking breaths heavy-handed and grappling protests are caught in the throat as a scurry of…

Breath

Hour Seven Tethered to breath a rise and fall of chest- a lift of torso and a spirit, or what is left. Triggering the vagus a nerve once shaking as it’s coiled in suspended animation until the breath’s release, and to which pulse can now…