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Tonight I cannot sleep
So come to me
Fill my head with dreams
Of love-making and risk-taking
Of your sweet hellos and tender goodbyes
Or better yet love
Be my dream
And never again will I need
The quiet comforts of sleep
A final no
Phrase complete
With tongue and lips and mouth she speaks

And I am gone
A black hole of pain
With nothing here left to gain
Everything I hoped to be
Was bound in her; and not in me

The dream collapsed
And I am done
From now on I shall just be one

A flicking hope
Now shut out
My heart has no strength, it cannot shout

The words I utter
Seem to be
No longer wholly part of me
Just empty phrases
Parts of past
A stranger here; alone at last

I feel strange peace that hope is gone
For now alone, I carry on

My body broken
My spirit crushed
Alone in chains of past and fear
My heart no longer whole is here

I battle and rage
But when I cannot go on
I do not fall apart
I simply go away
A ghost of another day
If all I feel I do pen here
Why do I need another ear?
Their life more pertinent then mine
It's for their sake, I pen this line

I still do tarry among the past
Because I hold so very fast
To hopes and dreams of days gone by
When I had hoped to try to fly
I still do want to rise above
Rising strong, in hope and love

But I know this faltering dream
Is nothing more than something unseen
Unseen in heart
Not in the plan
I hold until I cannot stand

By why I rise?
For 'er I fall
A lone warrior in an empty hall

With mouth and lips and tongue she speaks
A final no
Phrase complete.

(theinkthatspeaks.blogspot.com)
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Vassana M
We are on the couch. He is fast asleep.
Cheek sinking lightly into the pillow,
breathing in soft snores peacefully,
oblivious to all emotions transpired.

Like delicate tails of aged lace
his hair covers his cheeks,
his collarbones.
Just below his milky shoulders are faint freckles
balanced on his skin like stars in the navy sky.

Light from the whitish tranquil moon seeps through sheer curtains,
along with the peculiar sound of dishes being washed in the next room.
The glimmer of the television still plays upon the walls.
Nothing changes.

But there he wakes.
Then looks me straight in the eyes.
And his orbs were unnaturally limpid.
I'd never noticed.
They gave me a bizarre, pure feeling.
Just shot right through me.
Like gazing at the sky.

Almost without thinking, I drew nearer to him.
It took no longer than a second to bury myself in his glow,
to feel his breaths and grip on my fingers tighten.
His five fingers, in search of something, roaming over my back.
He cradles me in his right arm,
I stroke his fine strands of hair with my left.

For a while, he waits for me to sleep first.
Eventually, I always do.
And that's it.
Actually.
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Tim Knight
Everything had a place,
neatly *******, zipped in the case.
The handle extended ready for
the station;
a one way train to a working vacation.

She stole the tickets before he’d gone, hid them away to deceive and prolong.

Over there where street names are art
and the coffee barista, 24-hour-bars
sit brimming like every star or
burning ember,
found within iron clad, raw splendour;
is where he wants to sit and reside,
to write about the commuter tide.

Books will live on reclaimed shelves,
stacked high like Tokyo, midnight hotels,
ordered by tears shed
and poetically written lines,
not alphabetically
or in genre kinds.

There, for 900 Euros a month,
with a deposit to be paid up front and all at once,
windows look out onto windows-
tenants do the same; but
this time smiling, mid-browse,
mid-game.

She stole everything he wanted to regain,
so parried her move
and took off in the rain,
to the nearest station
to the first train.
No ticket was held in his left wet hand,
just a Howl for the planned
and one for the descent, to the
north-of-the-river
Three Brothers apartment.
Visit www.coffeeshoppoems.com/ for more poetry!
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Isoindoline
I can feel us on the edge here
this narrow ridge we’re hiking
it’s thin enough in places
that I’m nearly certain we’ll
topple down the side

But we haven’t yet and
it could be your acrobatics
or mine
that’s got us still balancing
in an act a professional
tightrope walker
would balk at

We’re daring though
and the view from up here
so far is breathtaking
and the thrill of chill wind
against our faces
exhilarating

The peak not yet in sight
shrouded in soft white fog
that was forecast to disappear
by noon
instead it’s rolling down the side
thickening and reaching
for us

Our view goes white with gray
eddies loosely defined
interludes of curling air
the pebbled ground slowly fading
so we clasp our hands together
it’s less stable but
comforting
as the mist swirls between us

Soon there’s nothing
no outline
the last wisp of your hair
is gently consumed
into this vaporous world
where only a touch
obstructs
surreal isolation
If you have ever been hiking a mountain in dense fog, you know how strangely alone it is possible to feel, even with another person along.  I've only done so once myself, but I will not soon forget it.  Also, better title suggestions?
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Isoindoline
words aren't an end
just a means and a way
to tell all the things
one never could say
blacken the pages
with ink from the soul
nobody is pure
light to behold
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Victoria
"Well, that just doesn't pluck my
                                                                heartstrings."
He said at the girl.
Those ruby lips pursed
and he wanted to part them roughly
                                                                with his tongue.
She flipped her honey hair
sending a wave of cigarette smoke
                                                               and expensive
                                                                                    perfume

filling his eyes
and his head
and his mouth
The urge to grab a handful
and push her to her knees
                                                               grew.

He grabbed her hand
bringing it gently to his lips
looking into her brown eyes, he

                                                             winked.
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
M W
Beginning in a night,
and lasting through.
Shock.
Bitterness.
Few bursts of anger.
Talking,
sharing,
secrets told.
Sadness,
tears,
and longing.
"Why?" Rained down with other questions.
To the point,
of dismissive.

"I don't want to be a girl,
I want to be a turtle."

There were happy notes,
permitted as they were.
Amongst,
Friends.
Family.
Myself.

Back.
Up.
Beautiful was/is:
butterflies,
overturned and stuck,
ocean water confining them,
to a shorter life,
when the waves wash,
higher, higher,
plucked away.
From the wet sand,
lifted into the sky,
brought to a plant,
two,
maybe three, made it.

Of cats,
strays though they were,
with food and beds under the pier.
Of the lady,
who shared her lunch,
crawling under the deteriorating boards,
to fill their bowls.

Fast-forward.
To friends,
rejoined with smile.
Though sad with an emotional pain,
of laying there,
in self.
Best friend-talks.
Friend-talks.
Family-talks.
Person-to-dog talks.
All these.

Seventy,
in the dark,
with no music.

Then July.
Fireworks,
on the seventh,
shared on the third.
A slight battle for a chair,
settled with laughter as half went to one,
and other to other.

Of walking,
in the rain,
after and before,
not during.
The ground is damp,
music pulsates.
Removed,
then off.
Birds,
the name of the wind,
two ways,
beautiful.
The sounds,
remembrance,
of home,
of before,
of the present,
of the during that became the past.
A deep pit,
opened,
also happiness.

Beautiful things are,
the wind tousling short hair: present,
thunder and lightning rolling in: present,
wrestling on the floor: past,
filled with a sudden joy as soon as a presence (his) was spotted: past,
shooting games: past
first kiss: past,
first love: past.

Of remembering,
the good and the bad,
the tough ways of learning,
of forgiveness,
of a new experience,
of tears for new reasons,
of the word "olive,"
of messing up,
of being,
of beautiful things.

"In the sky,
above the clouds,
are more clouds."

(and release)
This is my emotional journey through a summer after being dumped.
 Dec 2012 Emily Rogan
Overwhelmed
I write about us
for the same reason
every writer
has written
about
us

because we are tragic
and we are helpless
and we are victims
of the merciless fates
and we are depressing
and unbelievable
and astonishingly
sad

but we also are happy
and we are smiling
and we laugh at the world’s
attempts to destroy us
and we are joyful
and laughing
and so amazingly
elated

we are wayward souls
destined from the dawn of creation
to wander in search of each other
and if this sounds too fantastical
then I understand
because I, too, cannot
believe it

but know
that beyond my calculating stare
I also find all of this too amazing
to assume it all happened by
chance

though this universe
will march onward whether
we find each other’s arms
or not
it is good to know that
we have
because it gives things
a happy ending
doesn’t it?

that two of these tortured lives
can find their way to each other
and be rid of their strife
if not rid of their sin

let this gospel not torture our lives
but know that I write about us
because there is nothing better
to write about

for life,
in all her wisdom,
has declared that humanity
shall strive forever for
those that we love
and that every part of our small
and insignificant lives
shall be dedicated to that higher purpose
whatever form it might
take
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