Saturday 3 September 2011

Monday In My Eye

I’ve a Monday in my eye,
Bloated and cancerous,
Sipping from my vision and obscuring
The limpid cell I built myself,
With skinless walls and curtained bars. 
I’m disappointed with my depression,
It promised to deal with the ghost I abandoned on the tube
And melt the cystic snow that sticks to my face...
But it hasn’t... and the evening 
Has misaligned itself across the ceiling,
Swollen and wheezing, its clouds unmoving -
Unbleachable and violent on the white-washed surface
That bubbles beneath my nails.
City dreaming is better than country dreaming, 
I was told by an old drunk pressed into a doorway crack.
The walls were better listeners he reasoned,
As we surveyed the neon night:
The moths trying to find salvation in the burn of a bulb, 
The crow smuggling stones beneath its wings
After a one night stand with death...
And the candles...
Crying wax tears whilst slowly eating themselves into 
Nonexistence.
Anubis sighed when he found me, 
Drifting around alleyways trying to get lost,
My pockets filled with sand, hands dripping ink -
Prints graffitied onto the brickwork canvas of a sharp city.
My travels were futile... and so I headed home,
Discarding the wrung out towel I’d used to mop the brow
Of a London in labour,
Birthing discontent and skeletal stars
As the Thames devoured the corpse of summer
And dribbled the sun along its chest.
I’m back to my window.
Though it’s starving and bored of its view,
Refusing to take the crumbs I feed it
When surfing the sill to see if the ground has gotten any closer.
I sit here... a tree with no roots,
Clutching to an empty coffee mug that consumes
The table-skyline hovering beneath my wooden fingers- 
A great civilization of shadows and light-specks
Weaving around the pencil-buildings.
My leaves were displaced by the wind and my skull unlocked-
Brain replaced with a hive of bees
Who hide the alphabet behind their swords and whispers,
And tell me I must keep guard,
For you can’t trust the ants or people-flies...
They’ll eat the sky and swallow the sea if left unattended.



28 comments:

  1. Hear that? It's me... clapping and whooping!! God, I miss your poems, but hang around for days like these...

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  2. ...and it was worth waiting for.

    My friend, you are coming into your own in a big way. This is the shit! The deal. You have seen life with a poet's eye, and you know exactly what to do with it.

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  3. OT ... I did what I generally always do and that is come to read a persons work after I find a comment of theirs upon my own work. And that was yesterday as I waited for my husband to get ready to go out for dinner.

    However, as I sat down to read, woah! I knew that I needed to come back when not distracted by the evening. I am a terribly literal person ... one for whom the surrealism of Breton was romantic but never really grasped. But this I actually felt. This is excellent writing. And yeah ...I second Kerry's words. Also thank you for your comments upon my "Damn Vietnam." They were meaningful to me.

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  4. just too good! nothing much to say really.rarely does one come across such posts.fantastic.

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  5. OT, so little to say except.......inspired!

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  6. Incredible poem...incredible writing!

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  7. hah! this is the shit. that is such a funny thing to say about a poem so grand. yes, if the shit sticks? or something like that.
    love it. please, may we have some more?

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  8. great stuff. i'm disappointed in my depression, too. it promised me stuff and never came through:)
    i love those lines especially.

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  9. First time to read your work..this is great...poetic description at its best!!

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  10. wow. your writing tends to just awe me. you manage to put everything in your head out there into your work and it always makes sense.

    the second stanza was my favorite, about city dreaming vs country dreaming... xo

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  11. so much discomfort and disappointment iterated in such creative twists of phrase.
    http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2011/09/05/in-the-moment/

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  12. Read this twice and both times I was in awe. Your words flowed and took me places I have never seen. I cannot pin-point a particular stanza or line because all of this was incredible! WOW!

    California Ink in Motion

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  13. Oh, how I've missed your poetry. A marvel, you've hit this one out of the park. Thank you for writing!

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  14. Phew! This is ****ing brilliant! :-) I totally, totally, loved it!

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  15. I left a comment on WC but definitely had to come by here and say a few words too! You're brilliant, even when you say you're uninspired you hit us with this poetic bat.
    I really loved this bit:
    "City dreaming is better than country dreaming,
    I was told by an old drunk pressed into a doorway crack.
    The walls were better listeners he reasoned"

    Very nicely done.
    ~Renee

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  16. This is too good for an essay sweet.

    Your ink bleeds between the layers of reality, dipping us between the planes of existace. A soulful meander down through the spectrum, dipping into secrets we can only dream of tasting the surface of.

    I can't even dream of reaching your level of talent. This, is fantastic. Too much I love to bother quoting but it's going in my keeper folder so you can't magic it away :-P

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  17. the best thing i have read today - and i read a lot of poetry and most of it is written by dead millionaires

    arron

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  18. damn. intense...felt the depression as portrayed in some fabulous word play...your flow is spot on...really enjoyed this, if that is the best way to say it...

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  19. Wow - this is amazing - so well written - the words just attack you.

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  20. Depression always disappoints. Never as romantic as it seems from the outside.
    As for your poem, WOW. Just when you think you've heard every combination of words there is, you go and write, "I've a Monday in my eye" and I know just what you mean though I've never heard it said before. Just brilliant.

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  21. I don't know if I've seen your poetry before, but this one is awesome. In fact, you spoil your reader by giving too much at one sitting. This is like a bunch of really good poems presented back to back! Excellent writing!

    http://charleslmashburn.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/another-will-be-born/

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  22. "The walls are better listeners" I like this line.

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  23. OT I like this a lot, very original and packed with much ore to mine. Have a nice new year!

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  24. This is such rich, vivid poetry, depicting a lot of difficult things, but in a very beautiful way. I am very glad to have found your work here.

    My rally entry is at:
    http://elainedanforth.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/years-nadir/

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  25. impressive,
    keep your words afloat and beautiful.

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  26. This second stanza in particular is so amazing ("City dreaming is better than country dreaming... crying themselves into nonexistence") The imagery, the phrasing - the moths seeking salvation in the burn of a bulb, the candles crying themselves into nonexistence - wonderful. Here's my offering for the rally this week: http://caridwen.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/drafting-the-clock-strikes-inspiration/ I'm so glad I decided to click on this link!

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  27. Amazing! Totally drew me in...

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  28. I generally refrain from commenting on people's work but this one appealed to me so strongly I just couldn't let it go!
    Amazingly written...wish I can write like this someday!

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