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Philip Salt Dec 2024
I hold my breath
The pause of anxiety
Stacked in layers
Tight segments
Up and down my throat

I can breathe
But the next breath comes alive
Out of my control
It hesitates
It senses itself
Stress has taken it over

I am fractured
My soul surges to counter
The uncertainty
That panicked feeling
My voice internal is muted
So with unknit pieces
I listen, I wait, I hope

I beg my remaining intellect
"Please hold your own"
I plead with my nervous system
"Reform this precarious column"
Settle my skull, my chest, my bowels
Don't collapse
Breathe

My next breath comes
Philip Salt Nov 2024
I can do nothing wrong.
Look at my virtues!
Not a single seed of conceit.
And I gain strength,
Upon strength, upon strength

By my good deeds I accumulate virtuosity.
Beyond compare of men around me.
Others envy my hallowed halls.

No other man can match my serenity.
It is so complete!
I know only the high roads.
I travel only the nobel path before me.
Paladin that I am.

When I am betrayed, so be it.
I am good,
Good beyond measures measure.
I forgive completely and effortlessly!
Because I am so much more than the aspersions of my counterparts

Superiority has nothing to do with my superiority over them!
I am good and they are conniving.
Soulless philanders!
I owe them nothing,
They are the dust under my feet

Hold...
Who is this embargoed self?

I am infected by virtuosity not cured by it...

Strength?
How so?
I am so deeply committed to my own pain that I have becomes its daily companion

Serene?
So wishful!
I am hidden, my guise betrays me.
My feelings dismantle me.

Good?
No!
My grief is helplessly tethered to cold stone like a chained submissive animal

Then Humility whispers,

"examine the roots,"
My roots sustain me.

"are you present?"
I am not present.

"you are enough,"
I am not enough.

"you are loved,"
I must learn how to love myself again.

"you have wisdom,"
Someday I will abandon this faulty Substance of a Man
Philip Salt Nov 2024
What is this thing I have built with hands?
Lifting sand instead of mortar
That sifts through my fingers
Rubble
Distant memories
Dry and unrefreshing  

What is this thing I have built with mind?
Heretic thought between my temples
That strays along neurotic paths
Drunkards
Stumbling memories
Distressed and unravelling

What is this thing I have built with soul?
A heavy heart on thin ice
That splits the seams of hope
Graceless
Fading memories
Crumbling and sinking
Philip Salt Nov 2024
Spin, Spun, Undone, Me
And the obvious hurts, me
My Hertz of Pain
My thousands of beats per second
My watershed of tears
I tear my skin rather than letting it shed
I let, let me rent a place on a bench
Staring at Banksy's walls
In reaction to the art exhibit
Philip Salt Nov 2024
Sea thief
Little daughter
About to disturb water

Joy amongst toys
Astounding smile
As you buoy that blue pearl

Love yourself
Lovely lady
And shelf that smile next to your ducky

Kingdom queen
Bubble crown
Manage those tides between your feet
Philip Salt Nov 2024
Atmosphere
Leaves blow in a northward wind
Directions of smell
Loud ground effects
Long light cloudy rain
Red orange and meringue
Dancing needles and leaves
Wind that dries the cheeks
Decay and a mingle of vibrancy
Brittle leaves crackle and chatter
Pushed
Why am I in this place?

Why do gusts answer,
Soundless questions only for me,
A conversation
Philip Salt Oct 2024
Lost where you are
Lost for a long time
Lost for words
Lost for feelings

Come back to me my friend
Come to your place among us
Come here to find what was never lost
Come home

Standing on your skiff
Standing at the edge
Standing tall with sunlight jets
Standing on the precipice of next

Out on open water
Out between drafts of wind
Out amongst woodland hills
Out there hiding on the expanse

Let your tide come in
Let yourself sit down
Let yourself navigate by daylight
Let your discovery happen

The shoreline is sandy and warm
The ***** is gentle and the ground soft
The sounds are rhythmic and calming
The sense of yourself will be strong and sturdy

Here is familiar
Here all your feelings are felt
Here you won't feel forgotten
Here family is waiting
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