Never forget

Never forget what must not be
Forgotten.
Alzheimer’s afflicting entire cultures,
Scenes of bloodshed, bigotry, fire, rape,
Annihilation, extermination, radiation
Painted over with shades of white
And a neat trim of doubtful grey.
The world of today sits on a
Pedestal of the past, supported
By high-tension cables of
Neural connection – memory is the
Helium that keeps us all afloat.
Yet some would chip away,
Cut the roots of who we are
Because some are ugly, best
Forgotten.
No! Ugly, dark, bloody, racist,
Evil, unthinkable, horrific, sexist
Bring them forth!
Let daylight sear the flesh of
Hidden past, let us confront the demons
Of our fathers and seek to bury it no longer.
Drive the stake of truth through its
Shriveled heart and know that it
Will not rise to consume us again.
Never forget what must not be
Forgotten.

double-e incumming

it is at moments after i have dreamed,
the fading twilight of a mind unchained,
that i picture you most clearly amid the swirling,
phosphorescent mist that clouds my sight.

an existence of pure oblivion has its door opened
to the searing light of the dawn, making my retinas
moan in painful protest. but your hazy face
soothes me, unwillingly, as readily as it makes me a fool.

a flicker of movement from the curtains, lets in
rays of light, and fleeting visions of a petite feminine form
tribute to your presence, and the hotels you always adored
when you wrote of her, and never of me.

it is at these moments, before the dreary banality
of a world locked into a mechanistic, masochistic dance
sets in, that i feel most like the self i used to know
before i remembered dreaming at all.

Catharsis

I've felt the burning within my chest –
The molten hatred that consumes
And destroys all without rest.
To the flames as a fan,
Until nothing but cinders remain –
The ashen reflection of something
That was once almost,
But never quite a man.

Hatred, Fear,
Sound, Fury,
An alchemical concoction
Of self-immolation.
Doubt and worry
Plagued my thought
And dreams
Until I thought I'd scream.
Feelings collide and divide
Inside of me,
But on the exterior:
Calm, placidity.

Now, nothing remains.
The ashes have blow away
Leaving a hollowness that
Cannot be filled, cannot be seen.
Hidden beneath the hideous masks
I wear to hide myself
From everyone
Who doesn't want to know
Me.

A death mask
Covering a living face
Hiding a dead soul
Vanished, erased.
Nothing left to me now,
Save what senses do tell,
Whispering lies in your head.
Don't believe what you see,
Touch, taste, hear, smell;
Inside I am dead.

Splinters of Glass

Splinters of glass,
Translucent needles, razor edges
Glimmer in the morning sun
Beading down through the shattered frame
Liquid river of light.
Looking up through the pain,
A thousand cuts
From within.

Crystal grenade went off
Beautiful light of merciless ruin
A blast that should have been heard
For miles.
That was weeks ago
An eternity of destruction
But no one's come,
And, it seems,
No one will.

Nerve cells can be overridden,
Overloaded, overworked.
Data stream error, and
Rolling blackouts occur.
But the knowledge that
Despite your betrayal,
I'd forgive you anyway
Still keeps me awake each night.

If I could pick myself up,
Don't you think I would've by now?
This crater is not quite
As comfortable as it looks.
Just beyond the deafness
And ringing in my ears
Some sweet, wordless elegy plays;
But it is lost behind the wall
Of chemical euphoric numbness
Drowning out the screaming
Physical.

Ghosts, echoes, ashes
Of a future torn away
Haunt my ruined sight
In the dead silence of
Black, bleak night.
Leaving nothing but your memory
Crystallized with the sunrise
Refracted inside
These splinters of glass.