Karl - Hello Poetry

Karl Jan 2016

Hereupon the threshold of the night,
We find around our feet, the path alight.
My friends, the hour of change abruptly comes.
Upon the forge the two are made to One.

 Keep vigil now, awake! You mustn’t blink.
Desist from finding balance on the brink.
Let go!
The Tavern-Keeper finds you where you roam.
The Way will, oft-returning, lead you home.

The only self which matters will not die,
Yet selfhood, death will show you, was a lie.
So be it!
Whirling as we fall toward the sun,
Within the furnace all returns to One.

The urge in me which calls unto the dawn
Remains to call when all of me is gone.
Alas!
This body is a shackle to my feet
And it will perish ere I am complete.

We stand before the threshold of a Mind.
None can tell you what is found inside.
Whereupon the day of man is done,
Within the darkness only stands the One.

messing around with different styles

Karl Jan 2016

I'm No Killer Anymore

come and see
i’m bruised around the eyes
and hardly fit to stand
been soaking in the brine
just ******* on my hands

i find dollars when i need them
just take a couple more
i killed nothing that wasn’t bleeding
nothing that ain’t still breathing
i’m no killer anymore

let me down
i should have never come
don’t know how i got here
don’t know what i’ve done
i’ve fractured my veneer

i find women when i need them
then i leave them at the door
it’s the hollow i’ve been feeding
the hollow was succeeding
i’m not hollow anymore

spill the dark
show me why i hide
all of them can laugh
most of them are blind
don’t lie on my behalf

i find jesus when i need him
or when he’s too hard to ignore
i’m finished now with bleating
and he is now conceding
i don’t need jesus anymore

Karl Dec 2015

Ode to Cloves

a shell of a boy steps
out to greet the chill
seeking to be filled
he sits near a street light
but not too close, see
he goes at night
for the stars
his excuse is the cigar
he reaches for a light
and fills his lungs with tar

a small, filtered conduit
the moment slows and stops
he finds himself withdrawn from it
he doesn’t check his clock

time is a luminous ember
moving toward his finger
he decidedly remembers he
won’t try to make it linger

besides,
it’s long since he believed
he is ought but little more
than the smoke he breathes

a shell of a boy
steps inside
filled with smoke
but filled
nonetheless

Karl Nov 2015

Interagency - Subagency - Inagency

We spoke in riddles                                                           holes in the middle
“Darkness” we told me                                       darkness will mold me
“Utter darkness”                                                                   carcases, carcases
                                                     (maybe they marked us)
I liked how it glistened                                            I shouldn’t have listened
“Trees, rivers, mountains” we told me             return to the fountain
“I need you to focus”                                               the skylark will show us
                                                     (the sky is below us)
Suddenly it was quiet                                                                                 see I
“Here you are” we told me                                                                        saw
“You can’t turn back”                                                                                      a
                                                     (just me on the)
I saw a cabin by the water                                                           teeter-totter
“It’s time” we told me                                                thought I oughta be
“The circle is complete”                                                         plural, complete
                                                     (we’re obsolete)
Elevated, euphoric, fearless                          mutated, sophomoric, peerless
“Let go” we told me                                                         let go of me
“You’ll fall forever”
                                                                   or
                                                                           we
                                                                                      will
                                                                                                 fall
                                                                                                            *forever

best on a computer. the format doesn't work on a phone.

Karl Nov 2015

8Follow it Down

Settle down boy
You’re not that old
You’re running scared
It’s getting cold

You better find someone who cares

You’re caught in a loop
Stuck in your head
Calm down boy
You’re overfed

We sold you out
We set you down
You’re filling up
You’re empty now

Look around
It’s darker here
Purge the hollow
Purge your fear

Temper down boy
You’ve had too much
The bottle’s only
Another crutch

You better nip it in the bud

You’ll end up shooting in the dark again
Breaking your falls on all your friends
You already know where your path ends
Just follow it around another bend

Karl Jul 2015

She Knew

she told me i made her sad
that i had had
too much, too fast
like i was running from the past

or something bad
some iconoclast
who would drag me down
at last

Karl Jun 2015

Himself

he was looking at something on the other side
sometimes the dark would bleed through the curtains
and bring an unholy whisper from the man himself

he was looking because it was too quiet
and he didn’t want to listen
he longed for silence
he was terrified of silence

like the fear of scarlet
unblinking eyes
shining in the shadows

between him and himself
he didn’t always know who had the bigger gun
who was calling the shots
who was boss

“it’s just me in here”
he’d say to himself
“you’re **** right.”
himself would reply

himself always swore more than he did
himself had a big ******* mouth

sometimes a little fight would break out
and no one would be happy

“who has time for that anyways”
he’d say to himself
“we ******* don’t”