Exclamation points are little lies we tell each other
In this digital age it's easier to feign surprise or excitement
When in actuality, nothing surprises anyone anymore
Now - disgust, apathy and scarily even hate
These things you can't disguise electronically as easily
And sadly even less so face to face

I'm surrounded by the sounds of ******* idiocy
The television that never shuts off or up
The moronic laughter at the low brow sit-com
Do you realize the sound you emit
Your double digit I.Q. on display, gleaming
Made almost brighter in the technicolor
Not knowing, comprehending that it should clothe and hide
Itself
Mouth agape, eyes X-ed
Until the simple comments on the banal commentary
Start spilling out the neck
I can smell it and I want to wretch

by Damon G

. glum, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed, saturnine, gloomy mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood. sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable
    I'M BECOMING UNWOUND
. glum suggests a silent dispiritedness . morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy
    I NEED SOMETHING TO HAPPEN
. surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner
    A VIOLENT THING, EVEN
. sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness . crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner
   THE CRUSH OF A BREAKDOWN
. saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition
   A REASON TO WANT TO
. gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness .
   GET UP AGAIN

Sometime, I'll have a dream
A dream in which I'll be engaging in ***
With the loose folds of skin and cellulite
Around Maya Angelou's neck
I use the word engage b/c I don't think
It'll be  my idea or if I would even want to be a completely willing
Participant
You know how dreams go:
You're able to detach
So anyway, all the while she'll be reciting her verse
In that overly inflected, pretentious and annoying grandmotherly Huxtable
Tone she uses and
Right as the nauseousness becomes unbearable
And I fear I won't be able to keep the contents of my
Stomach from forcing itself out and onto her face
She starts to devour the entirety of my lower abdomen
The sickness I was feeling quickly dissipating and the
Realization that she's no longer speaking and merely
Gnashing, ripping and eating my viscera
I return to an almost homeostasis
A comfortableness



Copyright © 2009-Present

When I catch myself being overly Human
I pull in the reigns and push the thoughts from my head
But not through the mouth
The mindless blathering about.....
That's how I knew in the first place
I was becoming one of you and
It offers me no comfort.....
Quite the opposite

I want to forget
Not have to worry about
What was just forgotten
From a mere 10 seconds ago

The time involved is an
Excruciatingly long prospect
Minutes being not finite
Measurements any longer

I'll refuse to leave this place
This room, much less
For at least two days
Nothing but hydration and cigarettes

Wonder aloud about anomie
And if I'm afflicted
A ridiculous thought
Of course I am

just    know    time    life    heart    eyes    big    want    b­itches    feel    day    away    way    make    world   say    words    night    think    mind    things    light    look­    little    left    face    long    need    right    man    tel­l    people   lost    soul    pain    thought    head    place    good    smile­    new    hand    inside    hands    end    sun    hold    reall­y   maybe    hope    fall    hear    home    remember    old    cold ­   dark    body    tears    wish    live    dreams    sky   thoughts    gone    leave    got    god    thing    days    skin ­   oh    dream    beautiful    past    true    try    knew    sto­p   lips    girl    going    fear    won't    air    forever    does ­   hard    feeling    better    deep    broken    black    moment­   free    far    sleep    death    open    there's    years    walk­    white    sweet    blue    breath    stay    felt    blood    ­makes   truth    care    close    told    water    rain    best    hair  ­  touch    turn    happy    wind    red    believe    kiss    hat­e    ****   times    waiting    run    dead    looking    friend    came    h­elp    trying    voice    stand    wanted    arms    die    room ­  feet    today    understand    beauty    you'll    morning    you­'ve    forget    bed    real    stars    saw    longer    wrong  ­ lies    friends    doesn't    door    change    watch    comes   ­ sit    wonder    loved    sound    memories    hurt    earth   moon    write    darkness    song    used    took    sure    soon­    word    ground    seen    silence    fingers    matter    mis­s   ask    high    living    sea    play    great    wait    warm    ­start    break    lie    we're    different    bad    rest    sma­ll   slowly    thinking    dance    perfect    speak    hearts    moth­er    fight    soft    work    yes    isn't    mean    falling   ­ kind   child    strong    lay    young    finally    leaves    set    sh­e's    shall    boy    held    couldn't    knowing    looked    p­erson   peace    talk    bright    making    heard    gave    reason    m­outh    bring    knows    cause    trees    hide    eye    music ­  laugh    dear    listen    reality    men    house    filled    l­ives    clouds    green    grow    he's    children    sorry    h­ell   breathe    beneath    floor    sing    apart    glass    sad    f­eelings    tried    woman    turned    ones    read    wake    wa­lls   instead    coming    feels    reach    alive    anymore    wasn't­    story    fly    running    poem    future    window    tree  ­ taste    leaving    human    chest    sense    afraid    space   ­ fell    memory    joy    simple    summer    worth    self   what's    outside    happiness    line    path    goes    sight  ­  year    second    quite    land    lonely    silent    getting ­  tired    chance    baby    takes    watching    holding    beat  ­  they're    late    wouldn't    nights    says    truly    cut  ­ road    called    meant    use    guess    hours    walking    lo­se    doing    burning    point    step    meet    fast    clear ­  sitting    asked    tongue    burn    father    shadows    quiet ­   single    power    tonight    waves    we'll    met    paper  ­ family    moments    pass    realize    lights    snow    wings  ­  known    learn    forgotten    simply    share    smoke   trust    taking    ocean    hot    near    passion    pretty    w­ar    smell    ears    walked    winter    tomorrow    brain   you'd    wall    begin    ready    lines    drink    bones    way­s    wants    desire    flesh    promise    standing    dust   warmth    game    fine    bit    mirror    half    escape    tear­    untitled    stare    looks    easy    heavy    slow    save  ­  pull   dying    heaven    given    ago    loving    street    sand    so­uls    scream    hidden    born    kept    control    taken   goodbye    return    started    ****    flowers    form    smiles­    blind    city    caught    sat    embrace    pieces    poetry­   scared    having    crying    faces    teeth    spirit    car    ­piece    let's    answer    strength    follow    catch    moving­   *******    safe    ****    whisper    grass    heat    sick    br­eeze    shadow    stood    eat    pure    seeing    emotions    c­olor   okay    rise    fun    stuck    question    dry    saying    scho­ol    tight    hit    stone    means    laughter    legs    birds­    lot   fate    needed    able    star    rose    sounds    died    book ­   freedom    gentle    nature    closer    gets    short    love­s   storm    neck    giving    brought    spent    secret    angel   ­ money    breathing    writing    dancing    minds    cool   falls    shine    sorrow    crazy    weak    bodies    distance  ­  we've    art    aren't    knees    hoping    began    gold    t­urns   spring    later    corner    comfort    pray    fact    golden   ­ playing    needs    meaning    endless    learned    thank   faith    nice    choose    thousand    passed    awake    anger  ­  tiny    watched    ice    lead    written    places    doubt   closed    carry    happened    happen    flow    river    course ­   keeps    girls    coffee    grey    wild    talking    exist  ­ choice    fade    skies    regret    drop    veins    act    grac­e    scars    remain    changed    edge    picture    lungs   growing    sadness    cried    stories    women    lover    lying­    hour    hole    lived    clean    stopped    town    staring ­  haven't    calm    forward    streets    seek    strange    pick ­   age    colors    ear    holds    bare    lust    wet    secret­s   loud    brown    fears    wanting    imagine    ****    screaming­    suddenly    unknown    final    cries    wide   pretend    searching    existence    straight    throat    dawn  ­  special    missing    round    son    lovely    brings   turning    worry    bird    shut    gaze    lovers    beating    ­push    telling    smiling    yellow    kisses    --    universe ­   ran   evil    broke    questions    weight    poor    naked    gently  ­  bitter    paint    hurts    christmas    fresh    songs    fall­en   wear    sin    passing    continue    flower    quickly    whispe­rs    gives    fit    beginning    notice    blame    ride   shame    wondering    asleep    everyday    rock    throw    brea­king    idea    box    view    pen    sleeping    present   state    softly    completely    stupid    kids    attention    m­iles    grew    presence    tall    phone    food    journey    d­are   bear    trapped    begins    stomach    pride    singing    pay  ­  glow    search    dirt    forth    fighting    laughing    silv­er   lord    funny    vision    voices    wishing    drive    mess    ­probably    letting    fool    brother    pulled    cast    creat­e   middle    sweat    table    pleasure    torn    shining    hiding­    emotion    hopes    gift    guy    lack    losing    dog    f­orce   dreaming    months    low    purpose    clothes    covered    mom­    shoes    flame    forgive    kissed    gonna    distant   quick    magic    page    wine    mad    ends    calling    locke­d    actually    wife    screams    deeper    steps    dad   sheets    bliss    nose    wanna    built    spoke    surface    ­ahead    loss    *****    played    listening    pink    starts  ­  hello   wrapped    created    frozen    minutes    cross    yesterday    ­longing    battle    fair    wrote    early    reflection    life­'s   shake    scent    accept    cover    garden    spend    sits    w­indows    cheeks    pale    grown    cloud    ending    shared   eternal    lady    worse    finger    drunk    angry    arm    wi­n    shoulder    slip    gray    clock    dress    taught    prou­d   knowledge    spread    enjoy    favorite    king    fake    somed­ay    ***    yeah    floating    complete    barely    remains   laid    ghost    winds    key    blow    moved    angels    suppo­sed    sees    waste    opened    race    poems    ring   hollow    constant    doors    boys    worst    train    keeping ­   bleed    missed    stands    cat    finding    release    hey ­  drown    flying    burns    eternity    parents    surely    sign­    youth    bottle    lets    sigh    send    shoulders    bleed­ing

Copyright © 2013

A dream in which I'll be engaging in ***
With the loose folds of skin and cellulite
around Maya Angelou's neck
I use the word engage b/c I don't think
It'll be  my idea or if I would even want to be a completely willing
Participant
You know how dreams go: you're able to detach
So anyway, all the while she'll be reciting her verse
In that overly inflected, pretentious and annoying grandmotherly Huxtable
Tone she uses and
Right as the nauseousness becomes unbearable
And I fear I won't be able to keep the contents of my
Stomach from forcing itself out and onto her face
She starts to devour the entirety of my lower abdomen
The sickness I was feeling quickly dissipating and the
Realization that she's no longer speaking and merely
Gnashing, ripping and eating my viscera
I return to an almost homeostasis
A comfortableness




Damon Michael Garrett
Copyright © 1972-Present

My To Do List



1. go to Hell

Complete

Color

Delete

UpDown

2. fight way back from Hell, yet again.

Complete

Color

Delete

UpDown

3. find some minor comfort in this new, minor Hell

Complete

Color

Delete

4. Add new task

For the sake of this "conversation" (read: mild power struggle)
You're right. "I don't really mean all that"
I'll agree, concede....Pretend I do not
If it puts color back in your cheeks
And awakens your dead eyes
Sure, I'll fight the screaming of every
Fiber and cell in my body
Lie and say
"People are worth saving"

Mid- afternoon shadows casting onto cheaply painted walls
Have always given me the doldrums
A depression really,that doesn't lift
Till the sun finally sets
Then it's merely a despondency
That starts to slowly relent
Much after Mid- night
Then I can start to sleep until
The next day when it starts all over again.
The reason nothing worthwhile gets done
I like to think

Copyright © 1996-Present

In a day, it’s all a waste of the allotted time

A mostly broken door incites a sudden need to weep

Functional but an eyesore nonetheless

Indicative of this and that, those yet to come

Unchangeable weighs, maladjusted they seem to say


Copyright © 2011

The Mind Has Turned Against Me Once Again


A Disconnect


A Shaking Free


Too Tired To Stay Awake Any Longer



I'll Let My Dreams Have Their Way W/ Me....



Once Again

yt-uix-button-content">3 
      4 
      5 
      6 
      7 

          Next

Depression is reading bad poetry
Written by merely dysthymic people
Depression is people which does result in
Hell  
Depression is the pain caused by people
Trying, poorly I might add, to articulate what
'Depression means to me'
Depression is tantamount to hunger
Something we all must suffer
Some will starve to death
You, my poetaster chum
Are only late to dinner
The pang will pass

Copyright © 1996-Present

For the sake of this "conversation" (read: mild power struggle)
You're right. "I don't really mean all that"
I'll agree, concede....Pretend I do not
If it puts color back in your cheeks
And awakens your dead eyes
Sure, I'll fight the screaming of every
Fiber and cell in my body
Lie and say
"People are worth saving"

Copyright © 1996-Present

The mind does not reel
It Clacks
At or near the frontal lobe
A temple eroding, I suppose
Destroying by the speed of the whir
A millisecond vertigo
Terrorizes for seemingly endless minutes
Wrought iron right neck muscle
Climaxing in a hypnagogic spasm
That levitates the body for an instant

Copyright © 2009

It's not enough to merely speak w/ enthusiasm
Even most "actions" go unnoticed, unheeded
Hate to say it, a succession of blunt force
Possibly perceived as violent
Is necessary
Repeatedly
Or you could stop trying to impress on me
What you wish others would see as your
Personality
If you could do that, just that
I might try and help you.

Crawlspace of the Cranium
$2.00 / 11 poems
Copyright © 1996-Present

They are a lot like vertical spider webs
That never connect
The downpour - you still want to steer clear from them though
Perfect in their way, I'm leery nonetheless
These things happen I suppose, nearly too much
Most people pray for this - the floods
Not just the wet kind - emotional as well
It's off-putting because of it's frequency
Wrath of god and all, I welcome it and all
But it never delivers on it's promise(s)
Ultimately, merely an inconvenience
I don't sleep well (or ever for that matter)
When I think I intuitively know it's coming
I don't understand how anyone could
It almost verges on the *******
The unexpected ******* kind
Because of this I trust nothing
Not the weather, certainly not people
The rain, the people, they're deafening  
And for some reason that's promising
Hopeful almost

I sometimes think seriously about the check out
It's so cliched, I know, I know
But the decay
The teeth falling out, a joyless creature of burden
Quiet disgust in the face of...
Vacuous optimism.
Mine is gone, I don't know why
Or where
Surrounded by the simple, the sorrowful
People without a function and
I've become one of them

NO nature - metaPHORLESS.
Betcha can't do it.
Nor cAN the forrest. Finally.
Anapaestic tetrameter withheld.
Again, **** classicism

Copyright © 2012

trying  bad  knew  day  think  fight  feeling  know  annoying  ly­ing  time  months  tell  like  sure  observe  afternoon  particip­ant  folds  pass  iron  ask  realization  neck  conversation  pai­n  poetaster  tuesdays  busy  night  lung  sake  sickness  movies­  gets  body  reason  turns  incessantly  awakens  doesnt  ones  ­lifes  gnashing  try  despondency 
 way  pretentious  idea  cellu­lite  strewn  years  fallen  finally  given  stomach  qualify  sp­ectacle  necessary  watching  christ  harbinger  unconsciously  t­hing  girl  loose  walls  unbearable  start  reach  smile  needin­g  violent  mean  slowly  engage  engaging  cell  face  sung  str­uggle  tone  shes  song  cheaply  correct  contents  normally  qu­ickly  asleep  close  plea  dark  personality  overly  devour  ac­tions  viscera  completely  eating  list  attractive  liar  power­  does  figured  use  morning  suffer

  saving  shadowscasting  ­abdomen  leave  verse  sun  comfort  screaming  stay  lift  forci­ng  worthwhile  sleep  reciting  sets  written  broken  semismile­d  dysthmically  movingriding  supp  uses  help  pieces  poorly  ­lied  reading  blunt  fine  returned  groups  refractory  fiber  ­eyes  read  word  puts  say  absorb  force  detach  message  unno­ticed  died  block  clock  wish  possibly  late  aghast  fear  re­turn  chum  caused  daily  involve  thanks  grandmotherly  hope  ­unheeded  twice  starve  maya  enthusiasm  heard  hunger  comfort­ableness  homeostasis

  nauseousness  huxtable  inflected  angel­ous  angelou  itll  dissipating  impress  giving  lower  relent  ­articulate  poetry  doldrums  wise  left  alot  hate  cheeks  ent­irety  perceived  result  willing  mild  speaking  concedepretend­  skin  alive  shell  death  tantamount  everytime  ripping  aflo­at  worth  adamisdronicus  succession  press  hang  jeanpaul  spe­ak  dysthmic  means  dinner  dreams  sobriety  bones  repeatedly ­ ***  pang  bc  painted  reallythat

In that awful, awkward silence
I'll speak up, I like to break things
Down, even further
A quarter past any given half hour
Is when I attend and then
Only until 20 minutes into the new
Hour
And it is only w/ great effort on my part
That, Yeah... I'll say something
Being careful to cover my contempt, combativeness
Disguise my defiance, dissonance & disgust
Into a comment w/ the underlying tone of a question
When I'm done
Someone will inevitably offer the inevitably correct response
To a query that wasn't really asked at all
As I knew they would before I uttered anything at all
It's important to make people feel important - helpful - useful
It has little to nothing to do w/ me and I realize that
It's my attempt at a gift.

Mid- afternoon shadows casting onto cheaply painted walls
Have always given me the doldrums
A depression really,that doesn't lift
Till the sun finally sets
Then it's merely a despondency
That starts to slowly relent
Much after Mid- night
Then I can start to sleep until
The next day when it starts all over again.
The reason nothing worthwhile gets done
I like to think

A verse doesn't justify it's being...written OR spoken.





Copyright © 2011

Moving,riding, dysthymically along
I semi-smiled at a ******* each block
Everytime we were made to stop
The attractive ones
The same broken clock
Giving the correct time twice
Once daily, again in the dark morning for twenty years
Christ
Sorry, no you don't qualify
I lied about the smile.

The mind does not reel
It Clacks
At or near the frontal lobe
A temple eroding, I suppose
Destroying by the speed of the whir
A millisecond vertigo
Terrorizes for seemingly endless minutes
Wrought iron right neck muscle
Climaxing in a hypnagogic spasm
That levitates the body for an instant
A moment?

Inasmuch as I would like to believe you
In the spirit of keeping things light
Cognitive dissonance is shaking me honest
Let's not continue this plight
Disingenuous w/ myself or you
I cannot be, Please stop saying
These things you know aren't true
Just to feel emboldened and free
Vacuous optimism only helps for
Not even a split second
And ultimately, in the end, hurts the
Feeble and dimwitted who believe
When the illusion is seen through

A girl like that

******* her way through the ranks

What can you make of them?
Don't want too ?

I've never believed that

I do

Delight in the darkness
I'm unable to cast shadows
And all the better for it


Copyright © 2011

I had a dream and in it someone told me that you had died
In this dream I didn't ask why, figured i knew
Didn't want to press it
So having not heard from you for several months
You call me, really needing to talk, but you leave a message
Sorry, I was asleep, busy
Having this dream in which I'm told you're no longer alive
It didn't seem a wise thing to tell you next day
When I returned your call you said everything was fine
I knew you were lying and that to me, you were
Dead, at least unconsciously

Copyright © 2009

Depression is reading bad poetry
Written by merely dysthymic people
Depression is people which does result in
Hell   
Depression is the pain caused by people
Trying, poorly I might add, to articulate what
'Depression means to me'
Depression is tantamount to hunger
Something we all must suffer
Some will starve to death
You, my poetaster chum
Are only late to dinner
The pang will pass

It's not enough to merely speak w/ enthusiasm
Even most "actions" go unnoticed, unheeded
Hate to say it, a succession of blunt force
Possibly perceived as violent
Is necessary
Repeatedly
Or you could stop trying to impress on me
What you wish others would see as your
Personality
If you could do that, just that
I might try and help you.

After over a month of near dying
My hands are functionable once again
Mostly,
Short shorn coiffe and a new(second hand) belt
And I'll be on my way
Thank you very much

Moving,riding, dysthymically along
I semi-smiled at a ******* each block
Everytime we were made to stop
The attractive ones
The same broken clock
Giving the correct time twice
Once daily, again in the dark morning for twenty years
 Christ
Sorry, no you don't qualify
 I lied about the smile.

I have fallen
Strewn, the pieces that are left of me
You I hope  alone
Can't reach this viscera afloat
I will stay below
Observe and absorb this spectacle
You will talk incessantly
While you do just what you're told

I had a dream and in it someone told me that you had died
In this dream I didn't ask why, figured i knew
Didn't want to press it
So having not heard from you for several months
You call me, really needing to talk, but you leave a message
Sorry, I was asleep, busy
Having this dream in which I'm told you're no longer alive
It didn't seem a wise thing to tell you next day
When I returned your call you said everything was fine
I knew you were lying and that to me, you were
Dead, at least unconsciously