Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
626 · Oct 2012
Schism
Isoindoline Oct 2012
Thunderheads collide, shake the sky
Disturb solidity and sleep.

Lightning rends the sea,
A division, a decision

To walk across unscathed—
To lose yourself in waters unknown

For blissful or torturous life of your heart
that lies drying and dying on the sand.
Decisions, decisions.  From 2006.
622 · Dec 2012
Ride
Isoindoline Dec 2012
I opened the car door, tossed my bag in
I was just about to slip inside when
An older man, 60 I might guess
limping down the sidewalk paused to ask:

"St. Mary's Hospital?"

My head snapped up
"What?" I asked.

"St. Mary's Hospital.  Is it this way?"

I frowned
"Yes," I replied.

"Do you know how much farther?"

"About half a mile.  Why?"

He raised his hand up, wrapped in white
red stain seeping through

My breath caught

"I've cut my finger, and I think I may need stitches."
Then he turned and limped away

"Wait," I called.  "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

He nodded, hardly turning around.

I asked again, "Are you sure?"
Should I offer him a ride?
It's only a minute out of my way.


He didn't turn or nod then, just continued on
His steps were slow, erratic, but determined
Should I offer him a ride?
I watched his back recede

Should I offer him a ride?

I could no longer hear his shuffling feet

Should I offer him a ride?

Should I offer him a ride?

I didn't.  I got in my car and left.  And cried.  
Because I wouldn't offer an old hurt man a ride.
This happened this morning.  I was too afraid to offer a hurt stranger a half-mile ride to the hospital in my car because I am female and I was alone.  If he had been an old woman it would have been different.  I felt (and still feel) horrible, because my decision was informed by fear, and the fact that I have been sexually harassed by various men recently.  Those are things that I have always said would not inform my decisions.  Today I was tested, and today I failed.
619 · Oct 2012
Her Death
Isoindoline Oct 2012
Black ribbon
unfolds
before her
yet murky eyes
see naught
from floating
depthless void
silver light depart
I never could come up with a better title for this one, and it's been years since I wrote it.
613 · Oct 2012
Sheets of Rain
Isoindoline Oct 2012
There were times when
your voice was like
smooth soothing thunder
it rolled across my skin
made me shiver
as we slid under our sheets—

Other times we had
lightning in our eyes
that sparked
crackled
flared
lit up the room
always in harsh relief
tension allowed to build—

sheets became
torrents
sluicing over our skin
until we were tangled
in damp heat
mist rising off our bodies
and a gleam of sunlight
chose that moment to
refract—
604 · Oct 2012
Find Someone
Isoindoline Oct 2012
I feel like I should cry
But I have no tears left for you
Just a burning angry pain
That’s left me scarred
In spite of new.

No tears for you anymore
Life’s pathways tend to change
And I guess what’s here
Today and yesterday
Doesn’t always weather
Tomorrow’s rain.

I have no tears for you and
Sometimes the faces that we see
Are just lacquered on humanity
Shallow as the sunlight
Patterns dancing on the leaves.

To appreciate the lives we live
We’ll have to learn to die
And to understand the ways of love
We must stop wondering, why?

We find we fall together
We’ll go the same **** way
Our march toward eternity
As life gradually fades.

So we find someone to walk with
Ease the path and time
Learn the ways of love and
Light the darkness in our minds.
600 · Nov 2012
Delectable
Isoindoline Nov 2012
I lick my lips in anticipation
as my eyes wander
up and down your length

And I lean forward
run my tongue just around
the edge to sample your flavor—

Dulce de leche ice cream cone,
you will forever be my favorite.
Yes, I am terrible.  I also wanted ice cream this evening, but I decided it was too cold. :(
579 · Oct 2012
Natural Voice
Isoindoline Oct 2012
I can see into the past,
having lived
enough to watch ages
crawl by.
I have watched you stumble
and fall
and vanish
only to return
again,
each time in greater numbers.
You infest this world,
mindlessly exhaust
all that has been bestowed
upon you.
Yet
you continue, forthcoming
spilling over
the borders of your minds:
here,
we have no borders
that clash
and ****** us into war.
And you—
you take advantage
of our peace
to drain away our lives,
**** them down
expel them carelessly,
seeking dominion.
Tell me
Tell us
over whom will you rule
when none of us are left?
561 · Nov 2012
Red Flag
Isoindoline Nov 2012
the world is thinly crystalline
a fair veneer of snow
blurs forest arcs to silver
in the distance up a hill
a small girl stands
crimson banner
waving in her hands

no footprints
come or go
547 · Nov 2012
he and She
Isoindoline Nov 2012
When he looked at her,
all he saw
was She,
She.
Anatomy as definition.
When she rose up
and the world saw Her,
all the world asked
wanted to know
were Her questions
and anatomically
related probes.
They saw Her, like he did.
And when he rose up,
the world saw him
they clamored to know
his accomplishments
his strategies
his stances
but nothing about Him.
There were no His questions.
Just questions.
Because he was a person, not He,
and she was not;
she was She.
I can't stand the way that people assume biological *** defines one's character and potential.  Men are people, and women are women with the way that our world views the sexes.  An illustration of this, and one of my biggest peeves, is what I read in interviews with powerful businesswomen.  They inevitably get asked the "work-life balance" question, and it is extremely rare to see that question asked of a businessman.  Implicitly, this assumes that women's first priorities must be "life" (ie, the home and family), whereas a man's lie with work.  Women are also subject to a million questions about their competency and level of commitment that men are virtually never asked when they ascend to a prominent position.  It is simply assumed that the men will handle their new responsibilities without difficulty, regardless of whether or not they have familial obligations.  I could go on about this further, but this is not the place for extended essays on the subject.
509 · Dec 2012
Out of Sorts
Isoindoline Dec 2012
You've really got me
turned around
left is right
and up is down

It's quite a sight
to see me
as I walk upon
the ceiling

Cornering rounds
instead of
rounding corners
tripping over
ill-placed dormers

It's even more
confusing when
the world halts
this dizzy spin

and reality comes
crashing down
I find myself in
a wedding gown

its corset is
much too tight
the color fair
far too light
for I'm no
****** bride

but I cannot move
to search for
the elusive exit door
instead I'll stare
enraptured
with the carpet
patterned floor.
Go read "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gillman.
473 · Jan 2013
A few words on Life
Isoindoline Jan 2013
slow steel sword
room of death
stand and die and wait
blissful truth
sees sunlight
quite elegant pain
cut.  ask.  remember.
dare.
These words appeared (almost) in this exact order in my "words" section on here (I moved 'quite' back two words), one right after the other (without my inserted 'of' and 'and,' of course).  They made me pause for a moment, so I thought I would share.
401 · Oct 2012
Snow Dreaming
Isoindoline Oct 2012
silver stars fall
in a lilting dream
perfected symmetry
of six
like glass
poised to shatter
softly
each little death
at the caress
in the limbs of a tree.
Wrote this as a companion to an artwork I made a little while ago.
388 · Nov 2012
On Paper
Isoindoline Nov 2012
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

— The End —